Handmade Christmas

milos_mommy

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#21
Last year I made body scrubs and put them in mason jars and gave them to some female friends (I only have one, lol...I gave some to Zach's sister, my aunt...and had tons and tons left over).

I made some canvas photo thingies (I printed photos on tracing paper, then mod podge'd them to canvases) for my grandma of baby pictures of all her grandkids.

I made my mom a pretty snowman light decoration...I took glass display boxes (I think for sand, maybe? IDK) and stuffed baby white lights in it, and mod podged felt snowman features on them. My dad helped me epoxy the glass together.

This year, IDK. Pretty much all I can make is chandeliers, and that's a gift most people don't really want to be given randomly. I might make one for my best friend who just moved into a new apartment...

I'll probably make up some sauces, infused olive oils or vodkas maybe....apple butter is a good one. Stuff that takes forever and makes huge batches so people would never do them for themselves.
 

darkchild16

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#22
Ok I need ideas for 2 guys 20-30

One is a drummer but loves video games, music, movies
other only likes video games.

I HAVE thought about just making them chocolate.

Any other ideas.
 

CaliTerp07

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#23
It's not really homemade (more "home assembled"), but what about a "Friday night in" basket with microwave popcorn, a $5 movie from target or a redbox coupon/code, their favorite candy, some homemade cookies, etc? Easily under $10.
 

Kilter

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#27
I am making vanilla for the women, and likely if I get time maybe some TV blankets for grandpa/grandma but I'll see. I'd like to knit a scarf for the one MIL because she likes those sorts of things.

For Allie we're the dress up center out of an entertainment unit. Usually can get those for free, put a door and a bar on to hang outfits, add lights and mirrors and done. Then I can justify taking the change table from her room being moved to the dog room. LOL Then she can get hair stuff, lip gloss and so on in her stockings.

Nathan is getting a rebuilt laptop loaded with educational games. Such a boy.

Otherwise making a gingerbread house for the BIL and family, and a few other things like that and keeping it simple. Watching the online classifieds for a lot of things but will get a few new toys from Santa, and hoping to get it all done long before the big day.

FYI, the fort kits you can buy that are balls and sticks and expensive are crap, they don't hold together well at all and fall apart constantly. For less you can get a small actual tent that will hold up better, or give the kids some broomsticks and chairs and those would hold up better. The kids I look after have the expensive kit and I have to build it because they can't figure it out and the second it's bumped it's down. We move the chairs to the back of the couch and drape a sheet over instead usually.
 

Kilter

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#28
For the men, if they aren't married, making some freezer meals in single portions would be good. As would baking. Also thinking coffee creamers and spoons dipped in chocolate as well as biscotti. Now I'm thinking I should do baskets or something...
 

Beanie

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#29
Here's something I'm making for all the guys...
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/barbecue-rub-00000000023435/

Also for the guys, I have some old records I got at a garage sale.
http://www.casasugar.com/DIY-Rockin-Vinyl-Record-Bowl-388078


For the ladies I'm going to pick one of these, I'm leaning towards the candy cane one I think.
http://www.jacolynmurphy.com/2011/12/glamorous-girls-get-togetherholiday.html
http://www.maybematilda.com/2011/04/baby-shower-gift-homemade-sugar-scrub.html
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/03/make-your-own-gardeners-hand-scrub.html

And this one isn't really homemade, but there's tons of cute stuff in the Target Dollar Spot that could be used to make this up:
http://livingpractically.blogspot.com/2011/12/pampering-in-jar.html
 
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#30
Once upon a time, when I had a semi-real income, I loved doing tea baskets. A great one of a kind mug, several packets of tea and homemade treats, a small loaf of chocolate tea bread, Irish soda bread, truffles, spiced nuts, an assortment of cookies. Sometimes a book.

I really miss doing that :(
 

darkchild16

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#31
Here's something I'm making for all the guys...
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/barbecue-rub-00000000023435/

Also for the guys, I have some old records I got at a garage sale.
http://www.casasugar.com/DIY-Rockin-Vinyl-Record-Bowl-388078


For the ladies I'm going to pick one of these, I'm leaning towards the candy cane one I think.
http://www.jacolynmurphy.com/2011/12/glamorous-girls-get-togetherholiday.html
http://www.maybematilda.com/2011/04/baby-shower-gift-homemade-sugar-scrub.html
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/03/make-your-own-gardeners-hand-scrub.html

And this one isn't really homemade, but there's tons of cute stuff in the Target Dollar Spot that could be used to make this up:
http://livingpractically.blogspot.com/2011/12/pampering-in-jar.html

DEFINATLY doing those bowls my uncle and cousin are HUGE music freaks like dedicated music room freaks LOL.
 

milos_mommy

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#32
If anyone wants to do a movie-night basket, instead of store bought popcorn you can make some really cool flavored popcorns - chili powder, parmesan cheese, bacon bits, etc.

Stuff people aren't going to take the time to make right before they pop a movie in, but would really enjoy.
 

Kilter

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#33
This is an awesome thread!

