Kelly Rossiter
DCL
Today I am turning my post over to my daughter Emma, so that she can share some of her last minute gift ideas that you can make yourself. These are eco-friendly gifts that will keep you out of the mall. The photo shows Rosewood Body Scrub, a knitted baby hat and a pair of flannel pyjama bottoms, all handmade by Emma.
I've always been a fan of crafts, but have found that I just don't have the attention span to do any of those big ones (knitting a sweater? I can barely get past a sleeve). So most of my home-made Christmas presents have been very quick. My dad bought me the December issue of Martha Stewart Living, and in it were some great recipes for bath and body treatments that are made with things that most people already have in their house.
From all the recipes, I thought that the body scrub seemed the most interesting (and the easiest!). With only four simple ingredients and about 30 seconds of work time, it doesn't get much easier than this:
2 cups Epsom salts or organic cane sugar (depending on whether you want a large or fine grain)
1 cup carrier oil (sunflower, grapeseed, or light olive oil)
8 drops essential oil (available in health food stores and some grocery stores)
1 drop food colouring
Stir together the Epsom salts or sugar and carrier oil in a bowl, mixing well. Using appipette, add the essential oil, one drop at a time. Add food colouring, and stir until colouris even throughout. Spoon into canning jars.
I ignored the food colouring - the cane sugar I bought was golden, so it had a lovely brown sugar colour when the recipe was completed, fitting extremely well with the gentle scent of rosewood, which is the oil I picked. I put the scrub in some jars left over from my mom's canning experiments this summer. When filling the jar, be careful not too overfill it - the sugar/salt and oil will separate a bit (even if they were well mixed) and the oil will overflow if it is packed too tightly.
Knitting is also always a popular craft for the season. What better time to give gifts of warm, soft hats and scarves then in the dead of winter? While larger projects can seem intimidating, small projects such as scarves and baby hats can be made in only a few hours. Grab yourself some yarn and spend your Sunday afternoon knitting, maybe while you listen to Christmas music - not only will you have a beautiful gift for someone, but you'll have had a relaxing afternoon doing a fun activity. If you own a sewing machine, then you have even more choices - sewing a pair of pajamas for a child, try making a matching nightie for the child's teddy bear- it will mean more to them than you'd think. All you need is a pattern and some fabric - for the cheapest stuff, check out the remnants bin in your local fabric store - a lot of the pieces in their are bigger than you'd think.
When it comes to making Christmas presents, something simple and and thoughtful is definitely the way to go. Try taking a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree and have them spend the afternoon making and decorating picture frames - they make great gifts for grandparents. Or even just bake a batch of holiday cookies, go crazy with the icing, and put them in a festive tin. As long as you have fun doing it and put your heart into it, a home-made gift will always be a hit.
Difficulty Level: Easy
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