Handmade Holiday Gifts 2010

I believe they've all been delivered, shipped, and opened, so I can share this year's handmade holiday gifts:

First -- What else, but Holiday Signs! 

These 1ft x 4in signs hung with twine made fantastic gifts for teachers, nursery workers, and friends.

Next, bags of Aunt Dora Cookies for our neighbors:

We put these tiny cookies into sandwich-sized ziplock bags and folded a piece of Christmassy patterned paper over and stapled it together over the zipper.  Easy--and tasty!

And finally, Picture Pebble Magnets:

These were wonderful grandparent and aunt & uncle gifts since they featured all the grandkids/cousins, each on a magnet of their own. We made them for both sides of the family.  Ayla was a great helper when it came to putting the patterned paper and magnets onto the metal plates.

Some tips for making these:

• Use flat, crystal clear pebbles.  Iridescent ones don't look very good.
• E-6000 glue is perfect for gluing the photos to the pebbles & the pebbles to the magnets.  Just beware of the fumes!
• Get strong magnets.  Otherwise, why bother? :) 
• Check the hardware store for metal plates with holes already drilled.  I found these 4 1/2" x 2" metal plates at Home Depot for only $0.53 each and used the holes already drilled to thread ribbon through.

Photos worked great for these, but patterned paper and my Bic Mark-It markers made cut little sets too that a few of my friends received:

All this year's handmade presents seemed to be well-received...or else everyone we give presents to is really good at faking how much they love a gift!