Repurposing Items and Re-Gifting

This year, my family and I are making a lot of the things I'm giving to those on my holiday gift list. There's quite a bit of creativity floating around and I thought I might share a few ideas.

Use your stash of printed photos and made greeting cards like I did here.

Don't throw away cut flowers when they just begin to wilt. Put them between the pages of a book and stack heavy books on top to press the flowers flat. You can laminate them to card stock using clear contact paper.

I made some nice candles from the scraps I saved when an old candle was too burned down to use. I get my family members to save their old candle chunks and then they get a fresh candle as a gift.

Remember all those herbs I grew (okay, tried to grow) in my garden this year? Those that survived are now being given as gifts. Here's what I've done so far:

• Sewn silk stockings and put the dried herbs inside; then crocheted strings so they can be dipped and dunked in a cup of hot water.
• Concocted echinacea oil for treating whatever ails one this winter.
• Made stevia syrup using vodka and water. That one made me a little tipsy, so be careful if you try it at home. You

My brother is refinishing the coffee table my parents used when we were kids. My son is refinishing a piece that belonged to my mom's uncle. These have been in storage for years. Won't mom and dad be surprised to see them again, looking all spiffy!

Of course I'll get out my crochet hook and make a few pieces that have been specially requested.

Elegant Silk Stockings for Herbal Infusion

I wanted a creative yet functional way to share the herbs that I grew in my garden this summer. "How about herbal infusions?" says I. "Good idea," says my other I.

How much do those metal tea balls cost? Probably two or three dollars each. That would have sufficed, but "Noooooo," says I. "Let's make this difficult and call upon several skill sets for this project." 

• Gardening for growing the herbs
• A sewing machine to create "silky stockings" for the herbs. Better than a paper tea bag, right? 
• Crocheting to make the strings

Now if I can just figure out how to package them. Right now they are in plastic zipper bags to keep the herbs fresh.

Photography Greeting Cards

Creativity has struck me again. This time, I am creating my own line of greeting cards using the photographs I have enjoyed taking since I got my Canon One Shot camera. I have made about a dozen sets of cards with 4 and 6 designs each. Here is a sample of some of them:

Beachwood Blues

Cut Flowers

Perry Wink

Woodland Water