Gift Wrapping - Neighbours

I usually put together a little gift for my neigbours.  Nothing expensive, mostly little hand made gifts.

This year, continuing with the theme, I used the brown paper carry bag.

 

A little handmade snowman ornament was curled around the handle, instead of a tag

 

Inside were the following:

Christmas tissues

Santa-tiser

Wrapped mini chocolates

Wooden Sign

 

Just a little gift to show that you care ...

Judy

Gift Wrapping - Santa Suit

I saw this idea on Pinterest and wanted to try it ...

 

Now my paper was not as cute, and my buckle not as neat, but the outcome was the same

 

 

I wrapped each gift in bubble wrap so that it would give the nice soft appearance of Santa's tummy.

 

Another cute and simple gift wrapping idea

 

Judy

Gift Wrapping - Candy Canes

Another easy gift wrapping technique is to use a brown carry bag

 

Here I have used a portion of the wrapping paper as a border along the bottom of the bag and used a plastic candy cane as an accent on the top of the bag.  I like the simplicity of this bag.

 

 

This technique could be used for any gift, not just for Christmas.  Replace the candy cane with something else applicable to the occasion.

 

Judy

Gift Wrapping - Gift Cards

Most of the men in my family received Gift Cards as their gift this Christmas.  I decided to transform a brown paper lunch bag into the gift card holder.

 

I folded the lunch bag up to approximately 2" from the top to form a pocket.  Then glued some Christmas scrapbook paper on the pocket section.  Sewed around the three sides to secure the pocket and popped the gift card inside.

 

I then selected a miniature which reflected their interests, in this case a motor bike and secured it to the outside of the holder with a red brad.

 

To keep everything closed, I made a slider from more Christmas paper onto which I had sewn a Christmas button.

 

 

Bright and cheery, and an inexpensive way to give a gift card.

 

Judy

 

Christmas Eve Crafts

To keep the children busy on Christmas Eve, we made some Chocolate Sleighs.

 

I first saw the idea here and then after reading Selina's Quilts blog last week it was the reminder that I needed as she had made some for work colleagues.  They were super easy to make.  I had a variety of chocolate items on hand and the children could pick what they wanted to use.

 

The candy canes were "hot glued" to the kit kat bar for the base, and the rest of the chocolates were stacked using double sided tape, which the children could use.

 

They were so excited with the end results

 

 

My sister in law has requested these for Teacher gifts next year!

 

I have taken photos of my gift wrapping, as promised, so I will post them over the next few days.

 

Did you have a good Christmas?

 

Judy

Merry Christmas

 

To all my lovely readers, Merry Christmas.  Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends.

 

I know I have been missing in action for a couple of weeks, and for that I apologise. A lot of things have been happening in the background, that have taken up my time.  Not a great deal of new crafts have been created, although I must admit I have taken great delight in my wrapping of gifts this year.

 

I promise I will take photos before I deliver them, so you can see that I have not been idle.

 

I am having a break between Christmas and New Year to spend time with my family, who are all coming home for the holidays.  I hope you also get time to spend with your loved ones.

 

My advent gifts are being well received in Townsville, and I must admit I have been extremely spoilt with all that I have received.  My friend and I have found this to be a great way to celebrate Christmas together, even though we are over a thousand kilometres apart.

 

Until next time

Enjoy the celebrations

Judy

Candy Cane Reindeers

This is a fun craft to make with your children or in the classroom.  Candy Cane Reindeer.  This is not my idea, it was found on Pinterest.

 

I purchased a pack of chocolate and vanilla flavoured candy canes which I thought were more appropriate for children than the peppermint flavoured ones.  Tied some brown wool around the top of two candy canes and then stuck a red "Rudolph" pom pom nose and googly eyes on to finish them off.  Easy!

 

 

 

My sister was going to visit my "crafty" nieces and nephews on the weekend, so I made up some kits for them to complete these little reindeer.  I always include extra "little" bits in the kits when making them for children, just in case they drop / lose some parts.  In this case, an extra set of eyes, and 1 more pom pom nose was popped in. 

 

 

Two little 2013 diaries were transformed with a "fun" cover.  I think I need to keep this next one for myself!

 

 

Or maybe even this one?

 

 

These have been placed in a cellophane bag with a little label on the back

 

 

I think these are going to be popped into a gift bag with a gift voucher for some family members.  Just for fun!

 

I like making small fun gifts, do you?

 

Judy

Little Christmas Gifts

A lot has been happening around my house, and unfortunately not a lot of craft ...  I am getting a new pergola floor which is the entry to the craft studio, therefore I have been unable to get into the studio.  The concrete slab is being poured on Monday, so it will be a few more days yet, although I am really looking forward to it being completed. 

I did get to finish off the Hand Santa-isers for my sister-in-law.  Eight completed.

 

Then I played with the larger sized hand sanitisers - I printed out some free Christmas sayings onto transparency plastic and inserted it into the bottle.  I like how it turned out.  Two different designs.
I removed the label from the front of the bottle, but kept the one on the back, so that recipients would know what was in the bottle.  Tied a Christmas ribbon around the top, all done!

 

 

Lastly I wrapped some purchased soap, for filler gifts.  I used goats milk soap which is fragrance free, so that it is suitable for all recipients.

 

 

Using scrapbook paper and embellishments, they now look entirely different.

 

 

Have you been making some Christmas gifts?

 

Judy

Hand Santa-tiser

 

These cute Hand Santa-tiser gifts were made from a idea I saw here.  They are so simple to make!

 

I started out with a mini bottle of hand sanitiser

 

 

 

Wrap the bottle with red cardboard and secure at the back with double sided tape.  Glue some white textured card down the front.  I had some embossed snowflake card, so I used that.

