handmade gifts

Merry Christmas Eve!

I was going to post this over a week ago. Then I couldn't find some photos from last Christmas, and I got mad and abandoned the post. Now I'm back with a little more temperance. I'm too late to give you any ideas for this Christmas, but perhaps you could squirrel away some inspiration for next.

The older I grow, the more appealing a handmade Christmas sounds to me. It's less expensive and generally more thoughtful. How cool to be able to give someone something that you crafted with your own hands!

Tiny Pouches

I am so excited about this one! I made tiny pouches for each of our K-Life leaders this year, using this tutorial. I would describe my sewing skills as novice-in-transition-to-middle-level. Haha. Therefore, the first pouch I made took me a while, but by the fourteenth one, I was whipping these babies out in twenty minutes.

Coffee Cup Sleeves

One of the projects I could not find my pictures of. (Image from House on Hill Road , where the tutorial is also located.) I made these for my small-group girls last year. I bought disposable coffee cups and filled them with a gift-card to our local coffee shop, hot cocoa, and a couple bags of tea.

Notebooks

Again, one of the misplaced images. (Picture and project idea from B*spoke.) This one is super easy and quick! I made these last year for our K-Life leaders. Here is the . This project is made a lot easier with access to a long-arm stapler.

Placemats and Napkins

I sewed these double-sided placemats for a dear friend. The idea came from Centsational Girl. I used a fabric pen to draw the design on the tan side.

Soap

Our gal Martha has some good recipes for soap. I made oatmeal honey last year, but all of the recipes look pretty fun. You can get glycerin at Michaels (they usually have some 40% off coupons floating around).

Bread and Butter

We gave Pull-Apart Cinnamon Bread and Cinnamon Honey Butter to our K-Life board families. I bought pint-sized canning jars and filled them with the butter.

In keeping with my frequent (ridiculous) desire to make everything appear magazine-picture-worthy, I had a vision of how I would package these. I sent Aaron to the store with vague instructions to get bread-shaped bags if available, and if not, plain ziploc bags. He returned with huge bags covered in...penguins!

The Holy Spirit gave me extra grace to release my silly expectations, and I was able to laugh about the penguins and not send him back to the store to re-do. I did, however, redeem the penguins with some pretty striped ribbon.

Fun Stuff in Jars

I think a cool jar takes food gifts to a new level. This image has been floating around Pinterest. Cookie or sweet bread mix in a milk bottle - super cute.

I found these Weck canning jars from Crate and Barrel, and they would be so fun filled with a treat, even just a stack of cookies.

And there you have it. The beginnings of a sweet handmade Christmas 2012.