ccaggiano, I agree that the raspberry chocolate jam is one to make when berries are in season! (And preferably at Pick-your-own prices. This summer I got young nieces who were visiting to help with the picking---definitely the ideal way to go for that one. ;-) ) Your thought to go with something cranberry makes sense to me given the time of year. (Cranberries were on sale here last week for only 1.99 a 3-cup bag; maybe you'll get a sale this week!) I haven't tried the brandied conserve but I've made the Cranberry Pear Lemon jam from Small Batch---it rocks, and makes a lovely deep red-coloured jar for gifting. Decent pears are usually still available from California. Another good option for this time of year might be some kind of orange or tangerine marmalade thing. But I don't have a specific suggestion for a good one, and people's tastes vary widely as to whether they like bitter or sweet marmalades. Habanero gold is another possibility---make it mild (with just a hint of hab and mostly sweet peppers). It looks SO pretty. One package of dried apricots, a four-pack of sweet peppers and one or two hot peppers should do it. Use Carol's big batch "Hot 'n Sweet Confetti Jelly" version to save on pectin costs. The other key to economical gift-giving is to give four-ounce jars---they are cute and the recipients like 'em just as much as half-pint jars. (OTOH, if you HAVE half-pint jars, you won't be saving by buying a new box of jars. ;-) ) Good luck and have fun. I agree with sage721 that your homemade gifts will be deeply appreciated. Z, who gives pretty much EVERYONE homemade gifts these days

As the mother of a teacher, I will offer one piece of advice - do not buy "Favorite Teacher" or "#1 Teacher" type items like mugs, magnets, picture frames, tree ornaments, jewelry, etc. I truly understand that some children go shopping for their teacher and pick out these type of things and that is all they can afford, but responsible parents like you can prevent some of this. I truly do understand and sympathize with the feelings of so many, that it's great to have parents chip in and buy a useful gift, or it's great to get teachers something they can use for the classroom. And if that's the way teachers and parents feel, of course that's a perfectly fine way to go. But I'd like to present the other side. The side of the young mothers who do let their kids give home baked gifts and buy trinkets like #1 Teacher. When my kids were little, they were so excited about Christmas. They loved to bake cookies for the teacher and buy #1 Teacher mugs/figures, etc. We were on a very tight budget, and my kids did not want to give a group gift, they wanted to give their own gift. As a young mother, once I realized how many useless gifts teachers got, I started adding a "useful" gift along with my kids' "useless" gifts. It seemed to disappoint my kids in a subtle way, like their terrific gift they picked so carefully wasn't good enough to stand alone. One day I started really listening to my kids, and they were so convinced that candy was the greatest gift ever, not hand sanitizer for the classroom. You know, I was one of those "responsible" parents, but I regrouped and let my kids just give candy, or homemade cookies, or a tacky teacher mug. I looked down at that little excited face, so passionately explaining that there is no way the teacher will like soap as well as chocolate, and I bought the chocolate. Some teachers do like to have their room representative take up a collection for a group gift. I always wound up taking up the collection myself if I was room rep for a teacher who wanted that. I'm not knocking teachers or parents who want to give/get something useful rather than another plate of cookies. I don't think there is any right or wrong way to gift a teacher. Pick whichever way you like, or both. But not all moms who let their children give useless trinkets are irresponsible. My children had wonderful, wonderful, wonderful teachers. I loved them so much and still do. Some of my kids' elementary school teachers are Facebook friends, even after all these years. I tried to always be supportive in any way I could, and they have always been so very supportive of me. As my children got older, they understood the concept of useful gifts better, and they chose "better" gifts. They also sometimes wrote their former teachers notes telling them how much they enjoyed being in their classes. Entirely on her own with no prompting from me, my daughter baked cookies for her favorites, brought them coffee from Starbucks or biscuits from Chick-Fil-A with money she worked hard to earn herself. She also wrote lovely thank you notes for teachers who helped her with her college essays and wrote college recommendations. Maybe she would have done that anyway, but I think she "caught" the joy of giving to her teachers as a little girl. Because she chose the gifts she liked when she was little, she was more invested in the process. When I worked in the corporate world, I got wonderful gifts from some of my clients. Flowers delivered, gift certificates for meals at nice restaurants, funny posters, etc. Fast forward many years later, and I now work in the field of adult literacy. My "clients" are now mostly people not living in favorable circumstances. I can now attest that the most useful, beloved, treasured gift is to have a student call and leave a message on my cell phone, "Miss Daisy, I passed my test!!!!!! I couldn't have done it without you!!!!! Thank you sooooooo much for all you did!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you did for me. Miss Daisy, I loooooooooove you!!!!" That is better than flowers or gift certificates. There is nothing my students could buy me that is better than getting an excited hug from a former addict with prison tats on her arms, who is clean and getting her life together and who passed her test. I would rather have that than a solid diamond bracelet. When my kids were in school I still donated kleenex, hand sanitizer, post-it notes and the like. I wrote thank you notes and gave "useful" gifts at the end of the school year or during teacher appreciation week. But I don't regret letting my kids get those dime store gifts at Christmas or make those cookies, even if the teachers threw them out as soon as they got home. I am now the one spending my own money for some of my supplies. It's expensive. I think it's great for parents or anybody to donate useful things for the classroom. But please don't label as irresponsible a young mother who lets her little girl give yet another World's Greatest Teacher mug.

This is a little late for this year but I wanted to share the response to the teacher appreciation gift I made for a 1st grade niece. She is always "designing" things for herself for us to embroidery. Last fall she came up with her idea but it didn't get stitched out until much later. It was the name of her school on the first row, elementary school on the next row, 5 stick kids on the 3rd row & "a fun place to learn" on the 4th row. She wore her's to school around spring break & her teacher commented that she needed one of those. She also had some flip flops she'd tied gingham check strips of fabric onto to match the pants she wore with her shirt. The teacher was admiring those too. As it got closer to school ending, she wanted to do flip flops for her herself & me make her a shirt. She gave it to her the day before school ended & she wore it the last day. I picked my niece up when school let out & she had a note with names & phone numbers of teachers that wanted to purchase one for themselves. Her teacher told her to give the note to her Mom so it wouldn't do for me to get it. Her Mom got with me on a price & started calling the teachers. She spoke with one she knew personally & she told her that all the first grade teachers had seen it on their hall, but when they went to lunch, the poor teacher couldn't eat for answering questions & standing up to model her outfit. She told her they were having a final teacher's meeting the following morning & she would pass the info on to those who may not have seen the gift. So ever who wanted to know what everybody was doing????? My answer is "Embroiderying shirts for school teachers".

I have removed the overgrown bushes from the front of the house and the widow from the garage has been replaced with a bigger window. Need suggestions for: Front door color - I’ve been thinking maybe SW Rosemary Shutter color - paint, stain, remove?? Surround for the new window. White siding to match the rest of the siding. Wood siding that can be stained??? Garage door color - paint to match from door, paint white????