Handmade Christmas Past and Future

I hope this post is easy to read - I wanted to put all of my ideas into one just to save time. Below are some Christmas gifts I have made in the past or plan to make this year. I love to make handmade gifts - but finding something that I can do and it still look nice enough for my recipient is difficult! Here are ones that I have done and therefore - anyone can do them!

Custom Sillhouette Pictures - This is on the to-do list for this year. Actually last year, but I ran out of time. The recipient loves the old antique looking sillhouette pictures and has a display in her house. She also happens to love my children (and I really hope she doesn't read POH!) so I'm going to make her one of each of my kids. While I LOVE the modern look of the one above (the pic and tutorial are found here, at Design Sponge), I'm going to make mine more antique looking with a black or gold frame to match her collection.

Celebration and/or Holiday Garland - The picture below is the birthday garland I made for my daughter's birthday (that now resides in her room). The picture above is from Pottery Barn Kids. In the past, PBK has featured a similar garland - made of felt - that spelled "Give Thanks" on the traditional triangle pennants like below. It gave me the idea to not only make birthday banners, but also fun garland for other holidays as well. I haven't nailed this one down yet, but I do think I will be making some gender neutral birthday banners this year. I may make a "holiday" one for myself and see how I like it. If it turns out - I'll consider giving holiday ones as gifts in the future too. The original instructions I followed (but modified slightly) are found here at Create.


Glass Magnets - I first made these at my craft club. The picture above shows one Christmas themed set that someone gave away during our gift exchange. Here is a list of tutorials on Not Martha, along with some CUTE pictures. Basically, we cut circles of cute paper and decoupaged them to the flat glass marbles (from the dollar store!). Glue your magnet on and, Voila! I decided to make sets of these using cute craft paper. I found decorative tins at Michaels and gifted them in sets of 6 or so. I love having mine on the fridge and if you get good magnets, they can really hold a lot!

Etched Glass - Again, I first did this craft at craft club. You will not believe how easy it is and you can see how AWESOME it can look! The "G" on the far right is the one I made for myself. I haven't decided who will be getting this for Christmas, but someone will! You can find the full tutorial here at Create. (Remember stores like Marshalls and Ross have a great selection of glass vases and hurricanes for etching!)

Key Fobs - I've detailed how to make these before here on POH. They did become a gifts for many last Christmas. So far, they are still holding up well!

Hairbow Holders - Again, I've given the instructions on these before on POH. But they were also given to four little girls last Christmas. I gave the one pictured above along with a new bow. Would be a cute way to start a bow collection for a young toddler (unless they are totally bald like my daughter!).

Wool Pants and Shirt Set - This was my gift last year for my youngest nephew, Sam. I had just learned how to make wool pants (which can double as a diaper cover when using cloth) out of old sweaters! I decided to make him a comfy set of wool pants and a hand painted shirt. The tutorial that is the BEST for making the wool (or fleece) pants is found here at DiaperSwappers. (You may have to make an account to see it - not sure.) I used a very old sweater made of really soft wool. I got a plain white t-shirt and used fabric paint to stamp "Sam I Am" on his shirt. Even if you didn't want to sew the pants - a personalized plain t-shirt can be so cute! I like to use those foam stamps with the fabric paint. It seems to work well.

Enjoy getting crafty this holiday season! Let me know what you're making!