This is a very quick and easy topper to add to a hand towel. I love to give them as gifts, sometimes with a bar of homemade soap, sometimes with a knitted dishcloth.

You will need:
1 tea towel, cut in half (you get two hand towels from the one tea towel)
Crochet cotton to match
3mm crochet hook

Hem the raw edge of the tea towel.

Work a row of chain along the top edge of the tea towel. This is your foundation row.

Row 1: Ch. 3, skip one chain, work 1 tr.t in each chain to end of row. Turn.

Row 2.  Ch. 3, skip one tr, work 1 tr. in every second tr. to end of row. Turn.

Row 3. Ch. 3, skip one tr, work 1 tr. in every second tr to end of row. Turn.

Continue in this manner until 5 treble remain. Turn. This forms the "handle" of your towel topper.

Work 1 tr. In each chain to end. Turn.

Continue in this manner until handle measures 10cm.

Next row: Work 1 tr. In first four chain, ch. 2, skip 2 tr., work 4 tr. In next four chain. This forms the buttonhole.

Next row: Work 1 tr. In each ch.  to end. 10 tr. Turn. Repeat this row twice.

Cast off.

Sew button in place.

Your towel is finished.

Notes:
The towel in the photo cost $1.50 to make.

I buy handtowels and pretty tea towels from $2 Shops, on sale at Kmart or Big W and sometimes from the op shop if they are in very good condition (i.e. new). Supermarkets often have lovely tea towels, but wait until they come on sale for $2.50 each or less.

From Debt Free,Cashed Up and Laughing

Need a gift in a hurry? Go to your stash of jars then head to the pantry and start packing that jar with all the ingredients to make Simple Shortbread or Snickerdoodles and voila you have a gorgeous, very useful, very inexpensive gift in a jar!

FROM THE MEMBERS CENTRE: GIFTS IN A JAR 

Gifts in a jar can be as simple or as complex as you like. They can be in jars or boxes or buckets or any other container suitable for the contents of your gift. They can be for eating or gardening or sewing or relaxing in the tub. Gifts in a jar are only limited by your imagination.  Here are two of my favourites:

Simple Shortbread Mix
Ingredients:
1 cup SR  flour
1/2 cup ground rice
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup castor sugar

Method:
Combine ingredients and pack into a jar.  Attach label with instructions as below. 

Simple Shortbread
1 jar Simple Shortbread mix
1 cup butter

Heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Cut cold butter into flour with a knife. Using fingertips knead shortbread mix and butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Use a knife to mix into a dough. Press mixture into a shortbread mould (if you have one) and cook on a baking sheet or press and cook in a greased, 20cm round cake tin. With a butter knife mark out wedges (you should get 12).  Bake for approximately one hour, or until light golden on top. Do not brown. Cut into wedges while still warm.

Snickerdoodle Mix
2 3/4 cups SR flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Method:
Combine ingredients and pack into a jar. Attach label with instructions below.

Snickerdoodles
1 jar Snickerdoodle mix
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Cream butter with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until mixture is smooth and creamy. On low speed, add Snickerdoodle mix and beat until a dough forms.  Roll dough into balls about the size of a 20 cent coin. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and then place on ungreased cookie sheets, about 5cm apart to allow room for spreading. Bake 8 - 10 minutes until light brown. Cool on wire racks.

Cranberry Orange Nut Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp orange zest
3/4 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
2 tbsp melted butter
1 egg, beaten
2 cups craisins* chopped roughly
1 cup chopped walnuts


Method:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.  Grease and flour a 9x5x3 loaf pan.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and bicarb soda  into a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the orange zest, orange juice, melted butter, and beaten egg. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined - do not over stir. Add the craisins and the walnuts and fold in until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 55 minutes to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand in loaf pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack and let rest for several hours before serving. Makes 1 loaf.
*Craisins are dried cranberries and are available in the dried fruit aisle of your supermarket.

You don't need to have a hot air corn popper to make fresh popcorn at home. You don't even need a microwave. You can easily pop popcorn the old fashioned way - in a pot with a lid on the stove! Popcorn popped on the stove has a smokier, much richer flavour and much less un-popped kernels than corn popped in a hot air popper or the microwave.

