The Best Homemade Gift Ideas Monthly Digest: free-gift-ideas-newsletter-June2009.html

by: Brenda Mullard

Table of Contents:

1. Happy Father's Day!

2. BBQ Anyone?

3. Welcome New Subscribers

4. What's new?

5.Crafter/Artist Interview of the Month

6. Project of The Month

7. Reader Recipes

Father's Day Barbecue Boo...

1) Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of you dad's, step dad's, grandfathers and any other special guy who is a role model and a mentor to a child. Father's Day is June 21, 2009. Have you thought about how you are going to celebrate that special man in your families life? What about a Father's Day treat basket? Or maybe a personalized refrigerator magnet? Homemade gifts are always the best. They mean more and are much more economical. Not that dad isn't worth a million bucks, but let's face it, many of us don't have a million bucks! For more fun homemade gift ideas go to my Father's Day page. Father's Day gift ideas

2) BBQ Anyone?

Leave the grilling to Dad, but you can take care of the rest.

Plan the best BBQ party for Dad ever! Set up some yard games to play with Dad or Grandpa. A balloon toss or a game of horse shoes. How about croquet or badminton and a game of baseball or kickball?

Decorate a patio or a picnic table with a red checkered table cloth or a summery theme decorations.

Let Dad decide what he wants to grill. Maybe set aside a burger building area where everyone can build a burger with cheeses, and all the fixings. No summer picnic would be complete with out potato salad, noodle salad, fruit salad or any other side dishes you fancy. Make Dad some BBQ rub in a jar to use for grilling.

Don't forget to top off the BBQ with roasted marshmallows and smores for desert.

TIP If it rains when you want to make smores there's an easy alternative for in the house! Lay out graham crackers onto a cookie sheet. Top with a piece of chocolate and place a marshmallow on top. Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place smores in the oven until chocolate and marshmallows are melted. Take out of oven and place the top graham crack. Wha La!! Smores inside. This really works well if you have to make a bunch of them at a time!

3.Welcome New Subscribers A big welcome goes out to all of my new subscribers! This website wouldn't be worth creating if it weren't for my wonderful valued readers. Thanks for your continued support! It's great to have you here with me. I love to find out where everyone is from and what it is you create and do. Please drop me an e-mail if you get a chance. I am always looking for new artists or crafters each month for this newsletter.

4)What’s New? Check out the homemade gift ideas on the Father's Day page. You will find many different and easy ideas that you can make. What about trying a painted portrait of dad? I have also added new card to my paper greeting cards shop I am also adding frequent posts to my Best Homemade Gift Ideas Blog I try to update my blog daily with new project ideas, tips, tricks and recipes. Feel free to stop by everyday!Become a follower and get notified when a new post is added!

5.Crafter/Artist Interview of the Month

1) Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your birdhouses. My name is Fred and I make handcrafted birdhouses. They are made out of exterior plywood, pine and/or barn wood. I design and paint them myself. I use unique items that I find at tag sales and flea markets and incorporate these items into my designs.

2) How long have you been creating birdhouses and how did you get started? I have been making birdhouses for almost eight years now. I started out making a few to give away to family and friends. Before I knew it, I was making birdhouses daily.

3) Do you create birdhouses for certain types of birds or are your houses equal opportunity bird houses? My birdhouses are for your small songbirds, chickadees, wrens, finches etc. These kind of birds are attracted to my birdhouses because of the size of the entry hole - 1 1/4" in diameter.

4) Do you have a work space or workshop where you make your birdhouses? Do you have any pictures? We love pictures:0) I work out of my home. I have enclosed a picture of our birdhouse display.

5) If someone were interested in buying one of your birdhouses how would they go about doing so? I have a shop on Etsy called birdhouseaccents. We have the largest selection of birdhouses.

Be patient and practice makes perfect. When I look back over the years at some of the older designs it amazes me as to the progress I have made.

This month's project of the month was submitted to us from Kat from Seattle Washington. Katy, does watercolor portraits using a simple stenciling technique. These portraits are just great! Thanks Kat for sharing your tutorial with us!

Paint a watercolor portrait

7)Reader Recipes

Easy Grilled Chicken Marinade Ingredients:

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 halves chicken breast -- boneless skinless

Directions:

Combine the first five ingredients, mixing well; in a ziplock gallon size bag. Place chicken in the ziplock bag so that marinade covers each piece. Marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes or for several hours in the refrigerator. Flip chicken often so marinade continues to cover chicken. Grill, uncovered, over medium coals, turning once, for 10 to 15 minutes or until juices run clear.


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