Christmas Ideas

It's not long till Christmas now but I thought I would share a few more ideas with you just in case you may want/need inspiration.  A couple of weeks ago I shared with you a simple craft kit gift idea to give if you haven't had the time to make or buy handmade. I packaged it together the other day including a printed and laminated copy of this tutorial.  A couple of friends have young children of the age of two so I was trying to figure out what I might give to them when I came up with another craft kit idea I found while searching the web.  I packaged together some felt I had at home along with some glue, some paints and these little wooden doll bases so they can have fun creating their own doll to play with.     If you aren't able to source the doll bases in time you could also use wooden pegs as an alternative which can be bought from many craft stores or even dollar shops.

While I've been visiting some lovely blogs over the last couple of weeks I have seen lots of Christmas cooking and crafting inspiration, here are just some of my favourites I thought I'd share.

❅This Waldorf wool roving star is just beautiful and a great tutorial is included.

❅Tahnee has been inspiring me this Christmas firstly with her beautiful photos and also with her crafting, cooking and present ideas.

❅Steph has been busy creating with her two little ones sweet Christmas peg angels and this felt ball garland, isn't it beautiful.

❅And Meagan shared this delicious smelling (I can only imagine) Christmas playdough I'm looking forward to making with my two.

❅And if you're in the mood for some baking Cathie's gingerbread recipe is always a winner, we're making some today in fact.

❅Jode is always full of crafting inspiration and her easy toddler Christmas wreath I think is a winner to make with little ones or big ones.

❅ I love Carol's idea for Christmas meringues, very clever and festive.

❅ The girls and I would love to make some of these but so far haven't been able to source little trees or decorations.

These are just a few, there is so much wonderful inspiration out there that others have been kind enough to share.  I hope you've found some of these inspiring like I have.  

Wishing all of you a wonderful Wednesday.♥

Homemade lip balm

Since last year I've had Soulemama's lip balm recipe bookmarked.  I have so many things bookmarked under different headings that I'd like to try but you know how it is there are just so many hours in the day to do things and so many more things I'd like to try.  This year though I was determined to give lip balm making a try.  I did some more searching and came across another recipe I decided to use this time but there are many out there. I'd like to give this one a go too but thought it might be cheaper to stick to more basic ingredients for now. I ordered my little jars online from Heirloom Bodycare, the beeswax I purchased from here and the other ingredients from my local organic shop.  Making the lip balm took no time at all and just with some simple little decorations added it's now ready to gift.  I did have a computer generated label I created and I really wanted to use but when I went to print it out, there was, surprise surprise no ink it's always the way. Oh well it's all homemade that's for sure. For more creative spaces stop by here to be inspired.

♡

I thought I would share with you a couple of new blogs that I've found recently that you might want to have a little peek at too.  I found Lutter Idyl a few days ago and although I can't understand stand what's written, the photos are amazing and she also is a creator of beautiful crochet pieces.

My dream one day is for our family to live on acreage and so I love to see others experience living on the land and seeing their adventure and dreams come alive.  Today I discovered the Ngo Family Farm blog.  A newish blog sharing their journey through beautiful photos on the other side of the world in Colorado.

And if you are not too Christmased out yet I found a couple of Christmas activities I've bookmarked for next year.  The first is this great idea for either a craft activity to do with the children or as a gift idea for young children, gingerbread playdough it sounds fun doesn't it.

I thought this sweet little house would be a lovely little decoration to have on display.

Tomorrow is the last day of the year so I'll be back with a wrap up of my resolutions of 2011 and some new goals for 2012♥

Handmade Christmas Ideas

I know most of us would like to just forget that Christmas is coming, with so many things to do it can get a bit overwhelming.  Sometimes I find, other than the motivation, the most difficult part can be deciding what to give. So to help with the deciding I've been bookmarking some handmade gift ideas for the females in our lives.  If you aren't the crafty type there are some great sites like etsy and made it with lots of handmade gifts to choose from or visit a weekend market.

●A gift in a jar is a novel idea and handy because the jar is reusable. When my oldest daughter said her teacher liked to scrapbook I thought I would get a collection of materials and put them in a jar for her.  I included buttons, string and twine, tags, sticker gemstones and brads. I love to paper craft so I used some things I had in my stash so the gift was quite affordable.

●I think most of us find a little purse useful to keep all sorts of things.  I found this great tutorial for making a felt zipper purse that is super sweet and has excellent picture instructions.

●Or maybe this handy little notebook with a pencil, some paper clips and some pretty washi tape would be appreciated by a teacher.

●For those who enjoy reading, this fabric bookmark tutorial is a lovely handmade gift idea.  If you don't know what this person enjoys reading you could add a gift voucher with it or maybe a nice magazine.

●Most of us have a Christmas tree, a set of handmade decorations would be a loved addition to their tree.  Each year they put them up they would remember the thoughtful gift given. I love this clay tag tutorial.

●Or maybe you love to bake so why not try making some gingerbread.

●To help with those aches and pains a heat pack is a great gift and they always come in handy.

I hope that you found some inspiration here to help you with your Christmas list♥