Wrap It Up

Have you wrapped gifts yet?  I usually do it Christmas Eve after the kids are asleep, so they wake up to a bounty of gifts under the tree.  However, I was just thinking today how my mom used to do it over several days leading up to Christmas, so the pile grew gradually.  I think that method heightened the anticipation for me, and it might be fun to do that for my kids.  I’m just worried that they might peek.  I did.  At least once.

I am not a particularly talented or creative gift wrapper.  I try to make it pretty, but it’s just not really my forte.  So I’ve searched for some inspiration, and thought I’d share with you some of the cuter ideas I found.

This one from Country Living has to be one of my favorites.  It’s a thrift store shirt wrapped around the box and embellished with a thrift store brooch!  They don’t explain how to make it look that neat and tidy, though…I have a feeling the back of the box doesn’t look quite as nice.  You could adapt this idea by using a square of fabric, and a brooch would make a pretty bit of bling on any gift.

Love this musically themed package! Country Living suggests enlarging sheet music of Jingle Bells and printing it on thick paper.  I have also seen piano music books at thrift stores; a page could wrap a small gift.

One more from Country Living:  using peppermints instead of styrofoam peanuts is tasty and pretty!

You know Martha can wrap!  These beautiful packages are wrapped in potato chip bags!  Carefully cut them open, wash with soap and water, dry, and wrap.  Pretty and eco-friendly!

 

I really like the look of kraft paper as wrapping paper.  It’s simple, but you can embellish it as much as you like with your choice of bows and toppers.

Family Fun suggests making “gift baxes” out of cereal boxes.

Also from Family Fun, some kid-friendly ideas for making gift bags out of lunch bags.  It would be fun for your child to present his teacher’s gift in a bag he decorated himself.

Do you get creative with your gift wrapping, or are you more of a slap-it-together type?  Hand-made bows, curling ribbon, or the ubiquitous stick-on bows that come in a bag of 50? (Not that there’s anything wrong with the stick-on bows!)

Later this week, I will attempt a tutorial on bow-making.  If you want to try it, you’ll need wire-edged ribbon, and floral wire.

Last Minute Gift Ideas

Well, I can’t believe it, but it is indeed pretty much the last minute for gift buying!

My sponsor Nanci, a Willow House consultant, says that tomorrow is the last day for ordering and ensuring delivery on time for the holiday.  There are tons of great sales going on!  There are special deals in the outlet:  check out this Southern Sippers Serving Bowl.  It’s gorgeous, and it’s only $8.96, and the set of four matching individual serving bowls is $6.96. 

Plus, spend $39.96 and get one item ($40 or less) half off!

Visit Nanci’s shop for beautiful and affordable gifts!

Michelle of Make 5 Dinners in One Hour has a system that will revolutionize your time in the kitchen.  She provides the recipes, the grocery list, and the instructions for filling your fridge with a week’s worth of meals in just one hour!

 

A subscription would make a wonderful gift for a busy mom (or dad) or working person who has to feed their family but doesn’t have a lot of time! 

Visit Michelle’s blog for recipes and ideas, and to subscribe!

Gina of Moneywise Moms is a super bargain hunter, and she shares them all with her readers.  Every day she posts, often more than once, about ways to save money on everyday things, and gifts.

Visit Gina’s blog for tons of bargain-priced gift ideas!

Amanda of Serenity Now is one of my favorite bloggers!  Her blog is fun and funny, full of great ideas and real life!

Visit Amanda’s blog for a fun diversion from all your holiday shopping!

A Furry Christmas Carol

Yesterday the kids had their first snow day of the year.  We watched A Christmas Carol (the 80s version with George C. Scott).  That gave them the idea to make their own movie, using stuffed toys.  Here’s a clip:

 

In this segment, their use of my steam mop for special effects is impressive:

Have a great weekend!

Dishing It: Christmas Version

My friend Amanda is hosting a holiday party!  She asks the questions, and we discuss.

~Do you have any specific traditions that your family looks forward to each Christmas?

We aren’t usually able to get together with family for the holidays, so most of our Christmases are spent at home, just us.  We get up and open presents, I make a special breakfast (though it’s not always the same year to year), and the rest of the day is often spent in our pajamas, watching Christmas movies.  The few times that we have been out of town with family on Christmas day have been fun, but it just didn’t feel like “our” Christmas.  There have been several years when we have been with family within the week or two after Christmas, and I love that, but Christmas morning at our house with just the five of us has become our tradition.

Christmas morning 2006

~Is your tree real or fake?

I have always considered myself to be in the “real tree” camp.  We always had real when I was growing up, and did after we were married until the year Firstborn was one.  I think we were worried about him eating the needles or something.  Then we had an artificial one until 2006 when we went back to real.  However, I’m less than satisfied with this year’s tree, and I’m considering getting a nice fake one at the after Christmas sales.

(I guess it doesn’t look too bad in the photo.  It’s just kind of oddly shaped or something.)

~Do you have any favorite ornaments?

I love my silver Dollar Tree pinecones and my glass icicles.

~What's your favorite Christmas treat?

My grandma’s boiled custard.  It’s a beverage, kind of like eggnog, but no rum.  She made it every year, and most years I make a small batch for us.  It’s cold, sweet, creamy and vanilla-y.  Southern Comfort eggnog is the closest commercial offering I can find (it doesn’t have the same fake rum flavor as most eggnogs).

~Best Christmas gift you ever received?

