Thrifty Gifty 2010 #3: Stamped Silver

This one is fun, and has many possibilities.  You will need some silverware, and a set of metal stamps.  I get pieces of old flatware at the thrift store for around 25c each.  I got my set of stamps (1/8”) at Harbor Freight.  You can order them online, or check to see if HF has a location near you; they have 330 stores in 44 states.

You’ll need to do the stamping on a hard surface, like a concrete floor.  I found it helpful to place the handle of the fork I stamped on a raised surface, so that the hammering wouldn’t totally flatten the handle.  I also had Craig hold the fork steady for me so that it wouldn’t bounce around with each whack.

This was my first attempt, which failed, but the photo is just to show what I mean by putting it on a raised surface.  I believe there are blocks made for stamping, but I don’t have one.

Now choose your letters, hold it as steady as possible (this is where Craig held the second fork firmly on the surface for me), and hit the stamp with a hammer 4 or 5 times.  If the stamp or silver shifts at all, you will get multiple impressions.

Here’s a little tip:  if you choose the word “eat”, make sure you stamp the E really well, so that the bottom line is well-defined, and the word won’t be mistaken for “fat”.

My spacing wasn’t the greatest on this one, but it kind of adds to the unique charm, don’t you think?

I went over the letters with a Sharpie, and then wiped the excess off, to darken it up a bit.

A set with herb or vegetable names would be a great little gift for a gardener.  (This is not really thyme, but it’s the only plant I have.)

A monogram would be pretty, or how about a personalized baby spoon?  I recently found a few demitasse spoons that would be adorable for that.  You could even personalize a set for your school-aged child to take in her lunch.  Really, you’re limited only by your imagination.

Do you have any cute ideas for stamping silver?  Do tell!

Don’t forget—PB, RH, BD Knock-Off Party tomorrow!

Thrifty Gifty 2010 #2: Canning Jar Soap Dispenser

 

Lest anyone is mistaken, I need to say from the outset that most of my Thrifty Gifty ideas are not original with me.  So just think of me as your Thrifty Gifty dissemination center.  That being said, I saw this one in Country Living magazine.

You’ll need a mason jar with lid (preferably one of the old zinc lids), and a soap pump.  All of these are pretty common at thrift stores.  You might have a little trouble finding a zinc lid if you’re doing this last minute, but they are easy to find and don’t cost much on ebay.  The project takes about 2 minutes to make, so even if the lid arrived in the mail the night before the gift-giving event, you’d have time.

I bought this soap pump for $1 at Goodwill, just for the pump part.

I have several aqua Ball jars with zinc lids that I got for $1 each a while ago.  However, they are quart jars and too big for this project, I felt.  So I used a newer pint jar (also from the thrift store, about 25c) and one of the old lids.  The old lids fit the new jars!  Now that’s great planning on the part of the Ball jar co.

Drill a 1/2” hole in the middle of the lid. Trim the pump if needed. Put it all together.  Done.

Much nicer.  I don’t have a problem using dish soap for washing my hands, plus this is supposed to be the “hand renewal” kind.

 

You could give this with a basket of other kitchen items, like cute dishtowels and fancy ruffled rubber gloves (you could probably make those yourself, too).

Country Living used an vintage aqua jar, and I would have if I had a pint-sized one, though I think I would want white or clear dish soap for that.

And just because it doesn’t merit a post of its own:  a few months ago, you may remember, I won a gift certificate to CSN Stores.  I used it to get this pendant for over the sink to replace the boob light that was there.  Love it!  And if you think my sink area is always this tidy, I’ve got news for you.

Front Door Wreath

I’ve been using the same Christmas wreath on my front door for the last several years.  I still like it, but I was ready for a change.  My inspiration was this Wild Berry wreath from Better Homes and Gardens.



I already had a twiggy wreath that has served me well in many capacities for the last 9 years.  Most recently, it has been my spring wreath.  I like the wildness of it, but for the Christmas wreath, I wanted to tame it a little.   Plus the branches stick out so much they grab at people’s hair and poke at their eyes when it’s hanging on the front door.  So I gave it a trim.



I bought some berry things at Michaels (pretty much everything Christmas is 1/2 off), and then cut them into individual picks with wire cutters.  Don’t be boxed in by what you see on the surface; always be thinking “how can I make this work for what I need?”.



