And here I’ve come to the last post of the year. I’m going to Kentucky for Christmas, so I will not be updating again until 2012. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Blogging will resume on Monday, January 2, 2012. I have big plans for this blog next year, so I’ll see you on the other side of the holidays.

Check out these Peppermint Meringue Cookies from Skip To My Lou. Don’t they look good? Not to mention festive for the holiday season.

They would also make good last minute Christmas gifts. [Craft]

These Reclaimed Wonderland glasses from Birkiland are tea cups attached to the stems of wine glasses. This wacky design can be used for tea OR wine, so you see they are really great multitaskers for your entertaining needs.

For some reason, these glasses costs $50 each, but you know what? They remind me of the Christmas cake plates I mentioned in the 10 Fast DIY Christmas gifts, which are half plates and candlestick holders that have been glued together.

I wonder if you could take a similar approach with this idea. Hmmm… [re-nest]

Wassail punch is an traditional alcoholic drink that people were given when they went wassailing, or caroling, to people’s house. The punch typically incorporates apple cider, according to Wikipedia: “Historically, the drink was a mulled cider made with sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and topped with slices of toast.”

Toast? I don’t know. However, “modern recipes begin with a base of wine, fruit juice, or mulled ale, sometimes with brandy or sherry added. Apples or oranges are often added to the mix.”

There are lots of Wassail Punch recipes floating around, but I’m intrigued with this on using beer from the BBC’s “Victorian Farm Christmas.”

But if using beer as a base for a punch sounds odd, here’s a Wassail Punch Recipe using apple cider instead. Plus bourbon!

Although I still use old tennis balls instead of dryer sheets, these Hedgehog Dryer Balls are pretty cute. They are 2 for $6 and still cheaper than dryer sheets.

Ahhh 10 days until Christmas. This month is going by so fast.

Although I have most of my Christmas shopping done, I still have to pick up a gift or two. But maybe I should make my Christmas presents instead. When you think about it, 10 days is a lot of time to make something, especially since the Internet is full of great projects to get you started.

Here are 10 DIY Christmas gifts you can make in less than a day, many of which I have featured on Savvy Housekeeping before:

1. Herb-infused Olive Oil from Kitchen Crush. These olive oils are great in salads but can cost up to $70 a bottle. Luckily they are easy to make–just combine nice-quality olive oil and fresh herbs in a pretty bottle and you’re done.

[Image courtesy Revivied Vintage]

2. Vintage Chalkboard Frames from Up In The Clouds. With some chalkboard paint, you can turn an ornate vintage frame into an awesome chalkboard. Perfect for the kitchen.

3. My post on turning a bar of soap into liquid hand soap can also make a great Christmas present. Julie explained how she did it in the comments:

I am so excited about this Ive decided to make it my Christmas craft and send it to all my girlfriends! I found nice glass pump dispensers online for 2.75$ each (Montessoriservices.com) then I had cute little Christmas labels made for .58 cents each (myownlabels.com) and I bought a cranberry scented hand soap at Marshals for 4.99$. I think its a fun festive and easy to make gift that all my girlfriends will enjoy and get use out of! Plus with ingredients and pumps labels and all I’m spending just about 4$ per gift! Cant complain about that!

Great idea!

4. Continuing on the soap idea, these homemade bath bombs are impressive looking. I haven’t made them, but they don’t look hard. You combine the ingredients and mold in round Christmas tree ornaments.

5. These Hearty Seed Bombs from Mademoiselle Chaos are really cute. Each heart is filled with flower seeds that can be thrown into ground. In spring, they will bloom and beautify the neighborhood.

6. Decanter Bottle Labels from Gave That.com are a great gift for a liquor aficionado. All it takes are miniature picture frames from the scrapbooking section of the craft store, chains, and some nice handwriting.

7. I like these Christmas Cake Plates because they use some common items you find in any thrift store–plates and candlestick holders–and combine them together into something people would actually want. And all it takes is a bit of glue.

8. Making a Toy Spaceship Out Of Junk is one of the more creative examples of recycling I’ve seen lately and would definitely be a one-of-a-kind gift for the kid on your list.

9. If you have glass cutting tools, making drinking glasses from a wine bottles (or soda or beer bottles) is a great present. I personally would love to receive something like this.

10. Finally, check out these Vintage Tin Candles from Design Sponge. There are lots of lovely vintage tins out there that can be turned into a candle to surprise someone this Christmas season.

Thanks to Ange’s Web-log for including my post on Four Ways To Store Plastic Grocery Bags on their list of 25 Clever Ideas To Make Life Easier. There are lots of great tips on the list that are worth checking out. Here are a few I particularly liked:

Stop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box by securing with a rubber band.

Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over the vacuum hose.

A tip for packing. Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty soles rubbing on your clothes.

I’m totally going to do that last one.

Read the rest of the list here.

Making your own Christmas ornaments is fun and frugal and look great on the tree. Here are three DIY Christmas ornaments:

This Half-eaten Gingerbread Man from Elsie Marley looks easy to sew and is pretty funny.

Or turn an old Scrabble game into these Scrabble Christmas Ornament from My Sweet Savannah. (Sorry for the music on this site. Scroll down to turn it off.)

Finally, to make this Hot Air Balloon Ornament by The Cheese Thief, attach a tiny basket to a regular glass Christmas ball. Clever!

Check out these Melted Snowman Cookies from Truly Custom Cakery. They are sugar cookies with icing for the snowman’s body and a marshmallow for its head.

Then, you decorate. Look, this one has a snowball:

I have no idea if these taste good, but they look cute. [Neatorama]

Have you ever wondered where your cat does all day? I have. But we don’t have to wonder anymore, we can just buy a CatCam instead. It’s a camera that goes around your cat’s neck and records its daily activities. At the end of the day, you can plug the camera into your computer and upload images of what your cat has been up to.

The camera costs about $50 and is supposed to be sturdy, i.e. “shock resistant, scratch resistant, water resistant, and theft resistant.”

There’s also a pretty fascinating photo gallery that lets you see sample photos from people’s cats. Some examples:

I have a feeling the novelty of the CatCam would wear off after awhile, but it’s almost worth it to see what my cat is doing during the day.

Than again, considering my cat’s eccentric personality, maybe I am better off not knowing…