gifts that are cheap or free

Handmade Guest: Calli from Make It Do

11.03.10

My latest guest to join in the gift retreat is the lovely and sweet Calli of Make it Do. Calli’s blog is stock full of great tutorials. I would love to try her cozy bed warmer, and I am in desperate need of practicing this pie crust since I’m lame at pie crusts (I’ve also received a couple great tips from some of you. Maybe there is still hope for me.)

Calli has a fantastic simple idea to share today, so I’ll let her take it away.

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Hi, My name is Calli from Make it Do. I’m so happy to be here at The Giver’s Log talking about handmade gifts.

There is no better way to show someone you love them than to spend time creating their gift. One of my favorite handmade gifts I made and gave last year for the Holidays was a Snowman Kit.

This gift is wonderful for so many reasons. It is inexpensive, the kid’s are able to help (by gathering and painting the stones), and it is so FUN to make.

It’s also giving the gift of wonderful memories. A simple snowfall can turn to magic, when the day is spent as a family, making a fat, round snowman.

Be sure to check out my tutorial on how to make a snowman kit. If you don’t want to sew a cap for your snowman, like I did, after-Halloween sales are the perfect place to find a fun and whimsical snowman cap.

And don’t forget to make and give Hot Chocolate on a Stick with your snowman gift… it’ll be the perfect way for your friends to end their snowy adventure.

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I Heart Photo Booths

09.29.10

Hello, and welcome to this week’s shoot-along post. I’ll be featuring one photo tutorial, photo gift idea, or photo challenge every Wednesday from now through December. Scroll to the bottom of today’s post to see more from the shoot along.

Want to know my all-time favorite party favor to send home for kids’ parties? Fun, adorable, crazy photos. For my daughter’s bday this year, we made a photo booth out of our front door. The photos turned out adorable.

The key ingredients for a great photo booth? Good lighting and zaney props. That’s about it.

(Don’t miss this DIY version, or go check out how the pros do it.)

how sweet are these girls? from here via here.

this is an all-time fave of mine made by Melanie of You are My Fave

I almost died when I saw this one. how cute is this little guy? see more here.

and one more from Mer Mag to send you on your way.

Join the Shoot-Along right here

Tutorials to date: Tell the Story | Light pt I | How to Boss Your Camera Around (shoot in manual)
Challenges to date: Sour Face | A Trick for Capturing the Ordinary | Then + Now Scavenger Hunt

Gift Ideas to date: Portrait Buttons | Photo Games | Photo Game Markers |Photo Booth Round Up

All this made possible by the lovely Carrie Butler.

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Homemade Stripey Sidewalk Chalk

09.21.10

As you may remember from once or twice before, we are all about hopscotch on this blog. And now that school is in session and tomorrow fall will be official (in the N. hemisphere anyway), there are plenty of reasons to play. A game of hopscotch, of course, requires chalk. White chalk will do, but pretty stripey chalk will do even better. So we thought we’d better make some.

By the way, all pictures are courtesy of my husband’s iPhone. My poor Canon is in the shop again. I miss it.
We developed this chalk recipe last year with the leftovers from an art project I did for my daughter’s class. The best part about this homemade chalk is that it is c-h-e-a-p. And it turns out great chalk. Go to your hardware store and pick up a five-pound tub of joint compound or drywall mud. You’ll pay five bucks at most. We had a giant leftover tub, so we went with that. For a mold, we used IKEA’s water bottle ice molds.

Other materials we used were powdered tempera (liquid tempera works too), a few baggies, and we decided to add in a few strips of our favorite colors of tissue paper, which worked great with the chalk, and adhered well too without any fuss.

Dump or squirt your tempera into your joint compound and mix well. The powdered tempera will keep the whole thing a little drier, and make it a little more like dough, while the liquid tempera often turns out a little brighter.
We added a few stripes of tissue paper, just for decoration. We found that overlapping tissue paper colors does NOT work as well as spacing out the stripes. The spaced stripes held out better when the chalk dried. Glitter is also fun to dump into the molds before adding the chalk dough.

