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 😉 .

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

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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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♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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EMBELLISHED VOTIVE CANDLES

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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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♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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GIFT WRAPPING IDEAS

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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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