Taking A Look Around & Giveaway Update

This week's giveaway and the gift giving posts have been so much fun - I hope you all have enjoyed it as well! One of my favorite parts has been all the great feedback and ideas that you have contributed in the comments. And today, it is my pleasure to feature some of these fantastic ideas with you!

Valentine cookies for Mr. too Blessed to Stress!

As part of the giveaway, I asked you to share your best gift giving tips and the response was amazing! Thank you! There were ideas for gifts, decorating packages, repurposing containters for gifts, and unique ideas for how to make lasting memories.

I just loved this idea Barbara Jean from Treasures of the Heart had:

"On my birthday one year, instead of waiting for everyone to give me gifts, I decided to buy all my family gifts instead. It was so fun. And you cannot be disappointed about what you did not get, because you got the gift of giving and that is the best gift of all!"

What an awesome idea! I often leave little packages for my dinner gusts, but never on my own birthday. I do believe that I'll have to try this out for my birthday this year. What better way to celebrate than by making someone else's day!

Take a look at this wonderful {and yummy} creation made by Heather over at "Storing Up My Treasures".

Hand Dipped Chocolate Caramels in a handmade candy box. How special would this be to recieve on Valentines day?

I love this idea because you can select your own yummy contents for the box and make the wrapping as personal as you want. How cool is that?

Bridgette (no blog that I know of) shared this fun idea:

"I love taking regular balloons and blowing them up just a little bit and tying them up with the ribbon to dress up the out side of a package! It is super cute! : ) "

Can't wait to try this balloon idea out!

Check out these ideas from Jerri who writes over at Simply Sweet Home:

In this post, she shared how to make your own inexpensive hot chocolate gift basket. Perfect for a fall and winter time gifts.

And then this post is all about her stratagies for putting together gifts baskets.

Jerri has great tips and lots of pictures too!

So many of you lovely ladies mentioned that you love to give handmade gifts {me too!} and of course we can't overlook saving a penny or two while shopping for the items to handmake a gift. Look at what Rebekah from All Things Rrlated shared: 

"Ok, my best tip is to make it! There are so many great ideas in blogland! I buy what I need to make them at thrift stores (baskets are usually super cheap there!)or at a craft store with their 40 percent off coupons! The dollar stores have cheap things to create with as well!"

Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot had an awesome idea for repurposing a Starbucks caddy and the bottles.

May I just say that I not only love the idea, but am thrilled to have an excuse to buy "fancy" coffe again! haha!

Jeanne from Inspiring Ideas reminded us that personalizing things is always a fun way to show you care:

"My best gift-giving idea is to really think of the recipient. I usually go unique or practical - like a custom label on a scented jar candle. For good friends I like treating them to some kind of outing, like a show. I like making memories!"

Amy from Wanna Make Something Of It? shared a fun basket she put together to say thanks to her babysitter.

I just love all the great colors she used!

Joyeful from the Joyeful Journey had a great repurposing tip:

"This is such a great idea! Gift baskets certainly make gift giving fun and less expensive! I save tissue paper and gift bags from gifts I receive and re-use them. I also enjoy making gifts for people."

So many wonderful ideas! Wish I could feature them all!

Thank you everyone for your awesome participation in today's feature post and I hope that you will all be back often for another adventure here at "too Blessed to Stress." Don't forget that there is still one more day for my giveaway! Head on over here to enter.

If you were featured here today, please feel free to grab my "I Was Featured Button" over on the right hand side of my blog.

Making It Special

What a fun week this has been! I have so enjoyed talking with all you wonderful gals about gift baskets and making them meaningful. And getting to know you all a little better through email and comments has just made this week of being cooped up in the house due to a nasty cold all the more bearable. Thank you! I am so looking forward to getting to know you all even better throughout the year.

Yesterday I mentioned that I would share some simple ways to spruce up a gift of food. Since we've already covered how to put baskets together and fun ideas for fillers, today I want to show you some special touches for food packaging before it goes into the basket.

This is a little piknic style meal I put together for my hubby and me. But these ideas could be used when delivering a meal to a new mother, a family who has just moved in, a date with your kiddos, meal for a teacher, or for no special reason at all - a "Just Because" occasion. 

In this case, I got all my containers, ribbons, and tags together to make sure they matched - blues, silver and gold. {not that hubbster would notice... but he might! He's surprised me before.} I decided that I would pack his lunch as usual, but this time include a few messages that indicated that he should bring his lunch and meet me at the park.

So instead of just writing out a note, I used my handy dandy Chalk Ink Marker to write on the plastic container. Have you discovered these yet? They are fantastic! They make your chalk board art look so clean and crisp and work well on things like tupperware.

Then I tore off the label to a can of pineapple {yep, he eats it all right out of the can} and replaced it with a note to meet me at our favorite park.

I just freehanded a wavy line out of two colors of scrapbook paper, wrote my message, and taped them together in the back where the original label had a seam. {Make sure to have a can opener handy if your can of fruit does not have a flip top lid!}

Next I packaged up some homemade Snickerdoodles stacked on top of a little silver tray in a plain plastic baggie. The tray keeps the cookies from rolling around in the lunch pail, and that way they will be in one piece when it's time for lunch. It was then finished off with a matching ribbon, and a little label I punched out and glued a heart on.

If you don't have a little tray, try a stiff piece of cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil. {I was going to show you, but wouldn't you know we're out of foil? Even in the backup cupboard! oh the insanity of it all! :) }

Last, but certainly not least, the veggie tray. Instead of tossing veggies all together in a Ziplock baggie, I decided that we needed something a little more special for our date in the park. How about a mufin tin! Loop some ribbons through the holes on either end of the tin, and then fill with veggies. I used grape tomatos, cauliflower, baby carrots, and crinkle cut cucumbers.

If you ever see a crinkle cutter on sale or in a thrift store - get it! It's one of those items that is not an absolute necessity, but it is a ton of fun, takes no more time than cutting veggies with a knife, and really makes a veggie presentation look fancy. After all, we are fancy people, don't 'cha know.

The veggies I will take with me to the park and place in the individual cups once there. The rest goes in my hubby's lunch tote. With a few minutes of my time, our luch date later this week will be a fun memory. One full of love notes written on food containers. I mean really, if that doesn't spell "LOVE" for a man, I don't know what does!

Note: Since the actual date isn't till next week when we're over our nasty colds, I ate most the muffin tin of veggies. With dip. While I wrote this post. Just tring to be honest.

Now it's time to think of ways to change it up for someone else! How about making up silly rhymes to place on the canned food that describes what's inside? Use the Chalk Ink to wrtie "Welcome Home," "Feel Better," "You're Special" anything for the occasion. Make a whole bunch of cookie sacks, walk around the block with the kiddos and give them away to the neighbors.

What are other ideas to "gussy up" a meal delivery that you could share in the comments below? I'd love to hear them!

Giveaway Items!

Don't foget that my first ever givaway is still going on till Saturday. {{excited smile}} If you have not had a chance to enter, click here for the full post.

Be sure to come back tomorrow as we wrap up a week gift giving with ideas from you - my fantastic readers and followers! There will be links to other awesome posts, and I'll be sharing some of your great comments.

Have you posted recently about gift giving? If so, I would love to read your post! Maybe even feature it tomorrow along with the others. Send me a message before 12PM tonight (PST, pacific time, or however you're supposed to write that) and I'll be happy to take a look!

See you all tomorrow - have a marvelous day!

All photos taken by your truly.
This post is linked up to a fantastic new Linky Party - 100 Ideas Under $100 at the Beyond the Picket Fence. Make sure to head on over and participate!