Homemade Christmas Gifts

daryl that is a terrific idea for Christmas gifts for your staff. I'm sure there will be plenty of laughter and "remember when" stories when you pass them out! (and if not, then you will be creating the "remember when" stories for future Christmases...LOL)

[quote="daryl.weaver"]This was our (me and my daughter) first attempt at soap making. It was a good learning experience, and I'm sure we will improve.



Wow How Colorful! I must be hungry it reminds me of spumoni ice cream

llama momma wrote:



Wow How Colorful! I must be hungry it reminds me of spumoni ice cream

LOL, I said the same thing. She said "what is spumoni?" Sad thing is we've been to Italy twice!

Those are sure some purty soaps! I think they would be even more special because they are homemade! When I saw these the other day, it made me remember how nice bar soaps are to use!

Triciasgarden wrote:Those are sure some purty soaps! I think they would be even more special because they are homemade! When I saw these the other day, it made me remember how nice bar soaps are to use!

camprn wrote:

Triciasgarden wrote:Those are sure some purty soaps! I think they would be even more special because they are homemade! When I saw these the other day, it made me remember how nice bar soaps are to use!

I guess it was just yesterday that I saw the picture of the soap posted. Is that the confusion Camprn?

Tricia, I don't know about what Camprn was wondering, but your comment made me wonder how long it's been since you used a bar of soap, and what are you using instead?
Is that wicked nosey or what?!?

CC

I love the seed ball idea! I bought some seed cookies last year from some neighbor kids. Same idea. I gave them to my niece for her garden. I was not sure if the seed would grow if it had been wetted and then dryed, but at least something grew.

This year I am weaving wool pot holders.

Beautiful potholders!

CapeCoddess wrote:Tricia, I don't know about what Camprn was wondering, but your comment made me wonder how long it's been since you used a bar of soap, and what are you using instead?
Is that wicked nosey or what?!?

CC

That's a good one on me! Boy am I slow!!! I was wondering what she meant for hours, lol! Does that go along with the comment about hippies not bathing! I am still laughing! Thanks for helping me out there CC! Liquid soap nosey person!

[quote="Turan"
This year I am weaving wool pot holders.

[/quote]

Oh Turan, those are beautiful!

Triciasgarden wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:Tricia, I don't know about what Camprn was wondering, but your comment made me wonder how long it's been since you used a bar of soap, and what are you using instead?
Is that wicked nosey or what?!?

CC

That's a good one on me! Boy am I slow!!! I was wondering what she meant for hours, lol! Does that go along with the comment about hippies not bathing! I am still laughing! Thanks for helping me out there CC! Liquid soap nosey person!

Turan, I love your pot holders! One if my fave homemade gifts are dish rags! Daryl I think your soaps are so pretty! Camprn I remembered from this morning how nice bars of soap are to use .

I got my seed balls made last night with the kids, they sure had fun, now I am anxious to see if anything grows out of them. The kids helped me pick the seeds out to put in them and we used so marigolds, nasturtiums, garlic chives, strawberry spinach, alpine strawberrys, and a few of the cleome (I got from NYC Quilter, thanks again). I also made a child measuring board (I am having trouble with a name for it, lol) I will post a picture later so you can see what I am taking about!

The local newspaper featured an article about a Christmas heirloom: a popcorn garland made by the family's grandmother in 1942. Says the kernels were popped in a cast iron pot without oil, so the garland has never turned rancid. It's stored off season in a tin that originally held potato chips, the lid sealed with masking tape. Now that's homemade! Nonna

That's awesome!

daryl - that soap is so pretty!!! would look really pretty in any bathroom!

i love homemade vanilla extract! so awesome you make it too! so simple!! i don't bother straining it - i love the seeds in the extract. adds a little extra flavor and color and yumminess (my opinion, of course). whenever folks give me a home canned item, i return the mason jar filled with homemade aged vanilla. (my mama always said never return a borrowed dish empty).

those woolen items - omgosh, wish i could do that! i've tried over the years, but my little blessings have a tendency to find my projects and undo them quicker than i can do them. someday. . .