After this I didn’t take any photos.  Bad blogger.  But I just tucked the picks in around the wreath and hot glued.  I also added silver ornaments.





I like it.  I’ve never hot-glued anything to it before, I’ve always been able to easily change it out for the next idea or season.  I hope I’m not going to be sorry about that later.  But for now, it’s good.
More Thrifty Gifty coming up this week, and the PB, RH, BD Knock-Off Party is this Friday!

Thrifty Gifty 2010 #1: Monster Pillow

All right, here we go!  I’m being a little less strict with myself for this year’s TG series.  If I want to skip a day and do a post about something else, I will.  My goal is at least 5 TG posts.  I pretty much had to go into therapy after last year’s series, and I’d like to avoid that burnout this year.  So let’s just have fun!  BTW, there are at least 15 TG posts from last year that would still work as gifts this year!

This wasn’t announced previously, but I’m going to do an impromptu linky party today.  Add a link to your post with your inexpensive homemade gift idea.  If you want to use a post from last year so as not to reveal this year’s gift, that’s fine.  I’ll also have another TG party next Monday.

Today’s idea is perfect for children of all ages.  The original idea came from an older Family Fun magazine.  Skippy saw it and wanted one, so I whipped one up for him.  Meet Germie (as named by S.), the monster pillow.  He’s cuddly, tactile, cute, and each one can be unique.  You could tuck treats or notes in the pocket, and use it when the tooth-fairy visits.



This was totally free for me because I found some old corduroy pants that had seen better days, a scrap of denim, my button stash, and used the stuffing from an unwanted throw pillow.  You could go buy fabric at the store, which would give you more choice, but cost more.  Or you could find usable clothing items at the thrift stores.  A bag of polyfil for stuffing would cost around $5, and be enough for quite a few of these.

I was really free-flowing with this and didn’t use a pattern or anything.  I just cut out a random shape, front and back.  Make sure to make it at least 1/2” bigger than you want it all the way around for the seam allowance. It’s easiest to cut them out at the same time, but you need lay the fabric layers right-sides together when you cut.  You just want to end up with two mirror-image pieces.

Note:  the following step needs to be done before you sew the front and back together.

For the pocket/mouth, cut out a big U-shape of a contrasting fabric.  Hem across the straight edge with the sewing machine.  Then pin it to the front of one of your body pieces.  I hand whip-stitched around the curved edge to attach it, but if you want to machine sew it, you can.



Now sew the eyes on.  I layered buttons.  If this is for a young child who might potentially choke on buttons, you could embroider the eyes.



Next, put your front and back together, with right sides together, and pin around the edges.  Sew all the way around, leaving about a 3” opening to that you can turn it right-side out and stuff.  It can be helpful to use a chopstick or something like that to get the stuffing in all the corners.  Once it’s stuffed, hand-stitch the opening closed.

I didn’t know I would be posting about this, so I don’t have any in-progress photos.  Family Fun still has their instructions available if you need further visuals.  (For reference, Germie is about 11” from top to bottom…naturally, you can make yours whatever size you want.)

You may very well be able to make a Germie pillow for free.  If you have to buy clothing articles at the thrift store, it will cost a few dollars, but you should be able to make more than one pillow out of an adult pair of pants.  Even if you go buy the materials at the fabric store, I think you could get two pillows out of 1/2 yard of fabric.  My point is, it’s cheap to make!



If you have an inexpensive handmade gift to share, I’d love for you to link up with the post!  I’ll leave it open for a few days, until Wed. Dec 8 at 11:59 pm.

You know the drill!

• you must link back to me in your post (I can’t find the button code, so if you want to include the button, use it like a photo, but still include my link)
• link to your specific party post, and not your general home page
• please be polite and visit several other participants and leave a nice comment
• I will delete entries that don’t link back to me or do not fit the party theme; I don’t want to be a meanie, but we gotta play fair

’Tis the Season

Are you feeling the Christmas gift-buying crunch yet?  I have a hard time even thinking about Christmas gifts before December, but then as soon as the calendar page turns, it feels like there’s not enough time to get it all done.

