10 Easy Homemade Christmas gift ideas you can make with your kids
Michelle Archard - michelle.archard@familycalm.com
Family Calm - http://www.familycalm.com
Each project takes less than 15 minutes, costs less than $10 and uses the artwork your kids have created throughout the year. 10 easy homemade Christmas gift ideas you can make with your kids.
Luggage tag
Use self-laminating 3M Bag tags to make a personalized tag for a backpack or suitcase. Print the person's name and phone number on one side and place artwork on the other side. If you need to resize it to fit then either scan the picture, resize it on screen and print a copy, or use a color photocopier to reduce the picture. A nice teacher's gift.
Cost: Less than $5
Time: Less than 10 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Easy
Mousemat
A 3M Printscape personalized mouse pad kit makes this project easy. Scan the artwork you want to use, print it onto the gloss sheet supplied in the kit and then assemble the mousemat. We bought the kit at an office supplies store.
A nice gift for someone who works in an office or home office.
Cost: Less than $10
Time: Less than 10 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Easy, but adult help needed for scanning and printing.
Glass ornament
You will need:
Clear glass ornament ball
Transparency sheets for your printer
Graphics software
Ribbon
Scan the artwork. Measure the circumference of the glass ball by wrapping a piece of string around it and then measuring the length of the string. Divide the circumference by 3.14. The answer is the diameter of the circle that will fit inside the ball. For example, we used an 18" ball. 18/3.14 = 5.73". The same thing in metric measurements would be 45.3 cm divided by 3.14 = 14.4 cm.
We then made a circle that size in the graphics program we used and inserted the scanned image into the circle. We added some text at the bottom and printed out the final picture onto a transparency sheet. If you can't draw a circle in your graphics program then just size the scanned image to fit, print it out and draw a circle the right size using a compass and pencil.
Tip: To prevent fingermarks appearing on the transparency sheet, wear disposable gloves or handle the sheet only with tissues covering your fingers.
Remove the cap of the glass ball.
Tip: Use rubber gloves to hold the ball securely. We recommend placing it on a carpeted floor.
Cut out the circle and roll it around the handle of a wooden spoon. Insert the handle into the ball and use tweezers to position the image correctly. You might have remove it and trim the circle or print the image slightly bigger to get it to fit in the middle of the ball.
Add some glitter if you wish. Replace the cap. Add a ribbon.
Voila!
Cost: About $5 for the glass ornament, $3 for glitter, plus the price of the overhead transparency.
Time: Less than 15 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Difficult, potential broken glass. Adult help needed.
Jigsaw
Make the task easy by using an inkjet printable puzzle paper from http://www.compozapuzzle.com. Alternatively, www.clubinventit.com offers a felt puzzle kit with iron-on transfers. They make great party invitations. The receipient just assembles the jigsaw to read the invitation.
Cost: $1.50 @ + shipping
Time: Less than 15 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Easy. Adult help needed with scanning & printing.
Placemat
Make a placemat from your child's artwork by simply laminating it. Granny would love a whole set to use when the grandchildren visit.
Cost: Less than $5
Time: Less than 5 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Easy
Napkin
A napkin to match the placemat can be made by scanning the artwork, printing it onto a T-shirt transfer, using your color printer, and then ironing it onto a cloth napkin. Choose a child-size napkin so that the image will cover most of it.
Cost: Less than $5
Time: Less than 15 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Easy. Adult help needed with scanning & printing.
Lemonade bottle
A lovely gift if filled with homemade lemonade. Next time you buy something in an attractive bottle, keep the empty bottle and turn it into a personalized gift. We scanned artwork and printed it onto an overhead transparency and attached it to the bottle with double-sided tape. You could use a self-adhesive label if you want an opaque label.
Cost: Free if you have the bottle already
Time: Less than 15 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Easy. Adult help needed with scanning & printing.
Tote bag
A groovy beach tote or library bag can be made up simply scanning your child's artwork, printing it onto a T-shirt transfer sheet (available from office supply stores or try www.hp.com) and then ironing it onto a plain canvas bag. We picked up a bag from a craft supply store and added a contrasting trim, using iron-on tape. You can personalize the transfer by adding a name to the image before you print it.
Cost: Less than $10
Time: Less than 15 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Easy, adult help needed with scanning, printing and ironing.
Candle
Another great gift is a candle decorated with artwork. Color photocopy the artwork, using the reducing function of the copier if necessary. Wrap the artwork around a large candle to check that the size is correct, you'll need about 1 cm (1/2") overlap, trim if necessary. Remove the artwork and cut a piece of aluminium foil to the same size as the artwork. Lay the foil on the back of the artwork and then wrap both around the candle. The foil will prevent the paper from catching fire as the candle burns. Secure the paper in place with doublesided tape or hot glue. Never leave the candle burning unattended.
Cost: Less than $10
Time: Less than 15 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Easy
Glass serving platter
Spice up a boring glass platter by attaching artwork to the underside of the platter. Use a slightly frosted plate so that it blurs the edges of the clear self-adhesive vinyl you use to attach the picture. You could also decoupage the picture onto the plate. It's not dishwasher safe, but a quick wipe with a cloth should be enough to keep it clean.
Cost: Less than $10
Time: Less than 15 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Easy
Storage cube
Make a cute storage cube for pens etc by using 4 pictures of the same size (you can color photocopy the same image 3 times if you wish). Add a blank piece for the base. Laminate the pieces and trim them to size. Using a craft hole punch (try the leather section of your local craft store), punch holes around three edges of one of the pieces. Use this as a guide to punch matching holes around the other pieces. It's important that the holes line up, otherwise the cube will be pulled out of shape. You'll need to punch all sides of the base piece. Using cord thread through a large needle, sew all the pieces together.
Cost: Less than $5
Time: About 90 minutes
Degree of difficulty: Medium. Adult help needed with laminating and hole punching.
For 25 more homemade gift ideas, visit http://www.familycalm.com where the e-book 35 gifts you can make with your kids' is available. It includes instructions and tips on scanning, modifying and printing your kid's artwork to use in these projects and glorious color photos of each gift idea.
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