Xmas gift ideas
 

I know it's early, but I've been having financial problems and realized that there's no way that I can spend a lot of money on gifts this year. So, I'm trying to think of things I can make. What are some of your ideas?

Cards
Cover notebooks for journals
Matching Pens
Chocolate Bar Covers

What about some of the candles everyone is talking about? They look awesome!

The composition books are .25 at Office Depot this week.

I'm doing domino pins for some of my girl friends. I'd like to do the calendars for my brothers (the reusable kind where the year doesn't matter). They have the calendars at http://www.cdstamps.com for $5 each (much less than I paid for my CTMH one). Other than that...I'm not sure.

Jane

Last year I made photo tiles and coasters, domino pins, candles. I need something new this year.

Here are a few ideas.

An inexpensive shallow bowl filled with paperwhite bulbs and gravel to give as a kit along with cards

Winter potpourri made with pine, small cones, berries and scented oil presented in either a cellophane bag or inexpensive glass candy dish

A loaf of some sort of bread or a batch or cookies presented in creative packaging

Caramels (they are easy to make), either plain or dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with nuts and packaged nicely

Christmas ornaments - there are many ideas for making these

Painted wooden salad bowls (from garage sales or the thrift store) stamped and filled with shredded paper and a cellophane bag of hard Christmas candy

Frames from the dollar store filled with family photos

For nonstamping friends and relatives I make a pack of assorted cards...birthday, get well, thinking of you, sympathy,etc....Heck the price of cards these days makes it hard for a lot of folks just to purchase them. I know from experience that my nieces are thrilled to get a pack of 10 birthday cards that they can use to remember friends' birthdays and it only costs them the price of a stamp! And the "homemade, artsy" quality is a plus...IMHO. Also consider making an assortment of tags....and put them in a decorated cellophane envelope....presentation is everything...LOL...

Polly

You can alter anything these days! I have done clipboards, paper mache letters, boxes, ect. You could also make up some recipe books. You can do this in any size you would like and tie them together with ribbon or metal rings. They make great gifts. You could also cover a file folder and make it into a recipe holder.

Let me think. I know there is more!

I like your recipe book idea! Wouldn't it be nice to share your special family recipes? :-D

GREAT ideas!!!:-D
I just got THESE and THESE from Specialty Bottle Co. Less than 1.00 each. I am going to fill with candy, and the tall ones I will do choc. covered pretzel sticks and put them in the tall tin.

I had never heard of Specialty Bottle Co. before. Thanks so much for providing the info and pictures!

Oh Tandra, shame shame.... I clicked on the link and I had to buy. You enabler you ;)

I too do the card thing. Thru the year I just make extras and save them. Then most of the work is done. People love to get gifts of handmade cards to give out.

I'm thinking of doing chocolate dipped spoons for coffee (and hot chocolate) stirring. Put a few in a cello bag with a cute stamped tag. Easy and inexpensive.

Do you have a link to a stamped salad bowl, I have never seen that done???

Stamping on candles is so easy and you can get candles from the $1 store and all the other supplies you should already have. I believe there is a tutorial on here.

Also Emboss Resist Etching is pretty easy..I was thinking of doing some jars with christmas stamps and adding christmas candy. You can get cheap jars at Wal-Mart and Old Time Pottery if you have one of those in your area. The embossing cream is pretty expensive, but if you have a Hobby Lobby close by you could use their 40% coupon.

There is a lunch bag scrapbook that is pretty easy to make, since its small, you can use up old scraps.

I've made a few pen holders using old coffee cans, scrapbook paper and other embelishments.

I think someone mentioned altered picture frames, I've found some picture frames at the dollar store and at Target in the $1 spot, that are very easy to alter with some mod podge, paper and embelishments.

