Homemade holiday gifts are IN, what are you making?

My top search terms right now are homemade gift ideas. There is no doubt that the economy is impacting the way people are thinking about holiday shopping. People would rather make things to give as gifts because it saves money.

I personally like creative homemade, do-it-yourself gifts because they are more from the heart than store bought ones. Plus I have a blast making gifts for people cause I am crafty like that.

Now since so many are flocking here in search of homemade holiday gift ideas and craft projects I wanted to take a second to suggest some easy gift ideas for you to try this holiday season. If you want to check out the instructions just click on the linked text! you have a project you have written about on your blog use mister linky below to share the link with us.

1. Turn scrap fabric in to braided usefulness by making your very own braided rag rug. These are super easy, have tons of character and can be used almost anywhere in the house.
2. Make a sentimental gift and clear out some closet space by taking all those stored clothing items you can’t bear to throw away and turning them in to a functional throw or quilt. Anyone can make their own t-shirt quilt quickly and easily just in time for holiday gift giving. Use baby clothes, shirts or just about any special piece of fabric and turn those memories in to a great gift for someone special.
3. Have an environmental lover on your gift list? You can make several fun earth friendly gift items (like a biodegradable bird feeder or a shoe scraper) that they will enjoy and they’ll love that you took and interest in being earth friendly too.
4. Have some small trinkets to give? Why not make your own paper gift box using origami? It is super easy, it is fun for kids and you can decorate them exactly the way you want them. You can even make them hang from the Christmas tree.
5. Got a cell phone fanatic on your gift list? You can make them a cute cellphone cozy out of fabric or yarn to keep their phone protected and also in style this holiday season. Theses are also insanely easy to make and can be oh, so unique and personalized.
6. Know someone who is in need of some new bedding this holiday season? Put your sewing skills to work and make them a homemade duvet cover or comforter. Don’t worry even a beginning sewer (me) can do this and it is pretty fun too!

Now I know you have a project you are just dieing to share with us. If you have written about on your blog use mister linky below to share the link with us. If you don’t have a link to share but want to just tell us about your project just use the comment field below to do so.

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I was not making porn I promise!

Just because I have a tripod set up at the end of the bed does not mean we were making porn! I am sure that is what the neighbors are thinking though.

It’s a kind of funny sight and thought so I snapped a photo of it and thought I would make it the title of this post. Nice huh? I am sure I’ll get lots of 1 second hits from people searching for homemade porn now huh?

Seriously though I was recording a video demonstration for another craft article I wrote. As I mentioned yesterday I sold another article and have been feeling highly motivated to write these days. Plus the search terms on this blog have been super instructional craft project oriented. The people have spoken and want more craft instructions so I got busy writing some more tutorials.

I sat down and wrote up an article on how to make your own t shirt quilt from shirts you have collected over the years. I used our bed to record the demonstration video that goes with the article and I just happen to leave the tripod at the foot of the bed. Nice and random huh?

What? You want to see a t shirt quilt? Well lookie here:

If you liked that post, then try these...

Happy Earth Day! Earth day tips?

Snow in may, what is going on? and Mothers day weekend - part 1

Homemade christmas gift ideas, to-go boxes and purses... Oh my!

I have many free craft project ideas for you

Simple Origami Instructions For Kids

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Snow in may, what is going on? and Mothers day weekend - part 1

Well, I awoke this morning to lots of fluffy white stuff falling and covering everything. We were foretasted for some thunderstorms last night and today. The possibility of snow was mentioned but no accumulation was expected. Here that means the snow melts as soon as it hits the ground.

Doesn’t look like that is the case today, the schools called a 2 hour snow delay and we had to scrape snow from the car before I could take N to work. I am sure it will melt away throughout the day. It is May for crying out loud, snow in May is not the norm!

We got back from visiting my mother yesterday and were exhausted. N had been on the road for 2 days prior to us visiting family then we stayed with my mom for 3 days.. Basically he was on the road for 5 days straight.

