Gift ideas that won't strain your budget

I LOVE these sites- what cool ideas! I think some of these projects would make good stocking stuffers for kids. Many of them look really easy and fast to make. You just need paper, perhaps a few other supplies you probably have lying around the house, and a printer for some of the projects.
Fantastic Toys- freebies
Feed Your Soul- free printable art
Free animal sewing cards
The Toymaker- folding paper toys you can make yourself
Gift bags made from envelopes
Make your own gift bows
Let me know if you try any, and how it goes!

My take on the envelope gift bags:

 

 

 

Gift Tags

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week and I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on many things I am grateful for. This week I have continued working on different Christmas projects and looking for more gift ideas, and have come across many great resources on some really cool blogs. I thought I would share some of them in a post or two.
Check out these cute gift tags that you can print:


http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com (Top right of the page)
http://nobitingwolfie.blogspot.com/2009/11/tag-youre-it.html
http://www.lollychops.com/ (A favorite of mine)
http://littlepaperdog.blogspot.com/2008/07/big-four-zero.html
http://limegardenias.blogspot.com/2009/11/peppermint-tags-for-you.html
http://aprintaday.blogspot.com/2009/05/downloads-tags-stickers-and-notepad.html
http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/3125/list_45_1.html
http://thepaperseed.com/?p=213
http://tipnut.com/wrap-up/

I have printed several of these with great results! I especially like how some of them look printed on brown craft paper, or various colors of cardstock.

Paper Silhouettes

Here is a fun, quick, and easy project to do if you need/ want some more art in your home, nursery, office, or wherever.
You need a side profile picture of your subject. Print out the picture (I just did mine on regular printer paper), and trace the outline of the profile onto tracing paper, or if you're like me, and don't keep tracing paper in stock, use tissue paper, or something similar. Tracing with the picture on the window may help you see the outline better because the light will shine through the paper a bit. Tape or staple the outsides of your tracing onto a sheet of black paper and cut both out with sharp scissors. Trim up a bit, and mount the silhouette on some fun paper before framing, and voila! Easy as pie!

Paper boxes

So recently I mentioned that I had been doing all sorts of "crafts". I have really enjoyed working on and learning about different crafty things, including origami, sewing, hot gluing (:D), crocheting, etc. I am still trying new things. I will occasionally post pictures of what I have been doing, but I want to make a disclaimer: I am really just trying most of these things out, they are not professional looking or anything. It's for fun and personal enjoyment, as well as gift giving. That said, I will try to post links to where I found pictures or tutorials of how to do the different projects, for any who may be interested.
One afternoon I sat down and folded several paper boxes. You can do it the "real" origami way, by only folding, or you can "cheat" and make cuts on the paper with scissors, which is how I did it, because... I wanted to.

 

These boxes are relatively simple to make, I just made them again with my young nieces last night and they did a great job.

 

If you want to make some yourself, check out this great tutorial on the Etsy blog: