This is a guest post from team member Kelly Sroka.
The holidays are coming! And, if you are like me, you have so many gifts to buy, wrap, and deliver—teachers, co-workers, bosses, friends, coaches, neighbors, mail carriers, babysitters—your list is almost as long as Santa’s! How can you make gift-giving simple, yet thoughtful? Use your scrapbooking supplies and skills! You can add a personal touch to store-bought items or quickly put together cute handmade gifts using products you already have. Read on to get ideas on how to simplify your gift-giving this year.
Gift Card Holders
I have countless times gotten to the checkout line at Target and realized that I had forgotten someone on my list. Instead of rushing back into the store (and getting out of the line I had been standing in for thirty minutes), I quickly scanned the racks of gift cards and picked out an appropriate one. However, when I got home, I thought that the gift card seemed so impersonal. So I pulled out my Christmas scrapbooking paper and made a holder for the card—such an easy way to make this gift special. There are a number of templates available online.
Handmade Gift Tags
When you have store-bought items, adding cute handmade gift tags gives the gifts a personalized, festive touch. You can go super-simple like these tags or pull out all the stops and create tiny tag works of art.
Recipe Cards
If you have special holiday recipes that you love, write or print the recipes on embellished cards and give along with one or two of the main ingredients. For example, if you are famous for your tasty Peppermint-Chocolate Sugar Cookies, give the recipe along with a bag of chocolate chips.
Mini Albums
Mini albums can be made quickly and easily using almost any supplies you have on hand. Grab a few photos of a person or event, mount them on card stock, embellish, and secure the pages together with ribbon, baker’s twine, or a binder ring and you instantly have a wonderful, personalized gift. Just remember to keep it simple—don’t create extra stress for yourself by making the album too complicated. Use a template or a kit to help you get from start to finish easily.
Photo Books
Turn those hundreds of digital photos on your hard drive into a beautiful gift. Many different companies (such as Snapfish and Tiny Prints) offer easy-to-make photo books perfect for grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends—anyone on your list!
Digital Photo Frames
Now I know that these frames have been around for a while. I used to think they were kind of silly, but now that I have hundreds of photos on my computer, I see their usefulness. I am planning to give my parents a frame loaded up with pictures. Then every so often I can fill up the card with brand new photos. These frames can be rather pricey, however. This model from VistaQuest runs about $30 while this model from ViewSonic is priced at around $100.
So do not let gift-giving be a source of stress during your holidays this year. Use one or more of these super simple, scrappy ideas and you will have time for that extra mug of hot apple cider by the fire.
We bought one of those frames for my mother four years ago. She is 90 years old now and each year when she visits we add photos from our family and my brother’s to the SD cards. She now has two cards and switches them every so often. This is a gift that does keep on giving. She loves it.