Weekend crafting is something my multigenerational family enjoys. Often there aren’t enough hours on Saturday and Sunday for us to tackle everything on our project lists. Our creative sides go into overdrive and we have to cut ourselves off.
We all made the commitment to make many of our holiday gifts this year. I know that may sound a bit crazy, especially with work schedules, school events, parties, shopping, and day-to-day “must –do” items that can fill up even the most organized person’s schedule. Still, we were committed to giving this homemade Christmas challenge our best try.
I was talking to my mother-in-law about some easy, yet thoughtful, homemade gifts that my kids would enjoy making. I wanted ideas for gifts that would bring joy, comfort and a bit of pampering to the recipients.
My mother-in-law reminded me that hubby had made bath oils for me, one Christmas, when we were in the early stages of dating. (Oh yes, that was really sweet, romantic and a very long time ago.)
Since my mother-in-law is a massage therapist (yes, bonus!) she enjoys using essential oils for a variety of things. (Water Magic is her inspiration.)
We kicked off our crafting frenzy with a skillet breakfast of eggs, bacon, green peppers, and leftover sweet potatoes.
Once our bodies were fueled, our kitchen became the “home-elf” workshop and we crafted from sun-up until sundown.
Our first project was bath salts. I didn’t realize how easy it was to create such a delightful and pampering spa treat. We purchased the Epson salt at our local drugstore and bought the sea salt from the bulk section of the natural grocer (super economical).
The recipe suggested using essential oils, but we opted to use a variety of castile soaps. Only hubby and I used the grater for the soap. We purchased a cheap grater from a dollar store – just for this project. Sorry, I’m not grating any kind of soap with my nice cheese grater. I have to draw the line somewhere.
We found lemon grass at the natural grocer, bought canning jars for the bath salts and cut scrapbook paper to label the various scents. My daughter added the ribbon and jingle bells for a festive touch. In no time, gifts for teachers, friends and family members were done.
The next project was decorative soap. We went the easy route and bought vegetable glycerin soap (scented and unscented) from a natural grocer. The evergreen tree mold was purchased at a dollar store.
Hubby and I did all the cutting of the soap and the 11-year-old was on microwave duty. Our kids were able to mix and match the soap chunks to make different colors and scents. They also added some decorative buttons, jingle bells, or glitter (heavy on the glitter) to the soap to kick-up the fun factor.
My kids gave the soap to their teachers and I sent some to a few of my friends’ children. We received excellent feedback and my friends said their kids are more motivated to wash their hands since the arrival of our soap.
The final project (for this particular weekend) was snow globes.
I had gone to brunch with two friends a few weeks ago, and one of the friends is a crafter like no other. It’s hard for me to imagine keeping up with her. I don’t try – I just keep myself open to awesome ideas and she’s always ready to share.
We were able to use the canning jars for the snow globes and we purchased some inexpensive ornaments. We had the glass marbles in our craft stash and unbeknownst to me, my daughter had a stash of bottle tops in her room – which came in handy as we worked on the snow globes. (I’m still trying to figure out what she was going to do with all those bottle tops.)
My kids had so much fun with the project and the glitter! My daughter gave one of the snow globes to a friend for their secret Santa exchange. She also plans to make more globes for her friends in our mother-daughter book group. My son decided he needed to add some wiggly eyes to his snow globe because every project can benefit from wiggly eyes.
There is still time to engage in some holiday craft projects. Throw on your favorite holiday mix and get creative. The home-elves in this multigenerational household still have some more projects to conquer before Christmas arrives. Stay tuned…
