Handmade Gifts

Simple quilted placements/tablerunners, knitted tea cozies for tea pots/knitted wine bottle covers/bags, cross stitched Christmas ornaments, cross stitched seasonal wall hangings (Merry Christmas and that kind of thing), knitted lap blankets and baked treats. Good luck, be creative and have lots of fun.

I taught myself how to make soap from scratch, with lye. If you can bake a cake from scratch, you can make soap. Even my first attempts, while not spectacular were decently useable. From there, I branched out to making bath bombs, bath teas, and occasionally lip balms. To get started on soap making, visit http://www.millersoap.com/, or feel free to PM me. It's a wonderful, addictive hobby, and I've gotten tons of compliments on stuff I've made from friends and family. :)

If I had more time to sew, I'd do more sewing crafts. I did make tulle dress-up skirts for my nieces, and they were a hit for Christmas, but not much sewing was needed. :)

For myself and for giving family/friends, I love practical nice looking things. I'd flip for a set of homemade napkins or placemats for example.

One of the best gifts I ever got (well, really it was for my son) was a set of homedmade fitted cloth diapers. My friend made me 6 to start us off with. I treasure them, even though he doesn't fit in them any more.

Edited to add: If the lye is intimidating, you can buy melt & pour soap. But I love good homemade lye soap, and I'll bet your family will too! :)

Last year, I thought of an idea, but it was too late to implement the idea.......fabric gift bags. My mom was ahead of her time -she made them about 20 years ago. I can't say it was because she wanted to go "green", it was more like we were broke and wrapping paper is expensive! This year, because one of my kid's teachers is very environmentally friendly, I was going to make 4-6 bags, in different sizes like my mom did. For the teacher, I'd just wrap the bags in a pretty bow and attach a card explaining the new "green" theme, or something like that. The bags themselves are very versatile. You can give them (with gift inside) to the recipient and they ,can then re-use it for a gift, themselves, or use it for any other purpose. For my family, we just used them for Christmas and when the carnage of Christmas morning was over, we'd gather them up and put them with the Christmas decor for next year. Now, with all the reusable grocery bags and such, I'm sure they'd be more appreciated by your recipient. I LOVE my reusable bags. I really can never have too many, so I love receiving them. I'm sure yo can use just about any sturdy fabric. My mom used just your plain 'ol woven cotton fabric. You could use fleece, wovens or whatever is on sale ;) Just an idea!

Another thing I like to do is to look in my favorite gift catalogs and see what I can replicate. Some of my favorites are www.uncommongoods.com and www.femalecreations.com, you might find some new ideas there. Good luck!!!

I grow peppers every summer, pluck them in fall, marinate them till fall in a high quality vinegar, turn them into many different kinds of hot sauce, a xmas label on a hot sauce jar is quite cute.

I melt chocolate onto nice silver spoons, wrap them with saran wrap tie them up with curled ribbon and hand them out with neat/unusual or personalized coffee cups or gourmet coffee beans.

we brew special stout beers to open up this time with friends

i make my closer friends and family, personal scrapbooks, paintings, sculptures, albums. Sometimes i combine the carpentry skills of a friend of mine, and my painting and we create peices of furniture with a favorite label/beer/ etc on it.

you can collect interesting jars and make your own "soup mixes, hot cocoa mixes, 3 bean mixes, granola starters.

you can make your own baskets think easter, but for adults.

I have made soap,candles and quilts,pens with flowers on the ends with a stack of note cards, Christmas stockings, knitted hats and scarfs.
J.

Hi L., I also like to give personalized and handmade gifts! While searching for a special and unique gift for my niece I stumbled upon this website: www.withlovealib.com, which had a variety of gifts for children that are handmade and you can also send in requests to have your gifts personalized. I hope you find some great gifts here!

E.

P.S. here is what I got my niece and she loves it:
http://withlovealib.com/custom-home-accessories/wall-deco...

I love to give and receive the gift of food! Homemade pastries, canned tomatoes, jam, even homemade liqueurs. I've done vanilla vodka and limoncello. Both very easy and delicious!

I like making decorative letters for kids rooms (like their names and stuff) You can find how to on Michaels.com (using wooden letters, scrapbook paper and modpodge) I also bake a lot for Christmas. I know a lot of friends who make the jars for brownies or bread, a really cute one was she made jared granola and wth it had a tiny jar of "reindeer food" It is really cute. A lot of these you can find online. Also you can make ornaments, buy clear ones and put special things inside that represent the person you are giving it to.

I love to make hair bows/flowers. I also bake whole wheat homemade bread and give that. Good job with handmade! You could also browse etsy.com for some ideas!

i only like receiving cookies. i don't give handmade gifts, except handwritten notes from my kids.

I've received cookies in a jar for christmas and loved it!! My friend put all the ingredients needed to make oatmeal raisin cookies in a jar with a recipe instruction card attached. She attached a pretty bow and I thought it was great!

For 10yrs, we do packages for homeless and for the soldiers in lieu of any Christmas gifts to family/friends. But for other times during the year, these are some homemade gifts that have been hits:

- homemade vanilla extract (some vodka and a whole vanilla bean, so easy!)
- a picture of my son with that person (I'll edit, or make B&W, or add text - something to make it one of a kind), in a nice frame
- used books on things that I've heard the person talk about an interest in (gardening, landscaping, cooking, etc)
- homemade cleaning solutions from my fave book (Clean House, Clean Planet)

Good luck :)

I have shipped baskets that I put together full of my own Christmas baking:) I have done photo keepsakes, jewelery, kids activity kits/car kits and fleece tie blankets.

Hi L.,

Honestly, I love gifts that are somewhat practical and if you can tie my kid into it somehow, even better. I have some lovely handpainted picture frames that specifically match my rooms. My grandmother makes crocheted dish clothes and holders for dish towels that she attach to towels that match the theme of my kitchen.

Another friend hand-paints glass and she gave me some beautiful wine glasses hand painted in a beach theme (because I am definitely a beach girl).

HTH,

Kali

I love jewellery!!! Some of my favorites you can find on: http://www.glamour.michael-jessa.com/Hand-Made-Necklaces/...