As the final days of January are rapidly approaching, thoughts of Christmas become distant memories. Yet, the jewels offered here will support you throughout your gift giving year: Christmas, Anniversaries, Birthdays or otherwise. We are a creative and hands-on group of gals that are always ready for a challenge! To supplement our shopping strategies we also do some home-made gifts. Over the years we have made an array of home made crafts from sewing projects to wreaths, that are always fun to construct and truly treasured by the receiver, but one of our newest endeavors has been making homemade jam together.
Our History: Four years ago Marcie’s bought a new home which included a small orchard. The bounty of apricots, plums, peaches, cherries, and apples have since kept us busy making delicious sweet creations. Before Marcie’s home with fruit trees, Jaime was the only one who had ventured into the mysterious world of home food preservation. All of our grandmothers had canned out of pure necessity, but why would this group of modern gals ever need that skill? Marcie was about to go crazy with too much fresh fruit to consume, we decided we could make jam - maybe it would turn out and we could give it as gifts at Christmas!
Since then, the three of us have logged countless hours picking, pitting, and preserving! Some batches turned out perfectly, some not as much, but we have learned so much about the time honored tradition of preserving summer’s bounty for a cold winter’s day! We made enough jam for our family for the coming year as well as enough for gifts. Jam is a perfect gift for teachers, the kid’s bus driver, or co-workers. A single jar can be eloquently wrapped (raffia – cheap and beautiful!) and given alone, or combined with other home made treats in a festive holiday basket. Any way you do it: this gift is a welcome surprise at Christmas or any other time!
In the current economy, more and more people are trying to get back to basics – or find creative ways to acknowledge people and events without breaking the budget. As you are settling in with your New Year’s Resolutions, consider adding your own special talent to the mix. I’m sure you have one: You just need to tap into how to create a great gift.
Your Turn: Maybe making jam isn’t your thing (yet!) but we encourage you to think of some skill you posses that you could use to make something beautiful to add to your gift giving repertoire. Find something that serves double duty, excess fruit made to jam, that we can eat during the year (savings!!) and that serves as a delectable gift. Most importantly do this project with a group of friends, as we have found it makes any job less daunting and so much more fun!
What is your special talent? Maybe you have several. Crochet? Knit? Card Making, Scrapbooking, wood-working, gardening, music, singing, drawing/painting, photography?
Here is a list of several ideas to get your home-made gift giving a try. Think of what you are good at – and then get creative of how to give it away!
Crochet/Knit
*Make a scarf, blanket or sweater vest depending on your skill level. Make pot holders – or teach your children how to do simple stitches and have them make pot holders for their grandparents or aunts and uncles. Christmas yarn might still be on sale or on clearance! AND, you have all year to work on them. Winter is the best time to work with yarn, especially with blanket and afghans because it keeps you warm while you work!
Card Making
*Develop a small collection of cards (8 or so) that could be used for different holidays. Buy a nice pen and wrap them up together as a simple, useful and beautiful birthday, anniversary or just thinking of you gift. Or get some done and put them away as gifts on your Christmas list.
Scrapbooking
*Create ready-made pages for a friend. Maybe someone is having a baby – create ready-made pages that they can slip photos into, or glue on for quick and easy bragging and album pages.
*Buy several sheets of paper, ribbons, pens and create a simple basket (or bag) of goodies for a photo happy friend.
Wood-working
*Create a simple planter, and add a package of seeds.
*Make a shelf with your friend in mind! Do they like to hang quilts? Add a bar at the bottom. Do they want one in the bathroom? Add some hooks for towels.
Gardening
*Some simple pails with dirt and bulbs in them make a wonderful gift. Most people love enjoying them in their house, then transferring them outside. If you are giving it to someone who is not a green-thumb, be sure to include a card with directions.
*Put together a basket of gloves, seed packets and a new shovel. Or tie a gift card to a local nursery onto a gardening tool
Music
*Create a recording of you playing or singing favorite songs of your friend. Record this to a CD and pass it along. If you are unsure how to record, find your closest friendly high school student – most of them are capable or have the ability on their laptops.
*Invite a friend to a play, concert or evening out enjoying music you both share an interest in. This way you get to spend time together doing something you both love!
Drawing/Painting
*Draw or paint an image of a scene or picture your friend would enjoy. A simple frame and you have perfected another gift!
Photography
*Take a photo your friend adores and have it put on a canvas. Many Costco and other stores will do this for a reasonable price.
*Take photos at the next event you are together. Then create a collage – or save the photos, and find the perfect frame on a Black Friday sale to put them in.
*If you are a pretty good photographer with a decent camera, offer to come out and take family portraits as their gift. Provide the set up, suggestions on background, colors, offer the time they want, groups, individual shots, etc. Then develop the prints and return them with the negatives.
If you have a great idea that we haven't suggested above - leave it in your post for others to view. Together, we are brilliant!
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