The $5.00 Homemade Gift Challenge

The $5.00 Homemade Gift Challenge

 

      I know you are all waiting impatiently to read about the results of the $5.00 Homemade Christmas Gift Challenge.  Now that it is the last day of January, it's time to share the details. 

  Jody, Barb, Cheryl, Dawn

(a year or two ago...)

      The challenge, proposed by Jody last Christmas, was that our group of four would exchange Christmas gifts that were homemade and cost no more than 5 dollars. 

Gifts I Received

Alpaca Hat and Pumpkin Spice Soap

       Cheryl knit us each a hat from the finest alpaca which she bought in the western USA.  She knit the hats while motoring across North America with her daughter Kathryn last summer.  Every stitch tells a story!  She assures us there was no “knitting while driving.” Cheryl also added a bar of locally-made soap purchased at Gagetown’s Christmas in the Village.  Mine was Pumpkin Spice and smells good enough to eat.

 

Early Winter Forest Bouquet and Christmas Tin of Home-Made Oatcakes

 

      Dawn had plans to make us “chemically-adjusted” pine cones which would provide a fireworks display when ignited.  However, on her trip to the woods, she was unable to find the necessary pine cones.  So she made Early Winter Forest Bouquets to attach to the Christmas Tin of Homemade Oatcakes.  Yummy!

 

Sweet Bread and Seasonally-Themed Dishtowels and Cookie Cutter

 

     Jody made us each a sweet bread,  lovingly baked, and wrapped in blue ribbon.  She included seasonally-themed dishtowels and a cookie cutter in her package.  Jody assures us that she bought those items post-Christmas last year and that they fall within the $5.00 budget.

Gifts I Gave

     Stepping outside of my knitting comfort zone, I drew on my card-making enterprise to create my $5.00 homemade gifts for my friends.  Each package was designed to represent my personal relationship with each of my “soul sisters.”

Cheryl:

"Drink A Cup of Concrete" Card Collection

 

      In September 2013, Cheryl and I walked the Camino El Santiago in Spain together, along with 4 other friends.  So the cards I made for Cheryl were based on pictures and significant moments from that trip.  I call Cheryl’s card collection “Drink a Cup of Concrete…”, the beginning of a famous quotation and certain attitude we adopted on the Camino. 

 Dawn:

"Lit Mitts" Card Collection

 

      My connection with Dawn has a lot to do with books we have read, or want to read, or should read.  Inevitably, whenever we meet, the discussion gets around to books.    So the cards I made for Dawn feature some of our favourite titles with matching mittens, of course!  I call Dawn’s card collection “LitMitts.”

 Jody:

"The View from Above" Card Collection

 

     My connection with Jody goes back years before we were even born!  Both our family roots are firmly planted in the soil of Long Reach.  Through the help of my brother and Jody’s sister, I was able to get photos of Long Reach taken by Jody’s father in the 1940s from the steeple of St. James Anglican Church.  So Jody’s card collection is called “The View From Above.”

 

 

 Life Philosophy

     As you know from my previous blogs, I am cheap and I like the challenge of making something from nothing.  So, of course, I kept below the $5.00 budget.  I had my eye on a piece of homemade paper which my daughter Julia has had tacked to her bedroom wall since high school.  She has been out of the nest for 7 years now so I knew the paper would not be missed.  I made the packaging for the card collections from that paper.

I cut the paper into 3 equal sizes.

 Homemade Paper from Julia's Wall

 

 

Folded it.   Sewed it with leftover alpaca yarn from the Titus farm in Gorham’s Bluff...

Titus Alpaca Yarn

 

 

Attached buttons from my mother’s button box, part of my inheritance.....

 Buttons from my Mother's Button Box

Labelled it with my father's turnip tags, another precious item of inheritance…

 

 My Father's Turnip Tags

And, voila, a package for homemade cards and/or an earthy evening clutch to be worn with gown and tiara. 

Package for Cards or Evening Clutch

 

 

I wrapped the packages in an old Friends poster (significant) torn from Julia's wall.

Friends Poster

 

 Tied them with yarn. 

 

Wrapping Yarn

 

And tagged them with my new line of Mitten Gift Tags. 

Mitten Gift Tags

 

 

      The $5.00 Homemade Challenge has been reinstated for next year.  I'm thinking along the lines of Doll Dish Cupboards or Milkstools. 

