Homemade Little/Big Gifts - Page 2

KSUViolet06 · #16 10-19-2004, 03:10 PM

When I got my Kappa Phi little (spring 2003), I gave her a hand painted pillow. You can purchase blank white pillows at craft stores like Jo-Ann's, Michaels, or Pat Catan's.

You decorate them with glitter pens and/or fabric paint. I wrote: " KF *hearts* Erin" on one side, and painted some flowers on the other side.

bekibug · #17 10-19-2004, 09:17 PM

I'm making my little a throw pillow with the AZD crest on it. I already got the crest done; it's crosstiched, and let me tell you, those griffins are beasts to do! I'm going to do the back out of light blue silk dupioni and embroider "To Kristine from Becky" on it, with "Lil Sis" and "Big Sis" under our names. I've just got to get my mom to get the silk now and help me put it all together and it'll be awesome!

BTW- co-sign on the paint pens. Signs for pep rallies, gifts for Rosebuddies, everything gets done with those things.

BetteDavisEyes · #18 10-19-2004, 10:18 PM

Umm...Is it bad that I bought some things? I am definitely making her a tote bag, pillow, & clipboard. I am sewing them by hand & decorating them myself but other items I just bought. That's not bad is it?

tunatartare · #19 10-19-2004, 10:32 PM

LOL, not at all. I bought a lot of my little's gifts. She's Irish and is really hardcore into Irish pride and Big/Lil week was right before St. Patrick's Day so I got her so much Irish stuff. I love doing arts and crafts and making stuff, but around the time I took my little, I was so swamped and I just didn't have the time to make things that I bought a lot of her stuff.

preciousjeni · #20 10-19-2004, 10:43 PM

If I had hundreds of dollars you KNOW I'd be buyin' up the stores!!

BGanchor · #21 10-20-2004, 06:56 PM

I havnt taken a little yet but i am here soon and i have a few good ideas.
My favorite thing that I've done was a blanket that I made for my two best friends in another sorority. I took two pieces of fleece, in gold and navy (their colors) 3 feet of each. Then i went up to the embroidery/sports store that makes like the letter jackets and had them cut out the greek letters. They are sticky on the back but not sticky enough, so I sewed them my hand onto the gold. then i layed the gold on top of the navy and made cuts in3 or four inches, 1 inch apart around the edges. The you take those peices and knot them and they make and amazing fleece blanket!! It sounds like a lot of work but it really isnt at all!!

One more thing, i know everyone has given good ideas for crafts, but what about good saying to put on things? My personal favorite was when my big painted "You light up my life little one" on a candle for me. any others?

KSUViolet06 · #22 10-20-2004, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BetteDavisEyes
Umm...Is it bad that I bought some things? I am definitely making her a tote bag, pillow, & clipboard. I am sewing them by hand & decorating them myself but other items I just bought. That's not bad is it?

It's not bad at all hun! I buy most of my stuff, I just like to get a little crafty at times

wanderersarah · #23 03-09-2005, 09:41 PM

I am all about making cheap gifts, I just got my second little and I'm a little cash strapped so I've been making a lot of cute little things for her.

Since I'm in a local, I can't really buy many ready made products, but I can definitely steal ideas from overpriced greek shops.

I figured out how to make some nifty magnets, like the ones here:

http://www.greekgear.com/soma6.html

You can buy everything you need at Wal-Mart.

Materials:
Clear, flat backed marbles (found in the floral section, $1)
Magnets w/ adhesive backing (found with in crafts, $1-2)
Craft Glue ($1)
Color Print out of letters/flower/mascot

Directions:

1) Create a sheet of letters/flower/mascot to print out.
You can go to microsoft.com and find clip art for this.
I've also found that buddy icons are just about the right size for this, so you could also check out: http://www.geocities.com/sororitybuddyicons/ for pictures to use.

2) Cut out the paper to fit the back of the marble.

3) Spread glue on the back of the marble, affix the picture, let dry.

4) Affix the magnet

It's pretty simple all in all.

