Crafting for Christmas 2009, let's begin again.......

Sian_the_Green

Thanks for all the great ideas people!
I think I am going to make mini biscotti for people at work, I bought some nice plastic gift bags in America and if I could print off a nice label it wouldn't be too hard to do... I found making biscotti before pretty easy going, if I was going to do a 'Christmas biscotti' what do you think I should put in it? I think cranberries would be good...

ariarnia

Not sure how much/what to make, this is my first crafty Christmas…Is this enough?



I have baskets already, I also already have some little gifts (candles, incense holders, that kind of thing)


I’m planning on making:

19 snowman soup (some in mugs some not with dipped spoons)
15 reindeer poop (either cookies, or I have some jerky which might be nice)
5 gingerbread men/women
4 packs Santa’s kisses
2 packs brownies in a jar
2 packs muffins in a jar
4 packs dog biscuits in a jar
6 sets bath sundae (homemade salts/scrub/shower gel/soap/massage oil/lip balm + flannel cake)
2 mulled wine kit
4 box of love/hugs
4 kitchen safe
2 bottled sunshine
3 sets paper robins
1 jar smelly bums
2 jars chill pills
2 robins breakfast
3 new year/Christmas survival kits
2 jars of gold
1 jar of rainbows
1 jar of stars
3 sets of oil burners from kandles with candle samples and coloured tealights
Many bags of peppermint creams as snowman kisses (maybe as many as 19)
2 bags mouse poop (choc sweets and choc raisons)
2 bags snowman poop (white choc drops, marshmallows, or tictacs)

This is for 8 sets of hampers (4 are families so have multiple soups and poops, one if for a couple) Need to make sure they don’t look ‘cheap’ while being very cheap as meeting a hostile crowd or receivers some of which have no sense of humour.

One main problem is that I don’t have a printer at the moment, so am relying on either using the library at 10p per sheet for b+w and decorating, or hand writing on to coloured paper with coloured pens.

I’m making them for the house as gifts to the family as we recently had to move in to my MIL’s due to being conned out of out savings (currently got a ccj with the guy but don’t know how to move forwards with enforcement if I can’t afford a bailiff) and being made redundant. MIL is doing cooking (read microwaving Christmas) with the goose I already bought and has her own decorations she wants to use so I and my partner are trying to do the gifts on no money with a very critical family.

Any help or advice would be great.

irishgirl62

not very mse, i bought a large packet of skittles, smarties and MM's to make a xmas stress reliever pills and they dont fit into my test tubes.. oh well munching at them now and kids polished off the smarties and M &Ms

Kevie192

laurel7172 wrote: »

Something else you could consider is making your own salt scrub. If you see the prices of this in the shops, you can easily pay £10+ for a small kilner jar of this-and it isn't even always expensive ingredients. I refill my jar with almond oil and sea salt for a little over £1 a time, but you could easily go cheaper with regular salt (which most of the scrubs seem to use) and olive oil (better than most of the scrubs use). Just add a few drops of essential oil-lemon is nice, or lavender.

As I keep saying on this thread, it is ILLEGAL to make any cosmetic items and give them away as gifts unless you have safety assessments completed for them and label them correctly, following all EU regulations. I would not recommend trying this unless you do all of the above. Unless you don't care about breaking the law, that is.

Kevin x

laurel7172

Kevie192 wrote: »

As I keep saying on this thread, it is ILLEGAL to make any cosmetic items and give them away as gifts unless you have safety assessments completed for them and label them correctly, following all EU regulations. I would not recommend trying this unless you do all of the above. Unless you don't care about breaking the law, that is.

Kevin x

Oops. I had no idea. Post removed. Thanks!

rik1978

janeym8 I really like your cocktail recipe books, can you tell me how you made them, it has given me a great xmas pressie idea for my sisters fiance, thanks

also, can any of you very crafty ladies help me?
I want to make a scrapbook for my sister as part of her xmas present. she has spent 4 months in south east asia this year (yes I am very jealous) and I wanted to put together photobook of some of her best photos as she only looks at them via facebook at the moment. I thought a cheaper and more personal option would be to make her a scrapbook instead but having looked at the cost of scrapbook albums I thought I could save more pennies by making some sort of front and back cover to keep the pages together but I have no idea where to start and what I would need.

I make cards so I am confident I can make a few scrapbook pages (although I have never actually done this before) but not sure how I would keep them together IYKWIM.

thanks in advance for your help :T
x

Sian_the_Green

Rik1978, it might be worth looking at special offers on photobooks on websites as it might work out cheaper than the materials and the cost of printing the pics, then you could add titles and things and any other embellishments. Otherwise I would go for something like making a little concertina album where the whole thing is held together by the overlap of the pages, I think it will be a great gift!

parapusher

Kevie192 wrote: »

As I keep saying on this thread, it is ILLEGAL to make any cosmetic items and give them away as gifts unless you have safety assessments completed for them and label them correctly, following all EU regulations. I would not recommend trying this unless you do all of the above. Unless you don't care about breaking the law, that is.

Kevin x

This site disagrees: http://www.bakewellsoap.co.uk/sudslawlegalities.html

quote: Under current EU and UK legislation you are NOT required to have your soaps assessed by a suitably qualified and approved professional if you are making soaps and other bath products non-commercially for personal use or friends and family.

The regulations are 'policed' by Trading Standards, who are not interested in someone who isn't trading (i.e. selling).

In the same way, as my kitchen hasn't been inspected, I can make cakes and snowman soups etc for friends and family, but not sell them on my craft stalls.

Kevie192

parapusher wrote: »

This site disagrees: http://www.bakewellsoap.co.uk/sudslawlegalities.html

quote: Under current EU and UK legislation you are NOT required to have your soaps assessed by a suitably qualified and approved professional if you are making soaps and other bath products non-commercially for personal use or friends and family.

The regulations are 'policed' by Trading Standards, who are not interested in someone who isn't trading (i.e. selling).

In the same way, as my kitchen hasn't been inspected, I can make cakes and snowman soups etc for friends and family, but not sell them on my craft stalls.

Then that site is simply wrong.

If you read the cosmetics directive here you will see that there is NO distinction made between selling your items and giving them away as gifts.

There is no real comparison to be made between the preperation of food and the manufacture of cosmetics. The laws for food prep are FAR more relaxed than those for cosmetics, and for a reason - food is something we all make and eat everyday but we do not make soap every day!

Cosmetics can be VERY dangerous if you are not sure what you are doing. When you obtain a safety assessment the chemist not only assesses the ingredients themselves but also the potential chemical reactions between those ingredients. Even the slightest mistake with cosmetics can have a devastating effect on the end user. Would you want to chemically burn the skin of your family for a christmas present?

ariarnia

Hi there,

I just spent the morning reading through the link that you provided, and was wondering if you could point out the section dealing with private gifting as I could only see sections relating to "consumer or professional use".

I've emailed a request for information to the CTPA (ctpa.org.uk) but cannot see how personal gifting can come under Directive 2003/15/EC2 as that directive was specifically dealing with and refering to cosmetic safety legislation in the European Community as related to manufacturing processes limiting free trade.

As per your first link: "All cosmetic products supplied in the UK, whether for consumer or professional use, must comply with the Cosmetic Products (Safety) Regulations 2004 (as amended).The Regulations require that finished cosmetic products must undergo a safety assessment by a suitably qualified person before they can be placed on the market."

These products are not going on the market, they are gifts.

I'm not saying you're not right, I'm just interested in where specifically it states gifting is covered and how they intend to inforce this.