I was looking to buy some salt or sugar scrubs the other day, and thought it would be a quick and simple gift to make. I did a google search for sugar scrub recipes and dozens came up. I ended up using bits and pieces of recipes that I found to come up with one of my own, using many ingredients that I already had on hand.

Recipe: 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of turbinado sugar, 3/4 cup of grapeseed oil, 1/2 cup of almond oil, 2 tsp vanilla extract, and about 8 drops of tangerine essential oil (until you are happy with the smell).

Other Supplies: jar(s) to hold your scrub. This recipe makes approx. 1 1/2 pints. And labels to decorate your jars.

Mix sugars together, add oil and essential oils as needed. Pour into jars.

Cost: varies with flavors and oils, but about $2.00/jar including the jar.

Time: 10 minutes

Notes: I decided to use grapeseed oil because it’s a fairly light oil and it doesn’t have a strong smell or flavor, and we had it in our house. You could use more almond oil, but it’s more expensive. I bought the almond oil and essential oil at a local healthfood store (Henry’s). You can also buy oils online at a number of places including here. I used the wide mouth 1/2 pint canning jars, mostly because I had them, but also because you can reach your hand in and scoop a handful out without a spoon. It filled up 3, 1/2 pint jars perfectly. You can also substitute salt for the sugar.

I used this to scrub my arms and face today and it felt great, and smelled good enough to eat. You may want to remind your recipients that when used in the shower it can make the floor quite slippery.

The use of prayer beads is common in all major religions, though each tradition dictates it’s own configurations and practices. In the Christian tradition, the desert fathers of the first few centuries were known to recite the 150 Psalms daily and use knotted ropes as a means of keeping track. Others wanting to emulate this practice began stringing small stones together instead. Today, Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican Christians all have their own versions. 

Since I’m not Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican, I have created my own configuration - though they are very close to Anglican prayer beads and Muslim Misbaha - without any obvious religious symbols and wear it double-looped on my wrist (which would be frowned upon in those traditions). Mine are made up of three sets of 10 identical beads separated by 3 distinctive beads - the numbers and colors are symbolically significant for me and the 3 groupings of 10 are a convenient tactile aid for working through set prayers. 

Experiment with your own design and configurations! When given as a gift, you might consider including a list of different prayer practices that could be used with the beads.  

Materials:

• A length of cotton, hemp, or leather cord approximately 15 inches
• A set of fasteners
• 30 matching beads of your choice
• 3 matching beads of different shape (and possibly color) than the previous 30

Tools:

• Scissors or nail clippers

Instructions:

• Cut the cord to desired length based on the number of beads you’ll be using. Be sure to leave lots of extra length for tying knots.
• Tie one end to one piece of the fastener.
• String your beads in the order and configuration you’ve chosen.
• Tie the other end to the second pice of the fastener. I like to leave about 1/2 inch of slack for sliding the beads one at a time during prayer.
• Trim the excess cord.

Cost:

Cord: $2-3

Beads: $.05-$.50 each, depending on your choices

Fasteners: $2-3 

Time:

Once you have decided on a design and have all the materials, it only takes a few minutes to actually string the beads!

Materials:

• Metal Can

• Scissors

• Glue (the white elmer’s is fine)

• Craft Felt (only about 25¢ each sheet at a craft store)

• Paper art; Magazine art, book art, cards - recycle whatever you already have

• Ribbon, buttons - get creative!

Cost:

25¢ each sheet of craft felt - if don’t already have some

Time: 30-45 min. each.

These are so fun to make and the best part you can use just about anything you already have laying around.  The kids have these great loteria cards, I love the vintage look to them and they are so coool & educational too!  I just took piece of felt, measured the can from bottom to top and added 1 inch for folding over the top edge of the can. Measure around the can and add 1/2″ for overlapping. If you want the inside to be painted, spray paint works great - make sure to do this before you start gluing the felt on. Then if you want to insert a piece of a page from a children’s book, or a magazine, or in my case the loteria card, just trace the shape you want for the cutout on your felt, just use a marker to trace. You can flip the felt over and nobody will see the marker. Make sure to cut 1/8″ smaller opening than your art, so that’s it’s framed to the edges. Just position the art in the cutout opening, you can even use tape to keep it in place until you glue it to the can. First coat the metal can with glue, place the felt around it and press down. Make sure to try and keep the bottom edge aligned with the bottom edge. The top won’t matter as much because you are just going to tuck the extra fabric inside the can. I added a circle of felt to the bottom of the can so that it won’t scratch up any tables. Just trace the bottom closely and glue on.

Now for the fun part! To embelish the outside, take whatever ribbons, flowers or any little toys or trinkets you already have and glue to the front of your cut-out and then you’re all set give a special handmade, recycled, one of a kind piece of art. Enjoy the crafting time with your family and friends!

Materials:

• Scissors

• Buttons

• Stretchy Sting

Cost:

$2.50 for the stretchy string at any craft store

$3.00 for a bag of assorted buttons at any craft store if you don’t have any handy.

Time: 10-20 min. each.

This is a super quick & easy craft for any age, depending on how good your eyes are. The kids are actually much quicker at this than I am - maybe I should give in and get some eye glasses. So first, just gather up any buttons you already have, plan out your pattern - or not - I usually just wing it. Start with 10 inches of stretchy string and about 22-30 buttons. Come in through the back of each button, and if you use buttons with 4 holes just make sure to come in and out of the holes that are diagonal from each other. Most bracelets end up being 8″ unstretched for adults and 7 ” for kids. Make sure to keep at least 1 inch free on each end to make tying easy. Also, make 5 knots, one after another with the ends when you are finished, then trim the ends and there you have it … a colorful, one-a-kind gift.

Our friend Rick thinks that food is the best gift one could give or receive. And this is a gift that could be given to almost anyone on your list, neighbors, teachers, family, the mailman or delivery person. We scored one day while we were at the grocery store with a free 50 lb. box of apples that were being thrown out. Yes, perfectly good apples that were going into the dumpster until we rescued them, brought them home and made them into many pints of apple butter.

Supplies for canning: a big pot, a metal rack to put in the bottom of your pot (so your glass jars do not touch the metal pot as they could crack), tongs, canning jars and lids and ingredients below

Cost: approx. $2.00/pint including jar and ingredients

Time: 1 1/2 - 2 hours

Recipe: 24+ apples, cored and sliced in quarters (I left the skins on) + 1/2 cup water + juice from 1 lemon. Simmer over medium heat in a large pot for about 20-30 minutes stirring occasionally, and then mash with a potato masher. Add 1 cup sugar (or your favorite sugar alternative), 1 tbl. cinnamon, 1 tsp. nutmeg, 1 tsp. ginger, bring to a boil, and let it boil for about 3 minutes. At this point you will have a yummy applesauce. You can stop here and can your applesauce or just eat it, or turn it into apple butter.

Puree the applesauce in a food processor. Heat it over the stove and add 2 cup of apple cider and 2 package(s) of no sugar needed fruit pectin. Cook according to pectin directions. Add 1 cup of brown sugar, and bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Can in sterilized jars (check out preserving info here), and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. This should make approx. 8 pints of butter. Enjoy.

Several years ago after my grandfather died, my brother delivered me a bin full of odds and ends from my grandfather’s garage, which consisted of a few tools and thousands of screws, hooks, buttons, buckles, nails, small saw blades, snaps, doo-dads, thinga-majigs, and other small, weird things from another era (my brother thought his was funny since it was pretty much useless stuff).

So, in my sincerity and creativity, my 3 year old son and I created paperweights out of this stuff for Christmas gifts that year.  It was a good way to remember our late Grandpa Frank too, since it was his junk. :)  And my son had a blast creating it as well.

Stuff needed:
1) Small block of wood for base of paper weight
2) “Junk”
3) Glue - we used some really cool glitter glue I found in our kid’s craft stuff
4) A permanent marker to sign the bottom of the master piece

After giving this gift my dad said, “thanks for the junk!”  The next morning he said that he layed awake that Christmas eve and contemplated the true meaning of Christmas and decided that we as a family should change the way we give gifts.  Oh and they all still display those “junk” paper weights proudly on their desks.

If this does not grab you, another winner has been to frame original poetry written to an individual.

Cheers and thanks for the inspiration.

- Submitted by Keith A. Klassen of Sacramento, CA.

Materials: scraps of fabric - two coordinating pieces 5″ x 9″ (I suggest using a non-directional piece of fabric or part of your purse will be upside down), a button or snap, sewing machine, scissors

Cost: under $1.00

Time: less than 30 minutes.

