Bridal Shower Gifts

A very close friend of mine is getting married and today was her bridal shower. This couple has been together for many years and own their house together, so they didn't really need much for setting up their house. They didn't register anywhere either. It was recommended that we get them home improvement store gift cards. In my opinion that is useful but pretty boring, I wanted her to have something fun to unwrap. So in addition to a practical Home Depot gift card I made her a couple of little gifts.

The wedding day survival kit. I had seen some versions of this on Pinterest . I thought it was a great idea so I made my own. I purchased a pink case at Michaels for a couple dollars. Then a purchase a bunch of small travel items that I thought would be useful on a wedding day, deodorant, tissues, bobby pins, safety pins, makeup remover pads, nail file, breathe mints, band aids, moisturizer, lint pads, chap stick, clear nail polish, ibuprofen, chocolates, nip of Vodka and small bottle of red wine.  ;)

Lately I have seen a lot of alphabet photography, that spell out people's names or special words. I decided to give it a shot and went on the photographic hunt for the letter L-O-V-E. Here is what I came up with. The L lighthouse is a local landmark. The V lobster claw is because lobster fishing industry is a huge part of our community. The couple is also into gardening and nature so that was the inspiration for the O and E. I framed and matted them and added the couples names and their wedding date. It was a huge hit at the shower, I got many compliments on it.

Homemade Christmas Gifts

I thought I'd share some of the homemade gifts that I have been working on this year for my family. I have a couple more ideas, that I hope to accomplish this week. So here is what I have so far.


Peppermint Mocha Ornaments. I found these adorable little gift ideas here.

I changed my recipe a little bit. To make these I purchased 6 clear glass craft ornaments.  I used mint cocoa and instant coffee. About 1 and half cups of cocoa and half a cup of instant coffee. Mixed them together well and added about 6 Tbsp to each bauble. I used soft peppermint sticks to add color. They were easier than candy canes, to get the correct size for the bauble.

 

I printed out directions, Add 3 tbsp or more to hot water or milk and enjoy. Cut them out into circles and mounted them to a piece or red card stock. I added a bow to each with a little holiday ribbon.

I plan on giving this along with some Peppermint Bark to my cousins.

I also have seen a ton of people making Scrabble tile pendants on Etsy and decided to give it a try. These were fun. I plan on giving these to my tween cousins. Eight year old twins and a 7 year old.

To make these I found some scrabble tile replacements at a craft store. I purchased three 16" silver chains, some fun scrapbook paper, some jewelry bails and paper glaze. I also purchased some cute little truffle boxes to use as packaging. You can find a tutorial for making them here

Finally I made some transportation theme recycled crayons for a little 5 year old boy. I used Wiltons candy mold and some crayons from the dollars store. I bought a little blue tin for them to go into and a Disney Cars coloring posters for him to color.

These are simple to make. Take the colors you would like to put together. Peel off all the paper, and break them into small pieces. Melt the crayons. I put them into small containers and then put those containers into very hot water. They do not melt if you just stick them in a microwave. Pour into desired molds and pop out of mold when cool. Be careful not to pop them out on a hard surface so they don't break.


So today I hope to make a couple more ornaments with the help of Alex for the grandparents. Will post about them later. Happy Holidays everyone!!