I love Christmas. It is such a fantastic time of year. My favourite parts are the gift giving and spending time with the family. I love giving people gifts, it really is my favourite part. I like to make all my gifts as I think handmade is always more special and more from the heart.
In Durban, on Christmas day, we are normally swimming and eating Christmas lunch/dinner in our costumes. I don't mind, it's nice relaxing by the pool and enjoying the time with the family. This year, for lunch, we are having turkey, ham, potato salad and a mixed salad. Very awesome, very simple. I'm not into spending all of Christmas day in the kitchen.
Onto the gifts:
For the teachers this year I used an idea from Skip to My Lou. http://www.skiptomylou.org/?s=plant+picks
The file you download is great, as you can change the name to your child's name and print it out. I printed it out onto card; laminated it; cut it out, it's really hard cutting a circle perfectly, if you have a punch that's big enough then use it. Then I stuck ribbon to make it look like flower petals. It looked so cute and I really wish I had taken some pictures. I then stuck two circles together with a skewer stick in the middle. It was so quick to make and really effective. Buying a pot plant is not expensive, so it's a great gift to make if your budget is really tight. Skip to My Lou has such fantastic ideas, so take a look. http://www.skiptomylou.org/
Nathaniel's two main teachers also got other gifts. I made them each a mug organiser, which sounds confusing, but basically it is a cover that fits over a mug and turns it into a organiser. I think I should rethink the name!
Nathaniel also made Candy cane Reindeers. I got the idea from Martha Stewart. http://www.marthastewart.com/article/good-thing-candy-cane-reindeer
We just changed it slightly as you're supposed to use felt and we used cardboard. It was nice, as Nathaniel coloured it in and decorated it himself. Some of the glitter glue he used, dripped a little on the face and he said it was a tear drop.
The third thing I put in was a little chocolate and then wrapped it. I utilised my paper crimper and all the little bits and bobs I had in my cupboard. They are all different and here is a picture of just one. They looked so cute. When I fetched Nathaniel, his main teacher came up to me and gave me a big hug, saying that the gifts were so fantastic and because they were handmade, they were even more special.
I am loving my paper crimper. It took me such a long time to find one and when I did, I was so excited. I've seen so many projects on the internet using a paper crimper. Even Nathaniel enjoys using it. He woke up one morning at 4:30am to ask if we could please do some paper crimping. Lucky for him, his sister had woken me up a half an hour earlier so I was awake, in a sense.
Now that the teachers are done, it's on to the family. My problem is that not everyone in my family appreciate handmade gifts. My hardest is trying to make things for the men. I end up buying for them, as it's just easier. Last year I gave the two dads a heat therapy pillow, among other things.
The kids are sometimes the easiest as there are so many things that you can make for them. I wanted to make my two kids, plus my one nephew, a hobby horse. I have started cutting them out and now I'm doubting myself. I'm wondering if they would play with them and a few other doubts.
I think I should look at other things to make with the spongebob fabric. I actually don't like spongebob, but the kids do, so I got the spongebob fabric in pink, blue and red.
As for the rest of the family, I can't say just in case they read this! Hope that you have a wonderful Christmas.
If you hear some really loud, off key singing, that us, practising our Christmas carols:)
In Durban, on Christmas day, we are normally swimming and eating Christmas lunch/dinner in our costumes. I don't mind, it's nice relaxing by the pool and enjoying the time with the family. This year, for lunch, we are having turkey, ham, potato salad and a mixed salad. Very awesome, very simple. I'm not into spending all of Christmas day in the kitchen.
Onto the gifts:
For the teachers this year I used an idea from Skip to My Lou. http://www.skiptomylou.org/?s=plant+picks
The file you download is great, as you can change the name to your child's name and print it out. I printed it out onto card; laminated it; cut it out, it's really hard cutting a circle perfectly, if you have a punch that's big enough then use it. Then I stuck ribbon to make it look like flower petals. It looked so cute and I really wish I had taken some pictures. I then stuck two circles together with a skewer stick in the middle. It was so quick to make and really effective. Buying a pot plant is not expensive, so it's a great gift to make if your budget is really tight. Skip to My Lou has such fantastic ideas, so take a look. http://www.skiptomylou.org/
Nathaniel's two main teachers also got other gifts. I made them each a mug organiser, which sounds confusing, but basically it is a cover that fits over a mug and turns it into a organiser. I think I should rethink the name!
We just changed it slightly as you're supposed to use felt and we used cardboard. It was nice, as Nathaniel coloured it in and decorated it himself. Some of the glitter glue he used, dripped a little on the face and he said it was a tear drop.
The third thing I put in was a little chocolate and then wrapped it. I utilised my paper crimper and all the little bits and bobs I had in my cupboard. They are all different and here is a picture of just one. They looked so cute. When I fetched Nathaniel, his main teacher came up to me and gave me a big hug, saying that the gifts were so fantastic and because they were handmade, they were even more special.
Now that the teachers are done, it's on to the family. My problem is that not everyone in my family appreciate handmade gifts. My hardest is trying to make things for the men. I end up buying for them, as it's just easier. Last year I gave the two dads a heat therapy pillow, among other things.
The kids are sometimes the easiest as there are so many things that you can make for them. I wanted to make my two kids, plus my one nephew, a hobby horse. I have started cutting them out and now I'm doubting myself. I'm wondering if they would play with them and a few other doubts.
If you hear some really loud, off key singing, that us, practising our Christmas carols:)
Comments
Post a Comment