Easy homemade gift ideas

by TheFrogPrince

With the holidays looming before us, in another year when too many have to scoff at the notion that the recession is over, easy homemade gift ideas are a pretty good investment. One of my favorites for family members is to make a special frame for a family portrait.

I start with a wooden frame from the dollar store, preferably one with a slightly wide border. I use some sheer burgundy or forest green fabric from a craft store or craft department (often found in their dollar bin, starting in the Autumn), and cut out a rectangle large enough that if I place the frame on it front-down, I can fold the edges of the fabric neatly back over the back of the edges of the back of the frame, with a little looseness to spare. The center of the rectangle of fabric is cut out to be somewhat smaller than the space of the glass, with corners notched just slightly to keep things easier.

Taking the glass out of the frame, I glue the inside edges of the now-empty-centered rectangle of fabric into place, against the inner “shelf” of the wood that the glass will end up pressed against. This area won’t be seen from the front once the frame is reassembled, just be sure it is fixed well in place. After the glue has dried, cover over the “shelf” area and the glued-down fabric over it, with some strong, opaque tape cut to be the right width.

Once the inside of the frame is dry and secure, you can flip the frame back over to face you. Take some seasonal potpourri that you have bought (I recommend DollarTree again) or homemade (bark, pine cones, dehydrated apple, pieces of cinnamon stick, etc., spritzed if you like for extra scent with a lightly-scented potpourri spray), and arrange it so that it is sitting in a not-too-thick layer on top of the wood, under the fabric. If the potpourri is too bulky, you can stick it in a Ziploc bag and crush it – so long as nothing is small enough to make it through the mesh or scarf-like fabric, you’re fine. Pull the fabric back around the frame to pin the potpourri layer in place, flip the frame, and then tightly secure the fabric in the back of the frame.

It might be easiest, especially until you’ve had some practice, to do one of the four sides at a time, working in pairs of opposite sides. Since the back of the frame is somewhat more visible than the inner shelf of the frame, you might want to put a little more effort into making sure that it looks neat, either by folding over the fabric edges before gluing them down and adding strength by tacking them in a few places with teeny-tiny nails like you find with frame-hanging kits.

At the end of all this, your frame should look like a neat rectangle of sheer fabric “stuffed” with potpourri. If you want to decorate further, a bow of decorative seasonal ribbon with the trailing ends tacked loosely to either side of the glass, with a miniature pine cone or three in the middle works nicely. There’s really no reason to buy the pinecones, they are easy enough to find outside.