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Gift Ideas ... the GROWING LIST ...add your ideas/instructions here!

48K views 138 replies 90 participants last post by  Xenia V 
#1 ·
Gift Ideas - A List ...
I put this together with the last two years of being online...I'm sure I could add more to it by now, since I haven't added to it since last holiday season, so feel free to add your ideas!!!


1. Candles- Make candles and or buy candles and decorate them with dried flowers, using melted parafen wax to make them stick!
2. Create a cookbook with your favorite recipes and recipes you've collected online
3. Cookies, Jams, Breads, etc
4. Jelly, Applesauce, Salsa, Herb Vinegar, Oils
5. Lavender dream pillows
6. Calender with pics of your family and or friends
7. Bath Salts, tub tea etc.
8. Homemade soaps FUN to make
9. Build a puppet stage and make puppets
10. Build a simple dollhouse
11. Make fleece throws
12. Pillows and blankets for living room
13. Dolls for children are fun to make! Free instructions online
14. Basket, stuffed with a strand of white lights inside, put dried flowers and eucalyptus out the top of the basket and a simple fabric bow at top
15. Make Paper, or buy pretty paper and make envelopes, creating a stationary set!
16. Photos in decorated frames make great gifts
17. Brownies or Cookies in a jar! Layered
18. Quillow (quilt that folds into a small pocket and becomes a pillow)
19. Scarves, hats
20. Paint flower pots, give them as gifts with some seeds and a trowel for children
21. Placemats and napkins from cloth
22. Weave a basket!
23. Bead jewelry
24. Buy a wooden rack/tray/decoration from the craft store, and paint it, decorate it, get creative!
25. Take some shells and fill them with wax and candle wicks, viola...candles by the shore!
26. Bath kit or massage kits
27. Liquors
28. Bath Bombs
29. Caligraphy (frame a saying, poem, or song)
30. Personalize a journal. Buy a blank book for $3 at the bookstore and insert old postcards, pictures, sayings, poems, whatever! Make it special!
31. Learning boards -you could make a montessori style board set for very cheap that teaches how to do buttons, zippers, velcro, snaps etc. You just cut these things off of old clothing and either sew them together onto a fabric cube, stuffed with poly fill, or tack them onto small boards with furniture tacks. You could paint the backs with numbers, letters etc.
32. Doll slings are still kind of fun in cool prints!
33. Or treasure sacks in some print the boys will like with little inexpensive gifts such as coloring books, clay, etc.
34. You can give a child age 3-7 a homemade clay set with the ingredients needed, instructions, and a tool or two to use with it. Then the child can make their own clay, then play with it!
35. A dress up / magic box is a decorated box with homemade simple costumes (a cape, a silly hat, glasses etc). You could put together a theme of some sort and give it as a gift
36. Make a photo album alphabet style book for a child.
Make a simple book with paper and string or buy one premade and write a letter on each page in lower case. Then glue photos of real life objects from THEIR lives that they know to help with the phonic connection!
You can use puffy paint or felt for the letters to give them a texture for learning purposes.
 
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#52 ·
hi shelly
my recipes are:
about 2 cups olive oil, almond oil, or other nice oil. (i use olive)
about 2 cups total herbs like, lavender, comfrey, etc. (goods herbs for healing)
put in pan on very low heat. you do not want to boil the herbs just VERY VERY gentle simmer then for about an hour.
strain out the herbs thru cheese cloth or a thin kitchen towel.
place oil back in clean pan and add to start 2 ounces of bees wax let wax melt in oil. you can also add coconut oil the thick kind.
if you have to make it thicker after it cools add more wax, thinner add more oil.
pour while still warm into little jars and let cool. thats when youll know if it is the right consistancy.
most of all have fun.
maya
 
#57 ·
Hi! this year I made decongestion rub(kind of a non-petroleum "Vicks") with olive oil, beeswax, E.O.s of eucalyptus, wintergreen and spearmint, and a vit E capful, also, ath jellis with gelatin, clear liquid soap, foodcolor, EO and a toy or silk flower, ect in clear jar, and small cloth bags of mulling spice(crushed cinamon sticks, cloves, nutmeg and dehydrated orange peel-organic best) the decongestant ru is excellent for sore muscles, too. If anyone wants ingrediant amounts, I can post them.(I'm sure they are somewhere in the craft room under all the stuff...)
 
