Favorite Things Christmas Gift

Last year my mom, sister-in-law, and myself decided to give each other our 'favorite things' for Christmas.  We decided on a $30 limit (which the shopper/deal getter in me pushed to the limit!) and other than that there no rules.  Whatever our favorite thing/things were, we just had to buy two of the same thing for the other two girls.  Not only did this make shopping easy, but it was fun to give things we've enjoyed and get new things in return!

Here's what I gave as my favorite things last year, still some of my favorites!

·      Trader Joe’s Shave Cream-Smells & feels great

·      Urban Halo Headbands-Comfortable, stay put, wash well, made in MN

·      Gunflint Trail Strawberry Jam-Serve with brie cheese for easy app

·      Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara-Makes make-up easier

·      Whole Food’s Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels-Great with wine!

·      Simple Wine Charms-Something different & easy to store

·      Cities 97 Sampler-Acoustic mix CD sold every year for MPLS Charities

·      Sharpie Pens-Fine tip, permanent, won’t bleed through paper

·      Seche Vite Top Coat Nail Polish-makes any polish look professional, great to wear on bare nails too

·      Champagne-Self explanatory!

Mummy Halloween Shirts for Kids

When I saw this tutorial for a mummy Onesie on Carolina Charm last year, I had to make one for my newborn Niece!  Since it was so easy I made one for my Nephew on a boys's shirt so they could match.  The strips are actually the bottom of my craft room curtains that was cut off when I hemmed them.    I love how they turned out!

DIY Wood-Burned Cutting Board Gift

My parents recently remodeled their house so I thought it would be fun to burn a picture of their new house on a cutting board.  I figured it would be fairly easy since a house is straight lines.  It turned out so well that I made one for myself and my sister-in-law!

I started with an inexpensive cutting board from Home Goods.

The rest of the process is similar to the deck step I wood burned a few years ago. First, take a photo of the house and use powerpoint to make it the desired size and print.

Rub the back of the paper with oil pastels to turn it into 'tracing paper'.

Place the photo where you like on the cutting board and use tape to secure in place.

Use a pen to trace the outline of the house.

The oil pastels will transfer to the board on the lines traced. Use various wood burning tips to fill in the lines, and that's it!

Here is a close-up of the finished product. It was so easy to make a such a custom piece.  This would be a great gift for a house warming or any occasion!

Halloween Gift for Guys

I like Halloween even more than Christmas, which means I give Halloween gifts! Guys can be tough to buy themed gifts for, so rather than waste money on Halloween junk I chose to go with orange and back snacks and some Halloween themed and Oktoberfest beers.  It's amazing what you can find when you look outside the holiday aisle for holiday treats--jerky in a dark charcoal and black packaging looks creepy if you want it to!

DIY Dress-Up Kit Gift

 If there is someone in your life who would love some dress-up clothes, now is the best time of year to buy them! Last year around this time I stocked-up on dress-up clothes for my niece Lyla.  I thought it would be a fun Christmas gift that would inspire creativity and that she would get a lot of use from.

My original plan was to get a lot of Halloween costumes on clearance, but they were SO cheaply made that they weren't even worth buying new! Instead, I found a lot of really, really nice dance outfits at Goodwill.  They tend to hang onto these donations and only set them out prior to Halloween, so go get them now!  Here are a few that I found:

During the Halloween season you can also find a lot of jewelry, crowns, and wands in dollar bins that made great additions to my gift.  

I purchased a purple storage bin from Target to store it all, and used my Cuttlebug to add the words 'Dress-Up' and my Niece's name to the outside.  I would have loved a box of fun like this when I was little! 

Memory Wire Bracelets

When the girls at craft club were making memory wire bracelets, I knew I had to make some too! They are so simple and easy to make, a great craft to do while watching a movie. Since any color beads can be used they're great to make in the colors of your team or school.  This would also be a great craft to do with a group of friends. Simply supply memory wire and a variety of beads and see what combinations everyone comes up with!

The wire used is called memory wire, which holds its round, coiled shape making them perfect for bracelets. Simply cut to the desired length depending on how many times you want them to wrap around the wrist, and string with any beads that will fit the wire.

To finish, use a pliers to make a loop that will keep the beads from falling off.

On some bracelets I added a charm to the finishing loop for some extra 'bling'.