I think the project area of splitcoast has a lot of tutorials and I'm sure you can get ideas from there. Good luck! And be sure to upload pictures of what you do for everyone to fawn over!!! :p

No, I don't have a link. It's an idea I came up with several years ago for my "friends & neighbors" Christmas gifts. I bought the bowls at yard sales, sanded and primed them outside in the early fall, painted some with acrylic craft paints and others with spray paint then used sponge stamps to decorate them using inexpensive acrylic craft paints. I'll post thumbnails later. Since making these, I've seen the same idea in a couple of catalogs.

Here you go! Most of them were given away but I kept a few. I used sponge stamps for the holly leaves and stars, just dotted the berries with a small brush and used a ladybug sticker on the apple leaf. The snowman was an image taken from a notepad and glued to the surface of the tray after I sponged painted it. I sealed all of these with a coat of clear acrylic spray in a can. Although I filled my bowls and trays with crimped, shredded paper and cellophane bags of Christmas candy, they could hold just about anything, even little stamped tags, ornaments or cards.

Here's another one! This one would be cute to give as a teacher's gift. There used to be all sorts of shapes of wooden bowls like these in thrift stores and at yard sales. I had dated one of them "1996" on the bottom.

Gardner - the bowls are so cute! I never would have thought of doing something like that!

Thanks Crissy! After the base coat is on, they are a good project to work on at a card table while watching tv!

great ideas...

im thinking of stamping some silk scarves that i just found in the gallery for some aunts and my dh's grandma

I thought of something else today..if you have a Flower Factory in your area, they have very cheap baskets. I bought one there for my sister's birthday and filled it up with a picture of my daughter in a picture frame I made; a glass etched jar I made for her a set of notecards and some other things I bought. The basket was only $1.50 and it wasn't cheap looking at all. You do have to sign up for a membership at Flower Factory, but its free, at least it was in my area. They have some scrapbooking and stamping stuff too!

Another cheap gift idea is Wal-Mart sells a package of note cards in their craft department, I think maybe 10 for $1.88 or something. I've created a template in word for these and printed out A note from ... {whoever your giving the gift to} then I stamp on it. It's very simple and you don't have to cut the cards or anthing.

Shirts...
 

A little more expensive...but a cool idea. How about using a snowflake stamp with bleach on DARK DENIM inexpensive shirts?

These are all great ideas. I've given candles and card sets for presents and people liked them. I also did Christmas planners for the 'girls' in the family last year and they were a big hit. Got a notebook from Target that had dividers in it and got some Christmas slab at Michael's and just decorated the heck out of them. And the cards, some I put in a card book, some went in totes and some went into boxes as gifts. Scapbooks were a big hit too, I did a CD one for a teen in the family and she loved that (found that here on the site). And if there is a Target near you, they have small scrapbooks in their Dollar Spot that are very nice. Just embellish them and they are good to go. There is a matching game on the site too that I made for a little one in the family and they all played that one. Covered notebooks and beaded pens are always a hit. Nugget boxes are very cute too, nice little gift for someone that you don't usually spend much money on.

These fridge Post It Note holders/pen are quick and easy using acrylic frames. Here's a link to one pic, which isn't a stunning example, but I've made others that were a lot nicer (this was an emergency gift!).
http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...00&ppuser=5050
Then of course there's the other desktop type of Post It Note holder, which is the same acrylic frame but reversed. Do a search in the forums and you'll find it I'm sure.
Tilly

Here's a pic of the "Wisking you a Merry Kissmas" idea -

Super cute whisk!!!!

And GARDNER- your bowls are great!! They look like spatterware!! Great job!

you guys all have so many awesome ideas!!!!

I made scarves recently and have to say that you should use Craft ink and iron it to heat set it. I did a test and the Classic ink washed right out and even the Stazon colors didn't wash well, plus they smudged/smeared on the scarf. The gallery has lots of scarf ideas.

I LOVE the Specialty Bottle Items! I am in love! I am going to have to search and see if they have rectangle tims that are card sized for giving cards.

