Crafting some holiday gifts
I'm broke, but reasonably creative, and I have lots of time on my hands. With the holidays barreling up on me, I am seriously putting thought into creating a whole stack of the kitschy-wonderful little things that my craftsy elders used to make... I do sew and am handy with art projects, so I'm feeling excited about the process.
Here's a handful of things I'm thinking of:
Giraffe recipe holders
--Take a cup-shaped thing-- Grandma used to use a hairspray lid-- fill it with plaster of paris and stick the flat end of a dowel with an angle cut into the other end into it. Stick fake flowers into the plaster surrounding the dowel, so that they seem to grow around it. Glue a wooden clothespin onto the angled part, bitey end down. Paint dowel and clothespin yellow with brown spots. Glue on droopy felt ears (a kind of skinny figure-8) and googly plastic eyes so that it resembles a giraffe.
Bottle aprons
--I have a wine-lover friend and everyone has dishwashing liquid running around naked. Sure, they're kitschy, but I remember them fondly. Since I'm a gamer geek and so is the wine guy, I wonder if I can make fantasy themed ones... armor, or something?
Bean bags and pillows
--Personalize these by their design. I am seriously thinking of making sushi-shaped ones for a sushi aficionada who cannot have enough pillows in her home. :) I am also going to make some little stuffed toys for the toddlers in my life (there are 3, none of them mine!)
Punk rock arm warmers for my punk friend
--I love the "funny bunny" ones at Pixelgirl. I'm wondering how monster-y I can make them!
Baskets with treats
--suggestions welcome! What kind of treats do you like getting?
Anyone else have some fresh craftsy stuff rattling around in your head? Share, share!
for your basket of treats, i don't know if you mean edible or not but there are some great recipes for homemade bath bombs and bath salts and foot scrubs and other items to pamper onesself.
I love the idea of the giraffe recipe holder - I may have to use that one :)
What about homemade goodies in the basket? I'm a dessert lover, and anything sweet doesn't last long around me!
Something that might be good is to decorate picture frames - get plain frames at garage sales or the dollar store and then paint them or embellish them with buttons, faux flowers, branches, etc.
If you've got someone girly, you could make flower magnets - cut the top of a fake flower off, right below the bud/bloom, then hot glue it to a magnet. Voila, you're done - easy and cute.
I'll keep thinking and see what I can think of.
Okay, so I got really excited about all the crafty projects you could do - how fun!
A few more thoughts - most of them are kind of girly, but so am I, so that's probably why they appeal to me - lol!
Decorative hat boxes - usually can find plain hat boxes rather inexpensively at a Wal-mart or Hobby Lobby - you could paint them, embellish them (like the picture frames) or decoupage with comics, wrapping paper, photos, magazine clippings, whatever you like.
Baby blankets or throws - hem a large square of fabric - flannel is nice, but whatever you have works and (if you're able) - crochet around the outside in a scallop. A bit more time consuming but an awesome gift to give. I have a friend who also crochets around washclothes (cheap ones from Wal-mart) and gives them as presents - she'll pick their kitchen or bathroom colors. She also does just fun ones too (my favorite one is a hot pink washclothe with lime green crochet).
Since you're good at sewing, what about tote bags out of fun fabric?
Hope that helps - have a good night!
Ooh, love this. Tote bags are an awesome idea! Decoupage boxes sound just like pure fun... And flower magnets, hee! I know people that would get a big kick out of these things!
The giraffe thingies ARE cute-- my grandma used to sell them at craft bazaars and stuff. I made oh-so-many of them as a kid. They're just right to hold up an index card with a recipe-- and they don't cover as much of it as a magnet on the fridge.
A few years ago, I made several duvet covers out of high thread-count sheets I picked up on a discount rack. The only sewing skills required are knowing how to thread the machine and how to sew on buttons. I picked up 4-5 king flat sheets, cut them into large (60") squares and made some pretty cool (I think) color blocked covers.
Also, my aunt did this for us at Thanksgiving dinner and I think it is brilliant: she had over purchased produce for the meal, as is common, so she filled (what appeared to be) an old basket with the raw potatoes, parsnips, brussel sprouts, carrots, etc... that were left over and gave it to us when we left. Sometimes it really pays off to be the veg...some family members assume you are the only one who knows what to do with a parsnip :).
Would-be holiday crafters, here's a couple links I've found today!
http://www.eebeads.com/Webzine/index.htm
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projectsaz.php
If you're any good at drawing try scrapbooking but with your own art work instead of photos. I've just done this for my mum's christmas present with various drawings of landmarks from a holiday I took her on a couple of years ago. And even if I do say it myself it's pretty darn good and all for the price of a couple of bits of card to mount it on.