What's the best homemade Christmas gift you made or Christmas craft that you received this past year? I'm trying to get some ideas for next year.
Nancy from Milton, FL
I made a lot of jewelry, nothing overly fancy. Things people could wear everyday. I gave them to my son's teachers, relatives and friends, they were all so excited and loved them. You can get most of the supplies on sale throughout the year. I also made personalized stationary for those who write letters a lot.
Good luck.
Kim
(01/15/2007)
By Kim
My daughter made us all the fleece blankets where you tie strips all around the side and boy are they warm. I make baskets of goodies for everyone; brownie and cookie mixes, etc. I also took a wicker basket and put lights in it and then cinnamon scented pine cones. This puts a great scent in the air and is nice to look at year round. (01/15/2007)
By suzanne
This gift wasn't homemade, but it certainly could have been and its the coolest thing, a crocheted or knitted scarf, with a pocket on each end. You wrap it once around your neck, starting at the front and let the ends hang down. The pockets are great for holding your cell phone or your sunglasses, or even some cash and your lipstick. Great for your kids outdoor sporting events and you don't have to carry a purse. The pocket itself is the width of the scarf, and about 6 inches deep. (01/16/2007)
By Lisa Mutton
If you like to scrapbook, I made mini-scrapbooks inside little Christmas tins (found them at Wal-mart looked like little lunch pails with the Coca-Cola Santa on them). I tied a ribbon to the handle, so they could use it as an ornament for their tree and put photos of each Christmas in it as a keepsake. They are very easy to make. You just need card stock, and Christmas scrapbook paper to match and I used a little embellishment on the lid backed with the cardstock and scrapbook paper.
The teachers really loved them. You also can make these out of Altoids tins and decorate them for any occasion by using Modge Podge to protect the paper on the outside. If you have more questions, just let me know and I can explain more in detail. (01/16/2007)
By Lisa
I received homemade peanut butter cups. They were so good. I do want to try the chocolate dipped spoons they seemed to be popular this year, too. (01/16/2007)
By Brenda
I wouldn't say I made anything too exciting this year, but I had fun and the gifts only cost pennies. I used my computer to make small teacher gifts. I found sites that had free printables. I made candy bar wrappers, microwave popcorn wrappers, hot chocolate packet envelopes, tea and coffee envelopes and probably something else I'm forgetting.
My sister-in-law made our two children those fleece throws that are cut and tied around all 4 sides. She is not crafty either so they must be easy to make. They are so cute and our kids really like them and use them. (01/16/2007)
Two weeks ago I made wreath-shaped ornaments from jigsaw puzzle pieces that I sprayed gold, and some fancy ribbon I had on hand. One puzzle made 24 ornaments. I am ready for next year. I did these 14 years ago in green with red holly berries and they were very well received, even by our business associates. They cost less than .50 each, even if you have to buy everything. Good luck. (01/16/2007)
By
I made gift tags from old fashioned brown card luggage ties that tie on with string. I glued onto them cut up Victorian piano sheet music featuring the words to Christmas carols and showing the musical notes and writing on the reverse with gold gel pen or felt tip pen. They cost next to nothing, but looked fantastic. I also used spare sheet music and rolled each page into scrolls and tied them with red ribbon for tree decorations.
For each family I got some plain metallic glass balls/baubles and wrote on them with silver and gold marker pens the name of every person in that particular family and the year eg., Joshua 2006, Samuel 2006. That way everyone in the family had a personalized tree decoration.
Carol (01/16/2007)
By carol
This year I made floor pillows for all 8 of my grandkids. I made them with material of their interest. For 2 of the granddaughters, I made them out of kitten material, one grandson was cars material, one grandson was Michigan material, the twin 11-year-old boys I put their names on them and the rest were different fleece and denim. They really loved them. It was really neat to have a living room floor covered with 8 grandkids laying on their own pillow, neat Christmas. (01/16/2007)
By Barbara
I also had a cheap or inexpensive gift. I typed poems and sayings and printed them on pretty paper. I bound them with pretty ribbon. For the kids I printed off coloring pages and made them up the same way. One friend loves animals, exotic ones like chinchilla and rabbit and sugar glider. Anyway, I found poems about animals. I was the most proud of hers. She seemed excited. (01/16/2007)
By sandy
I cut pretty pictures out of Xmas gift wrap and glued them on thin cardboard, painted the back of the cardboard, some took 2 or 3 coats of paint. Be sure to dry between each coat, then I decoupaged the pictures to the cardboard. Be sure to trim the pictures to fit the cardboard, and if you want you can also paint the edge of the cardboard, too. Then I sealed it with laminating paper, but first on the back I wrote, "When this you hang upon your tree, please take a moment to remember me.", then signed and dated it. Very cheap and easy to make, and everyone loved them.