Depending on how thick your joint compound is, clip off a corner and pipe it from your bag, or pull out a handful and press it into the mold. It’s fun letting the kiddos experiment with different pieces of tissue paper and different colors of chalk dough.

This is the hardest part. Leave it alone and let it dry. Depending on how wet it is, it will take two to three days. When the top of ours was mostly dry, I tore off the scraps of tissue paper and popped the chalk out of the mold to let the bottom dry.

Give them a couple days and you’re ready to go. Aren’t they pretty?

While my daughter was hard at work producing chalk with me, I thought you might like to see what the boys were up to. The 5-year-old found an umbrella (what is it with kids and umbrellas?)

and the baby tried his first experiments in color mixing. Very fun.

But back to the chalk. We’re planning on giving these out for my daughter’s star student week in class. We did another DIY art supply for my son’s school bday favor last year and they went over well, so we thought we’d give these a try.

Good luck! And if you try, I’d love to hear how it goes.

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Lulatone

09.17.10

Lullatone is a completely charming outfit in Japan that creates music and a few other things, as you’re about to see. I received a note this week from Shawn, the musician behind Lullatone, and wanted to introduce you at once.
This is Shawn.

This is Shawn with his wife, isn’t this a darling picture? (I loved their blog. You will love it too. Stop by right away.)

Besides creating music, Shawn also makes TV tutorials for DIY musical instruments. There are few things I can think of that a preschooler would love more than to build a xylophone from cardboard tubes then play music on it. Check out Shawn’s video here. His tutorial is super simple. And while you’re there, check out Lullatone’s other videos, shop and blog.
Thanks, Shawn!

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Bubble Wrap Banner

09.13.10

You probably remember from this post that I am a fan of bubble wrap.

Well, a little while back, a friend of mine and her adorable family had a big occasion to celebrate. We wanted to plaster a banner on her garage door. And since the occasion was cause for jumping up and down, we decided to make it a bubble-wrap banner. So it could be enjoyed even after it was taken down. Here is my son modeling it before we snuck over to her house to put it up. (Isn’t it fun being sneaky?)

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T-Shirt Bags

09.09.10

Hello! I am here today to spread the word about t-shirt bags. Are you familiar with them? I learned about them from (who else?) Martha Stewart a few years ago. Is it too much to say that they’ve changed my life? Probably. But I really really really love them.

I love that I can still keep those old, sentimental t-shirts around without them taking up valuable real estate in my itty-bitty closet. I love that those shirts are now more useful than they ever were as a garment that I would only wear while cleaning my house. I love that when I take them to the store I can be loud & proud of the fact that I love Tia Babe’s Mexican food in Santa Paula, California. Or that I was indeed, on senior cabinet in high school. And I really love that I get large, sturdy, reusable shopping bags that are made from 100% cotton and don’t cost me anything, instead of bags that I have to pay for and are often made from questionable plastics. They are such a fantastic way to reuse something that would otherwise be tossed.

Oh! I just thought of another good thing about these bags: making them is a super forgiving project. Straight cuts and sewing lines are not required. This is one of those projects that takes 10 minutes or less and non-perfectionists are invited and encouraged to participate. Those are my kind of projects!

Have I sold you on the idea of t-shirt bags yet? If not, I’ll try one more. How about making a custom trick-or-treat bag for a child you love from one of their old t-shirts? (Ah! Is it too early to start thinking about Halloween?) Or, if trick-or-treating isn’t in your future, perhaps you could make a great library bag. Martha has a nice tutorial on her website, but here’s a photographic version from me:

Items needed: a shirt, scissors, sewing machine.

Additional items needed if you want to applique: fusible web (I used Wonder-Under), iron, ironing board. (Remember to read the directions thoroughly on your webbing, in case they differ from those shown below.)

