“The RoseBouquet”

Are you a frugal shopper? Maybe a coupon queen? Or do you know where all the best discount stores are, and how to time your visits when a new shipment has come in? Good for you! You could teach me a thing or two.

You see, I’ve learned to be so frugal I hardly ever shop at all any more. Especially when it comes to Christmas gifts. For years now, I’ve been making gifts out of the things I find lying around the house. If you are hard up, and willing to invest some time, here are some ideas to get your mind going.

If you have a sewing machine, or can borrow one, and have access to bags of remnants of fabric, there are a number of things to sew.

Pretty silks and sheers might make scarfs. Monogramed?

Shopping Bag/Wallet - sturdy cottons, cords, and synethics, even if in prints you would never wear, can be sewn into a shopping bag. I once saw and copied one done so it folded up into a compact zippered wallet.

The construction is similar to a paper bag, then just sew a heavier base over the bottom but allow it to be a wee bit bigger than the base. Sew a zipper around and fold or crumple the bag part inside.

Picture frames make a nice gift and can be done in so many ways. Use the stiff paper of empty cereal boxes, to cut a frame (oval, rectangle, chippendale, etc.) and a matching base without the hole. Cover each with fabric, adding a bit of fiber fill or cotton batten for the frame part. Glue together with a glue gun, or plain white school glue. Then add a scrap of cardboard covered with fabric for the stand on the back, or else glue on a ribbon loop for a hanger.

Another variation; use rumpled aluminum foil instead of fabric to cover the cardboard pieces. Smear shoe polish on the frame front and rub lightly for various antique pewter looks.

If you have children who want to be involved in making gifts, work with old standbys like paper mache, bakers clay and plaster of paris.

Paper Mache -
This is just torn up strips or bits of newspaper soaked in a basin of 1 cup flour to 4 cups of water. (Increase the quantities if you have a gang of kids, or if you are making heaps of crafts). If your newspaper is mucky enough you can mold things out of it.

Generally I layer and criss-cross strips of the wet paper over some base such as a blown up balloon. Later when dry, you cut away the excess portions to make a basket or a mask, or lacqueured fruit or candy dish.

One year I made a batch of about 19 lambs heads using balloons, for costumes for the Christmas program. Another year I shaped the plaster strips over yogurt cups to make bells. I’m tying them together with gold cords into threes and adding a huge newspaper shaped bow covered with fabric. These were door decorations, and my main gifts that year.

Bakers Clay -
This is a dough you make with 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1.5 cups water, and for smoothness, 1 tablespoon cooking oil. You mold various shapes, let them air-dry or bake them hard in the oven, and then paint.

I’ve made a whole set of tree ornaments, then used Rubbertex (stinky stuff!) and painted over them six times, to form a mold which I could use to pour copies of the original with plaster of paris.

Plaster of Paris -
is a chalky powder to mix with water and pour into molds. You can buy it fairly cheap in sacks at lumber yards. I used to get a 20 kg (50 lb) sack for about $11 when I was designing crafts for kids at church, and that would make 100-200 crafts for them to paint.

There are no end of ideas for plaster. If you can, get some plaque molds from a craft store, or make your own with the bakers’ clay and Rubbertex, and then make copies. Cost-wise, they work out to about 10-50 cents an item, depending on size.

If you are a good artist with paints, your crafts or ornaments can be as pretty as the ceramic ones. You just need to be more careful as the plaster will break when dropped on the floor.

To make sidewalk chalk for or with kids; mix up the plaster with water (as per instructions), add some powdered tempera paints, and pour into empty toilet paper cores, where you have taped one end shut. When dry, tear off the paper core, and you have coloured sidewalk chalk for the kids. Big fat crayons too!

It would take another article to cover all the gifts you can bake. One I’ve done a number of times is our traditional Mennonite Peppernuts. They are spicy wee cookies, the size of a nut that are made by the pail full. There are many recipes, but a number of them call for anise, which adds a licorice flavour. I’m doing one with candied fruits, and will make another batch of plain ones with anise, then mix the two in jars which I dress up with pinked caps and fancy labels. These gifts have been popular in the past.

There! I’m running out of space, but have I triggered some new ideas for things you can do? Go for it!

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Ruth Marlene Friesen, makes friends everywhere, just like her alter ego,
the heroine of her novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses. Discover the secrets of
intentional friendship that transforms lives at Ruthes-SecretRoses.com.
There’s over 600 pages to read! Look for the blog links too.
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