Andy's Idea Factory

Looking for last minute gifts for a good price from a retailer you know will deliver in time? Here's my Top Five Favorite Holiday Picks plus a few bonuses! Happy holidays! #1 Sleep Innovations Currently marked down to $370 from $650 for king size* We've had a Sleep Innovations mattress for 13 years and loved it. Every time we came home from travels my husband and I would both say how we'd missed our bed the most. So it came time for us to buy a new one and were pleased to find this mattress at a fraction of the cost of both traditional mattress and memory foam as well. Is a quality brand, and a firm yet relenting and supportive mattress. It comes compressed in a 3x4x2 box that's easily delivered, and easy enough for one person to set-up and let expand. We let it expend and air out for two nights. By the second night, it was ready, and as before, the best night sleep! The box it comes in is compact and manageable Cutting off the plastic on our new bed! ...

As stated last week , I have been reorganizing my recipes this year and found four great ones to share for holiday surprises for friends. View last week's post for the first two: Peanut Brittle and Pumpkin Seeds. Two additional easy sweet gift ideas: Rachel Ray's 5 Minute Fudge Ingredients 12 oz chocolate chips 8 oz butterscotch chips 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup walnuts and/or dried currants/cranberries/cherries Directions Dump all ingredients except nuts and currants into a heavy-bottomed warmed pot over low heat and stir until soft.  Once fully melted, add nuts and currants and pour into a round, greased, Angel Food Cake pan.  Don't smooth out the top, and put in fridge to set for 30 minutes.  Pull out and cut into pieces. Wrap and give! Frozen Lemon  Mousee (GREAT for warmer climates seeking winter-y goodies!) Ingredients 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 4 large egg yolks 5 tablespoons sugar 4 tablespoons unsalted butt...

Last year I drafted a four-part Elven Idea Factory series for making your own holiday presents, take a peek back for recipes of Irish cream, salsa, biscotti , bathcookies , and more . This year I sorted through 3 years of recipe gathering and reduced my huge binder of sloppy recipes to a medium sized reusable gift box, making my recipes both easier to find and easier to use. I didn't know why a binder wasn't easier to use when I created it, it takes up a lot of counter space, gets spilled on, and the sheets pull out of the hole punch too easily... I switched back to mom's method of using old fashioned "index cards" so I can pull several recipes out at once (realized this was key during the holidays!) AND they're small enough for a  magnet to hold them to the metal stove hood while in use. No spills, and at eye level! Great new system.  In sorting through the mess, I found four of my favorite holiday recipes to share with you, to wrap and share with your fr...

A big part of Photography 201 is adding accessories and beefing up your photography inventory... here's the shortlist of what's inside my pack and on my Holiday wish list this year... I currently own a little Canon Rebel Xsi that is lightweight for skiing and hiking with, and have two lenses, 18-55mm and 75-300mm. The first accessories I purchase for a new body are extra memory cards, and then get lens filters, cap keepers , and hoods (I prefer the flexible ones over the rigid version for price and damage control) for all my lenses.  Swapping out one set of each accessory between two or three lenses just gets old, really quick, so stock up.  Lenses also don't always come with lens bags, so finding padded bags or a divided camera bag/backpack is also a must-have.  The next addition to my current setup was an angling external flash/speedlight with a white reflector. The on-camera flashes for any body, DSLR or point-and-shoot, are weak, too close to the lens, and not...

This past Tuesday the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council hosted its monthly Talking Green event on "Greening Up Your Holidays," and I spent several days gathering tips in many categories to present on.  I thought I'd post it here as well, enjoy! Halloween Costumes Buy face paints and lipstick without lead, nickel, cobalt, chromium, which can affect brain development cosmeticsdatabase.com Buy safe nail polish from Skin Deep Avoid powder cosmetics which can affect the lungs Skip the hairspray which have toxic chemicals Use non-paraffin (petroleum based) and non-scented candles for cleaner air Create low-impact costumes (used, homemade, etc), or host your own costume swap Food If hosting larger parties, see our Zero Waste Event Guidelines Compost all food waste Use paper bags instead of plastic for baking the turkey Replace canned ingredients with local foods with minimal travel distance for reducing carbon fo...

Because the market is always changing, early this summer I logged several weeks of research on the subject of Photobooks for a wedding I'm doing later this month. After reviewing dozens of sites, I only came up with about 6 that stood out above the rest. But I had overlooked one that has turned out to be one of my favorites: www.Mixbook.com Mixbook is similar to several other sites in its ease for beginners, offering dozens of templates and programming that's easy to learn. But where Mixbook excels is in some key areas for me. Their tutorials are quick and extremely helpful, from choosing themes to getting ideas to general help, these short videos are an asset to this website for sure. Mixbook offers a huge variety of packages, many different sizes of books and tons of themes, from weddings to baby books to yearbooks, Mixbook definitely makes the design process more fun than its competitors. Within each design set are dozens of page layouts to choose from, from 1 to 20 pi...