Here are a few bracelets that I made.  These make excellent stocking stuffers and would be a great post-Thanksgiving dinner craft.

Stocking-Up on Stocking Stuffers

It's always fun to give and get stocking stuffers as a little 'something extra' at Christmas time, however if you're not careful they can end-up costing you more than an actual gift!  A lot of retailers send me coupons for free things that make excellent stocking stuffers.  (I'm not sure how I got on these lists, but I'm sure if you snoop around their web-sites you can easily sign-up). Start stocking-up now so you can collect enough goodies for all of your friends and family.  

Here are some great deals that I use for Stocking Stuffers:

$10 off Anything Over $10 Coupons

Find something for $10 and it's free! I get these offers from the following retailers:

 JC Penney-You can easily fiend a piece of clothing here for close to $10. Sometimes it's nice just to get a fresh white tank, something everyone loves but never buys themselves! They also have great deals on jewelry, scarves, hats, mittens, etc.

DSW-Smartwool socks, leg warmers, cute boot socks, or a piece of jewelry

Kohls-Great deals on scarves and jewelry, but you can also find a ton of great kitchen items or wine glasses for under $10. Who doesn't love new dishtowels?!?

Free Stuff

Victoria's Secret-I am always getting coupons for free undies, and the one size fits most lacie's are a great gift option since size doesn't matter!

Bath & Body Works-Free travel size lotion or body wash.  Stock-up early and you can get one of each in the same scent to create a little bundle.

Godiva-Free truffle every month (which you should just eat). However, they give you $10 off the month of your birthday, so if your birthday is close to December Godiva chocolate bars would be appreciated by anyone!

DIY Crafts

It's easy to make multiples of a single craft project to give to everyone on your list.  Some great homemade gifts include wine cork ornaments, tile coasters, wine bottle candles, or Reinbeers!

Hint: Stocking stuffers don't have to be Christmas themed, but if you must, get something basic that will be useful after the holidays and tie it up with a holiday themed ribbon!

Retirement Wine Cork Ornaments

This year both my mom and my friend Kathee from Craft Club retired.  For something special, I made them both cork ornaments  using corks from the wine served at their retirement parties.   

Above are ornaments I made for Kathee symbolizing things that she would do in retirement, and below is a Christmas tree I made with the remaining corks. 

With some eyelet screws, beads, ribbon, and glue the possibilities of cork ornaments you could make is endless. This is an easy way to make a little reminder of any special occasion, just remember to save the cork!

Wooden Birthday Calendar

After seeing a lot of ideas for wooden birthday calendars on Pinterest, I thought it would be a fun gift for my husband's grandparents.  I don't think it's the perfect gift for everyone since it has to hang on the wall, but his grandparents are always so proud of how their family has expanded so I thought they'd love to display it.

I purchased these wooden disks from Michaels' for the birthdays.  They had the wooden hearts in 1 1/2" as well, so I bought those for the anniversaries.

I made this template on a block of wood so the holes would be directly across from each other and the birthdays would hang strait.  It was really helpful since I tried a few without it!

 I drilled the holes as close to the edge as I could without them cracking. Some did crack, so I would plan on buying extra.

After the holes were drilled I painted the wood chips with acrylic paint (and a glass of wine).  I chose to assign a different color to each of their kids, then use a lighter shade of that color for those grandkids, and an even lighter shade for the great-grandkids from that family.

 Writing on the circles and hearts was the easiest, since we would have needed really small stickers (I had to have my mom do it since my handwriting is horrible!) We wrote the name and date of the month on the front side, and the full date with year on the back.  'S' hooks from the hardware store connected the circles and hearts.

We screwed 12 eyelet hooks to the base of the board, one for each month.

I used sticker letters to label each month, since these letters were too small to neatly cut on the cricut.

I used my cricut to cut out 'FAMILY' on black vinyl.  This made it easy to just peel off the back and stick the letters onto the board.

I used a ruler as a guide to make sure the word 'Family' would be in a straight line.  When pressed against the edge of the board, the ruler I have just happened to be the perfect spacing for my letters!

I love how the finished product turned out, nice and colorful!

Mail a Birthday Ball

My nephew just turned two, so we sent him a ball through the mail to celebrate--a cheap and easy way to send some fun! The ball was $2.99 at Target.  I used a permanent marker to write his address on one side and a short message on the other.  Take it to he post office and it's good to go--no packaging needed! 

