01 January 2010

Homemade ornaments and inexpensive gifts

Yeah, this is posted after Christmas because if I posted before, everyone would know what they were getting!

I was pretty broke this holiday season, so I made a lot of gifts. I made ornaments using an easy and inexpensive salt-dough recipe, also used to make these beads. Many of my friends are celebrating their first Christmases in a home they don't share with parents, with husbands and/or children, and many are starting from scratch with their decorations and ornaments. I thought this would be a nice idea.

Dough:
1 c. corn starch
1/2 c. salt
1 c. baking soda
1 c. water

Mix all of the ingredients in a pot, and set it to medium heat. Stir constantly while the mixture starts to thicken. This will happen quickly. Once it is about halfway thickened, turn off the heat and keep stirring until a thick paste is formed. Spoon it on to waxed paper until it is cool enough to touch. This whole process only takes a few minutes.

Just roll it out like cookie dough, cut shapes with cookie cutters, poke a hole for hanging, let them dry, and paint.



I made a few ball ornaments using this tutorial, but instead of 20 circles I used 8. I have a ton of leftover scrapbook paper from years back and it worked great. They were perfect for my little 2-foot tree.

I also made biscotti, hot cocoa mix, chocolate peanut butter cookies, and cinnamon rolls and packaged them in cute bags with the ornaments and gave them as gifts.

I think they went over well, and even though they were similar, I tried to personalize each gift package for each person. Making gifts does take more time, but I was able to give my friends gifts without spending money that I don't really have.

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