Friday 23 December 2016

Making Merry: Handmade Gifts for Christmas

Wrapped up in handmade gifts is the time, the love and the well-wishes of the crafter. Little handmade gifts have been slowly taking shape here over the last few months as I've endeavoured to finish projects for our dear ones. I wanted to make sweet and beautiful things, useful things, things which speak of nature and of caring for our Earth. 

A creamy knitted washcloth and a sweet bird stitched on a little drawstring bag.
(Bird design by the talented Melissa Wastney of tiny happy.)

A little hand-rolled beeswax candle that smells of honey.
(Beeswax sheets from Happy Flame.)

Hand stitched and home-sewn reusable Christmas sacks. A little  gift tag too!
(Repurposed cotton and calico bags, old salvaged doilies and last year's Christmas cards.)

Beside me in this merry making has been our boy. He's happily rolled beeswax sheets into candles, written words on bags for me to stitch over, repurposed used Christmas cards into gift tags and added all the extra sparkles needed with a good sprinkling of glitter! (Apparently, one can never have too much glitter!)

There is now only a little merry-making left to do. Today, we'll bake some lemon myrtle shortbreads using fragrant fresh leaves. We'll wrap and tie with ribbon the little gingery Christmas cakes we have made for our lovely neighbours and we'll hand-dip macadamia nuts in melted white chocolate for a Daddy who loves them.  We will honestly try not to sample too many of these goodies while making merry in the kitchen. It is important to taste test though, isn't it?

Meg











12 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas to you and your family Meg.
    The gifts look sweet and perfect!

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    1. Merry Christmas to you too, Cheryl. I hope you and your family have a lovely time together on Sunday and that the new year dawns with hopefulness and happiness. Meg Xx

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  2. Oh yes! You must taste test ... Just don't leave any nibble marks!

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  3. Ssh...don't tell...but there are a few chocolatey macadamia nuts that didn't make it and there's quite a few biscuits that seem to have disappeared. Wasn't me!

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  4. Your gifts look lovely and after seeing them, I think next year I might try making some gifts for my family.

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    1. Hi Jan. The little rolled beeswax candles were so simple to make and they smell so lovely. We'll definitely be making them again next year. I still have lots of the little white drawstring bags which I got from a place here called Reverse Garbage. I'm going to keep stitching little birds and flowers onto those too as they can be used to hold soap or other treasures and the recipient can reuse them. Have fun making gifts for your family during the coming year. Meg:)

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  5. You're singing my song. Have a wonderful, simple hand made Christmas full of love and meaning. Look forward to more doings in the new year.

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    1. We had a lovely Christmas, Tanya. Some homemade gifts and delicious homemade food which we shared with our family and friends. Simple and happy. I hope your Christmas was wonderful! Meg:)

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  6. Your handmade gifts look lovely, Meg. I used to make beeswax candles many years ago. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day.

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    1. Thanks, Nanna Chel. The rolled candles were so easy to make & my boy really enjoyed doing that so we'll do those again next year. They smell so deliciously like honey! I hope you're enjoying this festive season, it rained here on Christmas Day and a few showers came through yesterday. Kept things cooler which was much appreciated! Meg:)

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  7. Thank you for your comment on my blog with ideas for handmade gifts. have found your blog now so will keep reading

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    1. Hi, Sue. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll find some posts of interest to you here. I really liked your Christmas hamper and the lovely things you put in it. Great ideas that I can use for next year too! Meg:)

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