 

Doll Dish Cupboard

 

Milk Stool

 

 

 

 

Until Next Time.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something From Nothing: Dedicated to my sister, Gail

 

 

Recommended Reading

 

 

      When my older sister Gail was a stay-at-home mother with three young daughters, she had the time and inclination to preserve her children's artistic efforts in creative ways.  She spent hours with her children crafting beautiful things from virtually nothing.  Using materials that she had on hand, she expended very little money on her projects.  The items she made from "nothing" are so much more precious than what she would have bought and given away.  It helps that she has a creative/artistic bent that allows her to see how something can indeed be created from what others would see as useless.       
 

Gail, Eleanor, Margaret and Sheila

Models for a Christmas Card

 

 

     I spent a lot of time with Gail's three daughters before I had children of my own.  I so enjoyed borrowing them for days and nights and weekends.  Of course, my sister was happy enough for them to go with me either singly or as a trio.  We did exciting things together......

like working,

Sheila

 

and dancing,

Margaret

 

and singing. 

Eleanor

 

     One of Gail’s creative inspirations was based on her daughters’ self-portraits drawn with wax crayons in an array of colors.  Sheila was 8, Margaret was 5 and Eleanor was two and a half when Gail had the girls each do a drawing of themselves.  My sister then took the drawings and replicated them into cloth dolls.  It has been 32 years since she made them and my set still holds an honoured place on my dresser and a treasured place in my heart.  I see them everyday. 

 

Self-Portrait Dolls:  Sheila, Margaret and Eleanor

 

The Kelley Girls:

Sheila
      The finished product reflects the complexity of their drawing skill. At age 8, Sheila’s is the most sophisticated, of course, with a symmetrical face, lovely, almost even, blond hair, dazzling eyelashes and an expensive golden pendant hanging around her neck. 

 

Sheila

 

Margaret

Margaret, age 4, has her close-cropped blond hair under control, eyes that are only slightly different in size and a big grin that extends a little higher on one side.  Her nose is only a little off-centre. 

 

  Margaret

Eleanor

      Eleanor, the two and a half year-old, presents a most interesting figure.  The blue eyes are of very different sizes, her smile is a straight line, and her mass of red curls is represented by 3 red circles and a blob of red to the side. 

 

Eleanor

 

      And here they are in action.  Sheila has let her hair down, Margaret welcomes us with open arms, and Eleanor is about to dance a little jig!

My Three Kelley Nieces

 

     A more recent shot of the three girls.  Sheila is still wearing that golden pendant, Margaret's grin is still beaming, and Eleanor still has three red curls!

 

 

 

The Manger Scene:

     Another  treasured gift I received from Gail was a crèche which included Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, a shepherd, a donkey and a sheep.  She made the characters three dimensional from scraps of fabric and stuffing, items she had on hand from previous projects.  Over the 30-plus years that this collection has been a part of our Christmas tradition, the three adult players have lost their headgear, Mary's right eye has enlarged, the shepherd has lost his staff, and the donkey has had surgery on his right shoulder.   Jesus is still sleeping soundly, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying a cloth-covered matchbox.   

 

The Manger Scene

 

 My daughter Julia, born on Christmas Eve, has always taken extreme delight in all things Christmas.  We call her "The Christmas Spirit" in our house. 

Julia, The Christmas Spirit

 

Gail's homemade crèche has given Julia hours of enjoyment over the years as she would play with the characters and give dialogue to their actions.  I was often sitting off in the corner listening carefully and taking mental notes. The following is an excerpt from my Mother Journals, December 8, 1998, when Julia was almost 8 years old. 

Because the crèche is out for Christmas, Julia has been playing the Christmas Story.  Part of the overheard narrative went like this:  “Mary tossed and turned all night because the old man snored.”  The story continued and in reference to Mary she made the following statement, “It isn’t everyday you get pregnant and you don’t know how.”  A little later in her play I hear her say that Mary woke Joseph up from his sleep.  I guess Joseph was annoyed because he said, “Jeesh, I think I liked you better when you were pregnant.”

     Another day when Julia was spending time with the crèche, she came running out to the kitchen, very upset.  "The sheepkiller's stick is broken, the sheepkiller's stick is broken, ”  she wailed.   This turned out to be the shepherd’s staff which was fashioned from a pipe cleaner.

 

Gail and the Next Generation:

What would you do with an empty Pringle can?  Throw it away? 

 

 

NO!  Make an Easter Bunny! 

Gail and her granddaughter, Miss Emily, Easter 2014

 

Keep up the good work, Gail!

 

 

Until next time....