Gift-making
Nov. 23rd, 2008 12:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helwenI was just replying to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
harpnfiddle about gifting and she had commented on handmade gifts not costing as much as bought ones. Of course if one counted the time to make it.... the day of that concept being more generally accepted is coming, I think...
One year for the gift exchange I made a "book" using an Altoids can. I covered the surface with polymer clay, added various little decorative clay doodads, and after baking I also glued on gems (I pressed them in to make impressions and then removed them for baking, so the gems would have 'settings').
This was for my SIL K, who's Roman Catholic, so I took the prayer of St. Francis and cut and pasted it on my computer so that it would fit on several pages. Each "page" had a medieval border on it (some work I'd scanned into the computer ages ago). The font was some type of calligraphic Gothic.
Instead of separate pages I printed the pages in a long strip and folded them like an accordion (fan fold). Make sure to have a little extra bit of paper at either end of the strip. These extra bits will be folded under and glued to the inside of the box lids.
The idea was to make a tiny book that was like the old medieval treasure books. It actually took a bit of time to make it but I had a lot of fun with it. I was worried that she wouldn't like it because I wasn't sure how she felt about handmade things, but it had just seemed like the perfect thing at the time. Thankfully, she absolutely loved it :)
You can use Altoid containers (the rectangular ones of course, because they're hinged), but if you don't buy Altoids or have friends who do, some craft stores also carry blank tins. Tins and containers in general are great fun.
I also like decoupaging things, and boxes and tins are great candidates for making really unique things. Great little gifts in and of themselves, or you can put a little something inside too. In the old days people used to decorate all kinds of containers and cans -- cigar boxes, coffee (or other food) cans, candy boxes, etc. Keep an eye out for interesting things, you never know what trash could become a treasure.
harpnfiddle about gifting and she had commented on handmade gifts not costing as much as bought ones. Of course if one counted the time to make it.... the day of that concept being more generally accepted is coming, I think...One year for the gift exchange I made a "book" using an Altoids can. I covered the surface with polymer clay, added various little decorative clay doodads, and after baking I also glued on gems (I pressed them in to make impressions and then removed them for baking, so the gems would have 'settings').
This was for my SIL K, who's Roman Catholic, so I took the prayer of St. Francis and cut and pasted it on my computer so that it would fit on several pages. Each "page" had a medieval border on it (some work I'd scanned into the computer ages ago). The font was some type of calligraphic Gothic.
Instead of separate pages I printed the pages in a long strip and folded them like an accordion (fan fold). Make sure to have a little extra bit of paper at either end of the strip. These extra bits will be folded under and glued to the inside of the box lids.
The idea was to make a tiny book that was like the old medieval treasure books. It actually took a bit of time to make it but I had a lot of fun with it. I was worried that she wouldn't like it because I wasn't sure how she felt about handmade things, but it had just seemed like the perfect thing at the time. Thankfully, she absolutely loved it :)
You can use Altoid containers (the rectangular ones of course, because they're hinged), but if you don't buy Altoids or have friends who do, some craft stores also carry blank tins. Tins and containers in general are great fun.
I also like decoupaging things, and boxes and tins are great candidates for making really unique things. Great little gifts in and of themselves, or you can put a little something inside too. In the old days people used to decorate all kinds of containers and cans -- cigar boxes, coffee (or other food) cans, candy boxes, etc. Keep an eye out for interesting things, you never know what trash could become a treasure.
