Monday, November 29, 2010

make make make

{homemade jams--labeled for giving}

We had such a good crafting weekend around here. Here are just some of the things we worked on--
We're giving more homemade jams as gifts this year. I love that all the work was done up front, way back in summer, and now all that is left to do is the fun crafty packaging of them. These are way easier than making cookie boxes and I suspect might even be more appreciated. A jar of homemade jam can be tucked away for a cold day in February when all the Christmas sweets are long gone.
The little boys and I made a felt garland. This turned out to be a really fun craft for them. They weren't able to cut the felt themselves, but they loved stringing the squares onto the thread. I was surprised they took so well to using a needle.
{felt garland}

The boys also adored making paper bag monsters. Not a Christmas craft, but so fun.
{paper bag monsters}
I also made lip balms for the Christmas packages. So fun! I used the recipe from Angry Chicken's e-book. Super easy. I made a triple batch, twice, and I think I ended up with 10 balms.
{peppermint lip balms}
It was back to work today. I can't believe we have only 3 weeks left and then it is Christmas vacation! It's going to fly by.

In other news, we are still eating Thanksgiving leftovers and loving them. Our Thanksgiving food is very traditional, from scratch, and yummy. How about you? Still enjoying the leftovers?

10 comments:

nicole said...

looks like loads of fun!

Sarah said...

where did you get those adorable lip balm containers.

Mary Beth said...

Sarah--I got them from Rose Mountain Herbs. I was ordering some herbs from them anyway (to make a few more recipes from the Angry Chicken book I linked to) and they carry the little containers as well.

erin said...

What awesome gifts. I also thought of giving our jam away and pairing it with homemade bread. The lip balm looks wonderful.

Andrea said...

Wonderful! So inspiring.

Anonymous said...

What great gifts. I'm doing flower seeds this year. Either hot pink hollyhocks or orange cosmos. We had such a dry summer here this year, that nature did all the work for me.

All our leftovers are gone. Turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwiches are a favorite!

Aimee said...

Awesome! I am so inspired! I was wanting to make lip balms this year too. Where did you get the cute round labels for the tops of the tins?

Karen said...

i love the handmade way you live and all of your ideas! i'm going to check out that peppermint lip balm recipe, as i love all things peppermint! i might also try my hand at vegan peppermint bark for friends this christmas. forget the expensive gifts!

Mary Beth said...

Aimee--the round labels came from Michael's, in the Martha Stewart section. Last time I went in, I couldn't find them, but hopefully they are still there. They used to carry a full line of plain labels.

Karen--I am with you! I'm so "over" shopping for expensive gifts. I love a handmade holiday and heartfelt gifts.

Hannah said...

Ooh I love your labels for your jars of preserves!