To pop popcorn on the stove:
1.Pour approximately two tablespoons of vegetable oil into the bottom of a large saucepan with a tight fitting lid.
2.Add enough popcorn to cover the bottom of the saucepan in a single layer.
3.Put the lid on and cook over a medium heat until you hear the first "pop".
4.Using the saucepan handle, carefully and gently shake the entire saucepan over the heat until the popping stops. Keep the saucepan moving or the corn will burn.
5.Remove from heat, take the lid off and tip the popcorn into a serving dish. Season if you wish to.

To pop popcorn in the microwave:
1.Using a brown paper lunch bag, cover the bottom of the bag with popcorn. Make sure that the entire bottom of the bag is covered.
2. Fold over the top of the bag and staple it closed. Yes, the staple is metal, but it won't spark.
4. Place the bag in the microwave, lying down.
5. Cook on high until the popping stops. This will vary depending on how powerful your microwave is. I suggest that you start at two minutes and check. It may need another 30 seconds or so to complete the popping process.

Popcorn Tips:
Store your popcorn in the freezer. This helps all the kernels to pop.
Buy your popcorn loose from your local wholefoods or health food store, rather than in packets from the supermarket. You can buy as much or as little as you need. Remember, 200g un-popped popcorn makes an awful lot of popped corn, a little goes a very long way.
You can re-use the paper bag for microwave popcorn if you are very careful opening it.
To add butter to freshly popped corn, melt the butter and pour it over the hot popcorn. Stir quickly to cover all the kernels. 

Caramel Popcorn
Ingredients:
20 cups pop corn
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup condensed milk
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
Spread the popcorn in a thin layer in shallow, greased baking pans.  Preheat oven to 120 degrees Celsius.  Combine the brown sugar, condensed milk and butter in a medium saucepan.  Stir to combine. Bring to a boil over a medium heat. Boil for five minutes, stirring continuously.  Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarb soda and vanilla essence, beating well. The mixture should be light and foamy.  Immediately pour over the popcorn. Stir with a fork to mix. Don't worry too much if not the popcorn isn't completely covered with the caramel.  Place into preheated oven and bake for one hour, stirring completely  every fifteen minutes.  Remove from oven and empty onto sheets of baking paper. Break the caramel corn into bite size pieces. Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Variation:  Bliss Bombs - add 2 cups unsalted peanuts to the popcorn before covering with the caramel mixture.

Ingredients:
500g strawberries, washed, hulled, chopped
1 cup white sugar
1 large lemon, juiced

Method:
Place strawberries into a 3-litre capacity heatproof microwave-safe bowl (such as Pyrex). Add sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Microwave, uncovered, for 4 minutes on High/100%. Stir to dissolve the sugar.  Microwave for a further 15 minutes on High/100%, (jam should still be a little runny) or until jam reaches setting point. (see note). Spoon hot jam into hot sterilised jars. Seal. Turn jars upside down for 2 minutes. Turn upright and allow to cool. Once opened, store in the fridge for up to 2 months.

Note:  To test jam: before starting the cooking process place two saucers in the freezer. After 15 minutes, take one sauce from the freezer and pour a teaspoon of jam onto the saucer. If the jam sets and stays when the saucer is turned upside down then it is set. If not cook in 5 minutes bursts, checking each time, until setting point is reached.

Creative Cheapskater Michelle is on a winner with these unique handmade Christmas gifts.

Approximate $ Savings:     $20 per child 
   
This Christmas, I plan on creating gingerbread house kits for my primary school age nieces and nephews. Using information from marthastewart.com, I've created a cardboard mock-up of their grandfather's shed. I then used the cardboard pieces to cut gingerbread dough to size. I baked the gingerbread and will now build and decorate the shed. I'll then take a photo of the final product and put that, with the cooked gingerbread slabs, decorating lollies and the ingredients for the icing 'glue' in a box. They can then have full assembling and eating their own gingerbread shed. Choose a simple structure (like a shed), rather than the traditional peaked roof gingerbread house as assembling a gingerbread house takes some skill. I'm even going to put a toy tractor in the box that they can park in the shed.