DIY Dryer Balls - more HomeMade Christmas

An amazing friend of mine is also onboard with homemade christmas gifts. This year she made dryer balls. As simple as they appear - I can only imagine the time commitment to make for multiple people!

Basically its a ball of matted wool - or rather four balls.

I have been using Nellies Dryer Balls for about a year and a half - they are recommended in the cloth diapering world. But they are starting to show some wear, some of the plastic nubs breaking off - which I have learned may be due to storing them in the dryer - which gets very cold in the winter and then when hard/cold plastic is banging around......they break. Also in comparison the felted ones are MUCH quieter than plastic.

I also got a small bottle of lavender essential oils to add to the balls - for those people who want/need their clothes to smell fresh and clean. I just added it and so far its a nice additional touch

There are lots of online tutorials if you want to make your own dryer balls or you can buy them on etsy.com.

Pros to using dryer balls
- decrease drying time
- decrease wrinkles
- reduce static
- safe for sensitive skin & cloth diapers (which recommend no fabric softeners etc which leave a coating on the materials)

Overall : Fantastic

- Lauren

Customized TeaTowels - Homemade Christmas Gifts

For the past few years our family has tried to do mostly homemade gifts. Its been awesome. This year it was a combination of homemade and 'your favourite things' (ie inexpensive things you love that you want everyone else to have)

Keeping gifts in the $10ish range made things much more creative and thoughtful. Some highlights include  bacon jam, franks red hot, minstrels and roses chocolates, norwex cloths, cookbook, natural soap, cosmetics bag, HP sauce, caramel popcorn, pens, crocheted dish cloths, painted initials for my daughters room door, and I am sure I am forgetting a few others...

I came up with a homemade idea before we decided to do the 'fav things' and so continued along with my idea following a online tutorial on spoonflower.com (a website where you can customize fabric).

Way back in september I asked my mom to handwrite a family recipe for me. She was a little confused since she knew I had a typed version but did so anyways without question. Then after scanning the recipe and creating a file to upload (took a little longer than I would have thought but in the end figured it out). Then I ordered my fabric and waited. I think it took about 6 weeks to arrive - this is the earliest I have ever started christmas projects!

Once the fabric arrived, I cut it up - 4 tea towels per yard of fabric. Folded the edges and sewed some straight seams. I also added a loop on the bag to hang from a hook.

This was super easy and everyone loved it. I think the total cost (with shipping) was around $7 each.

- Lauren

HomeMade Christmas - DIY Bath Salts

Hi. I am Grace and I am 12 years old.  I am Carrie's oldest daughter and Leah & Lauren's favourite niece, of course!

Today I am writing a guest post to show you what I made for Christmas Gifts this year.  This is the third year that our family has done homemade Christmas.   I have 'participated' every year and this is probably my best year yet.

In 2009, I made pin cushions with a cross-stitched design on top and crochet dishcloths. In 2010, I made chocolates with my sister  (we used moulds).

This year I made Vanilla Scented Bath Salts.

Here's the finished product!

Here is the recipe (it makes approx. 1 jar)

- 2 cups of epsom salts
- essential oils (not all oils are good for bathing in, try vanilla, orange, lemon, mint, or lavender or     rosemary)
- food colour (optional)
- a tea spoon of sea salt (also optional, I didn't use them the first time I made this)
- a jar with a lid

Mix all the ingredients together, making sure its evenly mixed and put into jar(s).
Enjoy a relaxing bath.

- Grace

Can You Keep A Secret?

Here is a sneak peak of the sweater/jacket I made my mom for Christmas!

(since my mom doesn't own a computer, I'm trusting that she won't see this post before Christmas :)
so shhh don't tell )

My Mom is shorter than me, and more petite in her frame.. so this sweater will fit her perfectly...(you will see its a little too short on me).

I used the Vogue Pattern V8756.  This was the first time I have used a lining on a shirt.  It was definitely harder to make with the lining, but it made all of the seams polished and smooth.

Also, this colour is SO my mom!  I cannot wait to give it to her!

