Two Easy Christmas Gifts to Make Yourself
Christmas is a week away and if you are anything like me, you still have a few gifts that you have not gotten covered. These two DIY gifts are quick and easy to make, but they always get wonderful reactions from the recipients because they are so special.
Framed Family Cloud
Isn't this gift the cutest thing you have ever seen?
My oldest gave this one to her grandmother as a Christmas gift.
I have made no fewer than ten of these word clouds and each time the recipient has gushed about them. We have one for our family that hangs in our hallway.
The first step is to type out all the family members first and last names in a word processing documents. By having them in a document, so you can copy and paste or come back later if you are interrupted.
To create the image I use the site Wordle. Word takes the number of times a word appears on your list and makes the word that sized based on the number of times it appears. This is why you want first and last names so the last name will appear larger. I also copy the adults' first names a couple extra times, so they appear larger than the children's names.
Then hit go!
Wordle will create your cloud of names. Then you can change the font, color, and formation until you get the combination that you LOVE. This is my favorite part.
The last thing to do is to print and frame it. I personally like them framed with matting as it makes it dressier to hang on the way.
The whole gift takes less than an hour from start to finish.
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Document Holiday Ornament
I am a packrat; I save all kinds of documents: every Christmas card, birthday card, notes from the teacher. I have worked to sort and trash some of the boxes of papers that I have, but some are too precious to pitch, so I had to come up with a way to use and display them. The document holiday ornament was born.
All I used was a clear glass bulb and the program from my friend's wedding. I knew that I didn't need to keep the program from the ceremony, but I also knew that I did not want to throw it away.
Using my scrapbook paper cutter, I sliced the text of the program into one-inch strips. Some of the border I trashed, and I could only use one side of the document.
Next, I rolled each strip into a spiral around a large marker that I had lying around to curl them. I had to roll them fairly tight to get the strips into the bulb, but they uncurled once inside.
I was able to get five strips into the bulb without it looking crowded.
As the strips uncurled, you could see the back of the program as well, which was a very nice bonus.
What document would you like to put into an ornament for yourself or for a gift?