Your t-shirt bag is now finished. Easy as pie, right? You can stop here or go on to add a bit of custom magic to your bag. I chose designs that read a bit Halloween-y, but wouldn’t look completely out of place when we use them as library bags for the rest of the year.

Viola! You now have a super cute and custom bag for your child. Now go dig through your closets, pull out all your old t-shirts and get cutting. Your shirts will be so happy to be back in your life.

What is your favorite way to reduce/reuse/recycle?

What simple items make your life easier?

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Crystal stops by GiversLog a couple times a month to share her fresh ideas. When she’s not writing for GiversLog, Crystal can be found mothering, knitting, and cooking. Stop by and see what’s new at her etsy shop: monograms, Greek keys, and chevron stripes. Oh my!

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Indoor Days

09.02.10

My four-year-old son, Lincoln, has been hugely into hopscotch lately (and by extension, this means my little Henry is too, since he thinks he can do anything his brother is doing). Living in central Texas, it’s not practical for us to spend much time outside in the summer hopscotching.

Enter: masking tape hopscotch in our living room! This is an easy-peasy project for any day that is too hot, too cold, too windy, or too rainy to play outside. And can you imagine how fun would it be to have hopscotch in your hallway or mudroom? Very.

Guess what items are needed? Yep! A roll of masking tape. It doesn’t get simpler than that.

Masking tape hopscotch has stayed on our floors for up to a week with no ill-effects (but you will definitely want to test it out in an inconspicuous area first to ensure your floors won’t be marred.) I’ve even done some light mopping over the design without any trouble. When you’re tired of hopscotch adorning your floors, simply pull up the tape. This was Henry’s favorite part.

What are your favorite ways to keep busy inside when the weather outside is less than stellar?

Do you have any special memories of indoor play from your childhood?

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You Made It: Fabric Mail Set

08.24.10

Mariane of Cook You Some Noodles dropped by to let me know she used my fabric mailbox pattern to put together this adorable mail set. She is the mama of one lucky three-year-old. Stop by her blog to see that cute three-year-old modeling the mailbag and to see her template for the felt mail. Thanks, Mariane!

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You Made It: DIY Play Kitchen

08.09.10

“I thought and thought for months about what I could make for my daughter for her 2nd Birthday. I was never someone who grew up with any inclination to craft…until my wedding. Since then I at least have interest, though not much confidence. I wanted to do something big for my daughter. I found lots of inspiration online (primarly from vintage songbird) and finally just went for it. And today is the day I finally got to give my daughter her little repurposed play kitchen. I don’t have any special talents…I just wanted to make something beautiful and special for my daughter…and I did.” —Katie Lynn

Katie Lynn, I’d say you can craft with confidence from this day on. What a beautiful gift for your little girl.

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when all else fails, DIY

08.05.10

When it comes to my preferred method of keeping track of my grocery budget, grocery list, and weekly menu selections, I like to keep everything front & center and totally non-digital. Impromptu to-do lists fall under this category, too. (I have a really great planner that keeps my life in order and is full of daily to-do lists, but occasionally I need something quick and visual for those moments when I have company arriving in an hour and I still need to sweep the floor, wipe the smudges off the windows, take the diapers out, switch the laundry, and unload the dishwasher. ) I wanted a board I could hang on a bare spot in my kitchen, but I wasn’t finding anything that was a great solution.

Here’s a bit of my method for keeping these items up-to-date and accurate:

Grocery Budget: I like to jot down how much I spent after each grocery shopping trip so I don’t have to keep receipts or enter it into any sort of computer/spreadsheet or have to open my online bank account to check my balance. I have a two-week budget, so anytime I spend money on food during those two weeks, I jot it down and keep a running total so I know how much I’ve spent. (I used to keep the total budget amount at the top and subtract each time I spent something, but I’ve decided that it’s way easier to add than subtract! Ha!)