This is really kind of sad.  Craig and I were just talking about this the other day.  We were a family of five children on a small-town preacher’s salary when I was growing up, and I just don’t remember getting anything fabulous for Christmas.  It’s not that Christmas was no fun, or that I didn’t get anything, just nothing that really knocked my socks off.  Craig got me a bread machine 13 years ago, and I still use it pretty frequently, so that’s probably been the best present as far as something I actually use.

~Coolest crafty thing you made or home decor thing you tried this Christmas season?

Only thing I made this year:  my wreath.

~Your favorite Christmas movie?

The Bishop’s Wife.

~Most difficult person you have to buy for?

Craig.

~What's the number one thing on your kids'/husband's/wife's/significant other's list this year?

Craig never wants anything (see above), and the kids’ lists have been sort of vague and changeable this year.

~If Santa could bring you one big surprise this year, what would you want it to be?

The camera that makes every blogger who owns it a photography rockstar:  the Canon Rebel DSLR.

Thrifty Gifty 2010 #6: Marshmallow Shooter

A few years ago these were the rage on my homeschool message board…everybody was making them for Christmas gifts.  We made a few and had fun seeing how far we could shoot the marshmallows (surprisingly far!) and also sent a set to my brother-in-law and nephew.

I’m not making a demo this time around, but I’m pulling these instructions from Camper Community.

Visit your local hardware store and purchase (per shooter):

• two feet (24”) of 1/2 inch PVC pipe
• 2 PVC elbows
• 2 three way junctions, also know as T’s
• 2 end caps.

Cut one 7 inch length of PVC. Cut five 3 inch pieces of PVC.

Tip: Place the PVC pipe in a vise and use a hacksaw for cutting.

Once your pieces are cut, assemble the shooter as above.  You do not need to glue the pieces together; that way you can take it apart for cleaning if necessary.

To use, take a mini marshmallow and put in the upper chamber. Blow hard and the marshmallow will shoot out the barrel, hitting your target with amazing accuracy.

These are really fun!  I’m actually thinking we need to make some more as the old ones are long gone.  Paint them if you like, and experiment with different configurations. This family likened it to Legos in that they take them apart and put them back together in different ways,and with different lengths of pipe. They would make a great party activity and take-home favors. 

I found a news segment video which will really help you visualize the whole thing.

Thrifty Gifty 2010 #5: Serving Tray (and Linky Party)

This is one of those projects that I knew I was going to use, but wasn’t sure exactly how.  I quickly came up with something tonight, but I’ll also share with you other ways you could go.

I got this serving tray at a garage sale a couple of months ago for about $2.



For this project, I decided to just Mod Podge some cute paper to the tray surface.  I spray painted the edges first, then spread on a layer of MP…



…then spread some cute wrapping paper on top, and did another coat of MP.  Most of you are probably way more experienced in the use of Mod Podge than I am.  I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to smooth out the wrinkles, so mine’s a little “textured”.  If I was really giving this to someone as a gift, I would put a little more effort into it.



Serving trays of various shapes and sizes aren’t too hard to find at thrift stores. Even a silver tray would work. You could do the wrapping paper, or use a pretty fabric, or the ever-popular chalkboard paint.  A monogram is always lovely, and if I had a Cricut, I would have done one in black on top of this paper.  It would probably be a good idea to put some kind of clear water-resistant top-coat on the whole thing.

Package it up in cellophane gift wrap with a couple of mugs and teas, coffees or cocoa mixes for a co-worker, hostess, or neighbor gift.

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 15 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

For the Christmas Cookie Gift Boxes, please visit this link.  For some reason the code to the specific post was deleting the linky list.

Thrifty Gifty 2010 #4: Monogrammed Candle, and Knock-Off Party

 

Today’s Thrifty Gifty is also a Pottery Barn knock-off.  These are my teacher gifts (along with a scarf I got for about $3 from Coldwater Creek).

I saw these monogrammed candles in the early spring 2007 catalog.  They were on sale: the 6”w x 4”h was originally $24, on sale for $14.99.  They also had a 5”w x 8”h, which was orig $49, on sale for $29.99.  Pretty steep for candles, if you ask me.

I picked up the yummy smelling Hazelnut Cream triple wick candles at Walmart for $3 each.  There are a couple ways you could go about monogramming them.  If you have a Cricut, by all means, use that.  I don’t, so I hand-cut my stencil out of contact paper.

First I printed out the letter I wanted.  Then I taped it to a square of contact paper, and cut it out with my Xacto knife.

Peel the backing off the contact paper and stick it tightly and smoothly to the candle.

Wrap paper or something around the whole candle to protect from overspray (I just tucked the edges under the contact paper).  Do the top too; I didn’t and the lid got a little dusting on it.

Go over it with several light coats of spray paint.  I accidentally used primer, but in hindsight that probably wasn’t a bad idea.  It might adhere better.

Wait a while for it to dry, and then carefully peel the contact paper off.

Party time!  Here are the rules:

• your knock-off entry must be made by you
• it must inspired by Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs, or Restoration Hardware
• you must include a picture of the original item from the catalog so we can compare
• it must be a specific comparable item, like my lamp shade, and not just a “this kind of has the PB look to it”
• you must link back to me in your post, preferably using my button code, which you can get in my right side column
• 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

If you need more details, see this post.  Though I hate to do it, any entry that does not follow the rules will be deleted.  List will be open until Sun. Dec. 12 at 11:59 pm central.

Also, Monday I will have another Thrifty Gifty linky party.