Project: Homemade Gifts

One thing I would like to do in 2010 is to make more homemade gifts. Not to pat myself on the back, but I'm a pretty good baker, can crochet, and, when the mood strikes...can bang out a darn good craft.

Now with all that said, I must add that most of time I'm lazy. I'd rather just run out and grab something for gifts, but I'm going to try to turn that around this year.

I got off to a pretty good start! Some of my bestest, favoritest people went to California for the entire two weeks of winter break. Since I didn't think to stow myself away in one of their suitcases until it was too late, I set to work making them things to show them how much I missed them. And hopefully, now that they've seen some of my talents, they won't ever want to go back to California...or anywhere outside of my little radius.

Everything I gave them was handmade by me, usually with help from one of my kiddos. The first thing I set to work on was a cookie mix in a jar. I, unfortunately, cannot find the pictures I took of this. I'm sure I didn't forget to take them in my excitement. That would just never happen.

I give all the credit for both the recipe and the idea to Bakerella. If you've never visited her website you need to do that...SOON.

Photo Credit: Bakerella

My cookies had regular colored M & Ms and so I called them "cowboy" cookies. I used blue bandana fabric and twine to tie it on. Here's the link to Bakerella's page: Mix Things Up.

My next gift was also a creation from Bakerella. These things have become very popular so I decided it was time to try my hand at them.

That's right! Cake Balls! These were actually very easy and fun to make. A little time consuming...but worth it!

To wrap up those beauties, no ordinary box or bag would do. I set out to make a gift box worthy of  them. I searched google and saw lots and lots of neat boxes. But I finally settled on this one from Project Girl. She has so many great crafts and projects to make. I can't wait to go back and try out some more.

She used a Cricut cutter to make here templates. I had to download the PDF and cut it out by hand, but it was still easy. The other thing I did differently was to put my template on cardstock, then glue scrapbooking paper on with some adhesive spray. Her boxes are just adorable, and probably neater than mine. But mine didn't turn out too shabby.

Everything was a huge hit and I think I probably had as much fun making everything as the recipients did eating them!

So, dear readers, what do you plan on crafting this yeat?