Christmas Project ideas!!!

It is almost that time and I know I am making some patchy goods for my phamily but I am also looking for more ideas of cutesy gift baskets and such....................... Heres the thread for all of us to combine our powers and make a huge list of crafty gift ideas!!!!!!!
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My wife and I are PLANNING (we's some broke mofos right now) on making baskets with homemade soaps, bath salts, body oils and loofah (my bro grew some this year). Something along those lines.

 

rock on, i am looking into getting a crapload of beeswax and scented oils and making everyone lip gloss =) and maybe some scented bath salts too. I want to make a feq quilts but not sure who is going to get them yet.​

 

opps added on and it made this a double... sorry

 

This year I'm making everyone patchy stockings, for the adults I'm doing regular sock stockings, but for the kiddies I'm making stockings that look like a mitten. I'm making lip balm to put inside with other goodies.


The one year I made a doll for my little cousin she loved it! and I've made quilts for family in the past but that takes sooooooo much time!

 

I am making crochetted wire and bead bracelets for my sisters. I made some shawl/wraps for my MIL and SIL. Touques for my nephews. Am still working on another shawl, some stainedglass-looking painted jewlery boxes, and a set to wooden knitting needles and case for my BIL's girlfriend. Tomorrow I will felt my first "felt slipper" prototype.

It will be a very yarn-y christmas. Everyone is getting something homemade, except for the hubby... don't know what to get him... haha.

 

I made my mom slippers last year.

-what about sewing stuffed animals or dolls?
-You could build a play house... or a doll house... or a table set...
-I have kind of a cheesy idea for my boys... I'm saving all kinds of important things and writing them notes. When they are grown up and have their first xmas with their first child I'm going to give it to them but never tell them about it until so its unexpected...
-candles
-mosiac tile anything is fun...
-make a homemade personalized stationary set (make the paper and everything)
-Candy, I have some unique fun ideas if anyone wants further help
-painted flower pots, sets?
-knit them personalized stockings to hang instead of those ugly store ones
-perfumes
-one year we built the kids a toy box
-hats, gloves, scarves
-maybe make a personalized photo album for a grandparent. One who doesn't get to see your child much might like one with each month and a couple of pictures to just show how much they are growing through the year. I always love to see in pictures what my cousins are doing and how much they are growing through out the year...Maybe your child (if they are old enough) can write little things about what they think and feel about the pictures and who its being sent to.
-make up board games!
-christmas ordaments(sp?)
-cookie trays (for friends or co-workers?)
-Those dry food sets in jars, like a soup recipe you know someone loves
-personalized pottery, those little pottery stores where you go to paint things can be cheap if you can't make them yourself. This year I was thinking about having the kids paint my mom a teapot and cup/saucer set
-cloth story books for younger kids (you can make those snap, button, zip kinds)
-windchimes


thats all I can think of for now, maybe I'll add new ones later. Hope someone can find these useful.

 

ooo another thing i wanted to add
my kids are drying out small gords shaped like maracas right now and i was thinking of making them small drums to go along. Maybe tamborines too?

 

I make custom signs and chainsaw carvings, but need some new ideas, everyone on my list already has both.

 

i just got 3lbs of soy wax chips and 3 bottles of oils, i am going t make soy tarts and give them out with little tart warmers for x mas =) YAY
they are gonna be peppermint, lavendar, and hot apple pie scented =) woohoo!!!

 

Just felted these today. They were the prototype pair, and I learnt a lot while making them. Needless to say, the ones I actually "gift" will be better! hahah. The plastic bags shoved in them help them hold their shape while drying...so there is a purpose... lol

 

You guys make me feel like a loser! I always think I'm gonna make stuff, but I never do.
Well, that's not entirely true, last year I made a little bit of bath salt and some soup mix. But, I don't think I will have time this year.
I love the slippers, they look wonderfully comfy.

 

I am making soap for the holidays. It is super easy and relatively inexpensive. Everyone loves a home made gift. What are soy tarts?

 

soy tarts are these little cookie looking theings you melt in an oil burner =)

 

I always make stuff for people during the holidays.. I have to work like a madwoman because I do gifts for evvvvveryone. Kinda sucks, but I feel obligated to because they're so good to me... I wind up makin stuff for my cousins and aunts and uncles and my cousin's kids. ahhahha.