Grocery List: I like to keep a running grocery list that I can add to every time I notice we’re running low on something.

Weekly Menu: I like to pick three meals a week, add any needed ingredients to my grocery list, and then write down the names of the meals so I don’t have to remember what we are going to eat that week. (Wondering why I don’t cook more often? My husband is in grad school so he’s gone a few nights a week. On the nights he is gone, the boys and I generally have something super fab like quesadillas, eggs + toast, or leftovers for dinner.)

So.

My Problem: wanting a pretty whiteboard but not finding a pretty whiteboard.

My Solution: DIY! This tutorial from eighteen25 and our own AmberLee’s post at The Idea Room got my wheels turning, but I’ve adapted them a bit. This would be a fun {and easy} gift to personalize for a teacher or boss, too!

I bought a few yards of fabric from a thrift store. It’s kind of fun, right? You could also use pretty paper or a photograph. And I picked up this clip frame from Hobby Lobby. It says it is $5.99, but don’t let that fool you. These things are always on sale–I think I paid $3.00 for this one. I’ve also picked them up at IKEA for just a few dollars. Take the glass off the backing and figure out what part of the pattern you would like to feature. Trace around the glass and cut out the fabric, being careful not to tug on the fabric as you go. (I made that mistake on my first try. The fabric ended up smaller than the frame. Oops!)

I didn’t get a picture of this, but after some trial and error, I spray mounted the fabric on a piece of light cardboard (think: cereal box) just to give it a bit of stability when putting it back in the frame. You can skip this step if you use paper or a photo.

Now it’s time to hang. If you have a little boy at your house, he’ll probably come a’runnin as soon as he sees the hammer & nail come out of the tool box. And then he’ll go get his toy saw and hammer so he can help. What a sweetheart.

Since this board will be used for some serious list-making, I would suggest anchoring it with some Command Picture Hanging Strips as well. Have you ever used them? They. are. amazing.

And viola! Pull out your dry-erase marker and start making lists lists lists.

Do you use a grocery list? Do you have a grocery budget? Do you create a menu? I’d love to hear what works for you.

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Shoot Along Gift Idea: Personalized Game Pieces

08.03.10

So it has taken a little longer than expected, but I finally have for you the final game gift promised from this post. Here’s a little project I did with my kids as a follow-up to our Tahoe vacation.

I am always looking for ways to use pictures from favorite trips or memorable periods of our life. I like the pictures not only of the people but of the details that were important to us at that moment that we could easily forget.

Did anyone play with shrinkie dinks as a kid? I remember having a Rainbow Bright set. Did you know you can get blank sheets of them for your printer? It’s almost more fun than I can handle.

We printed off a few pictures from our trip. For photos to work on shrinkie dinks, they need to be a bit washed out to make the final color true. We had fun picking out the pics. For this project we picked out several subjects that were in transit.

We added a little hand-drawn detail with a water-based marker.

Then cut along the lines.

And then came the fun part, we popped them in the oven. It is so much fun watching them curl up and become itty-bitty versions of themselves. Note, if you have an emergency and some curl over themselves, don’t panic! Just put them back in a little longer and they should flatten. Use a butter knife to carefully and gently flatten them a bit if you need to.

We added stands and have a pretty fun final product. Candy Land, anyone?

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The Small Things

07.15.10

Hello again, Readers!

I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the Broken Windows theory lately. I think it stems from feeling overwhelmed a lot of the time and wanting to get back to basics. I first read about the theory in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point”. The super condensed version of the theory is that that small changes lead to big changes. For example, in the 1990′s, crime in New York plummeted when officials had all the graffiti on subway trains painted over and when they arrested people for minor infractions such as not paying to ride the subway. (Other factors came into play as well, of course.)

