Autumn Inspired Gift Tags & Make Your Own Hostess Gift Ideas

"Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love — that makes life and nature harmonize. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a pefect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

~ George Eliot

Oh autumn, you inspire dreaminess... But you also inspire hospitality with all your warm and cozy charm! We have a desire to sit around the fire with something hot in the hands to sooth the chill while we embrace conversation and simply enjoy the precious act of fellowship. While it is wonderful to be invited into a home, it is even more enjoyable to prepare a little gift of appreciation and love for the hostess. This is something my mother had always done and I have tried to keep her lovely tradition. Here is a list of practical (but pretty) hostess gift ideas that can be made from what you have at home which have that fantastic "fall" feeling.  We are also sharing some autumn inspired gift tags to give them with.

Cornbread Mix-in-a-Jar

(Gluten-free flour can be replaced in this recipe if need be and who doesn't like cornbread?

Printable recipe and label kit is included.)

"Give Thanks" Printable Art 

(Paint a thrift store frame to match the recipient's house as an inspirational gift.)



"Give Thanks" Vintage Bookmark Set

(These are a nice small size for mailing out to a loved one or someone in need of cheering up.)

Granola-in-a-Jar

(A simple ribbon around a recycled jar and you have a wonderful and useful gift!)

Mulling Spices and/or Simmering Potpourri

(These can be packed in small jars or decorated cellophane bags.)



mulling spice sugar scrub

Mulling Spice Room Spray

(You can prepare all three mulling spice recipes for an extra fancy gift.)

Pumpkin Seed Packets

(You can use these for roasted pumpkin seed snacks or actual seeds to plant.

Bundle them up with ribbon or twine for extra effect.)



Apple Cider Scrap Vinegar

(This will take some time to ferment but would make a lovely gift when bottled up and labeled.)



Apple Cinnamon Syrup 

(This recipe is made frugally with the peels and cores leftover from all your apple projects!)

Orange Extract

(Attach a favorite recipe to use the orange extract with for extra fun!

An orange extract vintage label, gift tag and recipe card printable are also included.

Start this gift now as this will take at least a month to infuse.)

Orange Peel Potpourri

(This can be given in a cellophane bag with ribbon, inside a decorative mason jar or thrift store bowl.)

Citrus Peel Tea Blends

(Present this in a decorated mason jar or recycled tin with ribbon.)

Orange Bath Powders

(Present this in a recycled jar or make your own apothecary style jar.)

Orange Sugar Scrub

(Prepare a bath set by giving both of the orange body product recipes we shared.)

Citrus Infused Cleaning Product Set

(This set would be darling inside an old pail and wrapped in cellophane.)

A basket of homemade herbal remedies would also make a welcoming gift for fall and winter.  And of course, a jar of home-canned anything with a bit of decorative charm is always appreciated!  Dig up some fabric scraps and ribbon and enjoy creating a homemade gift from the heart! For some beautiful and frugal gift wrapping ideas, you will want to visit The Bluebirds are Nesting.



Some of the autumn clip art is courtesy of Little Birdie Blessings, The Graphics Fairy and Reading Roses and Prose. To access our autumn labels, simply download from HERE. We printed ours on white card-stock, hole punched them and added some ribbon. What will you give with yours?

"... and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said,

It is more blessed to give than to receive."

~ Acts 20:35

All the fine print. This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, The Homesteader Hop, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Five Star Frou Frou Friday, and Shabbilicious Friday. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. This post may contain affiliate links (which are merchant links that help to support this site at no additional cost to you if you purchase an item through them).

The Art of Home-Making Mondays ~ Please Join Us ~ Link Up #76

When preparing aromatic "logs for the fire you will need only one drop of essential oil per log and only one oil-log per fire. Surprisingly perhaps, this one drop will be enough to provide an aromatic boost... You can use any old wood that happens to be around, but the fire will smell like the wood from which the particular oil was extracted. Simply put 1 drop of a “Firewood” oil onto the log and leave enough time for the oil to soak through before putting it on the fire. The essential oils are inflammable so unless the oil has been given time to soak into the wood a little, you might see more sparks than you bargained for! It is a good idea to prepare several logs at the same time and use them as needed." 

