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Thursday, December 27, 2012

handmade Christmas








Back in the day, I used to be much more resourceful and crafty when it came to my Christmas gifts. It came mostly out of necessity, I had very little money, but wanted to make meaningful gifts for family and friends. I would make little hand sewn bird and owl ornaments, jewelry, art, stationary and more. More recently I have found it difficult to find the time to make things the way I used to. Time is limited and these days, my attention is pretty much focussed on the children, but still I managed to make a few gifts that I thought would be fun to give and receive.
The first was a very simple sachet of homemade potpourri. I simply filled tiny bags with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom pods, dried orange peel and bay leaves and wrote out the instructions (simmmer the bag in a pot of water on the stove). Easy and very Christmassy.
The next idea I had was found on Pinterest. It was to create "family conversataion starter"jar. I found a cute printable and printed off a bunch of sheets at the local printer. I then cut the strips up and put them in a little decorated jar. A simple gift that promotes family time and eating meals together. I gave these as "family gifts" to some of my friends. (I can't find the original source of where I got mine, but if you do a search on Pinterest, many show up... here is one I found.)
And as a gift for Noah's friends, I made a big batch of gingerbread playdoh and included a Christmas cookie cutter with each package. Simple but useful. Noah is just at the age where playdoh is still fun and useful. In a few years, this gift wouldn't fly, so I'm taking advantage of this one. For the older friends I made simple bead kits (no picture). Just a clear baggie with multicoloured wooden beads and elastic.
I also made up a few beeswax ornaments but forgot to take a picture of them. They were so easy to make and I am excited because I recently purchased some bee
swax candle making supplies and plan on making a few candles over the winter months with Noah. That's all for this year. I'm hoping to gather my ideas a bit sooner for next Christmas so that I can get back into making more of my gifts.
xox

1 comment:

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