Holiday Homemade Gift #4: Lavender Sachets

I almost forgot about these because they were so easy to do it didn't feel like work!

Making lavender sachets barely takes time at all when you have all the materials on hand. It's perfect for putting a dent on that fabric stash which, if you're like me, is more like a pile rather than a stash. The dried lavender buds were a little hard to find, but fortunately I found someone selling them online. I think you can find them from soap-makers or candle-makers too.

There are a different options on how to make them, but I opted for the simpler route which was to use my pinking shears. I was worried about fraying so I put a little fray-stopper on the edges.

Put a festive ribbon and tag and you have the perfect stocking stuffer! Bonus: it leaves the stocking smelling good, too!

The artful dabbler,

Meg

Holiday Homemade Gift #2: Bottlecap Magnets

I know, I know... it's a super late post. It's been a busy couple of weeks with the holidays and my friend's wedding just soon after. I've been DIY-ing left and right but didn't find the time to post.

One of the gifts that I was able to make were these bottlecap magnets. I'm proud of this one because I used recycled materials. The bottlecaps were from a small canteen we run and had them save some for me. The magnets I had lying around because from the time I bought them at the Daiso (Japan Home Center) store... just because I thought I might need them - a couple of years after. And the picture inserts were from an old calendar which I still kept because the fairy pictures were too cute to throw away.

Basically all I needed was the 3D crystal lacquer which I bought at Shmily's in Rockwell and the heavy-duty glue from Ace Hardware.

And the white organza pouches I also had lying around in the house. Yeah, I know. I could run a craft store here.

It turned out pretty, but I think the magnets were too strong and they kept on sticking to one another and some of the pictures were damaged as a result. But other than that - they look great. I have one of them on my refrigerator right now.

It feels good getting rid of some of my craft stash and recycling to give as pretty gifts at the same time!

Meg

Holiday Homemade Gift #1: Glitter Jars

I've always wanted to give homemade gifts but, well, events happen and you end up buying something overpriced from a store a week (or days!) before. Well, this year... is sort of the same. Most of my gifts are still store-bought, but I did find some time for little projects.

One such project is for my friend who is really into makeup now. I saw this project in Pinterest and thought they were so glam and pretty and perfect for holding her makeup brushes. I had some jars, ribbon, and the mod podge already so all I needed was the glitter.

One note about the glitter... It is a headache to buy glitter during Christmastime. I swear. I don't know if the stores just secreted away the small containers of glitter and only put out the big, more expensive containers so they will sell or glitters are really just on high demand this time. So, note to self: buy glitter before December hits.

Back to the project... I think that I need to use more glitter and less mod podge because I ended up having lots of the mixture dripping down so the jars aren't as covered as I wanted them to.

I love this project not because it's handmade, but it reuses an empty mayo jar. And how many jars do we use up a year? Let's make them all pretty!

I'm still working on something right now so I'll post them once they're finished.

Meg