We always have some temperature shock and allergy issues when visiting family down in phoenix.. It is generally 30 degrees warmer where they live and about 6000 feet in elevation change.. it kicks our butts! So, when we got home in addition to being beat I had to put the house back together (the cats usually freak out when we are gone).. That is why I posted a meme yesterday instead of telling you all about our trip.

You guys know that my mom and I set out to make soap for mothers day, my mom was really excited about it. She saw this particular recipe on Martha Stuart for goat’s milk soap that was all natural. The one thing my mom was not able to pick up before we got to her home was the lye needed for the soap. We went on a quest for lye, which is said to be sold at any hardware store. We went by home depot, lowes, ace hardware and even frys.

After hitting every store we could think of we did not find the lye, we headed back home to make some phone calls to track down the lye.

Nobody knew what lye was or carried it and the process of trying to get help over the phone was enough to make your blood boil. One place had us on hold forever (6 minutes) and then it turned out the phone was in an employees locker, that is why it took so long for someone to help us!

Lye is sodium chloride which is used in pool chemicals, drain cleaner, to make soap and a number of other things. Apparently it is also used to make meth (seen the movie Fight Club?) so commercial sale has practically been stopped and sales associates have no clue what lye is or which products contain it.

Many products contain Lye (like Draino, which also contains metal shavings) but finding pure lye turned out to be impossible in Phoenix. You can buy lye online but that wasn’t going to help us to make the goats milk soap that day.. So we decided to make the soap another day, when we can order lye online and have it shipped in.

So, we weren’t able to make the soap but we had plenty to keep us busy! I’ll post more about the trip tomorrow, lets just say it involves snakes, chickens and baby chicks.. It is way too much for one post!

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Happy Earth Day! Earth day tips?

Today is earth day and there is no better day to try and minimize your negative impact on the earth. How to you celebrate earth day? Do you plant something or maybe you pick up litter along the highway near your home.

Every effort is helpful whether you are making it on for one day or if you are setting out to try and do something differently for the entire year. Some of the things we are doing year round are rain water harvesting and grey water harvesting. I take baths often and am always feeling bad about sending the perfectly good water down the drain afterwards. Since I use biodegradable shampoo and soap I have been eager to siphon my bath water out into the garden. We life in the desert so sometimes rain water is limited.. If I can take my bath water and store it for use in the garden that would reduce the amount of water we waste and it is good for the plants! We rigged up our low tech bath water harvesting system yesterday and it worked well last night!

We also have a compost bin and are able to greatly reduce the amount of waste we contribute to the landfill by composting and recycling our waste. Our compost goes right back into the soil to replenish it and provide nutrients and our recycled stuff gets reused also.

What things do you do to tread lighter on the earth?

Anther great way to celebrate earth day is with the kiddies. After all one day tis earth will be theirs and we need to teach them to respect and value it. Crafts are great ways to teach kids things with a hands on approach. Consider doing some earth day crafts with your kids today if you can, it is a great opportunity to bond with them and teach them. Here are some ideas for parents who want to craft with their kids:

Making Earth Day meaningful for children of all ages

Recycling craft ideas

Filed under do it more naturally, free craft projects, get involved, living simply, personal stories, recommendations | Comments (4)

Making my own braided rug- Prairie Chic Craft Idea

Braided rugs (or rag rugs) are not only useful around the home but they are also a great way to recycle fabrics. You can make your own braided rug using old t-shirts, boxers, linen and even scrap fabric from sewing projects! These are sometimes referred to as “rag rugs”.

I have been wanting to make one of these for our home for quite sometime and I am finally making it happen this week. I like the idea of the braided rug because it is made from recycled material that I would otherwise throw away. Plus the rug has a unique, primitive charm about it!

Making a braided rug is actually not as much work as I thought it would be, you should try making one too! Here are the easy instructions followed by a helpful video tutorial.

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