stocking stuffers, etc.

I love stockings! I am usually the first one up every Christmas. Even to this day I wake up before my kids and can't wait for them to wake up. When I was younger I would always wake up another one of my sisters and we would proceed to sneak out into the living room, take out everything in our stocking, then try to put it all back ever so carefully so there was no sign of mischief. My mom was a good stocking stuffer too. She put such special and fun things in them and I have always looked forward to opening my stocking as much as I did any present. So, I have tried to follow in her tradition of putting similar things in my kids stockings. Hopefully they will like the ones I make for them as much as I always liked mine.

Image and stocking can be found here.

These, to me, are some things that a good stocking might entail:

I love me a good new toothbrush. Mints. Gum. CANDY (must include one candy cane for traditions sake). An orange- it's tradition! For me the holy grail of oranges is a nice satsuma orange. Books (personalized ones are especially fun for Christmas so you can tell your kids Santa made it especially for them). Dvds. Jewelry. Socks. Hair Stuff. Fun art supplies. Magazines. And Gift Cards.

You could tailor the stuff on the above list for any gender and for any age. The important thing with stocking stuffers is to have fun and keep the person you are buying for in mind. I generally like to leave buying stocking stuffers for last as kind of a last minute shopping detail to look forward to, but some things are fun to buy in advance, especially if you need to special order it.

Here are a couple more ideas:

Marta has some stocking stuffers great ideas.

And I absolutely loved the stocking stuffer ideas from Restoration Hardware this year!!

What do you like in your stockings?

Also, does your family pile up in the car to see Christmas lights every year like mine does? How about sprucing that tradition up a little? A friend emailed me this week with this adorable idea from this blog. I am going to have to do something like that this year to jazz up our annual "Christmas Lights Drive." Will be purchasing these for next year!

teacher gift

I realize I promised I would share stocking stuffer ideas next, but I just finished a teacher gift craft so I thought I would share. I made it with stuff I had around the house and it was pretty fast and easy.

Here is the finished product:

To make it I used these that I bought at a craft store a couple of years ago.

I bought them because they were so cheap and I could think of a ton of ways to use them.

Then I whipped up some quick and cute teacher designs for them to make them into a jewelry set using this digital scrapbooking kit (I made the card using the kit too).

Then I had my husband drill some tiny holes into the top of them.

Next I glued the little designs I had printed and cut out on using diamond glaze and put a glaze finish on them. You could probably also just modge podge them.

After that it was just a matter of putting some jump rings in them and putting them on a necklace and earring set I had in my stash of beading stuff. Easy fast and cute!! My kind of project:)

I also included this for fun:

Hope my little guy's teacher likes them, and I hope you find these ideas useful:)

holiday cheer

Two more weeks until Christmas! I planned on doing lots more gift guides, but am feeling a little uninspired in that department. I do have a few other things for you though- here are some things to (hopefully) inspire you for these last couple of weeks leading up to the big day!!

CJane's Chup shared some great ideas on gift ideas for your man today!

Here are lots of gift ideas I posted last year: Catch all gift guide 2009.

West Elm has the best free downloads for gift tags, dinner parties and the likes here.

Click here for wrapping inspiration.

Click here for neighbor gift inspiration.

Want another idea for a fun neighbor/friend gift? Copy some of your favorite recipes onto these cute and free recipe cards from Shabby princess.

Click here and here for my favorite holiday treat recipes. No holidays are complete without them for me!!

Hope these ideas help!

*Next up: Favorite stocking stuffer ideas.

what a girl wants

So this is more of a "what I want" list than a gift guide. What can I say, a girls gotta dream, and I may be a little on the selfish side.

1. Frye boots 2. Lucky bag 3. Trapper hat 4. Final Cut Express 5. Cowl neck scarf 6. Bamboo Craft Pen Tablet 7. Geek Glasses

*More holiday and gift ideas on the way.