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glinNC Forum Pro
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Posted: June 24 2008 at 6:03pm | IP Logged
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Happy St. John the Baptist Feast Day!
As Father pointed out in his homily today, there's 6 months until we celebrate the birth of Our Lord! Are you making any homemade Christmas gifts yet?
I have been planning on doing a simple crocheting project of beaded hairbands for the girls in our family. I hope to start soon!
What are YOU making?
glinNC
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JodieLyn Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006 Location: Oregon
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Posted: June 24 2008 at 6:18pm | IP Logged
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a baby this hasn't even been in my radar with baby due here any time.. maybe in a month or so I'll be ready to think of it.. I think I'd really like to make my girls some dresses or skirts though.
__________________ Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Tina Forum Pro
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Posted: June 24 2008 at 6:53pm | IP Logged
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I'm hoping to get started pretty soon. This year I hope to roll some beeswax candles for aunts, make these cute skirts for my daughters and niece, a rosary for my mother and my girls are going here this summer to make gifts for their godparents. And we always make some type of chocolate treat for the uncles. Men are so hard to "make" things for. Anyone have any ideas for what to handmake for men?
__________________ ~Tina
mom of 3 girls and 1 little man
The Best of Times
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glinNC Forum Pro
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Posted: June 24 2008 at 7:09pm | IP Logged
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Tina wrote:
I'm hoping to get started pretty soon. This year I hope to roll some beeswax candles for aunts, make these cute skirts for my daughters and niece, |
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Those skirts look easy enough to make! I would sew the cut area, though, instead of using glue. (I guess the glue was suggested with the intention of children doing these crafts.)
Can you recommend a simple beeswax candle project for somebody who has never done them?
Thanks,
glinNC
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folklaur Forum All-Star
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Posted: June 24 2008 at 7:16pm | IP Logged
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Tina wrote:
Anyone have any ideas for what to handmake for men? |
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A coffee mug from that same ceramics place?
The kids and I always make food items for Dad. They like food.
Stuff associated with the grill? Someone (Mary?) recently posted a neat "grill tool holder" that I am going to have the kids do for Dad...
uummm...a rosary in guy colors? browns and blacks?
let me think....
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folklaur Forum All-Star
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Posted: June 24 2008 at 7:20pm | IP Logged
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glinNC wrote:
there's 6 months until we celebrate the birth of Our Lord!
glinNC |
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I know! I was just mentioning this the other day, and saying that the Holiday Grand Plan organizing/cleaning thing starts in August.
I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME!
And my new house is going to look oh-so-cute decorated. And we have TILE floors - so I may even venture into the realm of a "real tree" this year. And it can be TALL. (In the past, our teensy house could only handle one of the very thin pencil trees.)
I even have a place for my train! And a whole shelf when the manger is going to look perfect!
Can you tell I have been thinking about this?
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LisaR Forum All-Star
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Posted: June 24 2008 at 10:47pm | IP Logged
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I always loved celebrating my half birthday on Christmas!
I'd like to organize our many Jesse Tree ornamnets, rather than make more this year!
__________________ Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Tina Forum Pro
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Posted: June 24 2008 at 11:37pm | IP Logged
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glinNC~
Last Christmas was our first attempt at these and they turned out pretty good, considering we were beginners. I posted a little about it here and this shows how we wrapped the candles to give as gifts.
To make them we simply followed the directions that came with the wax sheets. We purchased a complete kit since it was our first time. It was a little tricky at first, but not difficult. You decide on what size candle you want, then cut the sheets accordingly. You line the wick up inside and then carefully roll the wax around the wick, trying not to leave too many gaps between layers, but also trying not to squeeze the beeswax "pattern" out of the candle.
All of my daughters enjoyed it. My only regret was that I didn't order more! And for this year,I also bought some mini Christmas cookie cutters to use to decorate the outside with simple Christmas shaped wax in a complementary color. For that you just roll the candle, then use the cookie cutter to cut out the shape in another piece of wax. Then simply press the wax shape into the candle.
Part of the fun, too, is coming up with ways to wrap them. I like pairing them up, then tying them with something natural like twine. You could get really creative with it.
__________________ ~Tina
mom of 3 girls and 1 little man
The Best of Times
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Tina Forum Pro
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Posted: June 24 2008 at 11:55pm | IP Logged
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This is the least expensive complete candle rolling set I can find online. I'm racking my brain and simply cannot remember where I ordered mine from last year.
