Welcome to my Blog!

Hi there, nice to have you visiting! I'm Heidi and this is the blog for Heidi Bears. Here is where I post all the happenings in my work and daily life. Here and there you'll find info on things that have caught my attention as well as the odd tutorial. I hope you enjoy your visits. I love to have feedback, so leave me a comment!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Handmade Heartmade 2011

Last year I decided to hand-make all my Christmas gifts. It was the first year that I planned to do this, and of course it was a learning curve! By far the biggest lesson, was to PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! Handmade doesn't mean quick necessarily and so this year I am determined to start early and pace myself...

I love the idea of handmade gifts...I love that I need to think about what would be appreciated by my gift recipients, and that a little bit of my ability and love is wound into the gift. Of course, in these tough economic times, it certainly helps that one can make gifts for a fraction of what bought gifts could cost, and really the only "big" cost comes in with the amount of time you spend of making :) I also absolutely detest doing Christmas shopping in shopping malls, so all in all, this Handmade is the way to go for me!


If you would like to hand-make your gifts this year, please join me on this journey :) You can add the Handmade Heartmade 2011 button to your blog or website, and link back to me...I am hoping to do a post once a week on ideas for gifts and an update on my plans and completed projects.

Getting started...

The first thing to do of course, is make a list of all the people you want to make gifts for... Be clear about the people on your list...these are people close to you and are a part of your life. For instance, I certainly wouldn't hand make corporate gifts for everybody that has something to do with my business...that's just mental....so be judicious in your choices!

Next write down a few things about each person...hobbies, likes, dislikes, needs, spoils etc... think about things they might have said, colours they like, smells, textures...my youngest for instance, loves bright colours, soft cuddly things and swoons over baking type smells...vanilla, chocolate etc...

Spend this coming week thinking about and finalizing your list. While you mull over each person, if an idea comes to you for a specific type of gift, write it down next to that person's name! Your list will be your lifeline folks (just make sure that you don't leave it lying on the coffee table...kinda spoils the surprise... ;) )

I have made a pretty list that you can use for your handmade journey...print it out on plain paper :)

Inspiration

Sew, Mama, Sew! is a wonderful place to find an amazing list of ideas for handmade gifts...they have pretty much done all the graft for you! I love that ideas are organized according to themes, so you can choose where to start from. Be sure to check out all the previous years' handmade lists as well, you never know where you'll find the perfect idea :)

Here are some more links for ideas...

Handmade Homeschool

Martha Stewart

Crafty Nest

HGTV

Check out these links and make a list of things that you like...next week...we start making!


Have a creative, fruitful, happy evening!

♥Heidi

7 comments:

Paat said...

Hello Heidi!

I'am doing it (handmade cristmas gifts) since 5-6 years, and I love it soooooo much! With list in October and rushing hurray up on 23th of December. Anyway, this is the best period of inspiration and to find the harmony with my friends and relatives. Good luck on your way!

(I love your blog, I have done a crocheted rose this evening to my friend based on your tutorial. Thanks a lot!)

Patricia, Hungary, Europe

Annemarie's Haakblog said...

Hi! Your blog is so lovely! I would like to my link party that's on my crochet blog every fridaynight and Saturday. I would love it if you’d add something you made. Have a lovely day!
Annemarie
www.annemarieshaakblog.blogspot.com

Linda said...

My friend, this is wonderful! Thank you so much:)
Love
Linda

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I just started following your blog and I like it very much. I live in Italy and times are tough here also, so I was thinking too about handmade gifts for Christmas this year! So your post comes perfect! :)

Heidi said...

Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment everyone :) Keep checking back...I am adding all the things I am making as a I go...perhaps you will see something you like and will want to make for a gift...
♥Heidi

AC said...

For the past couple years I've done 'handmade xmas', but I always seem to forget the planning part...which results in people getting presents in May.

Anonymous said...

Olá, Heide! Eu já fiz muitos presentes para amigos e familiares. Adoro presentes artesanais, são mais carinhosos. Também tenho uma lista grande e estou começando a escolher os presentes que farei. Sua ideia deve ser divulgada pois é muito legal. Adorei o tutorial da flor africana, vou fazer. Muito obrigada! Teresa / Brasil