Rochester Folk Art Guild craft project and other homemade gift ideas
Save money and add your personal and creative touch
Making your gifts not only saves money, it also gives a personal touch.
The projects don’t have to be hard, just decide and get to it, because time will fade fast between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Here are some ideas for teachers, neighbors, co-workers or anyone else who you think deserves a pick-me-up. Many are kid-friendly, so make it a family project for Thanksgiving weekend.
Food: Fudge is actually one of the easier foods to make. You can also layer the dry ingredients for cookies in a pretty jar and attach the full recipe. Or you can make candy or dip pretzels in melted chocolate and then add sprinkles. You can get boxes from a discount or dollar store and add stickers or bows.
Decorated tiles: If you take leftover tiles from a bathroom or kitchen project or buy them from the discount bins at home stores, you can then take outdoor garden paint and some stamps or stencils and make either a pretty trivet with a larger tile or an ornament with a smaller one. You also could write letters out on smaller ones to spell “joy” or “peace” and add to a table runner for a table decoration.
Easy jewelry: Include mementoes such as antique buttons or shells gathered during a vacation, and a beaded bracelet can become a special gift to share.
Ornaments: See instructions for the cinnamon ornaments below, but you also can take clear glass balls and either decorate with ribbons or decoupage, or water down paint in squirt bottles, squirt one color inside the ball, allow to dry and then try another for a tie-dye look.
Tie-dye: This fun project for summer has gotten somewhat winterized with new tie-dye spray that is still messy, but much less so than the tubs of dye.
Individualized wrappings: Take white or brown stock paper and use stamps and buttons to make patterns.
CATHYR@DemocratandChronicle.com
Cinnamon Ornaments
This project, adapted from an Allrecipes.com recipe, fulfills some Scout cooking requirements and is as fun as Christmas sugar cookies to make and decorate. If you’re having a craft night, make the dough first and then move on to another project such as a quick weaving or dreamcatcher craft, and then back to this when the dough has sat for a half-hour. If you’re not meeting again before the ornaments are dried, make sure you have a small box for each person to take the shaped dough home with instructions to parents that they need to be laid out to dry.
Materials/supplies: 1½ cups ground cinnamon
1 cup applesauce
¼ cup white school glue (like Elmer’s)
Bowl
Plastic food wrap
Rolling pin
Wax paper
Cookie cutters or a knife
Ribbon or yarn for hanging
Straw
Mix cinnamon, applesauce and glue together in a bowl. The dough should be as thick as cookie dough. Add a bit of water if the dough is too stiff.
Remove from bowl and knead. Put it back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for at least a half-hour.
Remove the dough, knead again to make sure it’s smooth. Flatten/roll the dough between waxed paper until it’s between ¼ and 1/8 thick.
Cut out desired shapes, use a straw to punch a hole for the ribbon to hang. The circle of dough will pull out with the straw.
Gently place the shapes on a piece of clean wax paper. They will take 3 to 5 days to dry, and you will need to turn them over a couple of times a day for them to dry evenly and flat.
Decorative wool flower
This idea comes from the Rochester Folk Art Guild, which holds its annual Festival of Crafts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and next Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Sunday at the Harley School. It uses recycled materials, which is an eco-friendly advantage. The flower can be made into a pin, barrette, or even adorn a scarf, curtains or placemats. What a great use for your old sweaters.
Materials/supplies:
Old wool garments (socks, sweaters, jackets, pants, blankets, etc.)
Sewing needle
Thread
Buttons
Scissors
To begin this project, you must first wash the wool. This can be done in a washing machine. Hot water, soap and agitation are key to a complete felting process, which will maintain the integrity of your flower’s shape through future washings. After a complete washing cycle with hot water, the fabrics should be dried with high heat.
Assess and organize your materials. Buttons, thread, needles and other supplies should all be within arm’s reach when you begin your project. Lay out your fabric and these items on a large, clear surface that is free of clutter.
The petals are the first part of the flower that you will make. Any shape can be used. Circles, squares, triangles, maybe even a parallelogram. Try fraying or scalloping the edges (you could use pinking shears if you have them), and make a variety of sizes.
Cut out the leaves. Again, create with a variety of sizes, shapes, colors and edging techniques. Don’t be afraid to step outside the box. Blue leaves, possibly? Why not?
Assemble the flowers. Layer three or four color-coordinating petal shapes on top of each other and choose a complimentary button. The leaves should go on the bottom, just peeking out from under the largest petal shape and cross at the middle or underneath the button. Sew the flower by first going through the corners of the leaves, then the centers of the petal shapes, and then through the button on top. Go back down through the flower the opposite way. Repeat this stitch a few times until the flower feels secure.
Hershey’s Christmas tree
If making these with kids, break the toothpicks ahead of time, leaving some small ones for the top of the tree. Stick the pointy end of the toothpick in the piece of candy and the broken end into the plastic foam cone. Also, regular glue will not hold the candy, so if you do not have a hot glue gun or confectioners’ glue, use the toothpicks. Also, you can substitute a candy star or bell for the bow at the top of the tree.
Materials/supplies:
One 12-by-4-inch plastic foam cone
Aluminum foil (colored if possible)
4 bags (13 ounces each) holiday themed Hershey’s Kisses
Hot glue gun, confectioners’ glue or toothpicks
Bow
Cover foam cone with foil.
Decorate cone with green foil-wrapped chocolates by gluing flat side against the foil-covered cone. Use the remaining red and silver chocolates to decorate the tree. Insert one end of a toothpick into the side of each chocolate; insert other end into the foam cone, filling in the gaps be-tween the green foil chocolates.
Place a cheerful bow at top of tree.
