Tag Archives: Christmas

50 Jar Gifts: idea #21 – “I Love You” Jar

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gift of love in a jar from New Nostalgia

I had visions of getting a bunch of jar gift ideas done for Mother’s Day but somehow other things took priority. So now I have a chance to do some Father’s Day focused ideas. I find dad’s harder to buy for and often resort to edible gifts for my Dad. I’ll resist that at least for a bit and see what else I can come up with first. This idea works equally well for Moms, Dads, Grandparents or anyone. It is super simple in concept. Just write the things you love and appreciate about the person on slips of paper and put them into a jar. By folding or even curling them it looks fun and helps the jar look full. You can decorate the jar any way you would like. Here are a few examples of what others have done.

photo via Pinterest via Squidoo.com

I love you jar from Debbie Hanley

image from Cool Mom Picks via Pinterest

If this idea inspires you, let me know. I’d love to share your project here too.jar gift logos22

Want some more ideas? Visit my Pinterest board dedicated to jar gift ideas.

50 Jar Gifts: idea #20 – bath salts

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image from My Crazy Blessed Life

Here is a quick idea for Mother’s Day or any time of year, homemade bath salts! I’ve never tried them but they look like they are fun and easy to put together. Show your mom you appreciate her hard work and that she should take some time for herself. Remissness about childhood bath time. Thank her for all the years of service and the good memories.

Click on the photos for recipes and instructions.

image from Denise in Bloom

photo from Paula Deen

photo from Saving with Shellie

If this idea inspires you, let me know. I’d love to share your project here too.jar gift logos21

Want some more ideas? Visit my Pinterest board dedicated to jar gift ideas.

50 Jar Gifts: idea #19 – secret message

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image from My Sisters Suitcase

This would be a great gift for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or a birthday. The basic idea is to write a message, one letter at a time one side of a group of small objects. Then number them 1 to whatever and put them all together in a bottle. When the gift is opened, they put the object in numerical order and then turn each piece over to read the message. You can use wooden game pieces like the example above or paper or even candy. I did it with a variety of hard candy for my dad’s birthday last year and not only did he enjoy it but his grandsons had a great time figuring out the message.

To tie the idea into sharing family stories, the message could be the start of a story or a favorite memory about the person. It could be the starting off point for story telling or you could record the story on an audio or in a book or even just written down on a piece of paper. Here are some more secret messages in bottles ideas.

image from Lessons Learnt Journal

image from Club Chica Circle

If this idea inspires you, let me know. I’d love to share your project here too.jar gift logos20

Want some more ideas? Visit my Pinterest board dedicated to jar gift ideas.

50 Jar Gifts: idea #13 – I Spy Jars

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image by Spell Outloud via Pinterest

I find I spy bottles fascinating. They are easy and inexpensive to make. I think it would be fun to make jars with objects that represent favorite family stories or things about a specific ancestor. I can just imagine a group of cousins with identical I spy jars gathered around listening to stories about their family while they try to find the item. Another option is to create an I spy jar to help in telling just one story. The items in the jar could represent different parts of the story. It would be awesome to make a story book to go along with the jar. How about a series of I spy jars with companion books waiting on the shelf for the grand-kids to come by?

Rice is the most common filler but lots of other things work like beads, bird seed, wheat or a mixture of small items. I hope the images below will get your creative juices going.

image from brainintrainin.com via Pinterest

I Spy Bottle Tutorial on Southern Disposition

image from Tara Teaches

image from Meet the Dubiens

glitter spy jar from inspire co.

If this idea inspires you, let me know. I’d love to share your project here too.jar gift logos14

Want some more ideas? Visit my Pinterest board dedicated to jar gift ideas.

50 Jar Gifts: idea #11 – Craft Kit

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snowman craft kit by Michelle of chalkboardblue.com

Do you know someone who likes to make crafts? How about gathering together supplies and packaging it into a jar? The supplies could be for a specific craft, like the snowman kit above or just a gathering of supplies.

