Thrifty Thursday- Creative Gifts

 

 

We have been reusing LOTS of things around our house lately in an effort to not only recycle, but to save money and be creative and thrifty!

Above is a picture of a gift my daughter made for her cousin who just turned 7. It is a jigsaw puzzle made out of an old calendar picture.

Materials Needed:

• A wall calendar page
• Piece of cardboard same size as calendar page
• a can with resealable lid to hold puzzle pieces
• craft knife
• cutting mat or folded newspaper
• spray adhesive
• 2 fabrics covered can and top of lid
• lightweight fusible interfacing
• small picture cut from back of calendar to match puzzle picture (if available)
• small toy to match theme of calendar
• short length of narrow wooden dowel
• curling ribbon
• white and 2 colors of paper
• felt tip pen
• pinking shears
• craft glue
• hot glue gun and glue sticks

To make puzzle: Cut desired page from claendar. Use spray adhesive to glue page to cardboard. Use a pencil to draw shapes for puzzle pieces on back of cardboard (pieces must be small enough to fit into can).

To decorate can: Remove lid from can. Follow manufacturer’s instructions to fuse interfacing to wrong sides of fabrics. Measure around can and add 1/2”. Measure height of can. Cut a piece of fabric the determined measurements. Overlapping short edges at back, use craft glue to glue fabric to can. Draw around lid on second fabric. Cutting just inside drawn shape, use pinking shears to cut shape from fabric. Use craft glue to glue fabric shape to top of lid. Use craft glue to glue small calendar picture to 1 piece of colored paper. Trim paper to 1/4” from edges of picture. Hot glue picture to front of can.

For sign: Cut a small piece of white paper. Use pen to write desired greeting on paper piece. Use craft glue to glue white paper piece to second colored paper piece. Trim colored paper to 1/4” from edges of white paper. Hot glue sign to 1 end of dowel. Tie several ribbon lengths into a bow; curl ends. Arrange toy, sign, and bow on lid; hot glue to secure.

 

The picture above is one of the presents we gave my husband on Father’s Day. The children saw these bouquets in Kroger which had nuts in a vase and energy bars as the flowers. They were $24.99 each! I told them we could make our own for way less than that! We already had everything but the bars. We usually do not purchase these particular brands due to the soy ingredients, but they were on sale and I had a coupon and before we eliminated soy, they were some of my husband’s favorite bars, so we got them! It cost us about $2 to make this entire arrangement!

Materials needed:

Vase or other container (I used a 1/2 gallon mason jar)

Peanuts, pistachios, etc.

Tissue paper

Floral Foam

Dowel sticks

Energy Bars, Candy Bars, etc.

Tape

Instructions:

Fill clean jar with nuts to almost the top. Cut floral foam to fit into jar, but still hold firm in it. Cover it with small piece of tissue paper. Place foam in middle of two sheets of tissue paper. Insert foam into jar with tissue paper splayed out over rim of jar. Tape bars to dowel sticks and arrange in floral foam.

 

Below is a picture of what a friend of mine received from his wife and children for father’s day! Really cool idea!