The Perfect Handmade Gift Ideas!

Although a certain event is synonymous to “gift-giving,” it doesn’t mean that is has to be an “expensive gift-giving”. For those who are tight on budget but would want to share something to the special people around them, there are many inexpensive but great handmade gifts that would definitely put a smile on your recipient’s lips.
Maximize your creativity

Indeed, the any special season—a birthday, Christmas, Valentine's, anniversary celebration, etc.—rekindles love, resurgence, and hope of people regardless of age, gender, or race. Aside from sharing love to the ones around you, these special events are also the perfect time to be creative and be resourceful.

Since you are on a tight budget, visiting stores on sale or bazaars can definitely help you find inexpensive gifts to give out. You can also create homemade and handmade gifts using inexpensive materials. Here’s a short list of classy yet inexpensive gift items you can give out in any special occasion:

1. Personalized items. These are probably the most popular inexpensive handmade gifts of all times. Personalizing something like a recipe book for those who love cooking, a sketchpad for those who love drawing and sketching, a scrapbook for those who are fond of collecting and immortalizing memories, a notepad or journal for those who are inclined to writing, a photo album for those who love to keep photos, and the list goes on. Personalized items are inexpensive Christmas gifts because all you have to do is look for materials you can recycle. After recycling these items, you can add personal touches to it and give it away as a nice present.

 2. Custom and handmade stationeries. Combine unused ordinary envelopes, colorful bond papers, and unique specialty papers and you can create a custom-made stationary perfect for your recipient. You can also use colored pencils, watercolors, and glitters to decorate your special stationary. You may even put shiny glitters and even put your recipient's favorite scent to it to make sure that he or she will really like it.

3. Sweets and treats. Cookies, chocolate treats, and sweet breads are surefire gift hits. If you can bake these goodies, you can save money compared to buying them. You can even warp these yourself by using nice jars and boxes, by collecting nice and colorful gift wrappers or by tying them up with used ribbons, and laces.

4. Handmade or decorated ceramics, glasses, figurines, and cloth items. If you have an artistic knack, buy a plain set of white ceramic figurines, clear glasses or mugs and decorate them. By using a bottle of ceramic paint, you can decorate or color by hand the figurine. You can also draw season-inspired themes on clear glasses to make them extraordinary or you can buy a simple set of fabric paint to decorate mugs, shirts, and small cloth items.

5. Homemade bath oils and perfumes. These also make the ideal handmade gift if you are into mixing fragrances. To save some money, try buying a large amount of perfume ingredients and create special fragrances, perfume or bath oil for your recipients. You can also purchase individual mini-bottles to put these pampering products in. If you do this, you can calculate and manipulate the amount of you can put in each bottles so you can give it to more people.




submitted by guest blogger, Jessica Connerdale.
If you enjoyed her tips, please comment below.

Antique collecting is one of those hobbies that can last a lifetime!

Antique collecting is one of those hobbies that can last a lifetime. This is because the "hunt" never ceases to fuel the drive of people to look for and eventually possess the finest things in their lives. This is also the reason why many are eager in learning how to spot the best pieces of antique there are.

Aside from giving people a chance to possess items that are truly works of art, antique collecting can also provide them an enriching learning experience as well as the possibility to meet people with various cultures and backgrounds in life. Collecting antiques can also be a helpful diversion especially to very busy people who don’t have enough time to assuage their personal hobbies.

But, among all the advantages of antique collecting, being a venue for a lucrative financial gain is one of the major reasons why more and more people get into it. No matter what are the reasons behind your antique collecting—whether it is for future investment, for pure appreciation of art, or for satisfying your need to possess beautiful things—you will never go wrong with the hobby as long as you know what your limitations are.

Reasons why you should start antique collecting

Antique collecting is an instinct to many people. This is because all human beings have innate desire to possess things that are valuable to them as well as the things that are beautiful and unique. But, unlike collecting just about anything, antique collecting can give the person deeper pleasure. This is because it can satisfy not only the need to possess beautiful and rare objects but also helps the person to be financially stable.

The population of antique collecting has grown into large proportions because of the seemingly limitless potentials it offers. If you are new to the hobby, then it is best if you familiarize yourself with the things that you need to know about antiques. These information should include the basic terminologies used in antique trading, types of antiques, ways to determine the authenticity of a specific item, and how to take good care of the antique piece/s. These pieces of information can be researched online or by reading various reference materials such as books, magazines, and the like. 

If you are having doubts about buying a specific antique item, gauge how much you want the item. Many people who are starting with antique collecting tend to get overwhelmed easily. This is the case especially if they have seen authentic pieces for the first time in their lives. To ensure that you are not making hasty and impulsive decisions, know how much you want the item. If you want a specific item that much, throw all your cautions and hesitations and buy it. Just make sure that your financial status will not suffer from it.

Also, check if your budget can handle it. This is very important especially for beginners because it can help them spend on items wisely. Knowing your budget limitations and sticking to it no matter what is very important because it will help you develop the discipline needed when you decide on things in future.

Learning the theme of your collection is also important in spotting an antique piece. This is also very crucial in antique collecting because it will veer you away from buying things you don’t really need. Setting a theme for your collection will somehow limit you in buying antique items that you see in various stores or online auctions.

submitted by guest blogger John Thyme

If you enjoyed his post, please leave your comments below.

5 Classic Spring Gift Ideas

Spring is the one time of year in which our cleaning efforts are nothing short of inspired. Yet it is also the spring that often eludes us when it comes to inspiration for gift-giving. Why not put them together!  Give a gift that with enhance their spring cleaning ritual and make their space more inviting!

1) Flowers. Spring is the time of flowers. They are all around us. Use fresh cut flowers and candles to create beautiful arrangement and centerpieces as a gift.

2) Candles. They deserve their own spot among the top five to say the least. Candles can be soothing, relaxing, invigorating, inspiring, beautiful, elegant, and simply smell good.

3) Towels. Yes I said towels. In your kitchen and your bathrooms you need bright, bold colors that signify spring, birth, and renewal- they can even be monogrammed.

4) Fragrance. While most people do not realize that the fragrances we use in our homes is a type of decoration. It makes our noses happy to some degree but also the potpourri and fragrance diffuser are often decorations in and of themselves. Put out bowls filled with brightly colored and lightly scented fragrance balls, dried fruit, and other delights. Gourmet potpourri can be found in all kinds of gift and fragrance shops and is a rather inexpensive way give a nice gift in the spirit if spring.

5) Fruit. You can make a fruit gift basket with fragrant fruit, chocolates, etc... or a fruit salad or even give an edible arrangement gift basket. 

submittby by guest blogger: Tiara Simmons

If you enjoyed this post by Tiara, leave your comments below. Thanks!