Cut two pieces of fabric 5″ x 9″, and round the tops if you’d like. I used one our kids plates to get a good rounded angle.

Next, put your two pieces of fabric together with the WRONG sides facing out, and the right sides facing one another. Sew from the bottom left hand corner to the bottom right hand corner leaving the flat side open using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Turn your fabric back to the right sides, and iron. Next, fold your open end under approx. 1/2″, iron and pin.

Now, sew across your open side using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Next, you will will fold up your flat side to create your purse, iron and pin in place. Once again starting from the bottom left corner, sew around your purse to the bottom right corner.

Finish by adding a button or snap closure. These are the perfect size to hold credit cards, business cards, lip balm, money and more.

I was in the elevator of my building last holiday season with a neighbor who had an armful of blank discs. “Doing some homework?” I asked. “Nah, making some mixed discs for my family for Christmas presents.” he replied with a smile.

At first I was taken back by the task this man was going to attempt. I thought, how awkward would it be to give this kind of present to EVERYONE on my list, after all, there are three topics that are very intimate to each of us, Religion, Politics and Music. Especially my parents, who called my music noise for all those years. But then I though about how thoughtful and uplifting a mixed disc could be. I thought of the lost art of making the most excellent mixed tape (I mean disc). Like a well crafted set list, the mixed disc has an opening track (something familiar and catchy) then a transition track or two, then the middle, where you put in all the really meaningful stuff, then the last track, which leaves a taste for more, not feeling like the disc has to be ejected when that first song comes on again. Don’t be discouraged, chances are, you can peg what music your family members might like with a small deviation from what they actually like, which as far as Christmas gifts go, is right on the money, without spending a lot of it.

So what are you waiting for? Go in with some of your friends for a pack of blank discs, grab your laptops and play DJ for an afternoon, your gifts will be an instant hit as you rock around the Christmas tree.

Items needed:

• 1 Blank disc
• 1 Computer (with music on it)
• Optional, wrapping paper (you don’t really need to wrap these, they are stealthy and  mysterious, like UFOs)

Cost: $0.21 per disc (assuming you have access to some music to share and a computer already.)

Materials: felt (I used the cheap felt, but you could use nicer wool felt), embroidery floss, yarn (optional), beads or buttons, pin back, scissors, a needle

Cost: about $1/brooch (or less)

Time: 20-30 minutes

Cut out petals and leaves for your flower. I cut these out freehand, but you could make a pattern first. I used 6 larger petals (pink), 6 smaller petals (red), and two leaves (brown).

Next, use your embroidery floss (or thread) to sew your petals together (see below). You can stitch a simple detail around the edge of your petals (see the red part and the brown leaves), or just use a simple chain stitch to connect your petals together. When you have these stitched together, pull each end tight (see the picture below).

Layer your pieces and loosely thread yarn throughout your flower. Stitch all pieces together adding your beads or buttons in the center and your brooch pin to the back. Use this to accessorize a hat, a coat or a purse.

My boys love to build, stack, create and destroy. At the ripe ages of 2 and 5, this year they will receive wooden building blocks as part of their Christmas present. This won’t be the end-all block set to hand down to their children, but rather a simple and low-grade starter set– but special nonetheless and absolutely useful for building. They will love these blocks and have many adventures with them.

This project will be simple in that all that is needed is two 6ft planks of ¾ inch thick whiteboard wood (a soft and smooth wood). I am using whiteboard because it is very inexpensive and when cutting each piece with my chop saw, the wood practically sands itself because the cut is so smooth (a huge time saver). My plan is to cut ¾ inch thick pieces ranging from 2-8 inches in length and then quickly sand each piece as needed to make sure to avoid splinters. My chop saw can only cut about 5 inches in length, so longer cuts will need to be accomplished with a band saw. I have already started this project and I have found that cutting all four sides of each block is a big advantage toward achieving flat ends and also saving time on sanding. When I am finished I expect to have 150-250 building blocks. This block set will then be housed in a “building block bag” (old pillow case with a tie).

Materials:
* two 6 ft planks of ¾ inch whiteboard wood.
* sandpaper

Tools:
* chop saw or band saw (make sure to be careful and use goggles)
* jigsaw if you want to get creative with curved designs

Cost:
* $4.00 for each piece of 6ft long wood.
* $1.50 for sand paper
* Free if you have used wood. Be cautious of used painted wood though due to the potential for lead-base paint.