Homemade Holiday Gifts

Duran Duran! Hahahhahahahahaha!!!

Great idea.

I made a ton of stuff. Po', very very po', so making stuff is my salvation. I made several ceramic thingies which actually worked out pretty well; a round box with the Chinese character for "longevity" on the top and a matching necklace (the same character, smaller), a bas-relief of my daughter's hand making the "I love you" sign (for sentimental grandparents), and a plate that has an Arts-and-Crafts type magnolia design (modeled on this one, slightly better colors):

http://www.crafthome.com/subsidiarypages/pottery/ncmb/magnoliaplate.htm

I also made a frame out of antique sari border fabric, lots of ornaments (snowflakes seem to be a theme -- clear glass beads on wire, also some ceramic ones that turned out really well, actually), and my one uncompleted (yet) Project, a linen skirt with a sari border hem. (Linen dyed to match the sari border.)

Then also made fudge that I cut out in various Christmassy shapes. (Snowman, tree, etc.) Well, "made" is probably not the right tense -- I made some last night, but the white chocolate chips I thought I was using turned out to be "white morsels" (wtf?) and combined with the sweetened condensed milk was disgustingly horribly sweet. So actually the proper fudge (with regular ol' brown chocolate) is getting made today.

Hi sozobe --
Sounds like some wonderful ideas and gifts. Good luck with the fudge today!

I weave rugs and have a few ready to go here... not sure for whom, yet though. I also have a thing about embroidered flour sack towels and am desparately trying to finish a set for my sister for Christmas. I use vintage patterns for these and only do the Day of the Week sets. My original intention this year was to have a rug and a set of towels for each family on our list... and baby quilts for two little ones... I've fallen quite short of the goal and am substituting here and there with purchased gifts.

My four year old son made ornaments to give as gifts - we used the plain shiny ornaments to start, he put stickers on them and covered the sticker parts with glitter glaze. They turned out great! Most of them are Toy Story, Veggie Tales and Pooh characters... very cute!

Your projects sound so creative and fun! Thanks for sharing! I would love to make some wire & bead ornaments for next year!

Last Christmas Eve, after the festivities were over, I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning weaving a rug and tying its little knots on the fringe... Every Christmas I find myself saying the same thing:

"If only I had more time!"

I am nt doing home made this year, but in the past I've made glycerin/herbal soaps, flavored vinegar, and flavored vodka.

sozobe - that sample plate looks great - maybe someone will take a pic of the one you've made, and you could post that!

i used to make a lot of christmas gifts - i knit about a dozen sweaters each year, until everybody i knew was ready to sweat to death as a result. For a couple of years i got into some pretty serious dough ornament making - i got quite adventurous, making gingerbread bear wreaths with each bear in different clothes - days and days of working the garlic press :rollie: - i made a reproduction of one of my father's favourite stamps for him as an ornament - customized angels with the recipient's features and hair.

Then there were the baking years. I got together with 2 friends and we baked for 2 full days - 3 versions of butter tarts, stollen, jamaican black cake, shortbread and piles of cookies? We each made our own specialties, and assisted each other as we could - we then divvied up the results. One year I had enough cookies to fill close to 2 dozen LARGE tins, plus 6 stollen and 2 jamaican black cakes - treats for everybody on the list. I even packed 2 stollen in my suitcase for my dad - who knew stollen was so HEAVY!

now i'm tired and well, tired. this year i'll be pleased if i can make a theme for any of my gift recipients and can get the wrapping to go with the gift.

Having discovered the joys of the computer and digital cameras, this is the second year I've made calendars for all my relatives. Last year they were made with photos of the flowers from my garden taken during the course of the growing season. This year, there are some flowers but I also scanned in family pictures (appropriate for each sub-family) for some of the months and for June in everybody's is a photo of the Reception Hall for my daughter's upcoming wedding (not taking a chance that anyone will forget).

I'm also using the computer again this year to make iron-on transfers for t-shirts (this year using a scanned photo of my husband's beloved truck). And I put together albums for each of my kids with scanned in photos from throughout their childhood. Son's theme is the Richard Scarry book "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" (his favorite book as a toddler) and daughter's is "These are a few of my favorite things."

Were I more artistic I might attempt some of the lovely gifts you others have made, but, alas, I'm not so it's the computer or nothing.

Oh, I do make lots and lots of Christmas cookies and distribute them to lots and lots of people.

bandylu - your projects sound wonderful. i know i'd be thrilled to get a personalized calendar!