Last year at this time I ran a series I called Thrifty Gifty.  It was three weeks of almost daily gift ideas that one could make for very little cash.  I did not plan ahead much; I had a just few vague ideas to begin with.  For the most part, every night I was coming up with an idea, making it, taking photos, and posting it.  It just about killed me.  In fact, it almost killed my blog.  I was burned out for months afterward.  It was like all the creativity had been sucked out of me.

Nevertheless, I’m going to risk an attempt at another Thrifty Gifty series this year.  I’m going to aim for one week (or at least 5 posts, whether or not they are consecutive) this time, starting Monday. 

Also, I was going to take December off from the Knock-Off Party, but I’ve noticed there’s been quite a bit of holiday knock-offs around the blogs, so I’m going ahead with it.  It will be Friday, Dec. 10, so people will have some time to knock-off the knock-offs if they want.  Get your stuff ready, and if you wouldn’t mind spreading the word when you see a Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, or Ballard Designs copy, I would appreciate it.

See you next week!

I’ve Been Had!

So, a couple of months ago I posted about Overstock.com.  I had been contacted by a representative who offered me a reusable 10% off code with no expiration date to share with my readers in exchange for a blog post.

Shortly thereafter, I used the code to order a new sewing machine.  My old one was getting finicky and was a major source of frustration.  I just wanted a simple machine without a hundred stitches I’d never use.  This Brother got good reviews everywhere I looked.  I’ve used it several times, and I like it fine.

My mother always told me not to sew over top of the pins (the ones holding the two pieces of fabric together, perpendicular to the line of stitching).  My home ec teacher said we could.  I’ve been ambiguous about it ever since, sometimes sewing over top, and sometimes pulling them out before the needle crosses over them.  I’ve never had any problems.

Then today, with my brand new machine, for the first time in 25 years, the thing my mother warned me about happened.  I didn’t take a pin out, and the needle hit it.  It bent the pin and jammed it down into the whatever-you-call-it under the needle until the point poked back up through the other side.

I had to take the whole plate off to get the thing out.  Considering the damage done to the pin, I was amazed that the machine still appears to be working fine.

The 10% off code, however, is another story.  I tried to use it the other day, with no luck.  I had a quick online chat with a customer service rep and she had no idea what I could be talking about, as Overstock evidently doesn’t have any codes that do not expire.

I sent an email to the original woman who contacted me with this whole thing, and it looks like her email is no longer working either.  On further inspection, she was in fact a representative of MSO Marketing, and not of Overstock directly.  (Although theoretically, the O could have hired a marketing company.)

So it’s all very strange.  It appears to have been some kind of sham, and yet I was able to use the code once.  And how some third party could benefit from my post about Overstock, I have no idea.  I may delve into this a little more and see what I can find out.  But it seems I’ve been bamboozled!  Hate that.

ETA:  I had one reader who was also able to use the code back in October.  However, I got looking and Elyse Mallone has contacted many bloggers with the same offer, and it’s generally accepted that she is some kind of scam artist. I really don’t know how it benefits her; I did not give her any personal or financial info, and all the links in my post were directly to Overstock.  Weird.

I have deleted my October post, and contacted Overstock (just the customer service dept.  Hopefully, they’ll be able to tell me who I really need to talk to).

A Few Online Deals

Thought I’d pass on a few deals I got in my inbox.  I know there are tons out there right now, so if you’re shopping online, be sure to do a little research first.

Coldwater Creek has 25% off everything and free shipping through 12/17, use code WHH2960.  The last time they did this, I picked up a couple of scarves for teacher gifts for about $3 each from the outlet.

Land’s End through 12/3, 40% off highest priced item + Free Shipping with $75 purchase.  Savings reflected at checkout when you enter  Promotion Code: SAVE40  PIN: 9019

Christianbook.com: free shipping when you order $35 or more before 12:00 PM EST on December 9th, 2010, enter promotion code 338535, and choose standard shipping.  Plus, I looked at their Christmas shop and they have over 8000 items at $5 or under!  Sounds like a good place to look for stocking stuffers.

Join Amazon Mom for free, and get free 2-day shipping with Amazon Prime for the first three months.  There are other benefits to joining as well, but I’m mainly in it for the shipping, which I’ve used a number of times since I joined.