Thursday, December 16, 2010

Gift wrapping and Holiday Creativity

It's been a while since I have posted- we all have that Holiday excuse to give, but I have an additional one: every day I fall asleep putting Lupe down for her nap, and every night I fall asleep when she goes to bed. Why? Have you guessed already? Yes, Lupe is going to be a big sister and the first trimester is EXHAUSTING! Or maybe it's just my two year old who is exhausting!
Yet still, I have managed to finish a couple of gifts, and wrapped them. I knew there was a reason I have been saving cereal boxes (a weater fit nicey inside a box of Cheerios) in a kitchen cupboard, and tp rolls (perfect size for a couple of flower pins I made) under the bathroom sink! They are all being used now to wrap presents. So, REUSE the cardboard instead of RECYCLING it, have your child go crazy with the paints (I used old life drawings from my college days), and you have fab gift wrap!
Another thing I did was use those mailers that come from craft stores telling you about all their Xmas deals on fabric, ribbon, scrapbooking, etc and cut them up into little flowers with leaves (can you see this detail in the pic?)
One of the childhood Christmases I remember most was when I was about 12 I think, and we used old paper we already had, and went crazy with litter and glue, each package had a unique design. I don't even remember what I got that year, but I have a picture of the boxes under the tree.
I made one gift splurge for my husband, but other than that, I have made them all mostly. And today I found building blocks, a toy house, books and a video at the thrift store- Lupe's gifts, all for under $7! This makes me feel good, not just cause I'm poor, but gifting this way is MORE CREATIVE!!

What is your most creative gift idea you have given/received? What are you doing this year? Respond to this post, and I may just make something for you!

3 comments:

  1. We 'make' all year at our house, and the holidays are no exception! I'm making some snack sacks, fairy wands for my kiddos and my niece, matching crowns, a knight costume for my son, have a Batman doll in the works... :) It doesn't really end... We are upcycling some toys as well...
    Right now the kids are making gift tags from wall paper books... We punched large circles out and then used our holiday stamps to print on the reverse side and are coloring in the pictures we stamped. Not a bad rainy day activity!
    If time allows I want to make some large cloth 'Santa' bags... something that the kids can leave out for Santa year after year.
    If we run through our stash of previous years wrapping paper we will likely use art work and stamp recycled bags for any remaining gifts.

    Thanks Sara for the great ideas and inspiration! Creating is food for our souls!

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  2. thanks for commenting and sharing your creative energy as well!!!!who is dogma, who ARE you??

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