Green Options

I didn’t get to make as many handmade gifts as I had planned but I still made a few. Here’s a bit of my handmade holiday show offs.

I made my mother another memory shadow box out of items I found in my grandparents old stuff. This one matches the one I made for her last year.

[Recycled Ornament Tree based on a tutorial from Indie Fixx]

The gifts are all gifted, and maybe the ambitious among you have even recycled your Christmas tree already. Here’s your chance to show off all of your holiday hard work! We’d love to see your handmade gifts and decor. Feel free to share away in the comments!

Pictured above are what several of my pals got this year: jars of curried lentil soup mix. Here’s how you make it:

The weather is getting colder, and we have a handmade holiday on our minds! Handmade gifts have heart, are better for the environment, and, if you opt to buy, it supports independent artists!

This is the very last installment of the 2009 Handmade Holidays, and we’d love to hear from you! Tell us all about your handmade holiday adventures!

Christmas is just a couple of days away, and if you’re anything like me you’re pulling together a few last-minute gifts for the folks on your list. In case you’re feeling stumped, here are a few ideas for you!

The weather is getting colder, and we have a handmade holiday on our minds! Handmade gifts have heart, are better for the environment, and, if you opt to buy, it supports independent artists!

If you want to have a totally handmade holiday, now is the time to get started. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be posting about recycled gifts and giftwrap you can make yourself and great handmade finds for sale!

At this point, you’re probably stuck like me trying to sort out what to make for those folks who are just impossible to gift. Fear not! A simple moss terrarium is a lovely gift for that person who has it all. You can embellish your terrarium with anything you like and personalize it for whoever you’re gifting.

My Home Ideas has a great video tutorial for creating your own moss terrarium. Check it:

I’ve given handmade gifts to family and friends for years now, but I never before really cared all that much about how they were wrapped.

My biggest accomplishments were wrapping a box in the comics page from the newspaper (I know–how original) or in a brown paper bag turned inside out to hide the logo.

If I was feeling extra-inspired, perhaps I’d have my girls draw decorations on the brown paper bag or newspaper, but that was about it.

This year, however, I’m feeling inspired to make my gifts’ wrappings as beautiful as the gifts themselves. Perhaps it’s because my budget is tighter than ever (not only am I crafting all my gifts, but I’m crafting them solely from STASH), and so I want the outside to be extra-pretty to make up for it, or perhaps it’s just a new outlet for my crafty mindset.

Either way, you can play, too!

The weather is getting colder, and we have a handmade holiday on our minds! Handmade gifts have heart, are better for the environment, and, if you opt to buy, it supports independent artists!

To help get you in the handmade holiday spirit, we’ve been posting about recycled gifts and giftwrap you can make yourself and great handmade finds for sale!

So you’ve probably got your sights set on a Christmas tree, if you do that sort of thing, and you’re brainstorming some eco-friendly decorations ideas! Infused Goods has you covered with a super-detailed tutorial for making lovely cardboard ornaments! Here’s how:

The weather is getting colder, and we have a handmade holiday on our minds! Handmade gifts have heart, are better for the environment, and, if you opt to buy, it supports independent artists!

If you want to have a totally handmade holiday, now is the time to get started. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be posting about recycled gifts and giftwrap you can make yourself and great handmade finds for sale!

My sweet nephews are totally into superheroes these days! The older one loves Superman and the younger is into Blue Batman. Not just any Batman, people. Blue. Obviously, I had no choice but to make them their very own superhero capes for Christmas! Here’s how you can make your own:

I love the look of wine and wine bottles and when I saw one of these wine bottle lamps at a craft show I knew I wanted to make my own.

It took a little practice and a lot of help from my husband but we figured out how to make them just right. Then we ran out of lights and couldn’t find anymore. Hopefully this season we can.

The weather is getting colder, and we have a handmade holiday on our minds! Handmade gifts have heart, are better for the environment, and, if you opt to buy, it supports independent artists!

If you want to have a totally handmade holiday, now is the time to get started. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be posting about recycled gifts and giftwrap you can make yourself and great handmade finds for sale!

A personalized collage is a great gift for family or maybe your best pal! Hero Arts has a great video tutorial on making beautiful collages. We’ve got the video and tips for turning this into a green craft project after the cut!

The weather is getting colder, and we have a handmade holiday on our minds! Handmade gifts have heart, are better for the environment, and, if you opt to buy, it supports independent artists!

If you want to have a totally handmade holiday, now is the time to get started. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be posting about recycled gifts and giftwrap you can make yourself and great handmade finds for sale!

I just love ornaments! Not only do they look lovely on the tree, they make great little stocking stuffers. In this video, Kim Buchheit of Wildly Wooly shows us how to make acorn ornaments out of felted wool and real acorn caps! You could also use them as pendants, like in the photo above, by just stringing them onto a cord or some hemp and adding a simple clasp.

The weather is getting colder, and we have a handmade holiday on our minds! Handmade gifts have heart, are better for the environment, and, if you opt to buy, it supports independent artists!

If you want to have a totally handmade holiday, now is the time to get started. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be posting about recycled gifts and giftwrap you can make yourself and great handmade finds for sale!

Really, it was like kismet. My girlfriend’s birthday brunch was on Sunday, and on Saturday my booth at the Cabbagetown Chomp and Stomp was right next to the lovely Lightdaughter Press. Since my friend is back in school, I picked up one of their journals printed with “Today you will be happier than a bird with a french fry” printed on the cover. To make the gift extra special, I decided to make her a little cozy to keep it in along with her favorite pen. I just love that her gift is a combination of a purchased handmade item and something handmade by me!

Want to make your very own journal cozy? Here’s how!