handmade gifts for christmas and celebrations 2011

donquine

Well_Preserved wrote: »

I picked up a book called 'Edible Gifts' for 99p in a charity shop today so feeling inspired. Chutneys, marmalade, piccalilli, other preserves,feta-type cheese in oil, bottled cherry tomatoes, flavoured oils, vinegars, cracker-type biscuits, lemon herb mix [dried], sweets, candied peel, Easter loaf, pumpkin pie, harvest loaf, cakes, shortbread etc. I'm happy to type up if anyone is interested - one at a time at least!

Thanks for posting the candied peel recipe. It sounds nice and simple and "it will keep all year round" is pretty helpful! I'm intrigued by the lemon herb mix, that sounds like it will keep a while too. Do any of the sweets have a particular long shelf life? If so, I'd love to hear more when you get a spare minute.

Finding recipes is not my problem... finding ones which actually specify how long things keep seems to be the hard part! If I give any homemade food gifts for Christmas 2011, I'm going to put a 'best before' or 'use by' date on.

Well_Preserved

TBH none of the sweets look as though they are long keepers. The nearest might be the peppermint chocolate one.

Lemon Herb Mix
2 lemons
30 ml/2 tbsp lemon thyme leaves
15 ml/1 tbsp lemon verbena leaves
15 ml/1 tbsp lemon grass, chopped

Pare lemon rind into strips& air dry with herbs - on a rack, 1-2 days [or longer if necessary I guess]
When thoroughly dry, powder rind using mortar & pestle. Add dried herbs, crush/blend all together.
Pack into fabric bags & tie on a label with instructions for use - suggests it makes a great marinade for chicken- rub it on to the skin about an hour before roasting/barbecuing.

Also says you can use an electric coffee grinder rather than a mortar & pestle.

Hope it's useful & OK to post from the book. Can't guarantee when I can do some more as we have a terminally ill family member & it looks bleak at the moment but will do more when I can.

LolaLemon

Sam-mumof4 wrote: »

10 will be 11 year old brother loves anything science related so will make him a science hamper.

ant farm - the one that is in the blue nasa gel, try and get the led lights for underneath... its fantastic!

cookiedough38 wrote: »

I made a mini one of these this year, went down well!

http://www.lickthespoon.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=Marshmallow_Tower

Is this just a polystyrine tower with marshmallows stuck on with toothpicks? and then drizzle different types of melted chocolate all over?

looks fab and i would eat the whole thing myself :rotfl:

wammy77 wrote: »

My little girls 4th birthday - she wants a princess fairy party and plan to do LOTS of making for this!!!!!! BTW all suggestions very welcome (so far I have on the list; cake, make and do kits for tiaras, wands and tutus, butterfly strings, cupcake bar, fairy dust and potion making)

Nephews 1st birthday in July - no idea!

for nephew - what about home made rattle type toys... different shaped boxes made out of different matterial and inside have different items and different quantities to make sounds...
e.g. rectangular box (jewellery box, card or plastic ones) inside put 1 or 2 table spoons full of pulses, paper mache all over to cover and seal it, finish with some varnish to make it nice and shiney

or knit/crchet baby building blocks and if they have a small name, put a letter on each side, if long name do more boxes and spread out over them or do numbers (i cut out numbers and letters from felt sheets and stitch on)

~~think i have a pic on my blog of these i have made previously --hmm i didnt but i do now hehe.

For the princess party
nail salon time (rope other people in to file and paint the girls nails)
make body glitter from moistureiser with added glitter (i like cocoa butter, but cheap moistureiser will do, or if its a summer party, u could use suncream, althoughi would not use cheap suncreaam as more kids take a reaction to suncream thanother stuff) and decant it into small tubs, like pill boxes or the vaseline lips ones, or the ones u get mints in and u have to press the middle so the sides open up etc
Print out pictures of princess' (im assuming here disney ones lol) and leave on a table with crayons and pencils (or if ur doing party bags, add pink crayons and a picture)
instead of face painting, u could do 'make overs' - some lip glosses and pink eye shadow (get cheap paint brushes and u only need a couple of each gloss n eye shadow)

hope they are of use

---

sooo glad i found this, i knew i had seen one for 2010, but i think i only found it last week, so waited to find the new one.

i aim to make as much as possible for the whole year, for birthdays, christenings, everything really, possibly excluding weddings, as i think im giving money towards something (like the buses)

New Baby:
Blankets, hats, mittens, booties all crochetted

girls birthdays:
crochet purses in animal shapes (got idea from the lates 'lets get... crocheting' mag)
cupcakes for tea party's dolls houses

boys birthdays:
crochet dinosaurs/cars etc

adult ideas:
pint of socks/ sock cupcakes (thanks to previous poster)
jumbo cupcake (pic on my blog)
beeswax candles

food: fudge, tablet, cakes, cinder toffee, hoping to try and make chutneys/jams, might not go to plan tho

hampers:

tea/coffee fiend: cup/mug filled with tea bags or coffee, different selection of buscuits, some will also get hm cake, like banana loaf etc, all on a tea tray
movie night: popcorn, skittles, m&m's, 750ml bottle of 7up/coke/fanta, onion rings/cheese puffs etc all in a 'sharing bowl' -- will leave as that if im going to take to a table top sale but if its for someone i know, i will get them a dvd or 2 (got the idea from a poster above).
Pamper night: hm foot scrub, body scrub, moistureisers, bath salts, candles, book and/or relaxing cd with some sponges/body puffs, face cloths
Girly night in: face masks, nail polish, nail file, eye masks crocheted and stuffed with a little lavendar to make them more relaxing, girly dvd like satc, box of maltesers and small bottle of wine


Jars

fill a glass kilner type jar with mixed nuts and/or dried fruit like raisins. Cookies, cakes, dried mixes to make your own - cookies/cakes/hot chocolates etc

going to make scarves, hats and gloves throughout the year

and going to try and crochet a bunch of flowers and see how that goes down with others.

soo looking forward to everyones ideas, and for my brain to function and give more of my ideas...


have a happy crafty twenty-eleven everyone!