FIREWOOD OILS:
Sandalwood
Frankincense
Cypress
Myrrh
Cedarwood

~ Valerie Ann Worwood, The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy

There are so many wonderful features in the making of a home. This is a place where I would love for you to share your love for anything home-related. Homemaking, homeschooling and homesteading are all a part of the lovely art of home-making!

~~Please link up posts in the spirit of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 (such as recipes, godly encouragement, DIY's, frugal living, child-raising, medicine making, preparedness, gardening, home decoration, school lessons, sewing, crafts, etc).~~ You are welcome to share as many posts as you like!

* Please visit a few of our features from last week's link up: *

1. How to Make Pretty Tea-Time Cards by Beautiful Girlhood ~ This idea is so sweet and simple. I just *love * it!

2. Make a Hoop House to Extend Your Growing Season by The Homesteading Hippy ~  This really works wonders! We did this with peppers and couldn't believe the results.

3. Impossibly Easy Vegetable Pie by Julie's Lifestyle ~ I am always looking for easy to make "egg" recipes for our farmhouse menus. This one fits the bill perfectly!

4. Time Machines by Lilac Cottage Homemaker ~ Travel back into homemaking history with Kelly's antique cookbook collection. I really enjoyed seeing her chest of goodies!

5. The Most Important Thing You Can Do by Dr. Michelle Bengtson ~ Excellent encouragement for those heartbreaking seasons in our earthly life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On to this week! For the sake of our readers, please link up appropriate and wholesome home-related articles and leave out any giveaways, advertisements, etc. Thank you for understanding! I can't wait to see what you all have to share! 

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This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Roses of Inspiration, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. 

Theodore Roosevelt's Tough but True Child Raising Advice

"Into the woman’s keeping is committed the destiny of the generations to come after us. In bringing up your children you mothers must remember that while it is essential to be loving and tender it is no less essential to be wise and firm. Foolishness and affection must not be treated as interchangeable terms; and besides training your sons and daughters in the softer and milder virtues, you must seek to give them those stern and hardy qualities which in after life they will surely need. Some children will go wrong in spite of the best training; and some will go right even when their surroundings are most unfortunate; nevertheless an immense amount depends upon the family training. If you mothers through weakness bring up your sons to be selfish and to think only of themselves, you will be responsible for much sadness among the women who are to be their wives in the future. If you let your daughters grow up idle, perhaps under the mistaken impression that as you yourselves have had to work hard they shall know only enjoyment, you are preparing them to be useless to others and burdens to themselves. Teach boys and girls alike that they are not to look forward to lives spent in avoiding difficulties, but to lives spent in overcoming difficulties. Teach them that work, for themselves and also for others, is not a curse but a blessing; seek to make them happy, to make them enjoy life, but seek also to make them face life with the steadfast resolution to wrest success from labor and adversity, and to do their whole duty before God and to man. Surely she who can thus train her sons and her daughters is thrice fortunate among women."

~ Theodore Roosevelt, On American Motherhood, 1905

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Roses of Inspiration, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Farmgirl Friday, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these.

Examining the Linen Closet or "Bed Linen" ~ Odds and Ends Series

"Fourth. Examine the trunk or closet of family linen,

and see what needs to be repaired and renewed."

~ Catharine Beecher & Harriet Stowe, The New Housekeeper's Manual, 1873

Welcome to the sixth installment of our monthly home maintenance series where we are continuing to follow some old fashioned, Victorian Era advice. This step involved examining the linen closet. Our last post discussed the "table linens" and today we will be looking at the "bed linens". We will also be offering some suggestions to make this area of your home pleasant while sharing a bit of nostalgic charm. 

"...listening respectfully to the little lecture, for the best of women will hold forth upon the all absorbing subject of house keeping. "Do you know I like this room most of all in my baby house," added Meg, a minute after, as they went upstairs and she looked into her well-stored linen closet. Beth was there, laying the snowy piles smoothly on the shelves and exulting over the goodly array."

