Blogging About Gifts

If you are going to be heading to a new year’s Eve party at someone’s home this year, here are few great gift ideas for you to take along for the host or hostess:

Coordinating Dishtowels: Dishtowels may not be the most heart felt gift you can give, but when they come from Williams Sonoma, they can be. Your hostess will appreciate your good taste and sense of quality. A set of 4, thick, waffle weave dishtowels costs $16.

Small House Plant: Fresh flowers may seem like the perfect gift for a hostess, but actually, they are not. Your hostess gift should treat the hostess, so don’t get flowers, which may cause her to have to find a vase for them. Instead, pick up a lovely house plant at your florist or even the florist department at your grocery store.

Kitchen Soap Gift Set: Essential oil liquid hand soap and lotion sets are a great idea. These sets look great next to a kitchen sink and will be a very useful, but generous gift.

Hot Cocoa Gift Set: Nothing is quite as comforting as a hot cup of cocoa on a cold winter night. Red Envelope has a decadent hot cocoa gift set by New York City chocolatier MarieBelle. For $26 you get 6 packets of Venezuelan cocoa in a lunchbox style tin. This sinfully delicious cocoa comes to life with hot water, but when refrigerated, becomes a dark, silky smooth Crème de Chocolat and can be eaten by the spoonful!
Candle Set: Illuminations online and brick and mortar stores carry a nice selection of high quality candles and gift sets. This delightful little gift set comes with a sculpted wood dish, with 3 square, vanilla scented candles and some vanilla potpourri. Your hostess will enjoy this gift every time she uses it!

If you will be attending a holiday party this year, remember to have fun and be safe!  Yule and Christmas came and went without a hitch for us!  Onto new year’s Eve!

We won’t be doing anything this year, just satying home, relaxing and watching some movies.  A quiet relaxing evening is just what i need after the holiday craziness!

41. Crosstitch A Heart Bookmark: This is an adorable bookmark and would make a wonderful gift for the book lover!

42. Coat Hanger Covers: These are sewn and you could make a set of them to give as a very practical and pretty gift.

43. Cell Phone Case: Sew your own so the options are endless!

44. American Girl Doll Dress: This pattern is for any 18 inch doll and is a drop waist dress. Lots of combinations are possible using this pattern.

45. DishTowel Angel: Really cute and only needs one dish towel, one dish cloth, and one potholder.

46. Make a Personalized Calendar: Free printable templates to make your own calendar for 2007.

47. Gingerbread Gifts: Love the smell of gingerbread! Here are several crafts which feature gingerbread. Patterns for gingerbread people, trees, and other shapes. Make a gingerbread garland too!

48. Beaded Napkin Rings: These are so cute and even though they are a “kid craft” I think anyone would enjoy receiving these as a gift.

49. Holly Jolly Cardinal Wall Hanging: This is a quilt project, and a little bit more advanced. However, it is a beautiful quilt and would make a very nice Christmas gift.

50. Vine Wall Hanging: This project looks to be simple but very nice with a country flair!

31. No Sew Quilt: This is really cute and I like the Christmas theme they have used. You could make this quilt with any theme though.

32. Make a Doll House Out Of Cardboard Box: Step by step directions to make a doll house using a simple cardboard box. Then check out the ideas for making doll house furniture.

33. Make A Kitchen Apron: A perfect gift for those who love to cook!

34. Create a Tie Dye T-Shirt: This looks to be a little bit messy but tie dye crafts are a hit.

35. Make An Advent Calendar: A gift to give as the Christmas season begins.

36. Fabric Ponchos: You could make a few in different colors.

37. Kitchen Towel Pillow Covers: What a great way to quickly and inexpensively make some really cut pillows.

38. Clay Pot Snowmen: These are so adorable and are really easy to make.

39. Homemade Beaded Candles: Look just like those really expensive ones in the store.

40. Make A Vest For Your Dog: This is a resizeable pattern, good for a poodle or lab!

21. Make A Friendship Bracelet: Great for teens or tweens. Get directions for how to make a friendship bracelet.

22. Christmas Pot Holder: Who wouldn’t love this adorable home made pot holder? You could make this in a non seasonal theme as well.

23. Folk Rag Doll: Great to give a little girl or for anyone who enjoys dolls.

24. Make Your Own Butterfly House: This is a great gift idea for some of the older kids. Directions are for making the house and for the food the butterfly needs.

