Handmade Christmas Gifts

My son & babysitter made me a hand plaster of his hand & put a ribbon through it, it hangs on my doorknob. The pottery is nice too. There are also poems you can add to the hand. I have one that says something about - everytime you pull this out you will remember how big my hand was in 2008

Hi E. :-)

Do you have any of those "do it yourself" pottery studios around you? They are the BEST for gifts and last a lifetime! Both ages will be able to draw/paint and it comes straight from the heart :-)

Also.. the older child may be able to make her a "necklace or bracelet".. buying some simple beads and stretchy string to do so.. the younger one could do this as well but would need strict supervision.

If you don't have these possibilities around you, how about going to a local art store, purchasing a small size canvas (2) and a few tubes of acrylic paint and paintbrushes and let them go to town! Also will last a lifetime.

When my daughter was 5 we made AMAZING cards! We purchased white glossy paper rolls, finger paints, and opened them up and let the kids just smoosh in the colors and paint, swirl, dance across and around the paper. Lots of different colors and several kids working on one piece of paper to fill it up... when it is done and dried, you take a "template" that you have cut out, like a picture frame, the size of the face of the blank cards you have purchased.. place it over the "whole" painted glossy white paper and you'll begin to SEE amazing creations pop right into your view! When you like what you see, you take an exacto knife, cut "inside" the template and take out the perfect sized piece and then glue it to the front of the card. You'll also need to buy a thick but soft rubber mat, they sell them at the art store.. tell them what you are doing so they understand. You'll place this mat "under" the area you are wanting to cut out of the main painted glossy page, otherwise, you'll cut right through to your table, or floor, or wherever you are doing this cutting out.

THEY WERE SPECTACULAR!

Have fun,
hugs,
A. R.N., Energy Medicine Practitioner

Why not let your girls decorate a wreath? I am NOT very crafty, but about 8 years ago I went to Michael's Craft Store, bought a circular frame, some "fake" green pine that was in a long 'string', some green wire and lots of little crafty bells, holly and ornaments...you could even buy a small light string too.

It's SUPER easy. Just wrap the pine through the metal frame, BOOM your "wreath" is done. Then let your kids pick which "ornaments" to put where. It's as simple as letting them twist-tie a piece of wire to secure each piece to the pine branch - you just cut the wire for them (keep it long you can trim it more later). Then add your lights (if you want). That's IT.

You may even have enough supplies left over so your kids can make one for YOUR family too.

It's a great way to make a personal gift without having to deal with glue, glitter, etc. Ours has stayed great for years. I have NEVER had to resecure the ornaments or anything. We hang it on a nail in the basement so it doesn't get crushed. And I was able to pick bells and ornaments that are colors we like, so it wasn't something pre-made/store bought and super pricey.

You could do ornaments, wreaths, things like that. I sw this really cute snowman door stop made from a patio brick...too cute. I would check out familyfun.com (I think that's it...google family fun magazine) for some good ideas. YOu could also just do a homemade ornament search, we're going to make the cinnamon/glue ornaments which are easy and much sturdier than you'd think. I've also seen some foam balls with sequins and/or silk flowers stuck in them, they look cool too.

You could also take the girls to one of those pottery painting places and have them paint a coffee mug, plate, whatever. Those are pretty fun and have quite a variety of options. We're considering doing that with my 3 year old for presents for her grandparents.

Have them make stuff out of clay for your friend. Its easy, alot of fun, and a personal gift. They could make ornaments, or a picture frame and put their picture in it afterwards. They could put beads on it, glitter, pretty much anything they wanted to.

One year my sons and I got just plain old Christmas bulbs and self sticking gems and decorated the bulbs with the gems. Then we put To: and From: on them as well as their ages. We also took pics that year and put them in clear glass bulbs with the names and ages. It was fun and something a 3 and 8 year old could do. Enjoy!

How about ornaments made from styrofoam balls...you can cover them with fabric and have your girls glue or pin sequins, beads, bows, ribbons and such on them....you could even add a tiny photo frame as a "charm" and put a picture of your girls in it.

This is something that I still have and use every christmas. My children are grown, I cherish them. One year, I was asked to send in a pic of each child to my daughter's preschool. A school size photo, wallet sized. The teacher's cut a christmas tree out of felt. A hole in the middle of the top piece. The picture was put in.A Little bead was sewn at each point, and a piece of yarn at the top made a hanger- it goes on the tree every year.
I took my grdaughters to a ceramic place one year. We picked out 2 plates in the shape of a star. Handprints of each went on, then they put fingerprints all over the background. The people in the store helped me. The plates were painted either before or after. It has been awhile since we did it.
A decorated tshirt is cute too, put their handprints on that.

Their pictures in frames, hand decorated by them. They can use alphabet macaronis to spell out their names, elbow macaronis, or slightly softened spagettis as well as popcycle sticks or a myriad of other comon household items also can be splendid media for young imaginations.
Or use fabric paints to decorate a t-shirt for her, she may never wear it out in public (then again, she just may) but she will treasure it. One yr my kids hand painted a t-shirt for my dh for fathers day. He never wore it in public, but did wear it around the house, and wore it for many yrs as a pj top. Our kids are grown now, & dh's belly has long since outgrown that shirt, but he still can't bring himself to get rid of it!

I love the plaster hand ornaments. There are some that walmart sells that include a round can to make and store it in.
If you make something out of paper, be sure to laminate it or it won't last.

Buy some plates at the dollar store and some paints made to stick on that type of surface (craft store or paint dept at the hardware store can probably steer you in the right direction). Have the kids dip their hands in the paint and do their handprint on the plate and paint their name on it or a greeting.
It can be done on saucers and cups too, for a set.

You could buy plain tiles and let the kids paint them, hand-print them, etc, then glaze or spray them as coasters. You could do the same thing with larger ones for a trivet. My boys just made ornaments with homemade clay (we baked it after) and they painted them. They aren't great, and I am hoping they last well, but they are cute.

That is really sweet that your friend wants something handmade from your kids!! I wish I felt confident enough to only give handmade some year. :)

Pottery store & canvas painting also i'm making these for grandma picture tiles it's so easy

2nd for paint it yourself pottery.

My daughter decorated a wreath at suday school which they found plain wooden cutouts at michaels of a star, an angel, sheep 3 presents and a cross and made a manger and stable out of popsicle sticks they put a big red bow on a green wreath with a bell and painted each of the wooden items and put them in order of the story of Christmas around the wreath. I have now replaced my store bought wreath with this one and get so many compliments on it.