Toddler Friendly Gift Tags

I don't know about ya'll, but to me it seems those who want to be most involved in all the excitement of holidays are also the ones who can't read yet.  Our toddlers.  They want to be part of giving out the gifts and watching people open them, but when you can't read the gift tags, it makes it a little difficult. Yes, you could have an adult crouched down at the tree on Christmas morning handing out gifts and telling them who to deliver them to, OR you could take this idea and run with it.

Toddler Friendly Gift Tags

I love it! This is the second time I've done it, but the first time I was much more fru-fru about it.  I found cute tie-on tags and printed everyone's pictures out and glued them to the tags so they looked framed.  This Christmas was total chaos and the cuteness didn't happen.  

But guess what.  The toddlers still knew who to give the gift to without the fru fru tags.  Yup.  So fire up the computer, pull up some photos, print, cut and tape to the gifts (I printed on plain copy paper).  Now ALL your family can get involved in the gift-giving excitement while you prop your feet up in the recliner. :) 

Enjoy!

DIY Gift Ideas

Ya'll know I started this blog as a play to show my scrapbooks for my Etsy company, Pressed Clovers.  But then I started doing other crafty things and putting pics up here, so it's turned into a crafty blog. 

When I started thinking of ideas for homemade gifts, I realized I had quite a few tutorials or ideas already posted on this website! Here are a few reminders and links to things I've posted in the past.

1)  The Christmas Scrapbook.  I make my mom one for her birthday on January 4th and print dozens of photos from Christmas for her to put into it immediately.  This way she hasn't forgotten any of the details and can have it ready for the next holiday season.  Don't forget to include the double sided stickers for the photos! (more photos in the link). Basically, each page has a place for a photo and is already decorated. All she needs to do is put in the pictures and write her memories.

2)  Photo Flower Pots.  While I made these for Mother's Day, I think it would be nice for Christmas, too. There are still flowers in the winter!  This isn't difficult at all and is completely personalized.  Print pictures on plain white copy paper and mod podge them to your flower pot. Easy Peasy!

3)  Monogram is all the rage! Many of us have tons of buttons laying about - buttons in jars, buttons in drawers, or in my case, buttons from a yard sale.  Tons of buttons. A quick run to my local craft store for a burlap canvas and some hot glue can turn buttons into beautiful monograms. Loved this gift idea! So quick, can finish it in an hour. 

4)  Teenagers! What about them? I wondered the same thing. Which started another one of my traditions - a scrapbook for my preteen niece.  With her, however, I buy lots of fun teenagerish stickers for to her decorate the book herself. I provided the book and basic layouts, tons of printed photos which all included her, and the double sided tape squares. She really impresses me with her creative ideas! This year, I'm giving her all the supplies pre-cut (mats for the photos and decorative strips of paper and tape, and stickers, of course) and letting her design the actual pages!

5) Toddler Artwork  This is my most favorite DIY project I've done to date.  Having my baby niece participate by "painting" four canvases and then I hand lettered the word LOVE on top. This is currently hanging in my bedroom.  Not keen on something that large? How about a small canvas or cardstock even, let them add a little paint and you add a monogram with a sticker!  Make it your own creation! :)

6) Baby on the Way.  New mothers or mothers-to-be... even grandmothers! love having these premade scrapbooks for the newborns most stellar moments.  The delivery day, the first day home, the first bath, baby sleeping - this provides a place for all those photos and will become a gift to the baby one day.  While baby boy is featured, just think pink for a girl.


I hope some of these ideas may inspire you to try a handmade gift this Christmas or into the New Year. Share your ideas with me, I'd love to hear them!

Mom's Birthday Present - MORE CHRISTMAS!

I make all these scrapbook and never make them for my family.  So this year I made one for my mom for Christmas 2011 and gave it to her just before Christmas this year. She filled it up and then some, so I had to create extra pages!  For her birthday (in the beginning of January), I gave her another Christmas book for 2012, so she can go ahead and assemble it while those happy memories are still fresh. And I went ahead and added a few extra pages!  haha!

 
I can't tell you how much I loved this book when I was done!  The rustic colors really give it an old time feel and the accents were just the old, worn, loved look.  I think she really liked it.

So now she's ready to put some photos in and make this book come to life! I also made her extra pages for her granddaughter book.  It's a scrapbook of all the major holidays in the year.  But her granddaughter was born in June and missed several holidays. So I made pages for the holidays she was with us for and added them to the front of a calendar book. Now she's beginning from NYE/NY Day 2012/2013 and will have a complete book waiting for baby Macy's celebrations!

I hope to have a calendar book up in the Etsy shop soon - I'll let you know when it gets there!

Pictures with Santa

I received a custom request just before Christmas through my Etsy store, Pressed Clovers, for a book to keep all the photos with Santa throughout the years.  I loved this idea!! Imagine watching your child grow year by year as you continue to fill your Santa book!

The customer's pictures were all 5" x  7" so the mats needed to be just a bit larger to make the pictures stand out from the background.  My books are usually 8" x 8" so I knew it would be a tight fit with little room for decoration, but I was definitely up for  the challenge.  And I still included space to write so she could record the date, or year, or special request from her son that year. :)

Check it out and let me know what you think!

I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.  I love knowing one more family is keeping these cherished memories in an easy-to-access place! I can just imagine this mom giving the book to her son when he's all grown up and his new wife just loving seeing him as a child. *sigh* So sweet. :)

What happens after all the mess?

So you saw the picture of chaos scattered about my kitchen table... you didn't even see my actual work room. Oh my.

So what happens after all the chaos is turned into a book?  Well, here is an example of the Christmas books I've made in the past!

This book was purchased by a mommy for her daughter's first Christmas. I can just imagine pictures of baby and Santa for that first visit... this precious baby girl sitting in a pile discarded wrapping paper on Christmas morning... or maybe diving into a box because that's what they would prefer, right? 

Anyway, this is what is produced.  And you have to complete it with memories turned into pictures!