25. Make a Kite: Even if it is not kite flying weather, a kite can be used as a decoration for a kid’s room!

26. Mr. Bean Style Teddy Bear: This is a knitting project and looks a bit harder for this non-knitter. I included it here in case any knitters want to do this. It is adorable!

27. Sock Monkey: These are priceless and they do not look too complicated to make. This is a sewing based craft and you’ll need a pair of men’s extra large white socks.

28. Washcloth Puppets: I love these! Directions are given how to make a cow, bunny, or bear. They are all cute and I would have a difficult time choosing which one to make.

29. Broomstick Skirt: These are really in style now. Would be a great gift to give a teen or for a teen to make.

30. Make a Classic Tote: Who doesn’t need a tote bag. Very versatile.

11. Decorative Dried Herbs In Oil: Make one of those fancy looking bottles!

12. Christmas Gifts From Your Kitchen: Some yummy recipes for delicious treats including Chocolate Billionaires (love the name); Swedish Nuts; Cinnamon Nut Mix; Mocha Walnuts; and Sugared Peanuts.

13. Make Your Own Garden Stepping Stones: We’ve done this for our yard but used the kits you buy at the store. I like this version better.

14. Personalized Towels: These do not require any sewing. You could use this technique to personalize almost any item.

15. Gifts In A Jar: There were just too many to choose from so here is the entire page. Many wonderful and easy gifts to make in a jar.

16. Fleece Blanket: Directions for how to make a no-sew snuggy fleece blanket.

17. Make An Altered Lunch Box: This is one of the newer craft techniques, using scrapbooking tools.

18. Craft Foam Christmas Ornaments: These are perfect to give as a gift or keep some for your own decorating

19. Make Gel Candles: Gel candles are very popular and a great gift idea. Here are the instructions so you can make your own.

20. No sew Sachet: Even the littlest kids can help to make this one.

Homemade gifts are wonderful, for the gift giver and the gift receiver. It makes the gift more personal and it’s easy on the wallet! I searched the web to find some of the best gifts to make. There are some wonderful craft projects in this list and I will be trying a few!

1. Homemade Holiday Ornaments: Lots of easy to do crafts. I especially like the picture ornaments and the baked clay snowman.

2. Create Your Own Heirloom Photo Ornament: This is just lovely, and definite on my list this year to make.

3. Make A Distressed Photo Frame: The distressed look is in, and would be a great gift for someone who enjoys that decor.

4. Make A Christmas Snow Globe: You could use this same technique to create a snow globe of any theme, not just for Christmas.

5. Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix In A Jar: Yum! A wonderful and simple gift to give.

6. Dog Biscuit Recipe: Can’t forget Fido. A great recipe for a yummy dog treat.

7. No Cook Food Gift Ideas: If you are short on time in the kitchen, here are some great gift ideas you can tie, wrap and basically just give.

8. Scented Potpourri: Recipes for Apple Spice, Regency Rose, and Summer Breeze.

9. Bead And Button Teacup: This teacup is for display purposes only, but it is a really cute craft that teens could make for teacher, mom, or grandma.

10. Make A Paper Bag Scrapbook: These scrapbooks are adorable and easy to make. You use paper bags as the album!

The holiday is creeping up on us! Out of ideas? Out of money? Out of time? No worries!

Over the next 5 days I will list 50 great homemade gift ideas that are easy, fun and inexpensive to make!  Remember, gift giving is not about the amount of money you spend but about the idea and thought behind the gift!

Some of my favorite gift picks are defnitely handmade and from the heart!

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T200 Digital Camera is something I would love to have! I am always on the look out for a cool new digital camera. I love to blog and well, blogging is so much more fun when you have a photo or two to go along with an entry!

This camera offers an intuitive touch screen that allows you to instantly select the subject you want to focus on (in shooting mode) and what you want to view or where you want to zoom (in playback mode) .

The camera also features a new smile shutter function, which helps capture the most important part of a photo – the smile.

Any guy who loves mixed martial arts will appreciate some cool apparel to wear.  This is an especially cool gift for the guy who actually participates in MMA fighting!  There are all kinds of Mixed Martial Arts Clothing available to choose from so you will definitely have lots and lots of choices.

Guys who love MMA want to look cool not only when they’re in the ring but also when they’re just out and about!