Scuff's Year of Gifting Homemade

SillyLily

i was thinking today about gifts from the garden. i think i will plant luffa to go with homemade soaps, some extra herbs to dry & put into tiny recycled glass bottles, cayenne peppers to string and dry, and garlic to make garlic braids!!!
i think folks like gifts that they can use up and i already have seeds for all of this.....
has anyone made those flavored oils that have garlic cloves / peppers in them??? i think they look pretty but have never used them myself. do you think folks would like to receive something like that??

Scuff

Cher-Ching wrote: »

Absolutely. That's the thing you have to weigh it all up, if the recipient is going to think it's cheap/appreciate it then might not be the best idea!

But it's amazing how much some people do appreciate the thought. I got a nice looking bottle of cider from my cousin, nothing too special. But the fact that she had made a name 'tag' out of felt (shaped like a stocking with my name stitched on it, others had Xmas trees etc) and a small net of spices (to make mulled cider) was a really nice touch. Actually her presents were the talking point of the evening purely because of the thought that had gone into it.

I think that is it really. Personally I'd really appreciate a handmade gift, but I think that's because I appreciate how much time would go into it, compared with how much spare time I actually have on my hands. I mentioned before I did hampers this year for my older relatives who don't really need anything (my grandparents for example) these had HM fudge, mince pies, gingerbread, shortbread, mini malt loaves, snowman soup etc in them, and as they had to be relatively 'fresh' ended up being a lot of time and stress to make. When I gave my grandparent's to my Nanna, she said 'Oh, that's interesting' slightly annoyed by this I said what do you mean 'interesting' ? to which her reply was 'you know, it's different.' I don't know whether she meant to be rude, but I was slightly offended! My Grandad however was super impressed, and wouldn't believe I made the stuff (I'd gone to reasonable effort to make them look 'professional'). He made me feel better, but it's this (my Nan's) response that worries me as to what I've let myself in for doing a whole year of birthday / christmas gifts handmade! :eek:

Cher-Ching

SillyLily wrote: »

i was thinking today about gifts from the garden. i think i will plant luffa to go with homemade soaps, some extra herbs to dry & put into tiny recycled glass bottles, cayenne peppers to string and dry, and garlic to make garlic braids!!!
i think folks like gifts that they can use up and i already have seeds for all of this.....
has anyone made those flavored oils that have garlic cloves / peppers in them??? i think they look pretty but have never used them myself. do you think folks would like to receive something like that??

We use/make them, sorry to sound obvious, but they really do add some flavour to the meal. You can get hold of some nice oil bottles quite cheaply. Just fill them up with olive oil and add chilis/peppers etc and let them do their thing. Not only do they taste great, they also look great too rather than just a boring bottle of oil. Just don't be too over zealous or it can be quite hot lol

One 'recipe' here http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/homemade_chilli_oil_54985

Scuff

Sillylily I tried to make chilli oil (for ourselves) once, but it went mouldy:eek: I think you have to add something else to stop this (unless I had bad chillis?!) Someone else might be able to answer this better though! I do however know that I (and OH especially, he's the chef around here) would love to receive these kind of gifts
What's luffa?

SillyLily

awww scuff!! i would have LOVED to get your gift basket!! i love home made things!!
are you a harry potter fan??? do you know what a "weasley sweater" is?? well, my 12 year old daughter bought a thrift store sweater for me, dyed it, and cross stitched a giant "c" on it for me for christmas this year!!! i think it is the most special gift i have ever received!!! it must have taken her HOURS to make that for me!!!! :-)
oh, and luffas look a bit like zucchini when they're growing. you let them dry out, peel them, bleach them and cut them into sponge sized pieces and use them as body scrubbers!! you can also use them to clean with. they're natural & cheap & they hold up well!! :-)

Scuff

Haha I've just realised how silly a question that was, I googled it and then thought to myself 'wow that looks like loofah' (& then promptly realised they're the same thing just different spelling!) had no idea they looked like courgette/zucchini though, always presumed they grew under the sea haha that'd be an awesome addition to a homemade soap, I wonder if I could grow them in the UK?
I would love a Weasley sweater!! Bless her what a lovely gift

scottishminnie

Apologies if someone has already suggested this.

I didn't make as many gifts as I had intended this year however one of my biggest successes was packages of peppermint bark.

I'm thinking next year I will make some and put in nice Christmas tins rather than the cellophane bags I used this year.

I made both white & milk chocolate versions. This was how easy it was.

I bought candy canes from the £ shop and crushed the box of them into dust. (about 15 canes in a box) Then melted white chocolate (9 x 100g packs of the value stuff from Asda or Tesco) over hot water, mixed in the crushed candy canes and poured onto greaseproof paper. (I also added in one teaspoonful of peppermint oil however that is optional)
Took an hour to set in the fridge and could then be broken into pieces to put in the bags. Decorated each bag with a label and another candy cane and voila they looked quite impressive.
For the milk chocolate version I added some green and red sprinkles as the candy canes kind of disappear from view in the choccy mix.

scottishminnie

SillyLily wrote: »

jaynec- the men in my family (aside from my husband) are all hunters. i have some damaged camo jackets that really are beyond repair, i just haven't been able to part with them because they were my father's. They will be PERFECT for camo hot water bottle covers!!! And my guys will appreciate the sentimental factor!! :-)
WOO HOO!!! The men are always harder to get homemade ideas for than the women, don't you agree?? I'm pretty excited about this!! :-)

I have a recycled camo handbag which was made by a friend. I love it - she used a pattern which was for making bags from old jeans. It has been well admired (in fact one of my shallower friends is convinced it is designer and is well miffed I refuse to tell her where to get one:D)

Kitchenbunny

Wow this is just the thread I've been looking for. Hope you don't mind if I subscribe as I could well pick up my inspiration for next year here. Thanks ever so much - the list is quite a long one for gifts this year as I'm taking friends and their children into account on the homemade front.

I'd love to have a go at a blanket but have no idea as yet what kind of pattern to start. I'll get some inspiration and see how it goes.

KB xx

Katiehound

I've got a couple of suggestions for small children... well not what to do with them but what to make!!

You can make easy knitted toys from an oblong sponge- a cheap one will do. Knit a long length of 'fabric' in garter stitch and cover your sponge. I used fawn & brown thin ply together to make a marled effect for an owl. Pulled up top 2 corners for 'ears'- he was a horned owl!Part way down ran through a thread and pulled up slightly to make a neck. Oval brown felt wings with thin triangles cut down one edge for the feathers, Felt eyes and a beak. It was so long ago...maybe I gave him felt feet too.
I think I made a cat too-

I have also knitted a single mitten in a child size with an extra thumb. Now it is a glove puppet! Made one in browny colour for a lion, did a loopy mane and embroidered eyes etc. You could make several different animals.

Knit a longer mitt with no thumbs in green. Knit an inset top like a diamond shape in pink- for the inside of the mouth. plait a length of embroidery thread or wool in ?red/ for tongue. Felt or embroidered slit eyes part way down beyond knuckles and you have a snake puppet.

Different topic entirely. If you making any drinks save bottles! The ones for salad dressing are 250ml and are fine for drinks. My limoncello looked fine that way.