Christmas Presents on a Budget by Stepchange

 Hello my wackys, do you have everything ready yet?!! Did you decide to buy the presents or be crafty and imaginative and make them yourselves?!! 

 Well If you still don't have everything you need or are too skinned to actually buy something why not try this ideas from StepChange.


1. A cookie kit that’ll cost you crumbs
Putting together a cookie making kit is a doddle.
Start off with a glass jam jar big enough to store things in (mason jars are very cheap on eBay).
Find a cookie recipe and put together the dry ingredients needed for them. Measure the ingredients out and wrap them up in sweet wrappers or little squares of cloth. Layer the ingredients in the jar with the first ingredients needed on top.
Now, remember the recipe? Copy the recipe from the website or type it out from the book and then put it in an old fashioned font such as Blackadder or Edwardian script on Word. Print it out to about a quarter of the size of an A4 piece of paper and cut it to size.
Take a little saucer and fill it halfway with cold coffee. Place the cut out of the recipe on the coffee and swirl it around until it’s completely covered, then place it on a dry surface that won’t stain. Don’t leave the paper in there too long or it’ll go soggy! If it’s taking a while to dry, you can help it along with a hairdryer.
Once dry, you’ll see that you’ve created what looks like parchment. You can then put a ribbon through one corner of the slip of paper and tie it to the jar. Ta-daaah!
If you’d prefer a demonstration, this handy video explains it all.

2. Mirror image
This idea is great if you’re buying present for a teenage girl. Pick up a cheap mirror (you can get beautiful mirrors for cheap in charity shops) and some glass paint and fine detail brushes (you can buy these cheaply online or at any craft shop).
Open up Word on your computer and find a really pretty font. Once you’ve found the right one write something to make the recipient feel good every time they see it, such as “gorgeous” or “beautiful”. Print it and cut the letters out so you have a stencil in the sheet of paper.
Take the paper and place it over the top of the mirror face. Paint over the letters with your glass paint in whatever colour you like. Once the letters are dry, you can go over the outlines with black glass paint or glitter glass paint. Jazz it up with some pretty rhinestones or butterfly stickers. Keep a cotton swab handy to dab away smudges.

3. Homemade handwarmers
We all know someone who has ice blocks for hands (that’s me in our house). Take some soft material like felt, wool or cashmere and cut into four rectangles, all a good three inches (ten centimetres) longer and wider than your hand. Split into pairs and sew them on three sides so they look like little pillows.
You can buy ceramic pie weights for cheap. They’re small, heat resistant pebbles traditionally used for padding out pie crusts (too costly? You can also use rice). Fill up the pillows you made with the pie weights or rice and stitch each of them shut.
Now, you can warm up your coat pockets and your fingers by bunging these cute handwarmers in the microwave for a couple of minutes (mind you don’t get them too hot). No more chilly fingers!

4. A secret place



This is a fun gift idea for bookworms or for people who like to squirrel things away. Take an old leather-bound book (once again, charities can be counted on for a whole array of dusty tomes) Here’s a great video that’ll show you how to do it step by step.

Christmas Cards on a Budget

Hellllooooooo!!!!

 My God it looks like this year has gone by so darn fast... I mean, I can still remember almost everything I've done in January!! Is it just me?!!

 Well here we are, its the 15th of December and there's only 10 more days until Christmas, my Christmas shopping and handmade stuff is almost all done, missing only 1 or 2 things really...

 Today I instituted on my self to make a pillow, some drawer fresheners, and the Christmas Cards for my neighbours... Yeah you read it right the first time, here in the uk it seems that you give cards on every little or big occasion that you might think off, being it Easter, Christmas, birthdays graduations, being poorly, loosing a tooth, you name it, they make it lol :)

 So to make this cards I used a Digital Software called Serif Craft artist, I personally love it really you can do so much with it, cards, invitations photo books, journals, table decorations etc., they have all sorts off digikits which are amazing.

 I also used the Marta Stewart Scoring Board, to score and fold them as well has the envelopes to which I also used my Sizzix eclips; and here's the result:

 

Hope it will inspire you in doing your own, and it does save a bit of cash has you can always make personalised cards with your fam pics.

 

See you soon xxxx

Handmade Xmas cards by a 6 year old :)

Hello my lovers,

 

Well today is the last day off rest before another chaotic working week for many of us, my little/big angel have been receiving some Christmas cards from her classmates at school, but we didn't leave the house this weekend has there's been an awful so much to do, plus I'm a really homy kind of person...