~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

The term "linen closet" evokes a sense of romance to me. I think of what my dream one would be! A tall, white and distressed, French carved cabinet with glass doors and crystal knobs. You could see all the contents folded up lovingly through the clear panes. Floral sheets would be lined up inside featuring an array of pastel prints. And like a cottage garden, when you would open the armoir, the scent of lavender would fill the air!

"This little room is the one good housekeepers are especially fond of," she began. "Clean, white linen, polished and beautiful, is a joy to look at and handle, and every woman is proud if she has a quantity, all nicely kept. Let us begin with the shelves, taking them in order, and see what is on each."

The top one held blankets, each pair folded together smoothly and pinned up in a clean, strong piece of white cotton cloth, and labelled. The first label read, "Guest-room blankets," and when they were opened there lay a fresh, soft, fleecy pair, with a lovely border of pale pink, and edges of broad pink ribbon.

The next two or three bundles, you see, are clean, washed blankets, in pairs, laid away till they are needed. All blankets have to be put on the line in the sunshine frequently whether they are washed or not, or they may be eaten by moths...

"Here are a few clean comfortables next, on this second shelf, done up like the blankets. These have to be washed, too, and are more difficult to manage than blankets, because they are so heavy; they have to be aired often to keep them sweet, for the cotton holds odors easily. Then come the white spreads, the heavy Marseilles in one pile, the lighter ones in another, and the single ones and double ones kept separate.

"The sheets and pillow-cases are in these deep drawers. This top one has the double sheets and the best linen ones; notice how they lie in piles, each kind by itself... You must be sure when you have a washing to put away that you do not put the clean things on top of each pile, and then take them off again to use at once; put things on top and take them off the bottom of the pile, so they will all be used in turn."

~ A Little Housekeeping Book by Caroline French Benton, 1906

But alas, I have a confession to make. I do not have a linen closet, just a romantic dream of one. In fact, our old farmhouse doesn't have any such storage at all. My "linen closet" has been reduced to three plastic storage containers (which I must store above a shelf in the bedroom for lack of space while keeping our seasonal blankets in the attic). There is nothing pretty about them. My goal however, is to maintain them with love using my very best beautifying efforts. With this in mind, we affixed some labels which share the contents of each box; king, queen and twin. If you are interested in our "linen box" bedding labels, visit here for the free printable.

For the monthly maintenance of our "bed linens", we began by sorting through our bedding and examining them for any tears or holes that would require mending. Unfortunately, one such place was found.

Next, we aired out our larger blankets and comforters on the clothesline. The sun bleaches and sanitizes so very sweetly. This is a wonderful way to keep your bulky items fresher if they do not fit in your washer and/or you can not afford to take them to the cleaners for a routine washing. Fold them up neatly and stash them away until the weather calls them back into service.

We also re-arranged the sheets and our duvet covers into piles based on sizes (king, queen, twin). Then we placed the last season's bedding at the bottom and kept the new seasonal sheets on top.

For example, the earth tones and flannel sheets are for fall and winter while the soft cotton pastels claim summer and spring. 

For a romantic homemaking touch, my daughter and I sewed up little sachets filled with moth-repellent herbs (I will share details on this another day). The scent was lovely and gave us a glimpse of that linen closet vision. It is always best to make do and smile at the little things you can create, than to make no attempt at all!  

These were tucked in between the sheets with care. I am looking forward to the next bedding update to unleash the herbal aroma. An alternative to sewing sachets is to make up some quick versions with essential oils and fabric scraps (inspiration follows) or try these paper crafted versions.

"Essential oils can be left to infuse the clothes while they are in the drawer or closet. Put a drop on little pieces of natural material or cotton-wool balls and place them between the clothes... To keep moths away... use 2– 3 drops of one of the following oils. These are particularly useful when coats and woolens are stored away during the summer months:

MOTH REPELLENTS

Lavender

Rosemary

Lemongrass

Citronella

Camphor

~ Valerie Ann Worwood, The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy

"... then out came the four little work baskets,

and the needles flew as the girls made sheets for Aunt March."

