Every year, I give my friends and family at least one handmade gift. Last year I knitted cabled head bands and hats for everyone. The year before I gave personalized gingerbread people. This year, I left things a little late, and made two quick, but useful gifts for the peeps in my life.
The first gift I made was some beard oil for my D. I made the labels to and put them onto a recycled bottle. This is the easiest stuff to make: 3 Tbsp of Sweet Almond Oil; 2 Tbsp of Jojoba oil; 1 tsp of Seabuckthorn Oil; and 2-3 drops of Tea Tree essential oil and 1 drops of Sandalwood essential oil. (Note: This is not a great recipe for people with nut allergies. Use Olive Oil, and light Castor Oil instead of Almond and Jojoba!) D loves it. He uses it once a week. And he laughs each time he sees the label.
The gift I made for my lady friends was a stamped clay ring dish which I packaged with some hand salve. I found the DIY tutorial at this great blog.
There was some trial and error on this one though. I found that the best ink for this project was "archival" inks, and the brand that worked best for me was Colorbox. The other ink pads I used faded and weren't as vivid once the clay dried. For others i didn't used any ink at all! I just stamped them nice and hard so that the impression came through. I liked these ones the best. I added some gold leaf paint to the edges to make them a little more fancy. They were a hit with my pals.
Did you make any gifts this holiday?
So pretty! Very nice beard oil! I did zero handmade gifts, because I always end up spending way more and not being pleased with my results. In the past I have done homemade ornaments, but they always turn out looking like a second grader made them.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I always think, but D always convinces me. Usually I make food based gifts since its hard to screw that up. I did fancy cranberry sauces one year and they were a hit, and I did jam and apple butter, and that was a hit too. This year, I had less time, so I thought these would be nice and useful. And people seemed to like them! So I would say, just do it-- its the thought that counts anyways, right?
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