Custom New Dog Gift

You can personalize a quilted bag for a custom dog or cat gift with something other than a name.

Custom New Dog Gift Idea

Making a personalized custom gift is easy by adding someone's name to an item - a shirt, a quilt or, in this case, a quilted travel bag for a new addition to the family, a rescued dog.

The special gift was for a former neighbor who had adopted a survivor of a hurricane. I didn't know how to spell the dog's name so I did the next best thing, had a dog nose and whiskers embroidered on the quilted travel bag.

No doubt now whose bag this belongs to but, just in case, inside the bag I added a number of dog gifts including a squeaky ladybug dog toy, a guide book, a whistle, a lightweight leash, a toy. The new addition to the family is now ready to travel wherever life's journey takes her.

Dog toys and useful items fill the personalized travel bag as a gift for a new family addition.

The personalized bag is lined in plastic for easy care. I use some of these bags for gift bags with our Howard Furniture Refinishing products, without the whiskers.

Can you think of other opportunities to use these personalized bags?

Charlotte

Handmade Flower Pen

This is such an easy project to make, just in time for Valentine's Day and, not too far behind, Mother's Day.

The children of an office colleague gave me this one. It lives in a flower vase on my desk, to be used only on special occasions. I moved it to the window to photograph.

To make, you will need silk flowers of your choice; writing pens and tape. Green floral tape is available at most craft shops but as you can see from my pen, masking tape will do, too.

You can even add a little white silk sprig to make it look a little more like a flower bouquet. And you can never go wrong with roses!

The most challenging part is getting the tape wrapped around the flowers and pen.

Once wrapped, add a flower vase, and a card. Or not.

Have you tried to make one?

Charlotte

Do Not Open Until Christmas

The customer has a long drive ahead of her at Christmas so she decided to have her gifts shipped directly to her destination.

The only concern: making sure her relatives don't open the packages before she gets there!

Not a problem, I told her, we'll make sure the gift is wrapped and instructions are clear. To be opened only at Christmas!

 And in case there was still some peeking, I made sure the contents were also kept a secret!

Ho ho ho!

Charlotte

Warm Heart, Warm Hands!

Sometimes my office is only a few degrees warmer than it is outside. When the weather forecaster said it was 3F, more like -7F with the wind chill, I knew it was time.

Opening the box carefully, I removed a gift from my sister-in-law; felted hand warmers with the cutest applique cats on the top.

Mary said she picked up a number of wool sweaters at a local thrift store and after washing them, put them in the dryer on hot. I have done so but not intentionally so it crossed my mind how many sweaters I could have repurposed.

Once shrunk, wool turns into a soft felt. Mary then cut a couple of holes for my thumbs.

 

She said they were easy to make; the biggest challenge was finding wool sweaters she liked. Well, it's more like finding wool sweaters she likes for hand warmers but doesn't want to wear herself. I understand, we have a hard time cutting up cute clothes for custom clothing quilts sometimes, too.

These live in a box because when I first received them, one of my cats left her own sleeping cats cat throw and decided to use these warmers as her napping spot.

We have reached a compromise. I’m now wearing the hand warmers; the cat is sitting in the box.

Charlotte

How to Make Homemade Photo Gift Card

Homemade photo gift cards are easy to make and a nice way to customize a gift.
Using a regular sheet of stock paper, print photo 3x5 on one side.
Cut the sheet in half; fold and add your salutation.
Add a date and your best wishes inside; photo cards also make great book marks to add to a favorite gift cookbook.

Charlotte

Propagate Plants for Gifts

One of the gifts my friends seem to really appreciate is a start from one of my plants.

Whether it's a rooted cutting from a Chrysanthemum or a start from one of my Christmas cactus plants, propagating plants can be a very nice and inexpensive gift idea.

If you are planning these gifts for a certain holiday, start 4-6 months before the event. Use new soil; thoroughly-washed pots and a root stimulator, available at most garden centers.

Make sure the cut you make on the donor plant is clean; dip into root stimulator, then place in a planting container with a good soil mix. Water. 

Put in a warm sunny spot or under grow lights and monitor. Depending on the plant, you should see a new green sprout within 4-6 weeks for most plants.

I used to try to remove the original plant. Now I leave it with the sprout so people can see it came from a cutting.

Charlotte