Here is a picture of the first batch that I made up, the picture quality is poor, but you'll get the idea:

http://www.geocities.com/wanderer511/magnet3.jpg

texas*princess · #24 03-09-2005, 10:03 PM

that's so awesome wanderersarah! thanks for sharing!

alphaalpha · #25 03-10-2005, 02:08 AM

I absolutely love to make sugar cookies and cookie cutters for special occasions, or just for fun. I have a really large collection and have a few of my sororities symbols and what not, but i was wondering if any knew of a place that sold greek letter cookie cutters. I have found alphabets so i can cut out letters to spell names but I think that it would be sooo cool to have cookie cutters in the shape of greek letters. Please let me know if anyone has seen this or know of where i could find them.

thanks a bunch,
debbie

futuregreek · #26 03-28-2005, 03:57 PM

I got this from my big:

Potpourri Jar

Use a small bowl (they look like lil fishbowls, sometimes with a wavy top..about 1 dollar from Michaels) and put potpourri inside. then take a circle of semi-tranparent fabric and use a ribbon to tie it around the top. Then you can write your group's name in paint pen on the bowl.

I should take a pic, it's hard to explain

summer_gphib · #27 03-28-2005, 04:52 PM

This is a cute gift for ANYONE:

Homeade Hot Cocoa
Take Mason Jars (you can buy them cheap!)
and fill them with the following Homeade Hot Cocoa Mix:

1 cup non dairy creamer
1 cup non fat dry milk
1 cup sugar (or splenda

)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

this makes a big batch- enough to fill several mason jars.

Then print up cute labels with your letters, name, symbols and directions that say: Add 3/4 cup of boiling water to 1 Tbs (or more!) of mix.

These are really cute and make GREAT (read: cheap) Christmas gifts.

Another great crafty thing are these great marshallow-carmel-crispies, and they are super-easy

Just take a pack of Kraft Carmels, remove the wrappers and heat up over a double broiler with 1 can of condensed sweetened milk.
Once they are all liquidy (for lack of a better term *lol*) remove from heat. Then take big marshmallows and sick toothpicks in them. Dip into the carmel and then into rice krispies cereal. Put on wax paper to dry. They are FANTABULOUS and kind of unique. I leave the toothpicks in to give them a neat look and make them easier to eat, but you could take them out too.

wanderersarah · #28 10-19-2005, 03:53 PM

*bump*

It's that time of year again. I'm sure there are great ideas out there....

AChiOhSnap · #29 10-19-2005, 04:26 PM

I've been posting a lot today...my name is all over the GC sidebars, LOL. Last year I helped a friend from another sorority make some gifts for her little. She bought some things (sweatpants, canvas tote bags, etc on greek101.com) but the rest of it was pretty much homemade.

The dollar store is your best friend through this process. She spent less than $50 on materials and supplies and was able to fill up FOUR laundry baskets with goodies -- yes, the laundry baskets were from the dollar store too. Just buy up everything you can see to personalize, like frames, vases, glasses, plates, bulletin boards, etc. and go nuts with the puffy paint and glitter pens

Oh, one other really cute thing (and I'm sure many of you are already familiar with this technique) my friend bought two big pieces of fleece from Jo-Ann Fabrics in her sorority colors and made a blanket. You just make an equal number of cuts (about 1.25 in apart and about a finger's length deep) into the fleece on all sides of both pieces. Then you lay one piece on top of the other and square-knot the corresponding pieces of "fringe" together. So you come out with a really cute blanket for pretty cheap. As an added touch, my friend bought letter patches and glued on her little's initials into a corner of the blanket. It was super cute.

wanderersarah · #30 10-19-2005, 06:53 PM

Something that I'm planning on doing for my most recent little (number 3) is giving her some scrapbooking supplies. My idea is to find a cheap photo album (oh how wonderful dollar stores are) and cover it with fabric, and then embellish it. The I want to include some paper and sorority stickers. Scrapbooking supplies cost a bundle, so I plan to make my own sticker using Sticker Paper. I think it would be cool to print off a couple of sheets with letters, flowers, mascot, etc. I think the clear sticker paper will be pretty darn cool.

The stickers could work on a bunch of other things too, now that I think about it . . .