WE are in the process of making peach jam for xmas presents. Our neighbors graciously bring back peaches from their travels to TX so we have wonderful fresh peaches!

The girls also love sewing like me so we are working on different sewing things, nine patch pillows, pot holders. I am also planning on making wreaths out of sugar gum seeds that fall in our hard and putting their pictures in the middle for a christmas ornament. I also bake but I prefer to make jar goods to pass out and home made gifts. Table runners are a great gift. You can make them for any season to give at christmas and can range from very basic to as intricate as you want! Kids pillow cases are SUPER easy and fun to give for kiddo's! It's a great way to incorperate all their favorite character in style stuff without having to redecorate all the time! Alphabet pillows each pillow is the letter of the alphabet that the is in the childs name. I better stop on the sewing projects. Ohhhhhhhh chocolate covered pretzels! We love making these for friends and family that is if we have enough left! lol

I have a secret cheesecake recipe that all the guys at work LOVE. I make it for them at christmas and they look foward to it every year.

I'll post more if I can think of more

I LOVE all the ideas everybody has thank you guys for all of your suggestions!

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~Home is where your heart is~

I am making all our gifts this year. I am staying at home now ,so we can't afford to buy a lots of gifts. This is what I have come up with so far:

Grandparents...Scrapbook of events from 2006...one or two pages for each month and some special notes to them about how much we love them. I haven't totally figured it out yet. I found scrapbooks at Hobby Lobby on clearance and also paper. The 1$ store also had some really cute stuff too. The whole project should not cost me no more than 20 to 25$.

Aunts, cousins, SIL, sister...A family recipes book...This month I am sending out a 4 to 6 recipe cards to all my lady relatives and asking them to write done their most favorite recipe and a memory of when they served it...like a certain pie is always on Thanks-giving or we always make ban.nut bread on Christmas.Then I'm going to photo copy the cards and put them into pretty little photo albums I found at the $ store.

Friends and husbands work...Basket(got on sale last year for 2$ each) full of home made goodies. Cookies, fudge, bread, hot choc. mix etc...

Each family..Handmade Christmas ornament with 2006 date

Teenage kids...Fleece blanket...fleece is on clearance right now at Joann's for 4 to 5 $ a yard. I just make lap size.

The little kids...Craft kits that I put together myself. I collect things through out the year when it is on clearance. Soon all the school supplies will be reduced. I just put together what I think they would be interested in.

Toddlers@Babies...I am taking pictures of the babies and toddles and then having my teenagers write a silly story to go whith them. I am going to laminate the pages or I have seen where you can sew together zip lock bags...still working on this one .

I don't have any ideas for the men...If you all have any, let me know.
Thanks
cyndi

When I use to homeschool my kids, we would make gifts for the grandparents as part of our curriculem. Things we have made:

pom-pom yarn cats -these were made using yarn to make the pom-poms
candy cane bath salts that smelled like peppermint and layered in the jar to resemble a candy cane.
yarn wreaths
gel air fresheners
snow globes
cookie mixes in a jar
complete sets of Christmas ornaments -made from beads
pictures of anything -could be a cat picture from a magazine- glued onto a stained piece of wood and then covered in elmers glue and sprinkled with glitter

And probably the best gift (as I've heard) the grandparents got was a little poem I printed off about how small the childs hands were and how little ones while they get into things won't be little long. On it, I had my kids put their hand prints in paint and then dug through pictures and cut down them to glue on the paper. The pictures were from the time of babyhood to their current age. (How fast they've grown and changed at a glance) Then we framed each one and wrapped it. 2 of my kids are teenagers now, but on the walls of their grandparents houses still sits these picture frames.

Every one of the items I listed can be done with children as young as 2. Of course the younger they are, the more help they will need, but consider it some good ol fashioned mommy/child time.

You can order seeds from: www.parkseed.com
My neighbor has also given me some seeds from her plant. I think that they are very easy to grow. But....you need somewhere that they can climb, as they get pretty tall. My neighbor has a lattice wall that is beside a screened in porch in her back yard. That it where she plants hers. A friend and I plan on planting ours in her yard because she has a perfect spot for them. I bought the seeds and she is going to plant them. Then we will share what grows. They are really neat to see. They make really long gourd looking things (about the size of a zuchinni or eggplant). Once they are dried, you peel them and clean them (pull out the seeds for next years planting). One "gourd" can make 2-3 sponges when you cut them. Very inexpensive!!

The last few years I've made a calendar and probably will again for the grandparents. I take pictures from throughout the year and blow them up to 8 x 10 size (or close). I use card stock paper and put a picture on 1 side and the calendar month on the other. My mom has a binding machine so I use that to bind them. LTD actually has a cheap binder right now that I thought about purchasing but since my mom has one I'm just going to use hers. I put a really cute poem on their about grandpa and me last year that went over really well. In the past I've also let my kids decorate the cover. You could also take "art" projects or pictures you kids make and turn them into a calendar too. You can scan them and print them off or just give them the paper and go to it.

The other thing I've seen is a good gift for kids or for craft fairs is an I spy bag. It may cost a lot to make 1 bag but the more you make it would probably come down in price. I'm not craft enough but it's really cool. Here is a link to them. The ones I saw in person had a bigger window.
http://www.grammasbabystuff.com/GrammasISpyBags.html?gclid=CKmIq83v9YYCFUKcFQodATk LZg
or
http://cgi.ebay.com/I-spy-girls-pink-Bean-Bag-quiet-toy-w-teddy-bear_W0QQitemZ180020959579QQihZ008QQcategoryZ234QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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done!

DH and I decided to make the presents for all of the adults this year. Since I stay at home now, we dont have the extra money to buy gifts, especially since we both have big families that dont do the name draw.

Heres what we're doing- I've already started most of it...

Breakfast basket- peach, strawberry and blackberry jam, apple butter (I may try the caramel applebutter that was posted earlier- that sounds sooo good!), muffin mix in a jar and I'm hoping to find some holiday spreaders at the dollar store.

Bath basket- a few shower gels and lip glosses that I was able to get really cheap (but good quality), and then I'm making bath salts and oatmeal bath sachets, maybe oatmeal soap.

Snack basket- I'm making salsa, DH is making jerky and snack sticks, then closer to giving time (mostly so it doesnt get eaten by us!) I'll make some candies and cookies.

BBQ basket- a bunch of homemade sauces and hopefully the dollar store will still have the durkee grill seasonings- I should go ahead and get them the next time I'm there!


Heres a link to a website that has tons of homemade gift ideas- I've gotten tons of inspiration (and recipes) from it.

www.organizedchristmas.com

Last year I wanted to make stepping stones with ds's footprints for the grandparents (and us) - Maybe I will try it this year.....

Found this on an email newsletter that I get. Sounds easy!!

Beautiful PVC Pipe Napkin Rings

Supplies

1 Length of 3/4 inch PVC pipe
1 or 2 bags of flattened marbles colors of your choice
1 tube of silicone caulk (outdoor kind)
One hack saw or fine blade on your circular saw

Directions

Cut PVC pipe into how ever many napkin rings you want, they need
to be cut about 1 inch wide. Glue flattened marbles to PVC. With
all of the beautiful colors they have now days you can make these
for any holiday or occasion, for a more rustic look you can use
polished stones.

This sounds like a great idea!! My dd would love to make these. I think I will also get coordinating cloth napkins for each set she makes.