It's no wonder this company has the word "great" in the business's name; I've been sampling their products for over a week now and am astonished, truly taken aback, that they are actually gluten free. We've ordered Joan's everything bagel, plain bagel, and english muffins, all with great texture, perfect substituted-flour ratio, and delicious flavor; and after a year of being off these favorite glutenous baked goods, it's sure awesome to have them back! What makes Joan's goods unique is that they arrive frozen in a dry-ice container and are only partially baked (if at all?), so you are instructed to let them defrost (or nuke-defrost) and bake them for twenty minutes at 425. This way you're not toasting and reabaking the bagel or muffin (and reducing the quality of their texture in my opinion), you're actually getting hot, fresh baked goods right from your own oven. Other than Udi's bread, I haven't found anything that actually tast...

How fitting that this is posting as we're on our way to Sin City... Yes, I said poonani. And nothing's wrong with that, unless you're in a convent. I got approval from Craig to share this, so here we go.... I can't take full credit for this idea from the factory, but I adapted it, and in art, that means it's mine. :) The idea came from ABC's Cougartown , when Christa Miller's character Ellie gave a sex card to her husband Andy. Andy and Ellie have a newborn, so their sex life is latent. The theory is that Ellie has Andy wrapped around her finger so tight that he has to earn these sex cards to get any nookie (or in our house, poonani) at all. We don't have kids, but we've been together 10 years this year and married for four. I'm not ashamed to admit that just like everyone else, our sex life is great sometimes, and quite latent some of the time as well. So for Valentines Day this year, I made him some of Ellie's cards to give our sex ...

Posting this one earlier than Weds for all you procrastinators :) DIY Gifts, Kits , and Baskets you can make with stuff from around your house in less than an hour if you receive from a stranger, forgot to shop for a last minute party, or procrastinate without savings! After a visit to the dollar store in late November, I've usually stocked up on little dishware sets, colored glass bottles and jars, candles, and other inexpensive items that can be used as last minute gifts for the holidays, hostesses at parties, and housewarmings. Then when I'm in a pinch, I'm able to throw together some stuff that's always around the house. While you may not have pre-planned like this, some of these things will be around your house, too, I bet! Kits: Putt herbs and garlic in a small bottle, filling with olive oil and pairing with four olive dishes. Fill small cello bags with herbs from the garden like peppermint, chamomile, and sage and pairing with a small tea set or just one tea ...

Chocolate Lavender Bathtub Cookies This year one of my new gifts is a chocolate bath cookie that my dear friend Heather at Aroma Pharmica posted last year, and was reposted on one of my BlogHer peers, Mom Most Traveled . Talk about making the bathtub a heaven on earth, this cookies are almost good enough to eat! Chocolate Lavender Bathtub Cookies 2 oz. Cocoa Butter 2 oz. Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 cup Oatmeal, Fine 1/4 cup Whole Milk Powder 1/4 cup Hot Chocolate Mix 3/4 cup Epsom Salt 1 cup Cornstarch 1 cup Baking Soda 1/2 cup Citric Acid 1 tsp. Lavender Essential Oil Directions Warm the cocoa butter and olive oil in a hot water bath until completely melted. Remove the Cocoa Butter and Oil from the heat, allowing it to cool slightly, but not to harden. Next, line a small baking sheet with waxed paper and set it to the side. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the Oatmeal, Whole Milk Powder, Hot Chocolate Mix, Cornstarch, and Epsom Salt. Stir the ingredients well, making...

3 favorite DIY recipes that make Great Holiday Presents 1. Irish Cream Liqueur (Bailey's) - This makes #1 because it takes the longest to make but is worth the wait. Like a tincture (herbs distilling in alcohol over 3-4 weeks), this creamy and chocolaty gift makes your friends lick their lips at the thought of it. This is an old recipe I've been making since I was in my twenties, and no matter what age group I make it for, it's a hit. The sweet-toothed elves like this one best as well. Makes about, keeps at least 1 month, and takes 3 weeks to mak e. 750 ml Irish Whiskey 12 oz milk chocolate 28 oz condensed milk 24 oz evaporated milk 2.5 cups heavy cream 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules Pour 1 oz whiskey and condensed milk into small double broiler, add chocolate and melt, stirring constantly until smooth. Stir in coffee granules and let heat for one minute, then add evaporated milk, stirring constantly, and remove from heat. Stir in cream and the rest of the whisk...