#58 ·
i make a lot of polymer clay covered pens, i make a few big canes of pretty patterns like rainbow chrysanthemums or simple tie-dye looking circles and keep them handy for covering the pens. you can use Sculpey or Fimo or any polymer clay.

- take a Bic Stic pen and remove the ink/nib with pliers and set aside
- roll out scrap clay to #5 on a pasta machine (1/16" thick) and cover the pen barrel with that, trimming off excess and smoothing the seam
- slice your cane with a razor blade or tissue blade and cover the whole thing. maybe put a pretty crystal on the top of the pen and press it in. roll the pen to get it all nice and smooth. trim off any excess.
- i like to make a grooved grip, i use a thin paintbrush handle and roll the pen with it 3 or 4 times near the place where you hold the pen, to make nice grooves.
- fold plain ol' printer paper or notebook paper into an accordion, and place a pen in each fold (keeps them from rolling).
- bake them at 275° for 15 minutes and let cool.
- you can also do plain-colored pens and add squiggles and shapes with clay rolled out at #5 on a pasta machine, kids are especially good at those kinds of pens

- you can varnish them with Future floor varnish, or just buff them with a soft cloth for a soft shine.
- replace the ink/nib using the pliers to guide it in (don't press down on the tip and smoosh it!). remember to include instructions on how to replace the ink with pliers, any Bic refill will work, even the glitter gel ones!

see http://www.polymerclaycentral.com for more pen ideas
everyone i know loves these pens, especially when i make them to match the picture frames or trinket boxes i make for them. they turn out nice and thick and easier to hold on to!
 
#60 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by pammysue
Anyone have any other great ideas for dried lavender?

Have you seen Lavender Dryer Bags? Easy to make! These are little sachets made of muslin or other cotton cloth, maybe 2" x 3" or so, filled with dried lavender. Put one in each load of laundry that you put in the dryer for nice smelling laundry!

-Marla
 
#61 ·
Fabulous idea! See these are the things I kick myself and say "why didn't I think of that!"

I am going to make some today.


BTW-I made the lavendar rice pillows for x-mas presents, and everyone loved them. They turned out great! I gave one to a co-worker who was having knee surgery and she said it was the best cold pack she had becuase it formed to her knee and got to every part.

I found a great tip when I went looking around on the net. One site suggested using tea leaves in with the rice. So, if you wanted a chamomile pillow, you could just put some loose chamomile tea in!

PS- Welcome to MDC Marla!
 
#62 ·
I havent read the entire thread so sorry if this repeated... I was thinking today that it would be nice to make half a dozen or a dozen wipes, maybe 2 layer flannel or flannel/terry, a small wetbag to put them in, and add a spray bottle and make a nice little gift basket for a CDing mom with a new baby.
 
#65 ·
This isn't nearly as crafty as other people's suggestions, but you can Tivo TV shows, miniseries, etc. and then burn to DVD. It requires some planning, but you can give someone an entire season of their favorite TV show with the commercials edited out.

My brother Tivo'ed the "Into The West" miniseries for me, and we're going to give it to my dad for Christmas. We're actually going to have to copy them to VHS, and I'd like to put all the tapes in a decorative box. Maybe I could even make a themed gift out of it--add a jar of home-canned baked beans, some homemade jerky, a homemade hand salve (and call it something like Cowboy Salve :LOL ), and a bandana-type handkerchief.
 
#70 ·
I am doing a gift for my dad that could be given to most guys. I bought a decent wooden bread board and I am going to bake a loaf of bread and give him a jar of peach jam that I made this summer. I think it would be nice wrapped in a new basic dish towel-some gn colors.

I am thinking of making a cookbook for my sil. She is a super picky eater and keeps on coming up with things that she can't eat. Can't decide if it will be worth all the work. May do something easier for her since she will probably throw it out anyway.

For my bro I am going to give him a coupon book for alterations and baked goods. I think I will do one a month. Maybe it will be a half year version or something. I will decorate it with some cool pictures.

I did make some lavender soap earlier last month and I will make those lavender rice bags to go with it too. That will make a lovely gift!