I love the feeling of giving a really great gift to someone you love! :)

 

Whats the gift you are most excited to give this year?

- Leah

Gift Ideas

This isn't so much a wish list for myself but a list of great gift ideas if you still have gifts to buy and have no idea what to get.

As we have mentioned before on the blog, our family does 'make your own' christmas. This drastically reduces the number of gifts I buy.

But here are some ideas...
One tip that always helps - is to think whether its something you would like. Not everyone is the same, but its a good starting point.

I love consumables, lets face it, we don't need more 'stuff' to fill our homes. (unless someone has specifically asked for it)...

Plants, potted plants, orchids, cut flowers, herbs. These are a variation of my christmas gift. And they are great any time of the year. One thing to keep in mind is to think whether the recipient is a plant person - or will it just die? If so, then cut flowers are the way to go.

Chocolates.  We all love chocolate, but we don't always treat ourself to the really nice stuff, or the imported stuff. Whatever you do, stay away from the cheap, seasonal stuff (think $1 easter bunnies - do you really want to eat that? it tastes like plastic, sure its a good deal but......)

Tea or Coffee.  Depending on your recipients taste, you can buy some specialty loose tea, or fancy coffee. Think about buying local and organic.  Think about something you might not always buy yourself.

HomeMade treats  If you are a baker, then home made goodies are great - but one thing to think about is 'can it be frozen'? Since so many of us get tons of goodies, its hard to eat them all right away, and if they must be eaten within a few days then they might go to waste. So lately I have been thinking about freezable homemade treats. Cookies tend to work great - and so does zucchini bread.

One of the best gifts we got after our daughter was born - was meals.  It can be weird but if you agree to bring a meal over on a specified date - then its a day your recepient can look forward to enjoying a meal. You have to be pretty close to the people to do this though :)

Magazines.   I love magazines.  If you are sure of one, then a subscription is a great idea. Then they get to enjoy your gift all year long.  There are so many out there, and I think most people enjoy relaxing and reading.

Gift Certificates.   These can be touchy, since they can come across as a last minute "I couldn't think of anything" but I think they can also be thoughtful if they are for a specific store (instead of the whole mall) or for a service like a manicure.  Just make sure you think of the person, and what might be a treat for them.

Experiences.  Spend a day or a weekend together.  My sister has previously spent weekends at Great Wolf Lodge, and I know other friends who have spent a day and taken their kids to the Toronto Zoo. We are currently planning a winter cottage weekend with my husbands siblings.  It's a great way to create memories and worth so much more than a sweater from the mall.

And now here are a few that are probably less generic and maybe only I would want them...
Gardening gloves, or clippers. (I think my husband would also be happy to receive work gloves at any occasion) A Kreg jig for wood working projects. Red oven mitts, red & black tea towels (for our hopefully soon renovated kitchen). A pastry hand blender. Sometimes its hard to come up with a wish list, since we all have so much stuff and are fortunate enough to be able to buy what we want from time to time.

Even a phone call to catch up with people you haven't talked to in a while.  It reminds people that you are thinking about them.

-Lauren

Babyli.st Online Gift Registry

Gift Registries are very tricky things:

1. You don't want to ASK for things, generally people shouldn't feel obligated to buy you a gift for a certain occasion - but if they are going to and chances are they want to buy you something, then you want then to be able to buy something that you want and will use.

2. How do you choose what store to register at - often you want something from many different stores and that is where this online register comes in

I found this online registry through friends (and its created by a friend that I went to University with)

Babyli.st check it out.

Its fantastic, you can link to any item that you can find online - ideally things you can buy online and that way people have the options of buying online or instore.

Also, sometimes you know you want an item like a towel - but you don't care which specific one. so you can be specific with some items and more general with others.

Also you can add items like babysitting, meals, and things that aren't typically on gift registries.

It would be great if you could use it for non-baby events......maybe one day.

- Lauren

(Note: We weren’t paid or perked for promoting this gift registry, it was something I have used and liked so wanted to share with you)