I agree with the card ideas. I will attach a link to the card boxes/sets that I made last year. They are full of variety of easy to make cards (also in the gallery but they are indiv. pix's so I did not want to link them all!)

This year we made another box of cards that are super easy card sets with the first letter of each person's name on the frant. They are actually in die cut stationary boxes. (i can attach a picture once i download them!)

This is last years and they were a hit :)

http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...0&ppuser=33989

Get a gift catalog and look through it with the thought, "What can I make out of here?" I do it regularly and come up with some great projects.

I recently ran across a "Let It Snow" sign somewhere (don't even remember where now) that had a Santa in Bermuda shorts. It said, "Let it snow ... somewhere else!" and I immediately thought of my parents. So I found a $1 wooden snowman shape at Michael's, painted him (I'm not a paint artist - this is easy enough) and attached a sign with the words on it. You can print the sign from your computer onto heavy cardstock (consider laminating it if it will be out in the weather) and tie it to his arms with raffia. That will go on my parents' door. (I have to take a picture of this yet!)

I also saw a wooden sign at Bob Evans that reminded me of my SIL, so I jotted the saying down. It says, "Cats are like potato chips - you can't have just one." (She has more cats than she has children - 4 cats, 3 children.) So I picked up a rectangular wooden sign at Dollar Tree, painted it white, found two wooden cats at Michael's (one was prepainted, the other I did myself), printed the saying in reverse on the computer and transferred it to the sign ... Voila! I just saved myself about $10 - and mine is actually cuter! :D (I'll take a picture and post it soon!)

I'm also making family name frames for my dh's side of the family this year. He comes from a family of 11, so we can't spend a lot on each one. I posted three of them in my gallery, if you want to go take a look. (I used their last names.)

HTH! :)

So many ideas.....

I just made a magnetic fridge shopping list holder; using chipboard coasters. I don't know where to post the instructions on SCS, so you can find them here: http://joyfulcreativity.blogspot.com...ial.html#links


I've also seen a painted sign in a store that said : unattended children will be given espresso and a free puppy.... so anything funny like that I'm stamping in frames.

I did boxes of handmade cards last year, they went over well, but I don't want to do it again.

Post it note holders are fun with matching pens.

I guess I'm looking for that project that's new and exciting with major WOW factor.....

Christmas hands
 

Hi, We have a big family too, so this year we are making 'hand coasters'. Fill a glove with plaster of paris or casting plaster, seal the end and drape this over a bowl or cup until it sets. (this is what I am up to so far), remove the rubber glove (by cutting), srape the bottom to make it even, and then paint, stamp, use stickers to your hearts content all over it:razz: . (I got the idea from a Carol Duvall show, they are called 'handy snackers' on her site),

I went to Michaels and bought some of the christmas ornaments for 1 dollar. They are the palin craft orns and they are by the clear craft x-mas bulbs. They come in different shapes. They are cream colored and high glossed. Cut out a paper circle to fit on the orn. then stamp your image that you want to use. color them in or whatever you want to do. Glue them on each side of the orn. Then dab mod podge - I used a sparkle Mod Podge. Be sure to dab it as the color will run if you stroke it on. THen after that is dry I used some of thatsnow tek - It looks like snow when you put it on. I then sprinkle glitter on the snow and let it dry. Tye in a ribbon or you could you the gold one it came with. This is a very beautiful gift.

Oh wow, I just love to go to Micheals when I visit the US, I wish we had that here, neat idea, I have a head start for next year! Thank you!

Do you have any dollar-type stores around you? My Dollar Tree (everything just $1) has a pack of the medium-size clear ornaments for $1. HTH!

Those paper boxes filled with candy would be easy, inexpensive and adorable!
You make them from a 12 x 12 sheet of paper, you can put a handle on it or you can make a lid for it from another sheet of paper. I found the tutorial on Nichole Heady's (Papertrey stamps) blog.