Gifts from the heart. Or from your homestead. Or made by the work of your hands. Or something you devised from the nearest craft store. A letter. Let us all strive this year to give each other things of real worth. Nothing that needs to be dusted or that may end up in a landfill. Something that touches our hearts, or souls, or our tummies, or that just makes us smile. Here are some ideas for homemade gifts and a recipe for the best lip balm you will ever try.
- Use rough yarn, or leftover scraps of yarn to whip up little kitchen wash rags and a pot holder.
- Anything you canned this year, or if you didn’t can this year, it won’t take long to cook up some jelly! A beautiful jar of beets, applesauce, or strawberry jam is always a delight to receive.
- Infused alcohol: place vodka, rum, brandy or other hard liquor in a pretty bottle and drop in vanilla beans and a little brown sugar, or raspberries, hazelnuts and honey, or lemons and sugar, or cinnamon sticks and maple syrup. The combinations are unending, the aperitif unparalleled.
- Homemade laundry soap (future post).
- Candles, made by you or not, candles are always nice to have in any lifestyle!
- A pretty tea cup with your favorite blend of tea and a tea ball.
- Homemade cookies, fudge, any delight from the kitchen that the recipient may not have had time to make this year.
- Your prized recipe with a few of the ingredients.
- A letter telling the person how much they mean to you.
- Cover half a styrofoam ball with leftover fabric and glue into old teacup flat side down to make a charming pin cushion. Glue cup onto saucer.
- Seeds and instructions. Your saved seeds even better!
- Infused honey.
- The best lip balm: In a double boiler (I put the ingredients into a glass measuring cup inside a saucepan of water) you will need 2 and a half ounces of olive oil, almond, grapeseed, or apricot kernel oil. Add to that 1 oz of shea butter, and 1 oz of chopped up beeswax. While that is melting prepare the lip balm containers (available online, I get mine at http://mountainroseherbs.com ). Drop 3 drops of essential oil to each container (spearmint, orange, lemon, or vanilla all make yummy lip balms). When wax mixture has thoroughly melted and you have stirred it with a chopstick several times in the process, pour into each container without cussing. It’s quick and kind of messy and worth it. For you will have 20-22 fabulous lip balms in your possession made by you.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
I have a post coming about the home made gifts I did this year as well. We are saving for a house and hopefully if God works it all out, I’ll have a pictures as nice as your background to share! It’s a lot cheaper and more meaningful to make/give home made gifts. You have some great ideas!
I wish that were my house! It’s a dude ranch called Sylvan Dale in Loveland, CO. I have a big yard that backs to the fairgrounds, so that’s kind of fun. I am praying and saving for my 10 acres minimum and little house and outbuildings! We’ll get our houses! 🙂
Well I’d be living on the dude ranch lol. Prayer works so I’ll pray for you too!
Katie,
I don’t have quite enough time nor the method to smuggle between states, but do you and doug like spicy infusions? I’ve been getting a bit wild with the chili peppers 🙂
Yum, yum! Can’t wait to see you!