Inexpensive Gifts for Friends

Running short on time and money this weekend, I came up with a craft that I can make and give to many of the women in my life. It comes out beautifully and it is easy to do. Total cost for 32 gifts is $37, including wrapping. (I will probably give 2 to each person, so in my case, it is 16 gifts, but still, that's pretty good!)

Materials:

plain glass ball ornament from craft store: 50 cents each. (I bought 32, so $16.)
2 large bags of potpourri in a pretty color (mine were shades of rose): $4.97 for two at Wal Mart
glue gun and glue sticks ($3.00 for glue gun and 1.00 for five sticks at Joann Craft store)
three spools of narrow ribbon in colors to compliment potpourri (about $1.50 total at Wal Mart)
4 yards of narrow ecru lace at Joann ($1.00 on spool)
small paper flowers in shades to compliment potpourri (mine were pink and off white)
They come about eight to a small card at Wal Mart for 77 cents a card in the craft dept. Total for these: about $4.
length of narrow decorative pearl edging, found at Wal-mart in craft dept.
Three yards at 28 cents a yard, so $1 total.

So, for under $33, enough to make 32 ornaments.

Instructions:

Take top off the glass ball and cut the hanging string off. Replace string with ribbon to hang ornament.

Fill glass ball to top with potpourri. I cut the larger pieces of potpourri with scissors. Cut or tear them unevenly for a natural look.

Place a narrow band of glue on top of ornament and replace top.

Glue lace around the top. I overlapped it a bit to make it look ruffled.

Glue a small length of the pearls or some ribbon all around the top over the lace (along the top of the lace).

Glue some paper flowers on top as well, arranging as desired.

These are easy, but require some time. The finished product is elegant and expensive looking.

To wrap mine, I bought white tissue paper for 97 cents at Wal Mart and gold curling ribbon for 97 cents. I will wrap them in the paper, tie with a ribbon, and place in Kraft style bags with Christmas motifs bought for cents each at Wal Mart. I will give each person two.

Once they are in the bags, I will punch the tops with a hole punch and thread some curling ribbon through. I will finish with gold-edge gift tags attached to the front (40 for 1.97 at Wal Mart) Total for wrapping: about $4

So, there it is. I hope this helps someone. These are an elegant, thoughtful gift.

Kateb from CT

Related:
Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas

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By 12/18/2012

Wish you had a picture. Would make it so much better than a mental visualization.

By 10/10/2009

Nice idea

By fishingal (Guest Post) 10/01/2006

I have also filled clear balls with the silver and colored strands of metallic "icicles", then wrote family
members names on the balls with a paint pen to match the colors of the icicles.

By 12/04/2005

Im low on cash this year and for my friends I am gonna make a burt mixed cd of my fav. Christmas songs! All you gotta cover is the blank cds.... that is if you have some christmas cds with some good songs. Also I made labels on my computer to put on the cds that says Christams mix! I think they are cute....and the $ aint bad either!

By 12/04/2005

I have to make Christmas gift for our fiber arties group and have found the information on this web site very helpful.
The tatted spider found http://www.geocities.com/birgit_ph/spider.html is just prefect for the watercolor card I have made for Spider ornaments.

Here is the story in the card

"One Christmas Eve long ago, a family was preparing their home for the visit of the Christ child.

After the Christmas tree had been beautifully trimmed, and everything was scrubbed and cleaned, the family went to bed.

While they were sleeping, little spiders who had been chased from their favorite nooks and crannies, crept back to wonder at the tree's glittering beauty.

They crawled on every branch to see each shining ornament, but alas, in their excitement, they forgot to stop spinning their webs.

After their inspection, the tree was shrouded with cobwebs!

When the Christ child came and saw what had happened, He smiled at the thought of the little spiders wanting to see His tree.

As He blessed the tree, He touched each web to turn it into gold, and the tree shone with greater beauty than before.

That is why in many parts of the world each Christmas tree, to be complete, must have one golden spider."

By hvnlyhills (Guest Post) 12/04/2005

My daughter made these for a craft show last year and they sold like crazy. She did the potpourri, the paint and ribbons and glitter. Everyone loved them!

By sandi. (Guest Post) 12/01/2005

I have taken the clear glass balls and made marbelized ornaments with them, you just remove the tops, drop a small amount of 3 different paint colors into the balls, roll around until entire ball is coated, turn upside (i always use the small styrafoam cups) to drain extra paint out, let dry for couple days. They always turn out so neat, plus no two are alike. I also like to use the metallic paints.

By Ellen (Guest Post) 11/29/2005

Gr888 idea! I'm going to try it your way this year! In past years, I presented friends and family with an empty glass ball around Thanksgiving. I asked them to fill it with something that meant "them", My hubby's bame back full of fishing lures, line & tiny pics of fish. My daughter's came back with items relating to art and dancing. My son's was video and trading card related. Mine got some yarn and embroidery floss snippets, aida cloth squares, buttons & bells and small silk flowers-all from projects I'd done through the year. Now I have a little bit of everyone hanging on my tree!

By LaVaun (Guest Post) 11/28/2005

I ALSO FILL SOME OF THEM WITH RIBBON, GLITTER AND CONFETTI.
GREAT TEACHER'S GIFTS.