i only had time this year to make a custom sewn furby bag carrier for my daughter's gift - i didn't like the ready to buy stuff i saw - it wasn't washable and the fabric was white - not a good fit for my rough and tumble princess. (no pics - yet! - i made it late at night last week and put it in the furby box with the furby inside - peeking out the cutout for his?/her?/its? eyes - will get pics when the little princess opens it)

i do have on the cutting table fabrics for making new 'bookcases' for the children's beds - the ones that are there now - are getting to be about 4 years old and are starting to look worn from all the books stuffed in them - that and their color choices have changed. (i made the old ones multi tiered out of fabric and tied to the bedframe - very useful and space saving in our home) - will do it again, only larger as i saw how popular that turned out to be (also i used pvc pipe in the top for a support to keep the fabric firm and not saggy). i plan on also making some footboard storage tied on with fabric for the 3ds's the boys are getting and hookups for charging. just a matter of working on the project when they're asleep and not notcing what i'm up to. as a homeschool household that can be challenging at times. *gentle smile*

i did get a lot of baking done over the last month and will be putting together homemade cookie trays to give out as gifts. (i love that most cookie varieties can be baked and then deep frozen for later sharing).

Holy cats batman! You are busy happyfrog! I am looking foward to the pictures!

Seems it was a "smash" with the grands. The colors deepened over the two weeks since my first post, and my daughter wrapped each bar in ribbons inside white pastry boxes. It really was quite an attractive gift. As hoped, they really appreciated the time my daughter put into the gift as well as the (perceived) fact it was an inexpensive gift and she has limited funds as a college student. I hope each of you reading this had a great christmas.

Glad to hear Daryl! I had a great Christmas too! Thanks for the update!

I do love those soaps Daryl, so glad they were a hit! My Christmas was very nice also!

I appreciate home made or home grown Christmas Gifts, preferably ones that I can eat so that I do not add to the clutter in my home.

I am trying to get rid of a quarter century of clutter and the biggest item is paper. There is growing pile of business bookeeping, the old kind that uses columnar pads etc, before we got computerised.  All handwritten in my then fairly neat writing. Balanced each month, itemised and so forth. 

I now have the paperwork filed away by year, ready to dispose of it when the year comes around. Then there are the years before that I had stored  in boxes here and there.

So what is this to do with Christmas?

I have stacks of paper, I have a very good paper trimmer, and I have a number of small tins stashed away and I have some time.

I have started to make UNIQUE HAND-MADE SCRATCH PAPER. Suitable for shopping lists, telephone notes etc.

Started by measuring the inside of the boxes and then cutting the paper to size, making sure that the reverse side does not have any info that should not be there then wrapping them in paper pieces. Each container will have an assortment of different sizes thereby making full use of the paper.

My little message to my friends is to tell them that  every piece of paper is unique, and that I have spent many hours and years making them. Since 1997 if they get a vintage piece.  I hope they appreciate my little gifts.  Each little piece of paper will have different numbers on them, no two alike.

I doubt I will ever do this again.

Kelejan wrote:I appreciate home made or home grown Christmas Gifts, preferably ones that I can eat so that I do not add to the clutter in my home.

I am trying to get rid of a quarter century of clutter and the biggest item is paper. There is growing pile of business bookeeping, the old kind that uses columnar pads etc, before we got computerised.  All handwritten in my then fairly neat writing. Balanced each month, itemised and so forth. 

I now have the paperwork filed away by year, ready to dispose of it when the year comes around. Then there are the years before that I had stored  in boxes here and there.

So what is this to do with Christmas?

I have stacks of paper, I have a very good paper trimmer, and I have a number of small tins stashed away and I have some time.

I have started to make UNIQUE HAND-MADE SCRATCH PAPER. Suitable for shopping lists, telephone notes etc.

Started by measuring the inside of the boxes and then cutting the paper to size, making sure that the reverse side does not have any info that should not be there then wrapping them in paper pieces. Each container will have an assortment of different sizes thereby making full use of the paper.

My little message to my friends is to tell them that  every piece of paper is unique, and that I have spent many hours and years making them. Since 1997 if they get a vintage piece.  I hope they appreciate my little gifts.  Each little piece of paper will have different numbers on them, no two alike.

I doubt I will ever do this again.

Wonderful KJ.

Yesterday I attended a Craft Fair and visited my friend Marg who had a table there. and I was able to give her the first tin of "JANICE'S HAND MADE SCRATCH PAPER"  with each piece being unique.

Her first reaction was "Just what I want beside my telephone" and her further reaction when I told her that all it cost  was 25 cents for the container from the thrift store and 25 years of work was priceless.

I will only give these "expensive gifts"  to my friends who appreciate the work that it took in doing one's business accounts the old-fashioned way of hand-written ledger sheets.