Handmade Gifts, Anyone?

photocredit

I know, I know. It's not even Thanksgiving yet! If you're a crafter, like me, you've got to be on your game well before the Autumn season hits if you want to make all your gifts for Christmas. Today I'm just going to share some of my favorite resources online to get you inspired and hopeful that you can give handmade gifts this year! Saving money is only one reason why we give handmade gifts, followed by simplicity, thoughtful making for each individual, and because I really like to make stuff. ;) I'll just let you peruse these websites, ones I have kept in my favorite folder so I could go back to again and again, since I'm a visual person. There are some for adults, some for kids, and let's not forget Etsy, who has everything in between! Enjoy.

* Gifted Magazine. A free online magazine that is as aestetically pleasing as the Holidays can get for the modern handmaker.
*Gift Giving Philosophy. An article by SimpleKids on expectations, and reeling them back in with simplicity and thoughtfulness. Great ideas for gifts if you'd like to do this within your own family.
*DIY section. A complete 'tagged' resource list of all things A Beautiful Mess and company. This girl has her own handmade brick-and-mortar, and is always doing cute handmade items on her blog.
*Handmade Gift Retreat. From GIVERSLOG, a great gift blog, specifically for the holiday season coming up. Plenty of good ideas for baking, papercraft, and more.
*PassionateHomemaking's "Homemade Gifts" search. I really love this website. It's chock full of recipes, natural living information, and Lindsay has plenty to read in this search from posts like, "Homemade Creative Play Gifts for Kids", "Gift Ideas for the Natural Mama", and "Homade Vanilla Extract". Sweet!
*Keeper of the Home: Handmade & Frugal Christmas Gifts post. This website has everything. Go. Now.
*Gussy Sews: 10 Packaging Ideas. Cute ideas that are frugal to put your gifts in. Though, in our house, we're the re-usable type, I do love the sweets bags and I've been pining for some of that awesome Japanese tape for about a year!
*Simple Organic: Handmade Holiday Link Round-up. Literally.

Of course there's sure to me updates throughout the next few weeks, that I'll edit to this post so it will turn up in your reader! Leave us a link in the comments if you have a good one I've missed.

Comments

Home School Activities: Board Games We Love

My children have recently become enthralled in the world of board games. I was never a board game player. Sure, I remember long summer hours (days? it seemed like it..) spent around a Monopoly board, but I was never one to suggest to get out the cards, or a game. As my children have grown and they are now able to do activities with me, I started noticing that they really took to puzzles (when done all together) and the one or two board games I happened to have kept in the storage room. They were always asking to play Candy Land and so I figured I should branch off a bit. Over the course of the last year, I have found GREAT games, even ones that I love to play alongside them. The amount of 'teaching' they have gotten through games is jaw-dropping. Counting, team-playing, math related patterning, are just some of the skills I've watched develop. I asked before Christmas on facebook what my friends and their own kids loved and I was thrilled with the response. We have found ov

July Reads

Birch Bay Sunset, rainbow hues July has been hot out here. When you live in the top story of an apartment building, and there's no air conditioning, it can feel just over the needle of uncomfortably warm when the day is above 76 degrees. We've kept blinds shut, windows open, and a fan continually blowing as it's perched in our living room window well. Just about the only thing I feel like doing after a long day is laying on the couch straight in the fan's air circulation path, and read a good book. I had some unique picks this month. * #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso This book was just plain fun to read. Amoruso developed the iconic ebay store NastyGal way back when vintage selling on ebay was a thing. Now she's a millionaire with a kicking website that she started from scratch and didn't owe a dime to anyone else for. It's a great 200 pager with stories on dumpster diving for daily food, entrepreneurship tips, and being the backwards kid that no one t

Top 10 Books of 2017

early sunset in Ft Langley I love reading all these "Top 10" lists of favorite books read throughout the year, so I'm adding my two cents. I'm involved in a Book Club that I love with women from our church, a small group that meets every week and goes through a book every few months, my own list, books I'm reading aloud to the kids and books I'm reading for educational purposes (think professional development). I took a look at all of those combined and this is what I got, in no particular order: * The Problem of God by Mark Clark - I loved going through this academic apologetic book with my friends from church. It led us to great discussion, and good food for thought. I listen to Clark's sermons every week and so knew I'd probably love his writing style, too. If you have objections to Christianity, or are feeling confused about what to believe, this is a great primer. * You're Smarter Than You Think by Dr. Thomas Armstron

Our House in the Middle of Our Street

Search This Blog