~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Homemaking Hints and History:

In the days of old, women were required to make up their own sheets. As the prices are extremely high in the bedding department, many of us may be considering this notion ourselves! However, you would be surprised at what one could find at thrift stores.

I was able to purchase the king-sized striped sheets (shown above) which are from Pottery Barn for only $2 at a Salvation Army Store. They are simple enough to blend with my floral bedding and the quality alone was certainly worth it. There was nothing wrong with them whatsoever and a wash in soapy, hot water with a splash of lemon essential oil (a wonderful disinfectant) wiped out all traces of its former life.

The floral blue bedding (shown below) is a queen-sized set of Ralph Lauren sheets which I found on another trip. These were purchased for $4. Though they are a bit faded, I think it adds to their cottage charm.

To fashion inexpensive duvet covers, sew two same-sized flat sheets (in coordinating fabrics) together. You can use the duvets to cover old and stained comforters and blankets that are no longer attractive and/or matching your decor. This is a very frugal way to update the look of your bedroom!

Thus this gentle reminder, second-hand stores are an excellent place to scour if you are trying to build up a nice collection of bed linens on a budget.

"That's a housewifely taste which I am glad to see. I had a young friend who set up housekeeping with six sheets..." said Mrs. March, patting the damask tablecloths, with a truly feminine appreciation of their fineness.

~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

How do you organize your linen closet? Do you have any tips or frugal ideas in this area that you would like to share with us? Do you have a "truly feminine appreciation of their fineness" like our dear Marmee? Remember, it is not the fancy new sheets that make the difference, but the clean bedding piled on a neatly made bed which creates cozy dreams and peaceful sleeping. Everything makes a difference when mother manages her home with heaps of fresh linen and lots of love.

"The sleep of a labouring man is sweet..."

~ Ecclesiastes 5:12

Here is what we have accomplished thus far in our "Odds and Ends" Monthly Home Maintenance Series (note that some steps were placed together and altered to make for modern day needs):

Complete Steps in Series:

Step #1 ~ What Needs to Be Done in Your Home?

Step #2 ~ Restocking the Cleaning Closet

Step #2, 3, 5, 6 ~ Examining the Store-Closet, Pantry, Cellar and Such

Step #4 ~ Examining the "Table Linens"

Step #4 ~ Examining the "Bed Linens"

Step #7 Examining the Toolbox and/or "Junk Drawer"

Checklist for Preparing Your Own Maintenance:

"Odds and Ends" Monthly Home Maintenance ~ Printable Checklist

Are you ready to begin your monthly home maintenance?

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Roses of Inspiration, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these.

The Art of Home-Making Mondays ~ Please Join Us ~ Link Up #75

"This is the time of year when the urge to preserve and store is at its strongest, when every country walk is an opportunity to gather, when even the most urbanized of us may make a pot of jam, taking pleasure in such a simple task."

~ Stephanie Donaldson, The Country Store

There are so many wonderful features in the making of a home. This is a place where I would love for you to share your love for anything home-related. Homemaking, homeschooling and homesteading are all a part of the lovely art of home-making!

~~Please link up posts in the spirit of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 (such as recipes, godly encouragement, DIY's, frugal living, child-raising, medicine making, preparedness, gardening, home decoration, school lessons, sewing, crafts, etc).~~ You are welcome to share as many posts as you like!

* Sorry, no features this week, we have overnight houseguests. *

On to this week! For the sake of our readers, please link up appropriate and wholesome home-related articles and leave out any giveaways, advertisements, etc. Thank you for understanding! I can't wait to see what you all have to share! 

Please copy the button below (html code is in box below it) and share on your blog post or side-bar so others can come and join in the link up as well!

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This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Roses of Inspiration, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Coffee and Conversation, So Much at Home, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Home Acre Hop, From the Farm Blog Hop, Farmgirl Friday, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. Picture by Tasha Tudor.