Handmade Christmas

Do you like to make homemade gifts for relatives? When I have the time, I do. That said, time is not always my friend... For several years, money was tight and homemade gifts were about all we could muster. Because we relied heavily on things we made, I always tried to make them something special. Here are a couple of ideas of things you might try, if you're low on funds or if you just enjoy letting your crafty side out.

AlphaMom has created a totally cute cut-out gingerbread house from a cereal box, a printable template, and a wipes top.

I mean, seriously. If there's one thing my family goes through quickly, it's both of those things, so sign me up! Go here to see how, step-by-step. We may give this a whirl, but I can't guarantee it'll make it to the hands of any grandparents! :)

A few years ago, I saw an idea in a magazine, but decided to give it my own spin. The original idea was to purchase tiny picture frames and put pictures of each family member in them, from when that person was a child. At Christmas, the frames hang on the tree as a reminder of Christmases gone by. The only issue with this project was, I WAS TOO CHEAP TO BUY THE STINKIN' FRAMES! Here is the spin I put on it:

I got pictures of each family member as a child. The article said to get pics of the person as a child at Christmas. Okay, in a perfect world, that would be awesome. However, my father-in-law truly has 1 picture of himself as a child and as luck would have it, it ain't at Christmas [but it's cute, just the same :)].

I took the pictures and made color copies of them on my home printer, so as not to mess up the originals. (This just happens to be the Sisternator as a baby. I could just pinch those chubby cheeks!! :)

photo by Jillian Falzetti

Next, I purchased wooden shapes at my local craft store for about $0.40 each.

 

The kids helped me paint the wooden shapes (front and back) in solid colors of red, green, yellow, & blue.

Next, I used Mod Podge and glued the pictures to the painted shapes. When they were dry, I used a gold paint pen to "bedazzle" the ornaments with polka dots, outline the pics, etc-- just basically glam them up a little bit. Then, I coated the entire front of the ornament with Mod Podge to seal it-- don't panic, it looks like glue when applied, but dries clear. :)

I then took cheap-- ahem, inexpensive gold ribbon and cut strands long enough to make a loop & hot glued it to the back and wrote each family member's name on the back of their ornament, in the off chance the entire family developed amnesia and couldn't remember who was who.

This was the result (please pardon the slightly out-of-focus picture. One would think the maker would have remembered to take a real picture of her creations before giving them away... yeah, not so much).

At any rate, the first year I made the ornaments, I made a set for Financial Guy's Nana that include the entire family-- children, spouses, cousins, grandchildren, etc. They were such a hit, the next year, I made them for both our moms and have continued to add ornaments as spouses and babies have been added to the families.

As it happened, the year I gave the ornaments to my MIL, I was in the Goodwill one day & found what was probably a coffee mug "tree" that looked a lot like this, only sans mugs.

It was perfect! We hung the ornaments all over it and gave it to her for Christmas. She loved it so much, it has earned a permanent place of display and is left out all year long. :)

If neither of these ideas inspire you to get crafty, I'm sure Pinterest will. :) If you have a crafty bone in your body, use it and save on, friends!