The Elves have joined us at the Idea Factory the month of December, and I'm seriously excited to share their ideas with you! There are a few holiday points that they want me to make before we proceed with this month's first of four installments; they say these two points are very important things to remember this holiday season and beyond! 1. WATCH joyous things like ELF or your favorite holiday movie that makes you think of laughter, singing, giving, and acting like a 10 year old. The elves want to make clear that the more joyous you are in your daily routine, the more light your being in both luminosity and weight, and the easier you can uplift all those around you! 2. DON'T WATCH negative things like the news, crime shows about murder, and depressing talk shows about crumbling relationships or other nerve-striking topics. The less you conflict and inflict your joy with pain, the easier it is to maintain. (Sorry, the elves like to rhyme, it's been very hard keepin...

It's that time of year.... The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) club we're in has peaked! Last week we brought home a truckload of tomatoes and peppers peppers peppers! and so it's SALSA time again! Last year was my first canning/jarring experience. It was grand. Despite learning a valuable lesson about shielding my eyes, nose, and nails from those spicy peppers, and burning myself once or twice on that steam from the boiling jars, I had a very successful yield of about twenty jars of salsa that became our family Christmas presents! I sampled several recipes in order to use all our vegetables, and chopped my heart out.... this is what we came up with: Chinacat Salsa ** 12 cups* cored, chopped tomatoes [ i use some yellow tomatoes to sweeten it up ] *(or about 14-15 medium toms) 2 12 ounce cans organic tomato paste 3 cups (or 4medium) chopped onions 2 cups lemon juice (or 8medium lemons squeezed) 8-10 jalepenos, seeded, finely chopped 4-6 long green or red chiles, see...

Last week I started a series on Wedding Ideas but realized this weekend I needed to halt that for a week for the most important day of the year: MOTHER'S DAY! Mom is Number One, so how do we treat her so? Here are some ideas I've gathered over the years of DIY presents as well as those last-minute ideas you can do if it's Friday and you've forgotten to mail the mom's day gift! First, if you can get something out today, DO. One thing we forget is that you can't mail a card this week and expect it to get there in the usual amount of time. The USPS dubs this week as one of the busiest weeks of the year, second only to the entire month of December, so don't forget to allow for all those extra cards in the mail along with yours! Now down to the nitty gritty... DIY ideas first. 1. MOM'S RECIPES/COOK BOOK. The best idea I've heard this year was actually in honor of a mother who had passed away, but I think it's an even better idea for a gift. Take a...

Re-Gift: something that you've gotten as a gift but either don't like, doesn't fit, or you won't ever use and you either put it in the Salvation Army pile or you (gasp!) throw it out. This touchy subject brings up several notions of "white elephant" and "gag" presents and Etiquette 101 from grandma. But you either regift or you don't, and if you do, here are some helpful tips to making sure you're not faux-pas-ing yourself into the BadGirl corner where you may never receive any gifts ever again! (Perish the thought!) I learned about regifting when I was a very small girl. As an only child, my gifts piled up after each holiday, and my "oh-so-thoughtful" mother started a wonderful ritual for me that I always assumed everyone did... after a big loot-earning holiday we'd assess my toy box. At about 2'x4'x2', there wasn't much room in this storage bench for all the toys. So before putting the new toys in there,...

A few weeks back I added two posts for making your own face products. Along that same home-factory-idea line is the typical bath salt. I laugh when I see them in the store for $15, when it's often only $1 of Epsom or Sea Salt and a few drops of essential oil, plus $10 of preservatives you DON'T want on your body! I making salt baths more regularly after a car accident several years ago that left my back in a pretty poor state of health. I was taking a pain-bath about 3-4x a week and it helped immensely. Now I take them for all sorts of reasons: relaxation, menstral cramps, headaches, chest colds, aching muscles, and psoriasis flare-ups. The salt is the base to this so let's start there! SALT First, all salts are sea salts either mined as rock or evaporated from the saline solution. Sea salt is sodium chloride, and is used in cooking and cosmetics. "Dead Sea Salt" is proven to have the highest content of body-healing minerals it it, from the Dead Sea. Table s...

1st Disclaimer: This isn't my idea. But it's a great one for a baby gift in hard economic times nonetheless, that is if you've got the crafty DIY gene like I inherited from mom! The link above is to the initial pattern I found online for a baby sling from KarmaBaby, but I'm here to make that process a little more easy on you. I had to enlist SuperMom for translation, so I'll take the liberty in assuming you won't quite understand KarmaBaby's pattern either... Let's get crackin'! You'll need: two yards of fabric of a slightly stretchy/giving cotton blend (she suggests 90% cotton/10% lycra, but my all-cotton worked fine). sewing machine and thread, this pattern's so easy a hand-held sewer will work, but don't translate that to "sew this by hand", that won't be quick or easy. Handhelds are just that, a small version of a sewing machine you hold in your hand. measuring tape sharp scissors 2nd Disclaimer: My images are with wh...