__________________ ~Tina
mom of 3 girls and 1 little man
The Best of Times
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folklaur Forum All-Star
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 12:12am | IP Logged
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The candle rolling looks so neat! I have wanted to try it but never have. I found this site that sells the wax by the sheet, but I have no idea if it is a good deal.
I am so glad this thread was started - it gives me time to think of all those gifts to make - I always get grand ideas much too late in the season to pull them off.
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MamaAcorn Forum Newbie
Joined: July 23 2007 Location: Indiana
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 1:56pm | IP Logged
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I've started knitting a pair of sock, but I'm not sure who they're for yet. I also started knitting a farm play mat for my boys. I have one section done with 11 more to go.
The candle rolling is really cool. We did it earlier this year and even my 3yo thought it was great fun and made some masterpieces.
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MarilynW Forum All-Star
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 2:06pm | IP Logged
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I am hoping to find some ideas for non-food gifts - usually I bake stacks and stacks of cookies - this year I feel like doing something different.
__________________ Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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MamaAcorn Forum Newbie
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 2:29pm | IP Logged
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We've done picture calendars in the past and everyone loved them. You can usually have them printed for $15-20 each.
I made tote bags this past Christmas for everyone using the $1 and $2 fabric section at Wal-mart. I followed directions from somebody's blog.
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Tina Forum Pro
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 2:48pm | IP Logged
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We have a tradition at our house of making handmade gifts for each other that we exchange right after Christmas Eve Mass. We let them open these the night before Christmas so that the "handmade" gifts don't get lost in the shuffle with all the gifts from Santa. Last year I made a ballet bag for my 6 year old. It was very simple. Just a pink tote bag from a craft store (the med. size ones). I bought some light pink fabric to make a pocket on the front. I also ironed a fancy "A" on the bottom corner of the pocket. I sewed on some ballet buttons (bows, tutu and ballet slippers) near the top, and then I trimmed around the top in a hot pink strip of boa. It turned out so cute and she loved it.
I made a similar bag for my almost 2 yr. old son, as a Mass bag, but in primary colors. I also put a cross iron-on on the front and wrote "My Little Mass Bag" in puff fabric paint. I filled it with mini books on saints and bible stories. I also put in a mini draw/erase type board. And then I took some laminated holy cards and put them on a key ring. We take it to Mass with us every week.
For my 9 yr. old dd, I made a throw blanket. It's a fleece no-sew blanket. It's light blue sky print and I just cut the strips around the edges and tied them together. I LOVE fleece for no-sew crafts. She sleeps with it every night and cuddles with it for movie watching in the colder months. She still says it's her favorite Christmas gift!
For my oldest dd I made a scrapbook of her time working with a local children's theatre. She had such a good time, so I included pics of friends, ticket stubs, a pic of her in costume, the program, etc. She loved it.
I know we're talking about what we are planning for this year, but I'd love to hear about some neat homemade gifts you've made in the past.
__________________ ~Tina
mom of 3 girls and 1 little man
The Best of Times
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mavmama Forum All-Star
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 3:59pm | IP Logged
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I've started to plan....does that count?
My goal this summer is to use the supplies I have on hand (too many, I might add) and make what I can for Christmas gifts before buying any more supplies. So far, I am planning on some knitted, felted clogs; covered hangers made from antique pillow cases; knitted dish rags with aprons sewn to match; maybe some knitted socks; and a few tote bags filled with oatmeal bath bags and soothing rice bags (guess we'll call that the "Bag bag")!
I have a Magic Cabin baby doll kit to sew up, but no one to give it to and a few other things that I'm going to need to be very creative with in order to use them up.
I hope this year I can really pull it off and have all handmade gifts DONE by Dec. 1st. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
__________________ Liz
Blessed by 4 wonders
dd11, dd911, ds9, ds8
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folklaur Forum All-Star
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Posted: June 25 2008 at 4:19pm | IP Logged
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Tina wrote:
I know we're talking about what we are planning for this year, but I'd love to hear about some neat homemade gifts you've made in the past.
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Dawn hosted a Loveliness of Handmade Gifts Fair last year that has links to lots of bloggers from here and bunches of great ideas!
One thing that I made last year for dd6 was kool-aid dyed playsilks.. The idea came originally from Mary M's blog, and it was SO easy, and they get played with a LOT!
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