[SAMANTHA MOLLY]

So clever...husbands in the bath 
Thank you...

i love aprons!!!

[matilda duck]

Hey look at that!!!  That looks really 50's like alot!!!!  Might have to get my sewing machine out after all!!!!!

[LivvyW]

I love aprons too. The Americans also seem to have a passion for them. There is lots of great sites from the US.

Last Christmas i made Raspberry Vodka.

Value unbranded vodka, sugar and raspberries.
Put into stopper bottles from Ikea.
Shake periodically.

 
Tasted so good. Glad i kept a bottle back for ourselves! 

[GrannieAnnie]

I'll send you my address then shall I Matilda???   

[Elcie]

I love aprons too. The Americans also seem to have a passion for them. There is lots of great sites from the US.

Last Christmas i made Raspberry Vodka.

Value unbranded vodka, sugar and raspberries.
Put into stopper bottles from Ikea.
Shake periodically.

 
Tasted so good. Glad i kept a bottle back for ourselves! 

That sounds like a great addition to a hamper.  Do you have any info on quantities?  There are some raspberry bushes at the allotment that are not on  plot so I could get some from there.

[matilda duck]

Hey look at that!!!  That looks really 50's like alot!!!!  Might have to get my sewing machine out after all!!!!!

I'll send you my address then shall I Matilda???  

I said I was getting it out I didn't say I could do anything with it!!!!

I've just made some strawberry jam for the hampers. As good as the first time!!!!  The only thing is I steralized the jars in the oven, fetched them out, moved one,ahhhhhhh my finger and thumb got attatched .  Couldn't say much as Mary had been helping me  got no lavender oil to help with the burn so .......awwwwwwwwwwwwwch!!

[Roll Roll]

This year we're still skint so they'll be getting something similar, except I think we'll have to think up some new ingredients

We are in the same position as you Faz (skint). Having said that I think we would still do this if we weren't as it is so personal, I dont think you can beat it. I see it as when you recieve a Christmas card, very nice, but when you recieve a hand made card well, thats just the best.

[LivvyW]

I got the raspberry vodka recipe from www.cottagesmallholder.com.  If you do a search for raspberry vodka it should come up.

Just did a search to check and its on the second page of the search results. There is a raspberry gin recipe aswell.

Its a nice little site actually thank for getting me to rediscover it.

[Elcie]

I got the raspberry vodka recipe from www.cottagesmallholder.com.  If you do a search for raspberry vodka it should come up.

Just did a search to check and its on the second page of the search results. There is a raspberry gin recipe aswell.

Its a nice little site actually thank for getting me to rediscover it.

That is brilliant thanks for that, I shall go to Ikea for some bottles today to get it started.  Love the site too - they even link back to us here as 'the great allotment site'!

And, thanks to MatildaDuck for starting this thread - has really got me motivated to start making some things now that we can give out at Christmas.

[matilda duck]

Oh thankyou Elcie.... I thought I would get linched Christmas in July .

I too am really enjoying all the wonderful Ideas people are putting in.  I think these hampers are going to be just right   Pictures in December?/   Hey that could be a good Competition John??  Hampers for family?
Enjoy all!!

[JulieP]

Think the next idea, after making the goods to go in the hamper, is to make the hamper itself!

Any ideas, or is a trawl of the cheap shops to find them again, I got two decent sized ones last year from Home Bargins, but they were a little expensive at £4 each.

Anyone into basket making?

[Elcie]

Think the next idea, after making the goods to go in the hamper, is to make the hamper itself!

Any ideas, or is a trawl of the cheap shops to find them again, I got two decent sized ones last year from Home Bargins, but they were a little expensive at £4 each.

Anyone into basket making?

I was in Ikea earlier to pick up some bottles for the raspberry vodka and they had a range of different wicker baskets in there.  There was a small one that would hold 3/4 jars which was less than £2 which I thought was quite good value for a small hamper which you could cover with cellophane.  Not sure about bigger ones though.

[SAMANTHA MOLLY]

Huge thank you Livvy, i made some raspberry vodka today. Elcie, i slao had a trip to Ikea  did you buy the £2.00 large glass bottles? 

They look amazing, i'm going to do Gin tomorrow!!!! We have thousands of wild raspberrys next to the house!!!!

Just a note i noticed that you need to wrap in brown paper to keep the colour.


X

[Elcie]

Hi SamanthaMolly, yes I bought those ones.  To be honest I would like some half litre bottles as then it is much cheaper for the vodka!  I'm looking around on the internet at the moment to see what there is.  Will let you know!  Thanks for the paper tip!

[SAMANTHA MOLLY]

Elcie, your freaking me out, i'm doing the same!!!lol

Found the jam jar shop etc but they are still expensive. Then i decided to look on Asda for smart price products (throw rubbish contents out......)

Asda SP lemon curd for instance is 30p, i  can't find jars that cheap! If they have a plain lable.. i'm buying a trolley full.

Will check out glass botlles also :-)