Daily Ramblings - Gift basket fun!

In the aftermath of all the shower fun, I did want to share the gift baskets that I put together for the girls who hosted.  I had been stewing for a little while on what to get each of them and had been throwing around several ideas in my head.  Finally, I decided that I was going to make a gift basket for each so that I could incorporate a mixture of things and tailor the baskets to their individual likes. 

Basket #1
Paige loves to bake.  She and I were opposites for a long time.  She could bake anything but wasn't great at cooking, while I could cook anything, but couldn't bake for the life of me.  (I should note that we've both made great strides in our baking and cooking respectively).  In that I will always associate her with a mild sugar high, when I spotted the Red Velvet wine from Cupcake Vineyards on the shelf, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!  Going along with that theme, I also got an oven mitt, Betty Crocker spatula, some dark chocolate covered almonds and espresso beans, and (to add the handmade touch) themed magnets [see insert in the picture below].  

Basket #2
Holly is a total anglophile - something that drew us together in the beginning when she found out that I'm English.  In the spirit of gifting alcohol, I know that she's a Guiness drinker so wanted to find some new British beers that were similar for her to try.  I ended up with Young's Double Chocolate Stout and a bottle of Hobgoblin (which was a necessary purchase for the name alone). From there, I added some Heinz Baked Beans (a British classic) and some Yorkshire Pudding mix.  I also threw in some more of the chocolate goods, as I figured they would go well with the chocolate beer, and made her magnets using a letter that Henry VIII wrote to Anne Boleyn [again, see insert].  I figured it was fitting for someone who stayed at Hampton Court every year growing up! 

I somehow had a preggo moment and forgot to take a picture of the basket of chocolate and cheese that I made for my mother-in-law too.  I'll admit that I've never really put together gift baskets before, but this may be my new favorite thing!  I had such a great time gathering all the little things to put in them, and it worked prefectly with my indecisive nature as I was able to put a variety of things together rather than having to decide upon one bigger item.

As for the magnets, I had fun making these.  I got the 1" half flat glass marbles, which you can find at Michaels or the dollar store.  I chose to use bigger marbles, but there's also smaller versions out there.  I used Mod Podge to adhere the images to the marble, and then E6000 glue to stick the magnets (also available at Michaels) onto the back.  The glue seemed secure after about an hour, but I've heard that 24 hours is best just to be sure.  Here's a pretty decent tutorial if you want to try it yourself.  They're so cute and I may be making more for holiday gifts this year!