How to make inexpensive yet thoughtful Christmas gifts

Some of you may not know this, but I am a Stampin Up demonstrator.  Yup, I have an different blog dedicated entirely to that.  Because I thought these were a little more thrifty than just "Stampin UP-py", I thought I'd share this idea here.   I made a dozen Santa ornaments for about $1 each!  These are a really nice idea for friends and neighbors when you don't have a lot to spend, but want them to know you were thinking of them over the holidays.  Here's what you'll need:

Supplies:  (Sorry, forgot to take a picture of about half of everything!)
Cutting Mat
Xacto Knife
Scissors
Pen/Pencil
School Glue
Hot Water
1" Square Punch (or cut freehand)
Ribbon
FINE Glitter (the chunky stuff looks ackkky!)
Glass Ornaments
3 (or more) plastic/paper cups
Glue Runner
Paper Towels
Shimmer Paper (Gold or Silver Cardstock would work, too)
1/2" Circle Punch
2 Small Funnels

Start by pouring some glue in the bottom of a cup.  Not necessary to measure.

 Turn your tap to HOT.  Let it get really hot, then add about 4 to 5 times as

much water as you have glue.  I didn't measure this either. 

 Stir, stir, stir, for about a minute.  You don't want any clumps left.

The original 'recipe' for this called for using Floor Wax.  I didn't

want to have to buy an expensive bottle of wax that I'd never use,

so I tried this instead.  Worked great, cost pennies!

Remove the cap of your ornament.  Set cap aside.

Be careful, some of the glass tops are really sharp.

 Place a cup on a paper towel.  Place the ornament in the cup.

Using a funnel, pour in your glue mixture.

Gently and carefully swirl it around, 

covering the entire inside.

When you get close to the hole, you'll want to hold it over another

cup and continue turning the ornament.  This will coat the narrow

opening of the ornament while you pour out the glue.

If you haven't gotten any glue splashed on the sides of this cup,

you can put the ornament upside down to drain in this cup.  If you

do have glue on the edges, choose a clean cup.  Let drain for a few

minutes. After I made this tutorial and continued on with the rest of my

ornaments, I figured out that if you gently tap the ornament against

your hand (over the cup), then take a paper towel and gently 

wipe around the 'mouth' of the ornament, you'll have less glue drip

back in, causing streaks. Didn't get a picture of that, sorry.

 Turn back over and put in a clean cup.  Using a different funnel,

pour in your red glitter.  I used about 2 Tablespoons if I had to guess.

As we did with the glue mixture, gently swirl the ornament 

around, coating slowly and carefully.  I tried one with just

putting my thumb over the hole and shaking, but it didn't 

work very well. There were some bald spots.

Pour back into your glitter container.  As we did with the glue,

turn the ornament as you are putting it back in the container.

This will coat the neck of the ornament better.

Here's how it looks....purty, huh?!

Put your cap back on.  Hard to do and take a picture of!

Continue on with the rest of your ornaments, letting

them rest in the original container so they don't roll away!

Take some ribbon and measure around your ornament.  Give yourself

about an extra inch.  Mine ended up being about 11" or so.  Cut.

Using your handy dandy Stampin Up 1" square punch,

cut yourself out a square from the Glimmer Paper.

Or, you could just cut yourself a square freehand. 

Yeah, I don't do anything freehand that I can use a punch for!

Turn your square over on a cutting mat and lay 

your ribbon down in the center.  Draw a line on either

side.  Turn a 1/4 turn and do it again.  This will help

you know where to cut your lines.  Okay, mine are crooked!

You will end up with something like this, probably straighter though.

You are going to cut two slits across from eachother,  starting 

where the point of my Xacto knife is, going down, but stop at 

the next perpendicular line.

 "Thread" your ribbon through the front.  Boy, that shimmer

paper is blinding when a flash hits it!  Phew!

Turn your ribbon over and run your glue runner over the whole

thing, paper included.  You only have to do one strip.  The original

tutorial called for Sticky Strip, but that stuff is expensive.  This worked fine.

On the 'equator' of your ornament, glue down your Santa Belt.

It may take you a couple of tries to get it straight all the way around.

Punch out a few black circles and glue them down, too.  

I used Tombo Mono Multi Adhesive for that.  Glue dots would work, too.

If you're still feeling crafty and perhaps a bit ambitious,

you can try a Rudolph ornament, too!

Keeping with the thrifty theme, I wanted to make an inexpensive,

yet pretty way to deliver my gifts.  I had a coupon and got these

cute bags for about $1, but looking back, I could have used

brown paper lunch sacks.  These did take the ink better though.

I stamped them with supplies I had on hand.

I then made a little card insert for each

using the Santa theme.  A nice hand-written

note to show my appreciation.

I found some shredded metallic paper at Dollar Tree for, well, a dollar!

This stuff went a lot further than I thought it would, actually.

I put plenty in the bottom of each bag to make a nice little nest for

my ornament, then slipped my card inside.  Forgot to mention that

I found some stretchy metallic cord to tie to each ornament

so the recipient can hang it up right away.

I then punched two holes at the top of the folded bag about 3/4" apart.

Then I slipped some sheer ribbon through the front two holes and criss crossed 

them in the back.  Then I came back thru the front to make a bow.  Cute, huh?

So far, the responses to these ornaments have been really good.  While I didn't spend a lot, I made something from the heart.  It's nice to give a homemade gift sometimes, I think.  It shows you care to take the time to make something really personal for those special people in your life.  Thanks for taking the time to read my tutorial.  I hope you have the most Blessed Christmas ever!
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