Rose (01/16/2007)
By Rosa
I bought some Gooseberry Patch books on clearance at their site. They have tons of ideas in them. You should check it out. (01/16/2007)
By Michele
I stuffed clear Xmas balls with the crinkly paper; stippled with the "no fire" snow, leaving a clear area and then hung small ornaments on the inside. I made fleece tube hats, yarn covered hangers, but most and the best was donations to organizations: humane society, breast cancer foundation, etc. though my grandkids weren't too happy. It seems like we all have too much "stuff" and there are so many that have too little. (01/18/2007)
By pam froelich
Well this past year, I kind of cheated and bought the fleece throws. I had problems with my back and couldn't get to cross stitch the names. A friend used her embroidery machine and did the names for my family on the blankets in cool colors, like purple blankets and gold letters for LSU. She put their names and the hunters got green with bright orange letters. I also did make candle holders with green tapered candles, with three candy canes glued curled side down at three equal sides to form the candle holder and you can burn it. I usually make an ornament and tie it to the top of the candle.
I like to make bath salts with equal parts of Epsom and sea salt. Adding essential oil of choice and coloring for soap making or bath salts. Mix well and let air dry. Place in jar containers or even small craft Zip bags for single or multiple use. This is a great gift. I have also made the soup in a jar and these recipes are readily found on the internet (here's one Soup Mix in a Jar Recipe; recipezaar.com.
And I purchased at the Dollar store soup mugs. This makes a great gift for family and other relatives, same with the cookie in a jar and include the extras there like potholder, cookie cutter if needed, bowl, etc. and place in the bowl. Use a Dollar Tree shrink wrap and it looks great, same with hot cocoa treats, etc.
Clay pot gifts are also cute, like an 8-inch pot painted brown, painted like a reindeer using a washer and bells in the hole with jute. Then paint a pair of wooden ears and glue on top, this would make a great gift. Spray or brush with urethane to preserve it.
Cross stitch in a corner on a bread cloth or paint on a cloth or sew a Christmas cloth and fray ends, buy a basket, make or buy some frozen bread rolls and bring that day to include for the gift. Gosh, almost can't stop, but I am going on and on. Hope some of these helped
Love and God Bless
Kay (02/08/2007)
By vk567
I made little Turtle Plushies for my nieces for Christmas. They only cost about a dollar a piece to make. I made them out of felt and floss, then glued little googly eyes on them and drew a mouth with a marker. They are so cute. (11/04/2007)
By Nicole
I made animal magnets for my nephew for Christmas this year. I used 66 cent paintable suncatchers from Wal-mart and acrylic paint. Then I cut magnet strips (also from Wal-mart) and stuck those on the back. They are big enough for him to hold and play with on the refrigerator without losing them or dropping them, plus they were cheap and cute. What better way to go than that. (11/04/2007)
By Samantha
Christmas used to be the holiday in our family. Then we started becoming over-run with grandkids and I no longer could afford gifts for everyone. I felt so sad and brokenhearted. I thought for about a year or more, what could I do? And what meant so much to me when I was a kid. My dear old German grandma and aunt, could cook for God Himself and please Him.
Grandma, each year at Christmas, made this fudge recipe, that is dropped by spoonfuls. It makes over 100 pieces. And it's way better than any other I've ever tasted. So I thought, that's it. Grandma's fudge. That's what they all look forward to each year now. I just go to the Dollar store and pick up inexpensive plastic "tins" and fill em up. Of course, I've branched out making other little goodies also. But it's always the fudge that gets the rave reviews. (05/12/2008)
I make gingerbread houses and chocolate sleighs using a chocolate mold, I fill the sleighs with cheap sweets. (11/22/2008)
By laura
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Does cooking count as a craft? Every year, starting in early fall when produce is abundant and reasonably priced, I stock up on such things as apples, carrots, pumpkins and make then can an array of goodies. The recipes vary a bit from year to year and include apple chips, apple chutney, pumpkin ginger jam, carrot cake jam ... well, you get the drift.
Decorating the jars is relatively simple, and hand-made consumables are always welcome in collections of 3 or 4 jars or even just one as a hostess gift or something for the teacher.
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