Next make Santa's belt out of black cardboard onto which you have threaded a buckle.  Secure this again at the back where it will all be covered up with a label.

 

I did take photos of these steps, however they were too bad to use, but they are not really needed.  Just by looking at the finished item you can see how to do it.

 

 

To finish off, I printed a label using a Santa clip art graphic from Microsoft Word and adhered that to the back, so it covers up all the joins from the cardboard.

 

 

 

Tie some Christmas ribbon around the neck of the bottle and cover the top of the bottle with some Christmas paper.  These have just been punched out using my 1" circle punch.

 

 

These would make great gifts for teachers or co-workers.  These three (with another three, that I have yet to make) have been ordered by my sister-in-law for her children's teachers..

 

 

Enjoy

Judy

Me today

Image source here

Judy

Advent Ideas - Wrapped Mini Chocolates

I am still on a "chocolate" theme for advent gifts.  Our local dollar store had this packet of Hershey Miniatures.  There were approximately 40 mini chocolates in this pack - great value.

 

Now see what they look like, just wrapped in some pretty Christmas Scrapbook paper.  I placed three minis in a cellophane bag, and made a topper out of more scrapbook paper.  I think they look great! They needed a contrast piece of scrapbook paper behind, so that they did not look "lost" in the bag as it was not an exact fit. 

 

 

I made up all the chocolates in the pack (so that I would not be tempted to eat any, he he) into these sets.

I am not sure how many I should set aside for my friend's advent gift, but the rest will be used as extra gifts at Christmas... maybe even pop one in each of my co-workers gifts.  Another good gift idea for Teachers.

 

Now I am working some magic with this little bottle of hand sanitiser ... stay tuned

 

 

 

Judy

Advent Ideas - Chocolate Bon Bons

I have started on the advent gifts for my friend, so hopefully over the next few days I will be able to show you what I have been making.  I know my friend visits my online store often, however I do not think she visits the blog.  Fingers crossed, that I can keep most of them a surprise for her.

I picked up three tubes of Smarties from our local discount store - they weigh 170g and measure approx 10" in length.  Only $3.00 a tube

 

I thought they would make great Christmas Chocolate Bon Bons.  So I wrapped them in Christmas scrapbook paper, then in cellophane paper.  Tied off each end with cute Christmas ribbons.  Then embellished  with things that I had on hand.

 

 

One of these will be going into into my friends Advent gifts.  One belongs to my sister, she was with me  when I purchased them, and the last one will be a spare Christmas Kris Kringle gift.

 

I have tried to take a close up photo, however as they were so long it was difficult, but hopefully you will be able to see how effective they are.

 

 

 

 

 

This would be a great idea for a Teacher gifts as well.  Quick, easy and inexpensive which we all love at this time of year. I think it is hard to find someone that does not like chocolate (I wish I didn't!)

 

Enjoy your weekend

Judy

Halloween Goodie Bags

The orange tic tacs were transformed into Halloween Treats just by covering them in black card stock

I used the same measurements for the cover as used previously (see here)  tied off on the side with some Halloween coloured ribbon, added a free printable graphic... all done

I am loving what can be done with decorating a packet of tic- tacs, I am already brainstorming how I can use them for Christmas gifts.

All that was needed for the next lot of little Halloween treats was to print out some mint books ...these were free downloads from Pattywraps.

 

The Creepy Crawly mint book was filled with a little packet of maltesers, and the witches leg mint book was filled with a small packet of M&M's.  I think the children will like these treats.

 

 

All the goodies were then placed in a Halloween themed treat bag.  Can you see what I have forgotten to add before this photo was taken?

 

 

I forgot, the witchie poo lollipop holders, and the tic-tacs.  I did remember to put them in the bag before I tied it off.

 

 

All the treats placed in the bag, tied off with a tag and a spooky eye.

 

 

These three bags are being sent off to my nieces and nephew.

 

I placed all these goodie bags plus the Halloween Hand Treat bags in a mailing box which I had decorated the lid with a Halloween graphic and some spooky decorations.

 

 

I wrapped the gifts in some spooky spider weave type fabric under which I had layered some spiders .. scary

 

 

I hope I will not get blamed for any nightmares next week.  They are already in the post so should arrive in time for Halloween.  Hope they like them?

 

Now to start on Christmas gifts.  My best friend and I decided to exchange advent gifts, and I must admit I have not really started on mine (yet).  They need to be delivered by the 1st December, so I had better get busy.  Not sure if all will be handmade, but I will try my best.  Maximum spend is $5.00 so if anyone has any ideas, they would certainly be appreciated.  My friend is a very crafty lady and loves Christmas as much as I do.

 

Christmas is coming much to quickly and I need to get more organised.  All the trade shows are finished for the year, so I have no excuses, however I am sure I will be able to think of some.

 

Until next time

Judy

Final - Pink Ribbon Dinner

Our annual Pink Ribbon dinner was held successfully over the last two evenings, a great night with lots of fabulous food, fun and fundraising.  I was even lucky enough to win a massage voucher.

All the pink ribbon gifts were welcomed (and praised) from the guests, and I also received a certificate of thanks.  This will look lovely framed on the wall in the craft studio.

 

The ladies on my table, loved the little gift bags I put together for them, and they even shared the spare gifts between them at the end of the evening.

 

 

Each bag contained the card holder key ring, emery board with cover, pink tic tacs and tea light candles.

 

Now I have 12 months to think up another idea for "thank you" gifts.

 

I have not forgotten the orange tic tacs, they are nearly complete and I will be able to share the end results with you very soon. 

 

Judy