Practical Christmas gifts
bossyvossy
9 years ago
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mxyplx
9 years agoDeeby
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Christmas gifts for adult children
Comments (35)Count me in with the adult kids, no grands and missing the mornings excitement. What we do is get very creative with the wrapping. The boys especially compete for most creative wrap. One year i got DS some yard tools, and i used poster board to create a giant snowman. The tools were taped to the back and handles were used as arms. I added a scarf and mittens. They were all so surprised- figured' it was just another of Moms goofy attempts at holiday decorating. Lately its been big ticket gifts, but I supplement that with small items bought from local artisan fairs, such as hand made soap, soy candles or treats. There is a vendor who makes incredible cake ball truffles the boys love, and another who makes Indian nut brittle, DD1s favorite. Those are the elaborately wrapped items. But the all-time favorite is the stocking. We use the same ones every year-theyve been personalized with each persons name. I have mine from my childhood, the kids` original stockings from their first Christma, and every one who joins us gets one. I keep them and we reuse them every year. I even have the ex-BFs and ex-GFs! And since Christmas in our family always includes friends or extended family, I keep a supply of new stockings on hand. They are such a hit for all ages. The key is the stockings contain very inexpensive goodies. I go to the dollar store and find fun things-sudoko and word search books; packets of kleenex; paper airplanes and puzzles. Ive recently been adding calendars which are a HUGE hit. Sticky notes, lip balm, pocket size hand sanitizer, disposable lighters, packs of band aids, and ALWAYS candy bars & a scratch off lottery ticket. Oh, and an orange. Thats always in the toe. One year I forgot the oranges and they were so disappointed. I pick up trinkets all year long for the stockings. Those end caps at the grocery store checkstands yeild good selections....See MoreAn Easy way for us to prepare Christmas Gifts
Comments (1)done...See Morea couple of christmas gifts i painted :)
Comments (14)hello luvs and paintingfool :) firstly, thank you for the great comments :) oh dear... luvs... your questions are a little too technical for me, but i'll try to explain :) well.. the sunflower is definitely one stroke... that's how i learnt it anyway. i didn't base the mirrors because they already came in that black and looked totally cool! i didn't follow any template for the sunflowers, i just drew circles (centers) where i wanted the flowers to be then painted the petals on. i use like perhaps 5 colors (waterbase acrylic by jo sonja)and did perhaps 3-4 layers of petals... the colors for the petals were : yellow oxide (the brownish petals at the base), light yellow and warm white. for the upper layers i loaded warm white + light yellow then tipped the brush with yellow-orange and then some of the topmost petals were just warm white tipped with pale gold. i normally don't use pale gold on sunflowers but seeing that they were christmas gifts... i thought to give the flowers some 'glow' :) based the centers with a medium brown (hiding all the flaws at the base of the petals :) the petals were drawn outside to in) then used an old stiff brush to stipple burnt umber on the outside of the flower center, and yellow oxide + moss green to stipple the center of the flower center. i then used a stylus to put the dots on the center (warm white, light yellow and moss green) finally, i spattered the whole thing with pale gold using a tooth brush. wiped off any access spatters i didn't want, hence you only see the spatters near the flowers... to give it some magical stardust qualities :) (i think) finished off with 2 layers of satin varnish. for the elven mirror, i first designed the motif on a piece of paper then copied the design onto a transparency (some how i always prefer to keep my designs on tracing paper or transparency... transparency last longer and u can actually flip it the other way and do the opposite if needed) (i also use transparency for stencils.) then i transferred the motif onto the mirror using white transfer paper. the rest was just filling in the blanks. i use warm white and did like 3 layers to have it properly based. i also use the aid of a medium call 'stroke and blend' by jo sonja so that the painting is smooth. for the topmost layer i used pearl white to give the motif some luminescence (tho it just looks white in the picture) shaded parts of it with very diluted pale gold for dimension. finished off with 2 layers of satin varnish :) oh dear... i hope i'm not too long winded :) but those are the techniques i used (if you can call them techniques :) hope it helps :)...See MoreHow does your family handle gift giving at Christmas?
Comments (35)When the kids were young they got three gifts each then their Santa gift and stockings. Now they get about $50 worth of gift (usually one gift) or as a couple $100. Depending on what they have asked for. Two are married one is single, no significant other (yes if they had a bf or gf we spent that much also, I wanted them to feel special also). Same amount is given to DGD..only one grand child, so sometimes I don't stick to that. I do buy clearance stuff through out the year that she also gets, so it's probably more like $100 for her, but it equals TONS of gifts. We also include donations to church and giving tree gifts. Each child has a stocking...we use to fill it, now each child has to give for the others ($5 or so gift, nothing big), and I give each kid an ornament that signifies something about that year or themselves. Example, this year DS will get an ornament of a door with their house number on it (they bought their first house. DD#1 gets a the Bride and Groom as she was married. DD#2 gets a Santa with a fire helmet (Her apartment burned down). Still working on other ornaments. My siblings get nothing, My Dad and step-mom haven't decided. This year DH's siblings (who usually get nothing) will get a family picture (taken an DD#1's wedding, first time in YEARS to get that many family members together). We get for my nephew, he's still under 18, but that's the cut-off. We'll have to decide after that what to do. It's hard, but we're honest with the kids, and try to be creative. I've always wanted to celebrate Christmas AFTER the day, and see who can get the best deal...the kids say that's not fair. DD#2 is the BEST shopper and will put the others to shame! Vickey-MN...See More2ajsmama
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