So far I have a list of ideas:
Coffee soap
Chocolate dipped spoons/candy canes (for coffee or hot chocolate)
Gingerbread popcorn (it's awesome)
Hand dipped wax candle holders with candles
body/hand scrub
biscotti
coffee creamer
cookie mix in a jar
real vanilla extract

Will have to do some sort of assortment, not all of them, but some of the ideas I found today are really nice, simple and not too expensive either.

I think the 'cookies in a jar' instructions will include 'invite grandchildren over' as the first step. Win win for me! LOL
 
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#34
This is an awesome thread!

So far I have a list of ideas:
Coffee soap
Chocolate dipped spoons/candy canes (for coffee or hot chocolate)
Gingerbread popcorn (it's awesome)
Hand dipped wax candle holders with candles
body/hand scrub
biscotti
coffee creamer
cookie mix in a jar
real vanilla extract

Will have to do some sort of assortment, not all of them, but some of the ideas I found today are really nice, simple and not too expensive either.

I think the 'cookies in a jar' instructions will include 'invite grandchildren over' as the first step. Win win for me! LOL
Do you have a recipe for the gingerbread popcorn?
 

GoingNowhere

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#35
I made some college inspired earrings for a friend's birthday and some for myself:





They were made out of sculpey clay that bakes hard in the oven. Each block cost me $1.25 and I got the jewelery supplies from Walmart for a total of $3-4, I think. The gloss coating is mod podge and was probably also $3-4. There's still plenty of clay and jewelery supplies left after making the earrings, so I'd suspect you could make a good 5-7 pairs for less than $10. The mod podge bottle is nearly full still, so that should last for quite a while!


I'm no artist, but it's pretty simple and they're cute for football games. I think a younger teen might also like them for general wear, but personally, I think they're a bit tacky to wear around all the time, although as a college student, I can say that they're PERFECT for football games!

Just mold the clay however you want it, bake it, and then top it with glossy modge podge. I used a chain, so rather than making beads, I rolled each section of clay onto the specific spot on the chain and baked it with the chain included. I thought it was easier that way, but you could also do beads instead.

I made the card and "earring backing" just out of a cut-up cardboard box. Super easy! And to make the card cuter, I also baked a few tiny scraps of the sculpey to make the dots and the heart for the card. Driving to the store, shopping, making, baking, and coating combined took no more than a few hours. I left the house for supplies at about 5 and needed to be at the party at 9:30 - the earrings were baked and dried by then!
 

GoingNowhere

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#36
As a sidenote, the earring holder that you see in the first picture above was also homemade. Buy a cheap frame, some mesh and a wood staple gun. Remove the glass from the frame, pull the mesh taught, staple the mesh to the frame, and voila. It's easily one of my most used pieces of homemade stuff and you could very well have all the supplies around your house. Or, if you buy the frames from a thrift store or Walmart, you can get some decent looking ones for cheap. I made one for my room at school and one for home because I love it so much!



 

darkchild16

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#37
We found the perfect (5 buck) way to make our own christmas countdown garland!

Micheals has a set of 24 Christmas shapes (we got stockings) and then a pack of 4 Christmas trees or other assorted Christmas shapes (they do have angels and stars for people who avoid Christmas "icons".
The big set is $3 and the 4 pk is $1 and a pack of Christmas stickers for $1 color with washable markers! Art project, christmas project and counting project all in one!
 

skittledoo

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#38
Majority of my Christmas gifts are going to be mostly handmade this year.

So far...

For my dad and stepmom I'm doing a personalized cookie jar. I'm going to bake cookies to put in the jar and tie a ribbon around the top. The jar says Grisler bears with a heart. Reason being... Grisler is my maiden name and everyone calls the family the Grisler bears because Grisler is pronounced Gr-ih-z-lear (learn without the n).


For one of my sister's I'm doing a personalized photo frame. In the frame I'm going to put a photo of my grandparents on my dad's side... it's a black and white photo of them dancing at their wedding wayyy back in the day. My sister's favorite line in the world is "You're my Movie Star" because when she was going through some of my Grandparents old yearbooks she found one that my Grandpa had written "You're my Movie Star" in my Grandma's yearbook. They were highschool sweethearts. My grandpa died and my grandma has Alzheimers and can't even speak anymore. She is so bad off that it could be any day now that she goes. So... I started off with a plain wooden frame. I ended up painting it black with white cracking in it. I got little wooden letters to spell you're my movie star and painted those pink. I also found little wooden hearts and painted those yellow. Still not done with it, but here is what it's looking like so far.


I'm still debating what I'm doing for other family members right now. One of my sisters is literally obsessed with Starbucks. I was thinking about etching her a jar with something starbucks related but not sure what exactly. Then inside I want to fill it with a gift card to starbucks, some coffee related stuff and since she also LOVES Dunkin Donuts but doesn't have one anywhere near where she lives I was going to also include some DD K-cups as well in the jar.

For my other sister I have noooo idea yet. May etch her a jar and fill it with goodies too or I may do a scrapbook page for her with photos of us sisters and frame it in a shadow box.
 

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