The vast majority of my home made gifts have been well received, and I often get special requests from the people who are on my gift list.  I have been surprised, and sometimes dismayed, when I discover that my gift ends up being turned into a cat toy (by a child too young to appreciate the money, time, and effort put into making the gift) or tucked away in a closet because it is appreciated so much that the recipient thinks it is “too good to use” and is afraid to use it!  Or even more dismayed when the recipient turns up their nose at the gift because they think that the homemade gift represents the thought that I was “too cheap” to “buy” them something from the store.  Those people don’t realize that the raw materials used to make the gift often will cost more than buying a gift from the store.

So, giving home made gifts can be tricky sometimes.  I need to research the individual and make sure that they will actually appreciate the home made gift before I go through the time and effort to make it.   Sometimes the best gift to give someone can simply be a gift card, to let them buy what they REALLY want.

I love to craft.  I especially love what I call “T2T” crafting.  T2T means “Trash to Treasure.”  This is a picture of a burnt out light bulb that I decorated with paint, beads, ribbons, stickers, and discarded bottle caps.  It was a lot of fun to do, turning a burnt out light bulb into a pretty ornament!

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I changed it a little bit by using a burnt out vanity light bulb instead of a Christmas ornament ball.  I think it came out adorable!

Isn’t this the cutest thing? I saw this online and could not get it out of my mind. What a great imagination the person must have who thought of tree art. I would love to find more of his work, but I don’t even know the name of who did this.

So then I started looking around for other places online that might demonstrate or even talk about how to refill the boxes with standard tissues, and that just seems impossible to do! So I’ve decided to share it with you here and now.

First of all you need an empty boutique tissue box, and a full standard tissue box. Gently open the sides of the boutique box. With a pair of scissors open the top of the standard tissue box large enough so you can reach your hand inside to pull out a handful of tissues. Pinch a large handful of tissues in half. Tuck them into the boutique box (with the ends away from the opening and the pinched middle towards the opening) and partially pull out a tissue to get it started. Fasten the box closed with an elastic band, tape, or slip it into a decorative tissue box cover.

One standard tissue box usually refills two or three boutique boxes at a time.

Works like a charm every time!

I thought I’d share with you one of my T2T projects in greater detail.  This is a picture of the supplies that I used to turn an empty chicken can into a pretty trinket box.  Not pictured are the Plaid Folk Art Outdoor Paints, and the glue that I used.

This is a picture of the chicken can, after I was finished with it.

This is a picture of the inside of the jewelry box.  It is lined with a velveteen fabric.  It came out very pretty!  I gave it as a gift to my sister-in-law, and she was thrilled with it!  I’ve had several requests from friends/relatives to make some for them!

We don’t live near either of those stores, so it is a major “big deal” to me when I get the chance to swing by one on the rare occasions that we are driving by one.

I wouldn’t mind so much if the price of heating oil hadn’t gone up through the roof this year. We are frugal with our thermostat settings and try to conserve energy, but it has been really cold in the Valley and we’ve had to fill the oil tank twice already.

So I’m going to get busy making some draft preventers to lay along the bottoms of the doors, and maybe make some heavier curtains to hang over the windows on the north side of the house. Anything I can do to help keep the house warm inside and keep the cold out!