Some Last Minute Gift Ideas

I had thought several times about how much I appreciate some of my kitchen tools, then it occurred to me that others might like to receive these things too.

I call this an ulu but it’s not from Alaska. My neighbor gave me this herb cutter set, and I’ve loved cutting fresh herbs with this. There are some high priced ones out there, but I saw one that looks similar on amazon.com for $16.99.

This hard working juicer cost me 99cents from our grocery store here in Portugal. I love how it strains out the pulp and seeds and is easy to clean up. I did not find anything as cheap on Amazon, but surely something similar is readily available in your local stores. It seems like one of those items you don’t know you like until you try it. Cheaper than buying bottled juice!

An additional idea: One year we gave someone a small juicer along with some cherry syrup as a cherry limeade set.

 

This Cutco slicer (I call it a bread knife) is one of my favorites. We have many cheap fresh baked breads available here in Portugal, so this knife is used daily in our house. I was blessed to get a few Cutco knives, but don’t get stumped by the brand. I just think everyone would appreciate one! I saw a Henckels brand on Amazon for $12.95 that had many good reviews.

My last suggestion is not for the kitchen, but for someone to relax and enjoy, kids and adults alike. My girls and I recently finished reading Understood Betsy together, and I think it will remain one of our top favorites. It starts off with an orphan being taken care of by her overbearing aunt—this part can even get on your nerves it’s so bad. But stick to it because the lessons Betsy learns once she has new caregivers are very entertaining and insightful.

I’m always up for gift ideas and recommendations, so I hope this is helpful to someone else too. May your last days before Christmas be full of peace and joy instead of stress!

Yarn Balls and Ornaments Wreath

Last year I decided I didn’t want to use all the ball ornaments on my tree this year. I also wanted a new wreath, but those are not plentiful here in Portugal. So I decided to use what I had apart from buying some yarn from our dollar store. There are many examples of yarn ball wreaths online, but I got my idea of mixing the ornaments and yarn balls from The Pleated Poppy blog.

I covered all the ornaments that I didn’t want to show with yarn. I used some craft glue to attach the yarn to the ornament, then tucked in the end when I had finished wrapping it with yarn.

You can see part of the Styrofoam stand I made above to spray paint some of the ornaments pink.

Once everything was ready, I used the ornament hanging parts to wire them onto the wreath {necessary with the wind we can get here}. A couple of the tops of the ornaments kept coming out when I was putting them on. I think they lost they’re stay-in ability once the neck of the ornament was covered. So I used some hot glue to keep those tops secure. So far we haven’t seen the need to have hot-glued any others!

We are pleased with the fun color on our door and to have this project off my to-do list from last year!