Mother's Day 'Senses Themed' Gift Basket

I thought it would be fun to give our moms a few fun things to enjoy a nice day for Mother's Day, so I decided on a 'senses' theme to tie everything together.  I printed each 'sense' onto a piece of vellum to make the tags, then used bakers twine to tie them to the coordinating item.  This theme would also work for birthdays or any other occasion!

Here's what I included:

See-Movie

Taste-Gourmet Popcorn

Feel-Hand Lotion

Smell-Difusior

Listen-CD

Indulge-Chocolate Bar

Sip-Gourmet Soda

Relax-Tequilia

Love-Framed Photo

 Here it is all in a fun basket!

'Two Carat' Easter Earrings

These 'Two Carat' earrings are a fun, unique, inexpensive, and non-candy addition to any Easter basket! They are quick and easy to make as well.

Cut two carrots out of orange card stock.  I didn't use a pattern so each one was unique, just like in nature.

Score each carrot to add horizontal lines, like you would find on an actual carrot.

Create the card for the earrings by printing the words 'Two Carats' on card stock. Position and cut according to the size card you like.

Use two pieces of green ribbon to create each carrot stem.  Glue them to the card stock before adding the carrot.

After the carrot is secured to the card stock, punch a hole in the center of each carrot to push the earring through. I used the small punch I use for brads.

I found this 3-pack of 'diamond' earrings at Target for only $4.99!  It worked out great since I was making three sets.

 Place the earrings onto the card you just made and that's it! 

Gift Wrap Stash 101

Fancy grift wrap stations, closets, even rooms are all over Pinterest and organizing sites.  All I have to say to that is good for them, as I think they're more for show than for function.  Besides my wrapping paper rolls which are neatly organized in the closet as seen here, all of my giftwrapping goods fit into one box like this:

That box sits nicely on the shelf, easily accessible but clutter-free like this:

Although it's great to keep a few items on hand to wrap a last minute gift, I don't see the need to devote a ton of storage space in my house to gift wrap.  I find that I usually purchase packaging to match the theme of my gift or the recipient's interests, so I don't often dig into my stash. Therefore, I'm very intentional with what I buy to keep on hand, so storing it doesn't get out of hand! Here are my tips on what to have:

Basic White and Kraft Paper Gift bags-These are great beacuse they can work for any occasion rather than storing wrap for every life event.  Since I do have an entire room of craft supplies, it's easy to decorate them for any occasion, use colored tissue paper, or tie something fun onto the handles.

Colored Favor Bags- These small bags are inexpensive and don't take up much space.  They are easy to embellish and work great for kids gifts, treats, or simple 'just because' gifts that don't need to be wrapped fancy.

Dollar Store Gift Bags-Dollar stores have some of the most fun gift bags, and the best part is that they don't cost more than the gift!  I also keep bags given to me to re-use, but only if they are still in pristine condition.  I know I won't give them if they're beat-up, so why hang onto them?!? If you go through a major life even such as a wedding or new baby, keep the basic bags and give some of the event specific bags to a friend or co-worker.  Why hang onto 30+ wedding bags?

Bubble Mailer Envelopes-These tend to get used more than actual wrap since I like to mail gifts and treats to friends I don't see often!  They are a pain to run out and get when you need them, so I keep them with my gift wrap stash.

Re-useable Gift Bags-At the same price as traditional gift bags, these re-useable gift bags hold-up well and don't get wrinkled and damaged.  The recipient can re-gift them or use them for everyday errands.  They can also tote heavy gifts, like a couple bottles of wine!

Fun Bows and Embellishments- Dollar stores also have a lot of fun bows that help make gifts look attractive and exciting!  I like to have a few on hand to make things special, but since they take up a bit of space I only stock-up on the ones that are really fun.

Decorative Filler-This is available at the dollar store as well.  I like to use it in place of tissue paper in bags and packages.  Not only is it more fun, but it holds up well for storing, wrapping, and re-using and doesn't get wrinkled and grubby like tissue paper.

Small Boxes and Embellishments-I keep all small boxes, bags, and embellishments in a clear ziplock bag so they don't sink to the bottom of my gift wrap box. If you can't find them you won't use them!