Author: Susan Luke

Could you use some last minute handmade Christmas gift ideas? If you are anything like me, there’s always a gift or two I get stumped on, or worse, forget about.

For example, have you worked out what to give your child’s Teacher yet? Do you want to give a little gift of appreciation to your doctor or accountant or workmates? Do you want to give gifts that have some personal meaning and aren’t mass produced by a chain store?

Having some quick and easy ideas for handmade Christmas gifts is something I almost automatically put on my ‘to do’ list, and generally I use what I make! It does help reduce my stress levels to have a few extra gifts on hand just n case.

One of my favourite last minute handmade Christmas gifts this year is decorated candles. I found out how to decorate candles with stamped images on tissue paper. It’s so easy and it looks so good! You can purchase inexpensive undecorated candles from most grocery stores these days. You can choose almost any sized or shaped candle, as long as the surface is large enough to display the stamped images you would like to use.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Stamp an image on fine tissue (or Kleenex), cut it out and hold it on your candle with something that is heat proof like a wooden skewer.

2. Use a heat gun (maybe even a hair dryer would work) to carefully melt enough wax under the image to be soaked up by the tissue and meld the edges of the tissue into the candle.

3. Allow the wax to cool, and there you have it – a lovely decorated candle!

Another little emergency gift I have on hand this year is a candy bar favors. I have learned how to make a flat pouch out of paper big enough to hold a candy bar. I decorate the paper pouch and fix ribbon to it to assist the chocolate bar in sliding in and out of the pouch. It’s a neat little gift that can even be slipped into a Christmas card, if you choose a small, thin chocolate bar. If you go for gourmet chocolate – a small quantity of high quality chocolate – the gift is still going to be very affordable. After the chocolate is eaten, the pouch makes a wonderful book mark.

Handmade cards, tags and bookmarks are always appreciated. I think many recipients are touched that you have taken the time to make something especially for them.

Why not make up a number of blank cards and place them in a decorated box as a gift? It’s always handy to have ready made cards on hand to thank someone or to give for birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, new babies, etc. One friend I know made up a box that was divided into months of the year. She made the box for her mother. She then created a card for each special family event that she knew would be coming up in 2009, added envelopes and stamps, and her mother will just need to add her own hand written messages before mailing them.

What a thoughtful and useful gift!

I trust some of these last minute handmade Christmas gift ideas helps you to make sure everyone you appreciate feels very special this Christmas, withoiut breaking the bank, and that this helps you feel less stressed by the last minute preparations.

Having a few pre-made gifts on hand should do the trick!

EDITED: Thank you for the comments about safety and the use of tissue paper to decorate candles. I should have included a WARNING not to burn your decorated candle, or if you decide to do so to place it inside a hurricane lamp or similar to contain any possible fire hazard, and never to burn any candle unsupervised.

I have not heard of the special and safe tissue that my commenter referred to before. If you would like to let us know how to find safe tissue for candle decorating, I am sure many people would appreciate it.

About the Author:
Susan Luke loves paper crafting. Her website PaperCraftCentral contains a wealth of FREE information about scrapbooking, cardmaking, 3-d papercrafts and more. Sign up for her FREE Ezine “Paper Twists” today at http://www.papercraftcentral.com/subscribe.html

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