I love the idea that starting from the bottom and dealing with the underlying issues often does more good than trying to solve the big, noticeable problems first. I see this theory at work in my own house when I put a dish in the sink. If I don’t deal with that dish right away, either by washing it or putting it in the dishwasher, before I know it, that one dish has turned into a whole sink full of dishes, which somehow morphs into messy house. As long as I keep my sink clean, everything else seems so much more manageable.

May favorite example: There is an 83-year-old woman named Jackie who lives down the street from me. Jackie is the mother of nine (yes, NINE) children. She says she cheated because she had two sets of twins. Given the fact that she had two sets of twins 18 months apart, I would hardly call that cheating. (I have one 18-month old son and he’s the busiest body I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine having two of him plus two newborns to care for.)

To keep in good health, Jackie walks around the neighborhood each morning while carrying a reaching aid and picks up litter while she exercises. This has made such a noticeable difference in our neighborhood that she once told me that her neighbor came over to check on her to make sure she was ok when he noticed that there was a piece of trash on the road. She has made a significant contribution to our neighborhood by doing a simple thing such as picking up litter while going on her morning walks. I especially love that she’s not really going out of her way to make a difference: she’s just taking something that she’s already doing to the next level.

Is anyone else as inspired by this concept as I am? If so, I have two challenges for you:

1. What can you do to fix a broken window in your life/home/family/community? Maybe it’s finding a moment to meditate each day, going to bed with a clean sink each night, honestly prioritizing your to-do list (and sticking to it!), being completely present with those you associate with, volunteering at your local non-profit, or maybe even picking up a few pieces of litter on your stroll around the block.

2. Is there someone in your life that has dealt with or is dealing with the broken windows in your neighborhood? Will you seek these people out and write them a note of thanks so they know that the work they are doing is noticeable and appreciated?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories about this topic.

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DIY Smoker

06.17.10

I’m thinking a good way to spend Father’s day is to sit around one of these and sip something cold while your pork shoulder gets a good, 12-hour smoke.

If you try this, please come back and tell me. I want to hear about it.

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Tote a Tiny Toy

06.03.10

Hello fellow Giver’s Log readers! I have been a fan of dear Amber’s site since the beginning, and I am so thrilled that she has asked me join her.

For my first post, I wanted to share a really small, but meaningful, gift my son received last year.

A few months after I had my second baby, I was running errands with my oldest child. I think he was still in the my-world-was-just-majorly-rocked mode after the birth of our baby, and he was having an especially hard time at the store. While we were waiting in line to check out, a woman came up to us and pulled a toy motorcycle out of her purse and asked my son if he likes motorcycles. (He does. A lot.) She gave him the motorcycle and it immediately calmed him down and bought me enough time to get out of the store with a little grace. (I should note: she asked me if it was ok if she gave my son the toy before she approached him. It’s always a good idea to check in with the Mama/Daddy before giving a stranger-child something, no?) I was (am!) so appreciative of this woman. We still have the motorcycle, and even though my son has since broken off the handlebars, it’s still a favorite and gets plenty of play time.

So here’s my challenge to you: find a little toy or activity that you can stow in your handbag and give it to a child you see that is having a rough time in a store (or anywhere else that you see a parent who could use a moment of distraction for their child).

For my own purse, I chose these cute scratch art papers, but I think anything that would keep a child busy for a few minutes would be appreciated: stickers, a notepad + a crayon or two, small cars, a little book, a wind-up toy, etc. The goal is to find something that costs only a few quarters and slips into your bag easily. (Because if you’re anything like me, you’re lugging around a lot already!)

I bought six scratch art papers at Michaels for $1. (And apparently they are a hit with the kids. Do you see my son drooling over them?) If you don’t already have something at home that fits the bill, try places like Target’s Dollar Spot or any dollar store for tiny trinkets that would do the trick.

You could skip this step, but if you get a moment wrap the little gift. I think half the fun of getting a present is in the unwrapping, especially for a child. And who knows–maybe the wrapping will be the funnest part to play with!