handmade gifts for christmas and celebrations 2011

youngoldlady

dizzytina wrote: »

Mary so sorry to hear about your back that sound incredibly painful - sending a big hug.

Laura love the heart.

Wammy - wow your necklace is amazing. Well done. i have ordered some clay and i'm going to try and make hubby a silver keyring for valentines day.

My SIl is due to have a baby girl this week so i have been busy making baby things this week. This is one of the bibs i made for her (instruction on how to make on my homepage its really simple).

Also made this kitchen organiser for a friends birthday. It has sections for meal plans,recipes,shopping lists and freezer inventory.

Those are beautiful!! I love your organiser idea and the fabric you used for the bib is sooo cute! :T Your recipients are very lucky! :D

I've been trying to get some perspective on my makes for the year. I'm still very new to this really so nothing overly complicated. My area of expertise is cooking and making homemade edible gifts so branching out is in some ways a scary process. I'm quite glad I learnt to sew at junior school now!

My thoughts so far:

Mothers' Day (and in this case MIL and OH's Grandma, as my Grandma bless her has late stage dementia and is cared for round the clock) - Breakfast in bed hampers.

• I'm scouring all the local charity shops for vintage style wooden breakfast trays (like they have in tea rooms!) but no luck so far.
• I'm planning to make some napkin rings to go with the napkins I already have.
• 'Rescue' and/or renovate the tea trays
• Make some homemade edible gifts like jams and marmalades, bread, muffins etc.
• Add in a few essential shop bought items like tea and coffee.
• Perhaps persuade MIL to part with the measurements to her tea pot so I can make a cosy out of DDs old fleece!
• Add some sort of reading material, probably a magazine or chic lit.
• Perhaps put in a few personalised bits from DD like a school photo.

I found some 'Christmas Tree Decorations' in Morrisons down from £1.99 to 10p a bag. Chocolate eggs wrapped in red patterned foil. Not very Christmassy, except the outer bag. So I'm debating whether to re package them for Christmas or do something Easter related with them. Either way I think I should get a few more bags while they're still there - especially when the BBE date on them is next Christmas!

Not yet sure about Valentine's Day???

My grandad is 80 in November so I am thinking about what to make for him. All sorts of ideas but the one I keep coming back to at the moment is making a basic patchwork quilt and backing it with a fleece blanket somehow, then decorating it with his name stitched on. Hopefully I'll have time to do him more than that and help organise the party too. It's a really ambitious idea for me - I hope I'm up to it!

I have a wedding to attend in March. The Bride and Groom have asked for monetary gifts, but I'm thinking of making a little something too, especially as I don't have a huge amount of money to spare. Perhaps a vintage style plaque or handsewn cushion?

Bubble16

OK I have read to many threads and not marked the pages of stuff I like, I admit it, I am an idiot!! Somewhere I saw milkshake cups with bath bombs in the bottom and a puff at the top - does anyone know where I saw it? Want to show my sis as I thought it would be a nice idea for pressies for a baby shower. Thank you (am now avidly using the favourites tab in my browser - honest!)

azjh77

I'm off to 'Craft Club' tonight, so I can see what all my crafty friends are working on. I think I might start with some granny squares for the throw I was planning. Also had an idea for a cheaters quilt, but need to plan it out a bit. (I do tend to over organise though, and never actually get to make anything!)

If I want to 'handmake' Christmas, I'm going to need to average 2 or 3 presents a month to be ready in time, so I really need to get started!

One christmassy idea I had was to make some of these :- http://kleas.typepad.com/kleas/2009/11/glove-reindeer.html (I think this may have been linked before) and glue them to the top of kilner type jars full of chocolate /sweets.... thought it may be good for the teenagers, who won't really want sock monsters!

midnightraven3

Bubble16 wrote: »

OK I have read to many threads and not marked the pages of stuff I like, I admit it, I am an idiot!! Somewhere I saw milkshake cups with bath bombs in the bottom and a puff at the top - does anyone know where I saw it? Want to show my sis as I thought it would be a nice idea for pressies for a baby shower. Thank you (am now avidly using the favourites tab in my browser - honest!)

twas Esmer:D

i swear i am esmers pimp:p

gsarah14

Sorry to be a pain and I know its not xmas, lol. Could anyone tell me the post to make fairy & monkey milkshake (like the snowman soup). I need to make a print of it for my folder as I'm trying to organise myself and file projects in a folder. Thanks for your help.

Sarah

qwiksave

gsarah14 wrote: »

Sorry to be a pain and I know its not xmas, lol. Could anyone tell me the post to make fairy & monkey milkshake (like the snowman soup). I need to make a print of it for my folder as I'm trying to organise myself and file projects in a folder. Thanks for your help.

Sarah

I'm an MSE Detective, I've tracked it down.

This post here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=37462876&postcount=5

Bubble16

midnightraven3 wrote: »

twas Esmer:D

i swear i am esmers pimp:p

Don't know about pimp but you are brilliant :beer:

PepPop

youngoldlady What about something like this for the Bride and Groom. You could do a simple one or make it as complicated as you want. Love the idea of making your grandad a quilt. What about Mug cosy's to go with your tea cosy.

azjh Ooh I'm jealous - a crafting club - that sounds fantastic!

Knitted a bit more of my gloves last night.

theonlynuttytart

happy belated new year to everyone! im new to this thread but have decided to do more homemade things for presents this year! managed a few last year that went down very well.
must get a few pics up!
could anyone help me with ideas for moulds. ive been making some bathbombs but would like to make some round ones without paying top money for the moulds!
any ideas?
thanks!

PepPop

theonlynuttytart wrote: »

happy belated new year to everyone! im new to this thread but have decided to do more homemade things for presents this year! managed a few last year that went down very well.
must get a few pics up!
could anyone help me with ideas for moulds. ive been making some bathbombs but would like to make some round ones without paying top money for the moulds!
any ideas?
thanks!

What about these or these