Plastic Bag Gift Topper Tutorial

A great use for all those plastic bags: Creature Comforts provides this wonderful tutorial on turning old bags into pom-poms.

Junk Mail Art Tutorial

Even if you sign up for those nice services to limit the amount of junk mail you get, it's still nearly impossible to avoid getting some unwanted mail.  So I thought this art project from re-nest was a nice idea.  The post even includes a nice step-by-step tutorial in case you want to replicate it.
 

Turkey Time

Unlike all the stores, which started selling Christmas merchandise right after Halloween, I am eagerly looking forward to Thanksgiving.

Found these adorable Turkey Pops from Bakerella, who provides the recipe. Now, I'm waaaay too lazy to actually try to make these myself, so I'm hoping one of you will try it out and report back. =)

Going, Going, Back, Back, to Cali, Cali

I'm off for an exciting 5 day excursion to my glorious California homeland.  I'm not sure what sort of internet service I'll have there, so consider this fair warning:  I may not post again for a few days. 

Please have faith that this is not the month-long abandonment I did during September/August, but is instead merely a little break.

However you feel about the outcome of the election (you know how I feel), these designs from Jeff Domke are amazing.  You can download his font of 24 Obama-inspired dingbats for free! (via How About Orange)

Bridesmaid Dress Table Decor

 

Singer and Craft are sponsoring an Upcyclist Party contest, in which they ask people to come up with creative party decor from unwanted materials.  I like this idea for party decorations made from old bridesmaid dresses, posted by Flickr user Chica_and_Jo.  (via Craftzine)  I really encourage you to check out some of the other contest entries or submit your own (due November 14).

Zipper Jewelry

I love these zipper jewelry items from Kate Cusack found via Make. With suggested retail prices starting around $85, though, I'm wondering if I could make something similar myself.

Handmade Gifts for Men

After yesterday's post, I got to thinking about how difficult it is to come up with appropriate handmade gifts for men. A lot of the handmade items are aimed at women, or at least men with a sensitive side. So here are a few ideas for some gifts men might like:

• A nice wallet. You can make it from fabric, duct tape, bike inner tube, or even classic leather.
  
• Masculine scented soap (like this beer soap)
• Food.  Any kind of food.  Except something he hates.
  
• Shaving products (cream or gel, soap, razor and brush stand)
  
• Framed photo collage
  
• Liqueurs
• A dopp kit (which is a bag for storing men's grooming tools for travel)

Handmade Gift Giving Guides

Okay, Halloween's over and the stores have started stocking up for the holidays. As Christmas (and whichever winter holiday[s] you find meaningful and celebrate-able) approaches, I've started thinking about what to give my loved ones. I like to get family members things that are less harmful to the planet and its inhabitants. In a few weeks, I'll post a quick list of social justice-oriented gift giving guides. Another (arguably better) way to do that that is to make your own gifts.

I know you probably haven't even started thinking about presents yet, but since it can be surprisingly time consuming to make holiday gifts, I decided to post a list of ideas early so you can all get started in plenty of time. Trust me, it's not fun when you are still knitting presents right before the relatives arrive!

Lucky for me, lots of other blogs have already done the hard work for me. [Disclaimer: because these are older posts, some links they use may not be active anymore]


Sew, Mama, Sew! issued roundup of handmade gift ideas last year that really captures a great range of ideas. I especially like the ideas from the gift compilations section, like the picnic set above.


West Coast Crafty also offers a long list of handmade holiday gift ideas. A favorite of mine are the cute matchbox ornaments (above) from Crafty Chica.


And another list of "festive" craft tutorials from Whip Up, including the wool wreath (above) from swallowfield
And another from Handmade Parade, featuring a cute cashmere headband (above) from Bitter Betty Blogs.

Finally, Skip to My Lou provides a fabulously creative list of options...too many good ones to pick just one, so you'll have to check it out for yourselves!

If you're feeling overwhelmed by all the options, take heart: there are always the basics.

• knit a scarf or hat
  
• make a food jar of some kind of mix (ie. brownie mix, cocoa in a jar) minus the liquid ingredients
• make holiday ornaments...practically any material will work
  

And don't forget, if you're not up for making your own handmade gifts you can always buy other people's! Sign up to take the Buy Handmade Pledge.