Home made Xmas gifts (merged threads)

Aries

How about personal cards with childrens photos for Grandparents.
you could scan and print a favorite photo,and mount it on a suitable back ground.
The child could then write their own greetings(if they are old enough).

culpepper

when we made homemade biccies for the inlaws,I found some pretty jars with big corks and filled them.One had Shortbread and the other Garibaldi's.

fuglyjowls

thanks guys - trip to Poundland coming up I guess - we used to have some nice recycled glass storage jars with cork lids but I can't remember where they came from.

!!!!!!

Alleycat

Another idea for the children, is to make up batches of different coloured playdough. Put in a sandwich bag and tie with shiny ribbon. Its non toxic and you can add vanilla essence to make it smell nice.

You will need:
1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
½ cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup water with food coloring added
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (optional but it makes the playdough smell nice!)
Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan, and stir over a medium heat until the dough forms into a ball. Allow to cool, and then knead until smooth.
Store in an airtight container (a Ziploc bag with the air pressed out is good).

I have made decorations for the christmas tree and to hang from the fire surround as well, with different sized coloured beads. I use really thin wire (bought from craft stall in our local market). I've made hearts - one large heart shape with smaller and smaller ones hanging in teh middle. Also stars etc with a large drop shaped sparkly bead in the middle. They catch the light really well and you can colour coordinate them to match your theme (if you have one). I also put one each in cards for work colleagues and friends who I don't buy pressies for.

Alley

kal25

Last year I made rum truffles, shortbread and fudge. Which were all appreciated. This year I might take some of these tips like making the xmas cake for my nan and get my eldest to give me a hand (he loves baking bless). Have also started making bath bombs which I think will be great, so I was thinking possibly making bath baskets up with homemade bath smellies.

Last year I also tried to make but failed at making turkish delight, anyone know of easy way of making this ? It would be greatly appreciated, as father-in law loves the stuff and wouldn't mind some myself.

squeaky

kal25 wrote:

Last year I also tried to make but failed at making turkish delight, anyone know of easy way of making this ? It would be greatly appreciated, as father-in law loves the stuff and wouldn't mind some myself.

I'm sure I saw something somewhere about the place. If I find it I'll edit back into this post...

Edit: Nothing on OS but I found the page I had in mind. This one looks fairly straightforward, though I'm not so sure about the nuts...

http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/africa/middle-east/turkish/delight1.html

Tondella

Hi

I posted this on another Christmas thread before I found this, more relevant, one ... You can either make them as decorations or adapt the process to make Christmas cards.

Here's a great idea for a christmas gift. I came across these woven hearts a couple of years ago when i was visiting Copenhagen in December. They are used to decorate the christmas tree or windows and can be filled with goodies. Although traditionally they are made from paper I made mine with felt to make them more robust. Anyway, I wanted to find out a bit more of the history behind the woven heart so that I could teach my girl guide unit about them, and came across this website. The original version is dead easy to do, and you can have a practice with any old paper if you want to build up your confidence before investing in the coloured paper or felt. The variations this guy has designed are absolutely amazing and I'm sure all you crafters will want to have a go at them. I can't wait!!!

here's the site http://users.cybercity.dk/~ccc24645/home.html (then look for the woven hearts link on the left hand side of the screen)

The gentleman who built the site has a guest book and I think it would be nice to sign in if you benefit from the site.

prettypennies

An add on to the play doh idea. You could add clove, pine or cinnamon fragrance to the play doh to give it a festive aroma and a smattering of glitter. Tie the bag with tartan ribbon or raffia and attach a plastic christmas cookie cutter.

Alleycat

Ooh, I like that idea prettypennies! Glitter would be perfect for my friend's little girl.

ChrisX_2

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

We used to cut up cards with (pinking) shears too. Is pinking the Scottish word or have I got it wrong?

pinking shears is the name of that type of scissor