How do you tie into to telling your families stories? Well if your family has a story about a snowman the snowman kit would be the perfect opportunity to share that story. One year when we went on our annual Christmas tree cutting trip we found a huge snowball someone had made. We took the opportunity to take family photos on and around the snowball. It was a memorable occasion. So pick a craft that reminds you of a family story.

image from Breann Suttles on Pinterest

contents of the jars above

Or if an ancestor who enjoyed a certain craft or hobby and kit related to that would work great. My grandmother learned to paint when she was older. A jar with painting supplies would create an opportunity to share about how Irene enjoyed taking classes on painting and went on many outings to paint landscapes.

Jar filled with crafting supplies via The Shine Project

Another option would be to have some of the craft supplies come from buttons or fabric etc that were once owned by an ancestor. I’ve inherited much of my grandmother’s thread and buttons. A kit could also give you the chance to teach a skill such as sewing or knitting or something like wood working or candle making that a used to be common knowledge for our ancestors that we don’t often learn today.

image from ashleyannphotography.com

image from Geraldine Martinez

You could also put together a kit or scrapbooking and encourage a family member to record a story from their own life. There are so many possibilities. Start brainstorming and see what you can come up with that ties into your own family stories.

Jared Craft Projects via homespunfair.blogspot.com

If this idea inspires you, let me know. I’d love to share your project here too.jar gift logos12

Want some more ideas? Visit my Pinterest board dedicated to jar gift ideas.

50 Jar Gifts: idea #9 – Idea Jars

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image from ShabbyBeachNest.com

Gather together ideas for activities in a jar. They can be geared to kids during the summer or activities for families to do together or even simple ideas for date night or one on one time with a child. This is also a great way to get chores done. ShabbyBeachNest even has a tutorial and printables or her “I’m Bored” Jar here.

Pick activities that remind you of your childhood or a family story and you have a great way to share story or memory in the process.

I’m Bored Jar from Audrey of “Miss Audrey Sue” via ShabbyBeachNest.com

Date Night ideas via pinterestingpix

Job Jar from MarthaStewart.com

If this idea inspires you, let me know. I’d love to share your project here too.jar gift logos10

Want some more ideas? Visit my Pinterest board dedicated to jar gift ideas.

Christmas From A to Z: eBook

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Today I did my first attempt at an interactive eBook. The links below should take you to a pdf of the book. I kept it pretty simple with just a link on each page to jump to the page with the entire tree to search for the symbols of Christmas. I think it is sized for viewing on an iPad so let me know how it works on that or other devices you try it on.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas this week!

A to Z eBook

A to Z eBook

 

Not the week I had planned

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Saturday is here and I have yet to get a post done so I’m putting together a quick apology. The week started out great and then ran into a cold. I’ve been running on about 10% since than but it is starting to improve. The printing is done for all my Christmas gifts but oh, there is so much cutting still to do. Fingers crossed I can get it done before Christmas. Wishing all of you the best in your final Christmas preparations.

my Christmas printing

 

Snoopy – Candy Window Installed

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Snoopy and his doghouse

Finally coming up for air after a couple of weeks of total focus on finishing this years candy window. Last night was the unveiling and though we had some snags and challenges along the way Snoopy and his dog house look great. If you are in the Salt Lake Valley during the holidays let me know and I’ll give you directions to find the window. There are 8 other candy windows too, including my Frosty from last year. I only got a couple of pictures snapped. Hopefully I can get some more next week of Snoopy and the other candy windows too.

Christmas from A to Z at Festival of Trees

Part of what made this week extra crazy is that we donated the candy sculpture (Christmas from A to Z) I did two years ago to the Festival of Trees. It was in pretty bad shape and I spent 12 hours fixing it up. Good news is there were multiple bidders and it sold for about $650. All that money goes to Primary Children’s Hospital.

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Christmas From A to Z: book

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When I made the Christmas from A to Z candy sculpture two years ago, the idea I had was to use it as illustrations for a children’s book. This year the tree is being donated to Festival of Trees to be sold to raise money for Primary Children’s Hospital. I want to have a copy of the book to go with the tree so pushed this week to get it finished and yeah, I finally got it done! Clink the link below to see a preview. For some reason I can’t get the preview to embed properly.