Memorable gifts with a personal touch with Charlotte at Bluebird Gardens
Friends have given me wonderful birdhouses over the years.
As they wear down, I've found plant markers are handy to make repairs. I slip plant markers into broken bottoms, in open sides and to shore up roofs.
Markers can withstand weather conditions and still keep songbirds dry, giving the birdhouses a few more years of use!
Charlotte
This is an easy homemade gift anyone who has a real working fireplace will appreciate.
Peel orange rind off in a long ribbon; dry.
A basket on top of a refrigerator will help them dry faster.
Package in a gift box or bag with a note.
When lit, orange rinds are great fire starters.
I also use dried orange rinds to get fire starters in my beekeeping smoker.
Charlotte
Bluebird Gardens has always had a soft spot for animals, especially cats - from custom cat days of week dish towels to sleeping cat quilts, cats are a natural companion to quilts.
One of the things that inspires us about cats is how imaginative and creative they are; cats will make a toy out of almost anything! In photo, Shirley Honey and her latest new "toy," long rubber bands. Shirley Honey has now hoarded every rubber band in the house - the longer the better, and she instinctively seems to know when a new rubber band comes through the door.
Her favorite supplier is US Postal Service - they use the longer rubber bands around mail bundles. At first I was worried she would chew or eat them but she doesn't, she likes to toss them in the air and watch them squiggle when they hit the ground. I still monitor the rubber bands, just in case. Apparently they are
decorative; I find them moved around the house, even in the fish tank.
Charlotte
Maybe calling it a "pot" garden doesn't quite have the right connotation but I'm talking about growing vegetable gardens in flower pots. There are a lot of products and guides on how to do this so before I make container garden gift suggestions, here's how my "pot" garden is growing.
Ladybugs are a favorite garden friend and can easily be hand drawn, we add them to our cards and tags all the time.
Who doesn't remember spending a warm spring day looking for four leaf clovers? Those memories came flooding back when I found this pressed four leaf clover among pages of a wildflower book a friend recently gave me. At first I thought it was something she forgot she had pressed in the book. When I saw her next, she asked if I had found the four leaf clover book mark she had found in her back yard. Inspired by the thought, I made a four leaf clover out of felt, glued a matching green ribbon and gave it to her in a cookbook gift set for her birthday.
Great way to give back, don't you think?
Charlotte
This little birdhouse was a gift so it had special memories.
Last year part of the roof rotted, so I removed the piece, sanded down the edges and treated the cleaned birdhouse with a couple coats of polyurethane. I then found an old glass bottle that would fit through the opening.
Filled with flowers, the renovated birdhouse works well as an outdoor table decoration under a deck umbrella, or anywhere inside the house where you want some whimsy.
Charlotte
A friend of mine recently asked who was the designer of one of my favorite sweaters and pointed at flowers I had embroidered on it. Not that I don't appreciate good sweaters, but I had to chuckle - the reason I had the flowers on the sweater was to cover a stain! So if you do any kind of embroidery, don't throw that favorite shirt or sweater out.
Giving someone a bouquet of spring flowers out of your garden is a great gift for any occasion. Choosing the right vase makes all the difference in how flowers look, and how long they will last after being picked. I prefer to use flower containers that are rounded at the bottom. The rounded bottom gives cut flowers access to more water, and they won't be quickly traumatized by going dry overnight. So many cut flowers don't last long because they've run out of water!
Favorite family cookies are nice gift idea for teachers and special friends.
If you want to make something, do you have a favorite cookie recipe you and your kids can make? Take photos of the kids making the cookies, then use the photo as a gift tag which includes the cookie recipe and everyone's hand-signed names.
Package the cookies in a basket lined with a nice cotton napkin you can make by binding the edges of a square piece of cotton. Re-purposed tins, lined with wax paper, also make nice cookie containers, especially if you want to make cookies ahead of time and keep them fresh.
I sometimes put the cookies in a plastic bag inside the tins. One dozen cookies per person is a nice amount; most recipes will make between 3-4 dozen cookies.
I also use tins to store sewing supplies, buttons and catnip toys to keep them fresh.
Charlotte
Talk about versatile!
One of our customers wanted something feline in her home decor but our pink sleeping cat throws were more than she wanted to spend.
Enter these brand new, imported cat face pillows. When not in use, these charming cat pillows are on one side, dog pillows on the other side charmingly add whimsy to a room corner.
Once unzipped, these brand new ever-so- soft fleece pillows turn into a pink throw you can personalize by adding someone's name. Are they a cat, or dog lover? When the throw's not in use, it folds back into the cat and dog envelope.
Which side do you prefer?
Charlotte
How do you thank a friend for taking care of cats and plants so well?
I first thought about giving her a vase full of garden flowers. Then I thought she also has cats so why not make something more personal.
I made this little pot of mouse flowers made out of homemade chocolate mice.
I used felt for the flower "petals" and leaves; floral sticks pre-wired to hold the toy mice, and the pointed end of the floral sticks to hold the chocolate mice.
Yes, she loved her bouquet of chocolate mice. Yummm!
Charlotte
Okay, who has the pincushion.
It was sitting next to the sofa on my sewing basket and now it’s gone. Again. You can’t miss it – about 5 inches oval, made out of a re-purposed sweater turned into felt and shaped into a ladybug.
Don’t everyone look innocent all at once, there’s a guilty cat somewhere in this house…
Charlotte
I wish I could meet her.
She’s expecting a child after a long ordeal with earlier unsuccessful attempts
and we're making a special custom baby quilt for her.
We’ve been emailing about nursery colors and finally have our palette and
saying she wants embroidered in the center of the baby quilt:
"Weeping may endure for a night but Joy comes in the morning. Psalms 30."
Charlotte
Welcome to Made Just For You.
I started Bluebird Gardens in 1998 on the premise that everyone can make
something; they just don’t always think of it as being special.
In my world, it is the thought that counts.
I’ll let you in on a little secret; making something for someone is
sometimes more fun than giving it away.
I’ll be featuring those wonderful homemade handmade things,
and the people who are special enough to get them.
What are you making?
Welcome spring by giving someone a bouquet of daffodils straight out of your garden.
One of my favorite spring flowers are early daffodils. They are small; they need flower vases that are no more than 6" tall and look good tucked into any nearby corner.
Mid-flowering and late flowering daffodils and tulips will easily fit into standard, taller vases. You can also cut them to fit smaller containers.
Anemones, snow drops, glories of the snow and other small spring flowers will best fit in 2-4" containers.
If you plan to mix daffodils with other spring flowers, let them sit bythemselves in water for a few hours before mixing them. Daffodils have a toxin that will kill other flowers if you mix them immediately. I leave cut daffodils sitting in a vase by themselves overnight, then mix the flowers in the same vase in the morning.
There's nothing like a bouquet of home grown flowers to brighten someone's day, including mine!
Charlotte
Personalized Gifts
