Easy Christmas Gifts that kids can make for their friends

Every year my kids love to write Christmas Cards to all the friends in their class. Most kids also include a candy cane or chocolate santa in with their cards. This year with two boys at school we need 52 gifts to make sure every child in each class got one.

So I decided to do something a bit different. My son had learnt at school how to make his own sherbet. So we set about making green and red sherbet. If you need a sherbet recipe click here.

We then packaged the sherbet into tiny clip seal plastic bags and included a green or red lollipop for dipping! We tied the whole lot together in a plastic bag with ribbon and attached a mailing label to each one.

On the mailing labels we decorated one side with washi tape and the other side I print out little messages to stick on each one. The message read:

Here's some Yummy Elf Dust,

To spread the Christmas Cheer,

And say thank you for being my friend,

Throughout our first Prep year.

(or other variation "throughout our Year 2 year")

Love from Charlie.

This was a really simple gift, but was much more personal than store bought cards and candy canes.

Next time I'll show you an easy Secret Santa gift.

Let the Gift Giving Begin!

December is usually my busiest craft month. I try and give as many Handmade Gifts as possible. So this month I thought I would just share with you my Christmas Gift Crafts as I won't be doing much blog specific crafting.

Most of them won't be Burlap. However, I hope they inspire you just as much as my Burlap gifts and give you some ideas to create your own Handmade Gifts.

Luckily my Husband never reads my Blog - so let's start with him.

Recently we went to Hamilton Island in Queensland for a holiday. Whilst we were there I was able to do a painting class. It was so lovely to spend 2 hours re-visiting a medium I haven't used in years. Inspired by the class and the beautiful Hamilton Island scenery, I came home and created this painting for my Husband.

He loves sailing and Hamilton Island is famous for it's race week. So I downloaded some photos of the Hamilton Island Race week for inspiration and crated this acrylic on canvas. Once dried I then applied a resin glaze to give it some extra shine and make it really pop. I framed it in a frame from IKEA.

One down, about 20 more to go!

Burlap Bag Lady at the Brisbane Craft Fair Christmas Gift Workshop

The Brisbane Craft Fair starts next weekend, and I am so excited to have a stand there! The fair runs from Wednesday 16th to Sunday 20th of October at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

I will be running a free workshop at 1.30pm everyday in Workshop Room 4 and I would like to invite you all to attend.

Easy Christmas Gifts to make in 10 minutes or less

Learn how easy it is to make your own Christmas Gifts for Friends and Family. You will learn 3 easy gifts that you can make in under 10 minutes each, that look fabulous and are very budget friendly! One general craft and two easy sewing projects. Includes free online pattern sheet. Never be stuck for a gift again!

Here is a sneak peak of one of the projects I'll be showing you:

Heart Shaped Pocket Warmers Tutorial

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you my heart shaped pocket warmers which I made for Mary for the last Handmade Swap I participated in. Even though Spring has sprung here in Australia, I thought these might come in handy for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere who are just about to embark on your cool season.

So here is the tutorial of how I made them:

1. Cut two heart shapes out of felt. I used a printed felt for the front and a solid yellow for the back.

Entries for the Royal Show

Tis that time of year again in Brisbane when the Ekka comes to town. The Ekka is the Agricultural Show when 'country comes to the city'. It's also the most competitive show in the State for Crafters. This year I've opted to enter three categories:

• Funky Fabrics and Wearable Art
• Christmas Decorations 
• Childrens Toy

And for once, I'm actually somewhat organised.

So I thought I would share with you what I am making. The first is the Christmas decorations. Given many people celebrate 'Christmas in July' now is a good time to share with you my Burlap Christmas Trees.

Here's the final product:

If I were displaying them around the home, I would probably sit them on top of wine or champagne glasses at varying heights, but for now, they are just sitting on the table.

To make, they are really simple. Take a large sheet of cardboard (I used old manilla folders) and roll them around using one corner as the point to form a cone shape.

Burlap Christmas Gift Tags

Things have been a little slow on the blogging front lately as all my attention has been turned to my new studio. Hopefully, all fingers crossed, it will be ready for Christmas and be the best Christmas present ever!

So my Burlap adventures have been curbed somewhat, however I couldn't resist a little burlap for Christmas.

This year I decided to go with brown paper packaging tied up with string (these are a few of my favourite things!). So for the gift tags I made some simple Burlap tags.

Here's the how to:

Cover a piece of A4 cardboard with spray adhesive and lay your burlap over the top. I then placed a piece of baking paper over the top and weighted the burlap down to make sure it sticks. I used a box of champagne bottles - after all it is Christmas time!

Cutest Burlap Christmas Sacks Ever!!

OMG! I am in love! Just found these on the harrow and green website. The cutest ever personalised Burlap Christmas Sacks.

They come in four different designs and can be personalised with your childs name on them. I just love them and must have one for each of my boys!