9 Frugal Things to Make and Do for Christmas
This braided headband is made using scraps of cloth you already have on hand and a bit of elastic. Very cute.
Make your own snowglobe- you need a jar with a good lid, some clear drying epoxy glue for the figurines, distilled water, a drop or two of glycerine (to keep the snow from falling too quickly) glitter, and some imagination.
Make your own pillows- I particularly liked this embellishment- a gift tag of sheet music sewn on to the pillow:
To make the gift tag, cut a piece of freezer paper 8.5" x 11" (the size of printer paper) and iron the shiny side to a piece of light weight cotton fabric. Cut the fabric 8.5 x 11 after adhering the freezer paper. Now you should have a piece of fabric that will run through your printer. I had to fiddle with mine a bit, but it worked nicely. I am not guaranteeing this will work in your printer. I simply googled free printable sheet music, found and image I liked and printed it on the freezer paper backed fabric. After printing the image onto the fabric, remove the freezer paper. Next fuse a piece of steam-a-seam to the back and cut it out in the shape of a gift tag. Remove the paper backing and iron it in place on the burlap box. Stitch around the edges with a zig-zag stitch.
Okay, this one isn't exactly a home-made gift, but I see two potential uses for it- one would be to give a little girl you know a coupon for her doll to spend the day at your doll spa, and you can recondition and smooth down the doll's hair, and otherwise rehabilitate a well played with dolly. The other would be to use this information to fix up a thrift shop dolly for gift giving. I understand this works best for dolls where the hair is attached to their heads- rows of holes hold strands of hair, not for dolls with glued on wigs.
Make these Scandanavian paper heart baskets- We make these for Valentine's day, too, as well as Christmas. They are so easy, so pretty, so cute. I think they look pretty hanging on a tree, and I think they look great attached to a package with a little goodie inside.
Adorably sweet angel ornament made from ribbon, a bead, and funky paperclips. Really, it's cute, I promise!
Frugulous home-made lotion bars- Frugal, yet luxurious- frugulous.
I'll try to post a picture of these later- they are a poor woman's substitution for something like Mexican tin ornaments- use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out of an old disposable baking pan. Draw a raised pattern on it with a crochet hook. Take permanent markers and color on the shape. Add a second coat before the first has dried. Poke a hole in it to hang the ornment, run ribbon or a bent paper clip through (I like to use bent paperclips as ornament hooks).
Glittery birds for the Christmas tree or a wreath
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2 Responses to “9 Frugal Things to Make and Do for Christmas”
December 14th, 2009 at 1:47 am
I’m making headbands for Christmas presents, although mine are from this pattern: http://blog.a-common-thread.com/2009/10/knit-pattern-moss-stitch-bow-headband.html
And I think I’ll be making some of those lotion bars, perhaps for other holidays, I’m not sure if I have time to find beeswax and I’m also not sure it will fit in my budget this year. Thanks for the suggestion, though!
Another thing I’m making is 5 minute fudge! http://www.recipezaar.com/five-minute-fudge-403065
January 5th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Thanks. Beautiful crafts to make with my girls.
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