I enjoy creating my own cards and plan to make a few packs for other family members and some friends too.
 
#71 ·
I saw this in a toy catalogue and thought it was a great idea.

It is a flat, gingerbread man shaped bag that has gingerbread spices in it. You warm it up in your microwave and it is toasty warm and smells great.

It reminds me of my rice bags and herbal bags. I can't imagine that it would be very difficult to make.
The commercial product looks smooth and flat, probably not made of small loose material such as rice.
I haven't figured otu how much or what kind of spices to put in it.

If anyone has any ideas to complete these ideas that would be great. I want to make them for my son's friends and my niece.
 
#72 ·
This year I made all the mothers lace shawls and my girlfriends are getting wrist warmers. I think I might make a few for the guys as well..... they usually only take one skein of yarn for both so it is some what inexpensive. For my sister and sil I am making needle cases out of fabric I found at local thrift shops and my dh is making them wooden knitting needles. For the thousands of neices and nephews I have I am making them "bad dream eating monsters" out of thirft store felt and buttons............ they are turning out really cute too! I also made shrinky dink ear rings for my dd's school friends and to have on hand in case I forgot someone (I usually do our families are HUGE)
 
#73 ·
i haven't read thru completely so may be repeating here but...
-so far this year I made quilts and pillows for my dnieces baby dolls using left over fabric and the batting used was portions of a torn mattress pad we are unable to use anymore. the stuffing for the pillows was filler from another past project and even many scrapped remnant fabric pieces have made some beautiful doll quilts, dress up capes etc in the past.
-my sisters and i have an agreement that gifts have to be handmade and less than $10 in cost for supplies, this yearthey are all getting runners for their tables made of fabric remnants
-i have bought the simple canvas bags and aprons in the past for grandparents and friends. my kids use their handprints and footprints to create beautiful scenes. they have done caterpillars and butterflies and dragons etc by using prints and fingertips and i paint with puff paint first (and let dry for 24 hrs.) things like 'Nana's Handbag' -looks adoreably w/ handprint pictures, or "Joshuas Treasure's' on a bitty canvas bag the perfect size for trains etc.
-you can applique fabric remnant pics on aprons as well or use the iron on transfers, or a combo, i have found aprons perfect for this for very cheap at $stores and ocean state job lot
-I've gotten pillow forms and made covers combined with fabric remnants and antique linens and doilies- they have all turned out beautifully and quite impressive
and very easy and quick
-for awesome belts take tapestried ribbon, or grossgrain- or whatever you choose- long enough to be doubled, use 2 d rings (made for beltmaking-pretty cheap) and I use fabric glue and a matching thread to stitch along the outer edge of the ribbon stitching each side together---awesome gift for teens

ribbon can be expensive but watch for closeouts etc
-last yr for my sisters i bought 4x4"tiles from home depot, stamped and colored (w/perm craft markers) then baked on 350 for 20 mins to set, then sprayed w/acrylic(?) spray and stuck cork on the bottom. also a great teachers gift as a single w/ a mug i did sets of 4 for my sis', made magnets w/ dominos in similar manner
will prob be back later with more

lots of great ideas on this thread and I wanna read em all

thanks
 
#75 ·
Wooo, what great ideas. I'll do the lavender rice pillows this year and maybe some lavender sticks as well. Last year we made rolled beeswax candles. The guy who sells honey at our local farmer's market was selling sheets of beeswax and wick. DD#1 was really able to help and it was super easy and quick.
 
#76 ·
All of these ideas are FANTASTIC!!!
My sister and I always make the women in our family homemade gifts each year. We made fleece scarves by cutting the fleece and a piece of silk the same size and sewed them together so the scarf would be "rubbie" on one side and warm on the other. Then we embelished the fleece side a little. Too cute!
Tote bags made from vintage linens and buttons were a big hit too. We added a small clear vinyl pocket on the front to slide a family pic into.

For children - Memory Game made from family photos. (Great for remembering family members that live far away)
Supplies - double pics of family members
funky contact paper
Line the backs of photos with the contact paper (you could also cover the front with clear)

To play you could just play plain old memory for younger children, but for older childern have them make 'matches' by matching family members when they flip the cards. Like mommies and kids. spouses etc

Thanks again for all the great ideas
 
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