 

 My God she was going on and on and on about the cards " mommy we have to do them, mommy everyone gave me one so I've got to give some as well -that's fair" - Ok OK lets do some then... what size do you want?! what about the shape?! , what colour card would you prefer?, what about the design on the front?! " MOMMY... can we put some glitter on them as well please" - Yes honey, which colour?!! "Can we have a santa as well" - Yes, sweetie... it is your cards after all.

 

 So here's the end result:

 

We used : Big Shot Machine, Martha Stewart Scoring Board, the second biggest square from the framelits, the snowflake embossing folder, modgepodge and white glitter,1 small red rhinestone &  here comes santa stamp...

 

I helped with the scoring, placing of the framelit, putting the glue around the snowflake and the rhinestone in the middle, she then wrote all her class mates names on her own, I hope they like it, she had so much fun and I'm one proud mommy :D .

 

I hope that this incentivates you to make your own cards instead of buying them, they don't have to be like this they can be has elaborate has you wish, I suppose I'm trying to give her the crafting bug lol.

 

 

See you soon!!!

xxxx

 

DIY Christmas Presents on a low budget

Hello my friends,

 I've been overwhelmed with all the blog views I've been having lately, for that a thank you very much for all of you out  there :).

 Now the subject in matter here today is Christmas presents and more importantly a low budget, if it means giving one or more people a similar thing then let it be it, there's nothing wrong with that is there?! Plus hand made by you as a lot more meaning to your family and friends...

So I been here thinking and thinking pondering on the budget issue of things and I reached the conclusion that you can do it  for less than £5 for each person, so lets tackle the groups one by one

CLOSSE FAMILY ( Mother, Father, Sisters or/ & Brothers, Grandma's, Grandpa's, Son, Daughter, etc.)
CLOSE FRIENDS (Best Friends, Life friends, School mates etc.)
WORK MATES (presents exchange)

 So regarding the closse family, think... do you have children yourself if so, your mum and dad would love something that they could look at and remember them of their grand kids or of family fun, like for example their hand print, foot print, something written by them, a journal or photo book with their pictures (grandparents with grand kids); and this my lovers you can definitely do yourself :)

 Here's a list of supplies for different projects, and some suppliers here in the uk (I'm sure you'll find and have craft stores in your country as well)

 www.hobbycraft.co.uk ; www.bakerross.co.uk ; www.craftycrocodiles.co.uk
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porcelain paint pens or whatever you need for your project ( the pens would cost around £2.20 each)
porcelain plate; mug; egg cups or anything related to your project it could even be a tile ( this item range in between £0.35 and £1.50), the end result however is priceless :)

Here's some examples:

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Fabric bag, Plain t-shirts, Plain aprons etc. ( this items cost in between £0.95 and £2.50 per piece)
Fabric Pens, fabric paints, Fabric Dies ( this will cost in between £1.95 for pens and £3.95 for pots)

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For Journals or Photo books you can do a lot of different things, use different materials, stuff that you might even already have at home : cardboard patterned paper, photos, stamps, fabric and wadding for the covers who knows the world is your oyster, here's some pictures;

 

If you don't own anything whatsoever than to keep things on a low budget you can always buy a scrapbook ( which is +- £1.00 depending on the size, update the cover with either some fabric or patterned paper and print the pictures and cut shapes to decorate, write stuff in it, just be sure to take your time has it is supposed to be something with a lot of sentiment in it)

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 For other family like brothers/sisters you could have a really nice picture frame with you and them and this would definitely cost less than a fiver specially if you print the picture yourself, if you'd like to personalise it even further make some a mattboard behind the picture, you could use your patterned paper for that or some wall paper depending on the size that's really up to you, you could also stencil & paint a plain frame to add some character to it.

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NOw, FRIENDS AND PRESENTS EXCHANGE  why not do a batch of home made jam, I have some recipes on my blog or you can search the internet and recipe books for others ( to save some extra cash you can reuse old jars, don't forget to sterilised them tho)  make a really nice label either with your pc or patterned handwritten card stock and add some ribbon and fabric on the top to cover the lid. ( it will certainly make more than only one jam jar, so you'll have more than one gift right there.

 

You can also make some biscuits or cakes and decorate the outside with some cute packaging or make a little box to put it in if you don't do it yourself you can find some cute boxes in this website www.craftcompany.co.uk.

 

Make some scented drawer or wardrobe freshener with just some fabric and dried lavender, dried lemon grass, you name it... you can also personalise this little tokens with your friends initials or a drawing in case the fabric is plain.

 

This are only a few ideas there is so much you can do without having to spend tons of money on shop bought presents... I know you will come out with great ideas, even better than mine to be honest. So why not start right now, have a brain storm and put your hands to it, I would love to have your feedback and hear about your ideas .

 

See you soon my lovelies :) 

 

xxx