Making Chrsitmas Pressies!

[merlin]

Now the kids are back to school and I've got a bit more time on my hands thinking it would be nice to do this (and save some money!).

But, need some inspiration as to what? Thought about soaps (but not sure who really uses soap nowadays?)

Candles perhaps?

Anyone got any great ideas please - not too complicated or arty cos I'm not THAT good!

Thanks.

I am skint to but have never really done arty type stuff for crimbo, not really sure my family would be appreciative of it right enough but was thinking of giving it a go this year!

I was thinking of doing calanders, photo frmaes and painted mugs or something similar.

I'm thinking of LaurieFairyCake's candles and flavoured gins and vodkas (I did Christmas Pudding vodka last year and that was a hit).

Thanks guys - will check out the other thread.

Oh and apologies for typo in title - it's CHRISTMAS!!!

Not presents I'm afraid, but I'm thinking of getting DS to make our cards. I've got some coloured card from the art shop and plan to cut out Christmassy shapes from old bits of wrapping paper for him to stick on.

If that goes well, I thought we might potato print on brown paper for this year's wrapping paper.

Meant to ask - how old are they? If they can sew, what about fabric shopping bags? My Mum made some fab ones a few years ago when we decided to have a £10 limit on Christmas presents. Curtain material is good and sturdy; rummage through the bargain bins! Or hop/lavender pillows? Those wheat sacks that you put in the microwave for aches and pains?

I always make a lot of presents, I enjoy it and it's thrifty too! (I have posted in other thread too so sorry for saying the same thing here
You could do jars of chutneys, they will be mature by christmas. They take a bit of time to prepare and cook, but are dead easy. I made this one yesterday www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/pear-date-and-cinnamon-chutney and it was very straightforward, but beware, it took me over an hour to prepare all the ingredients!

If you sew, aprons are fairly easy and can be adapted for grown ups or children, as are tote bags. Photo frames can be decorated, covered with fabric and buttons etc. I've made purses and bags in the past, but found the bags were easier as didn't need a zip, and took me a lot less time and faffing (I'm not good with zips!)

Have a look here for ideas www.cutoutandkeep.net/ there are a lot of duplicated ideas (a million different ways to customise a t shirt for example) and it takes a bit of looking to sort the wheat from the chaff, but I've made a few projects from here and have got a lot of inspiration from looking at others work too.

Hope some of this helps, happy crafting! x

I have just got a book called Homemade for my birthday which has lots of gifty things in and is separated into seasons so you can use what is available/in season/appropriate etc. It is very good and definitely worth a look

I've made candles before, it was very easy to make them look nice e.g. putting leaves or pot pourri in the side of the mould comes out pretty well, and you can use essential oils to make them smell nice as in LaurieFairyCake's thread.

Just remembered - I did marinated olives one year, in a nice jar with some ribbon.

With our DCs flapjacks have become a much anticipated tradition. Easy to mix. Easy to make rich and colourful using luxury dried fruit and nuts (whatever your taste). Wrap/label individually in layer of greaseproof paper first before final layer. Or you could source small tins or boxes. They hand them out in that lull after the main meal when people might be starting to get peckish again. The relatives really look forward to it with a big pot of tea. Will think some more on this......