Homemade Gifts

meritaten

When my cousin got married a few years ago I decided to make the happy couple a cross stitch sampler which commemorated the happy day. I did it on linen and it featured Two bells and the date time etc of the wedding and included the bride and grooms names.
it was completed and was at the framers when my other cousin informed me the bride and her family were real snobs and a LOT of comment had been made about HIS family being working class and SHOCK HORROR mining people at that!
I was really nervous then about my gift...........I took it along to the wedding reception and gave it into the hotel staffs keeping and overheard the brides mother saying 'oh god a picture, I do hope it isnt the green lady' (it was a bit obvious what it was by the shape).

a couple of weeks later I got a very nice thank you letter from the bride - with a note from her mum and dad saying how lovely the sampler was and how beautifully made, and wanted to know if I had done the work myself!
I phoned my cousin and he said he knew my hobby was cross stitch and told them so - but they thought it had been professionally done! 'Just the frame' I told him!
The sampler hangs in their bedroom - as apparently I had actually chosen the very shade of blue they had decorated it in! The bride still mentions it now when we meet - to tell me which room it currently hangs in!
so if you know your home made gift is good - give it with pride!

raven83

Great thread!

I personally LOVE HM gifts!!

My best friend makes loads of things for christmas as she is soooooo crafty and artistic puts me to shame and i always really cherish her gifts as effort and thought have gone into them and my girls also love them too. Last year i decided that i wanted to give home made gifts ago so i made soap in a varitey of colours and scents and shapes and i added glitter to them and i also made some in the shapes of cupcakes and i finished off buy putting them in little decorated boxs, was rather chuffed with them! And everyone was really impressed with them too This year i would like to try candles or maybe even the chocolate pizza or the cake in a jar! I am fab at baking etc but always struggle with creative ideas to give as presents using food stuffs. I do really wish i could knit of use a sewing machine i really must learn one day!




sweet anyone..?

babyshoes

Raven, those soaps are lovely. I need to get back into making soaps for pressies this year - I may steal some of your ideas!

Here's some of my ideas that I posted a couple of years ago: http://www.instructables.com/id/Melt-and-Pour-Soap-Making---Home-Made-Soap-the-Eas/

Anyone else wanting to make soap, have a look at the link - it really is straighforward, you just need a small investement of the base soap, some colouring and essential oils to get started - though there are lots of other things you can add as you go along! Moulds can be anything you have lying around or pound shop silicone moulds. Great fun!

snowleopard61

I like this thread and would quite like to revive it anyway - but in particular, one of the problems I'm finding is that so many of the homemade gift ideas I come across require quite a lot of initial outlay. As a major reason for wanting to make some of my Christmas presents is to save money, this isn't ideal. Does anyone have any inspired ideas for presents that are both nice and cheap? My knitting skills are basic and I don't own a sewing machine (although I may investigate getting a cheap one, one of these days).

One of the friends I want to give to has digestive problems which mean that wheat and chocolate are not good for her. She also has a sweet tooth and wouldn't enjoy chutneys, pickles etc. All suggestions gratefully received!

Patchwork_Quilt

Home made fudge is quite easy. Or you could give a seasonal gift like shortbread made with Doves Farm Gluten Free flour.

I am making cross-stitch bookmarks. The outlay was £7 for the fabric and five colours of thread. I will need some iron-on interlining to back them with. The patterns were all free on the internet.

dottygirl

Thank you there are a lot of amazing ideas here. I love home made gifts but sadly never receive enough of them! My lovely daughter made me a photo album the Christmas after we lost her sister. It had photos in and poems etc. It was 6 years ago and it still has pride of place in my sitting room. x

ChristmasCraaazy

I like to keep a balance between bought and homemade when it comes to Christmas presents.

My mother is crazy about movies but I hate to just buy someone a DVD or a gift card. So instead, I'm going to make her a Cinema Hamper . I've found a template online for making Popcorn boxes (traditional ones) and I'm gonna fill it with fake popcorn (those cute little polystyrene things that they put in fragile packages) sprayed gold. Then I'll tuck in a bag of her favourite Choccies (Minstrels every time), a new DVD and a Voucher for 2 cinema Tickets. Stick on a gift tag and that's the card taken care of too She's gonna love it!!

Hope this inspires someone! xx

katyboo123

snowleopard61 wrote: »

I like this thread and would quite like to revive it anyway - but in particular, one of the problems I'm finding is that so many of the homemade gift ideas I come across require quite a lot of initial outlay.........

One of the friends I want to give to has digestive problems which mean that wheat and chocolate are not good for her. She also has a sweet tooth and wouldn't enjoy chutneys, pickles etc. All suggestions gratefully received!

If you'd have prepared sooner (sorry, this could be an idea for next year though!!) you could have made home grown peppermint tea. You just grow some peppermint in a bucket (seeds are around 99p from eBay menthus pipperati I think they're officially called), then you pick a bunch, hang it up, dry it out and then shovel it in to hand made tea bags (there's a method for doing this on my blog - http://nanna-kate.blogspot.com/2011/10/handcrafted-teabags.html) or make a nice bag for it and add a cheap tea strainer tied around it with a ribbon. Peppermint is really good for the digestive system.

Ooo, you could make peppermint creams? I've never had a go at these, but thinking of making some now that I've literally just come up with that idea

Another lovely cheap idea is to keep a hold of a couple of decorative jars, like a hexagonal shape, a small kilner type jar, or something similar then buy some Epsom Salts and Himalayan Pink Rock Salt; both are available dead cheap on eBay, I'm talking 99p for 250g! I saw a recipe for this in Company Magazine by Jazz Domino Holly, but I can't remember it. I've done some googling and this looks the closest http://beauty.about.com/od/skinflaws/ht/saltscrub.htm - plus as it says, brown sugar is a good alternative for people with sensitive skin. Make a big quantity and give it out to a few people! You pay about a tenner for all-natural body scrub in a jar from Sanctuary or Soap and Glory. So this is a fab alternative!

Or - ''make'' a neckscarf. Take an existing cheap and unusually patterned neckscarf out of a charity shop (washed of course!), then hand stitch two lengths of elastic down the middle length-ways to make it gathered and stretchy. It will be bang on trend, plus an unusual pattern will mean no one else will have the same scarf!

HTH X

charlies-aunt

I love receiving homemade gifts -to me it doesn't matter that the stitching is a bit wonky or its not 100% perfect as I appreciate the thought and effort thats gone into making an original gift.

This year I m doing hand painted glasses, using sets of glasses that I picked up super cheap during the year - I plan to team these with a bottle of wine or bucks fizz to make several presents.

The grand plan for making HM fruit flavoured liquers hit a major stumbing block as I had plenty of fruit and sugar but alas the weeky budget never stretched far enough to buy the bottles of spirits and lack of time has held me back from major jam making

Love reading all the fantastic ideas there are going to be some very happy receiptants this Christmas

karren

im making chutney for my hampers as we speak, but omg im impatient! its onion, so hope it works!
then im making hm twinks hobnobs to go in hamper and some nice cheese and bottle of wine and hand painted glasses.