LolaLemon

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does anyone know when i can start adding links/pics?

Angelfeathers

Hi, may I join please? I've always done a fair bit of homemade stuff (I love knitting and cooking) but have found so many ideas for presenting things better on here, especially Flyingpig's thread at the end of last year which I found just in time to make the things I'd made for Christmas look loads better!

I'd made some jams and chutneys in the autumn and blackberry vodka (which is *gorgeous*) and also some mini Christmas puddings and the chocolate truffles I make every year, and put those in hampers. One hamper went in our work Secret Santa and the recipient was *delighted*. I also made gingerbread men with my 5 year-old son and packaged those up in cellophane bags with cardboard toppers as his presents for the family, which everyone loved. DS also handmade every single Christmas card for his school friends - he got through a lot of Christmas stickers!

Oh, and to my surprise, DS loves the jumper I knitted him too, which is fantastic!

This year I have already started buying for Christmas - wooden tree cake toppers and stickers in the Lakeland sale - but I want to get more organised for birthdays and other occasions too. Dad's birthday is Jan 14th so I need to think of something for him. And I do love Monkeysallsayboo's idea of a breakfast in bed hamper for Mother's Day!

nickyc_2

For those wanting to make flavoured Gin/Vodka, thought this may help

200gms of fruit
150gms Sugar
About 700ml's Gin or vodka

Poke/pour into a suitable bottle , jiggle around for a few days until the sugar totally dissolves , then leave for 3 months to mature ... (1 month for vodka)

You will need to shake it every few days (put the bottle in the cubby holes in the back of the car ... the best way jiggle it without having to remember)

When mature ... strain through muslin (tea towel will do) ... into a clean bottle

Success stories –
with gin: blackberry, raspberry, blueberry
with vodka: cherry, cranberry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry

Angelfeathers

nickyc wrote: »

For those wanting to make flavoured Gin/Vodka, thought this may help

200gms of fruit
150gms Sugar
About 700ml's Gin or vodka

Poke/pour into a suitable bottle , jiggle around for a few days until the sugar totally dissolves , then leave for 3 months to mature ... (1 month for vodka)

You will need to shake it every few days (put the bottle in the cubby holes in the back of the car ... the best way jiggle it without having to remember)

When mature ... strain through muslin (tea towel will do) ... into a clean bottle

Success stories –
with gin: blackberry, raspberry, blueberry
with vodka: cherry, cranberry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry

Yep, that's the recipe I used for blackberry vodka and as I said above, it is absolutely delicious. I'm definitely going to be picking loads more blackberries next year so I can make loads more of this! :-)

Hollyberry

Mind if I join you? I've been here for a while, but awol from MSE since the summer, starting to get my new business of the ground.

I managed a bit of a handmade Christmas this time round, making hurricane lanterns with decorated candles in them. I was going to put up one of the pictures, but on preview it's making the screen go enormous, so I've left it out.

I also did a fair bit of crafting in making an elf school (two elves visited in December) for my godchildren - I can now make a decent igloo (bless the Sanctuary products and their lovely round tubs) and enjoyed creating things like their passports, sleigh licences etc.

For 2011, I have more extensive plans. I'd love to make more edibles, and am saving all sorts of jars, boxes and the like; it's starting to look as though I have my own recycling centre. I've begun a piece of art for OH's birthday in February, based on that quote about walking to the beat of a different drummer (it's so him!). I've already had requests for a second elf school, and I may have some orders for paid versions from the nursery where the godchildren's mum works.

Looking forward to trying some of the ideas on this thread.

midnightraven3

i think i just posted a whole mega post with pics on the wrong thread:rotfl:

oops:D

i think i need a piece of string tied round my wrist to keep me with everyone else!

reading about toffe vodkas etc, it reminded me about blackcurrant liqueur, ie Creme de cassis
easy to make, but does need 6 months to mature, so best made when an abundance of blackcurrants if you have access to them, and if you know someone who likes it, its always well received

Grannyknits

Nickyc, I've copied down amounts for flavoured vodka and made a note of the number of your post in my c.notebook (I'm not taking any chances this year!), thanks. I hope there are more blackberries about this year. Last year was the worst, hardly picked any around here. Plenty or bullis though, made enough jam to give as pressies and last through the year.

Like the sound of breakfast in bed hamper for Mother's Day. Will have to search for threads on hampers. Can you buy the florist celephane on rolls? Guess a florist wholesale would be cheapest. If buying online the postage could well make it too expensive. Does anyone know the cheapest place to buy please?

Bought some card making papers and ribbon really cheap yesterday. Thought it time I tried some [STRIKE]homemade[/STRIKE] handmade cards to go with the presents. Have only attempted cross stich cards before.

I know it's not really the right thread to ask but does anyone have any tips on starting a blog or do you just have to take the plunge and do it? I've wanted to start one for years but not known how to go about it, like what do you use to create one etc. It's on my bucket list so will get there eventually. Thought it was a good point from sarymclary to post pics on blog. I take enough space up as it is. Must learn to be more concise!