I do a lot of bath stuff with funky little labels(Bath salts for the ladies are wicked easy) and I've done soaps and perfumes. Infused oils have been a big hit with my family, and everyone seems to appreciate crocheted cotton dishcloths.

Those little cinnamon/applesauce decorations are greeaaaaaat too. I also make those for people and decorate them with silver and gold paint and string them with hemp.

I make hemp jewelry for my cousins who are more my age, and for my friends too. And I always wind up sewing something for the new baby that always seems to come up in the family during the holidays. ahhaah. I keep getting more relatives every year.

Oy, you guys already have some greaaaaat ideas!! I'm stealin some.

oh..oh. I tie dyed my dad a white collared cotton shirt last year for christmas. He loooooooooves it. Just a plain cotton shirt. Worked great. I had to tell you. ahhahah.

 

lol, meg. a tie dyed shirt.

what are your candy ideas, earthy mama?

i need to look into the bath salts and soap ideas. i may be cutting back on my hours at work soon, maybe--maybe--i'll have more energy in the afternoons...so i can actually paint too! wouldn't that be cool! i could actually make art and be the artist i am!

 

GREAT JOB!!! Those are AWSOME! Do you have a pattern to share?

 

candied apples... just dip them in carmel and roll them in things like crushed oreos...chocolate chips, nuts, sugar cookie bits, any other type of christmas-y taste or christmas cookie you can think of to dress them up for the holidays. just anything interesting you can think of. I was thinking of making them into sets and wrapping them up in cute red and green plastic wrap, sticking them in a basket and making sets.

I also usually dip spoons and pretzels in chocolate and stick them with cookie trays or other things I make.


I was also thinking of making small simple gingerbread houses (basic graham cracker frame, and icing) and keeping the roof off but making the inside a box to stick homemade candies or cookies in. The roof I was going to make last and kind of have it so you could take the top off. I'll let you know how my test tries go. I was thinking of building the little houses on the plate I'm using so I won't move it much. I was thinking of using buttercream icing as the glue and maybe just decorating the outside in icing too instead of putting all kinds of heavy candies on. I might go all out and make a red/green m&m walkway and add x-mas decorations. It all depends on how much time I have to make them/how many I make.
I thought it might also be cool to fill the house with chocolate mouse and
add strawberries all over the sides to dip it but the graham cracker house might get soggy and fall apart fast. I thought this would be a cool party tray to have at an x-mas dinner or party.

I want to go all out crazy with the x-mas cookie/candies this year. I'll keep posting the successful ones and if I can, pictures.

Gingerbread men/women/kids to hang on the x-mas tree or have the kids decorate to personalize for family members. Maybe make one for everyone in the family so when they come over they can hang their person and you'll have a "family tree" sort of theme going on.


I'm looking for my recipes right now but for some reason I can't find them(I have alot). I wish I could remeber a few off the top of my head right now so I could give you some good examples.

I have a couple interesting chocolate-y ones so when I find it all I'll post some more ideas.

 

I love them! They are so cute.

I have a cool way to make slippers too. I used hard foam as the bottom, traced the shoe of the person I was making them for and cut it out. I took thick fleecy red fabric and sewed it all around but didn't cover the bottom so the grip would be there. Before I sewed the back end I stuffed a little stuffing in to keep them really soft. The tops I cut more fleece, cut a little cardboard half circle kind of shape and added it to give the top some shape and then sewed that on the top. I wish they were still around so I could take a picture but the dog seemed to think they looked yummy this summer.


maybe to keep some shape in them to stuff them you could slip foam into them?

 

I only needed to stuff the bags in the slippers while they dried. Once they are dry, they will keep their shape.

As for a pattern? Hhaha... i am really bad with numbers, so I never use patterns. I can give you a run down of what I did though

using 2 strands, ch. 15. Crochet around this chain, both sides, increasing at the top of the "oval" so that it will lie flat. Do this until you have a shape that is roughly 2 shoe sizes too big for your foot (it shinks when felted). Tie off. Using 1 strand, at the "top" of the oval, sc 3.... then just kinda "fill in" the top part, increasing a sc every row or 2. When you are long enough, sc in the front loops only around the back of the shoe, so that you will have a ridge.

Hope that kinda makes sence. Oh, and to felt, you need to use wool... 100% is best.