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  • CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS

    I’ve had sooo much fun creating these Christmas gift ideas for you guys!! I whipped myself into a creative frenzy one afternoon and made some homemade sugar scrubs, embellished a few votive candles and then I wrapped some gifts which I plan to give away. I actually love giving gifts to people more than I enjoy receiving them; I get so much pleasure from watching my family and friends open the gifts I’ve bought or made for them – their delight makes it worth all the effort. For me, giving a homemade gift is an expression of my love for that person. So if you ever get a homemade gift from me then you’ll know that I really like you ðŸ˜‰ .

    Check out the rest of the post below and I hope it inspires you to get creative with your Christmas gifts.

     

    ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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    HOMEMADE SUGAR SCRUBS


    Sugar scrubs are ridiculously easy to make and also quite cost effective if you are on a budget. They smell wonderful, and once you rinse off the scrub your skin or lips are left feeling as smooth as silk! I made my scrubs in lavender, rose and vanilla scents but you can use any essential oil that you like or none at all.

    You will need:

    • 1 cup of granulated sugar
    • 1/4 cup olive oil
    • Mixing bowls and spoons
    • Essential oils
    • Food colouring
    • Air tight containers
    • Labels

    Instructions:

    1. First make your base mixture by mixing the sugar with the oil in a bowl. You can adjust the amount of sugar to get a drier or wetter mixture.
    2. Then add a few drops of your essential oil or extract of choice, and food colouring. I made three variations as follows (feel free to adjust the quantities to get the smell and colour that you like):
      • Vanilla sugar scrub – 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2 drops of Yellow food colouring
      • Rose sugar scrub – 5 -10 drops of Rose Geranium Pure essential oil and 1 drop of Red food colouring
      • Lavender sugar scrub – 5-10 drops of Lavender essential oil and 1 drop of Red food colouring and 3 drops of Blue food colouring.
    3. Mix well and then place scrub in an airtight container. (1 cup of sugar will give you about 250mls of a scrub)
    4. I  created my labels using a free online editing software called PicMonkey (select ‘Design’ from the main menu, then ‘Overlays’ from the left hand menu. Scroll through the Overlays until you find ‘Labels’. After selecting a label add some text to it. Save your picture onto your computer and then print it to the size you want – this might take a bit of fiddling).  After I printed my labels I stuck them onto some pink card before cutting them out and punching a hole to thread my ribbon through.

    And that’s it. I can’t wait to give these scrubs away!

     

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    EMBELLISHED VOTIVE CANDLES


    During the Christmas season it’s really nice to have some scented candles burning in the background; they provide some ambience and make a boring space look instantly festive. They also make a great gift for someone who really loves candles. To add some personality to plain votive candles I decided to wrap some fabric and raffia around them.

    You will need:

    • Votive candles in glass containers
    • A glue gun
    • Scissors
    • Fabric (I decided to use some old damask fabric that I hadn’t used in years)
    • Ribbons
    • Raffia

    Instructions:

    1. Measure the circumference of the votive candle and add an extra 2cm to this. Use this measurement as a guide and cut out strips of fabric, ribbon and raffia (N.B. make the raffia longer so that you can tie a bow at the end)
    2. Use a glue gun to stick the fabric around the candle. Then repeat this process with the ribbon and the raffia.

    Consider sticking beads, diamanté, or baubles onto the candles – anything goes really.

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    GIFT WRAPPING IDEAS


    A gift always seems more special when it’s wrapped up nicely, so I always try to present my gifts as best as I can. I chose to use plain brown paper to wrap my gifts because it doesn’t clash with other embellishments and gives a uniform look when you have lots of gifts to display. This year I decided to experiment with buttons after buying a jar of them from a craft shop and I like how it turned out. You can use just about anything around your house to wrap a gift – I’ve even used aluminium foil in the past, LOL! The truth is that you are only limited by your imagination.

    You will need:

    • Brown wrapping paper
    • Sellotape – clear and patterned
    • Glue gun
    • Scissors
    • Fabric
    • Ribbons
    • Twine
    • Buttons
    • Beads
    • False leaves
    • Stiff paper card

    I haven’t include specific instructions on how to wrap each gift because by looking at them you can easily figure out how I did it. Using a glue gun I layered strips of fabric with ribbons, buttons, beads, patterned sellotape and false leaves. I also cut out lots of little hearts from stiff paper card and punched a hole through the centre of them; I then threaded the holes with twine in order to join the hearts together. So get creative with what you have and make your gifts look special.

     

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    ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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    4 Comments

    1. Stacy Irish
      8th December 2016 / 11:14 am

      Great post!!! I love your creativity. Its inspired me.

      • MSA
        Author
        8th December 2016 / 11:19 am

        Thanks so much Stacy! Glad that you were inspired.

    2. 8th December 2016 / 9:18 pm

      Will I ever be the sort of woman who makes her own wrapping paper? Unlikely. But your blog makes me (a) want to be, desperately and (b) feel like I could! Excellent post, excellent gift ideas, huge fan! xx

      • MSA
        Author
        9th December 2016 / 12:32 am

        Thanks Mia!! Well, never say never…. xx

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