Five Last-Minute Gift Ideas: Collab With Diamond!

Hello, and welcome back to Books and Hooks! I hope that your week is off to a good start. ☺

This post is a collaboration with Diamond from “I Have 12% of a Plan”! She reached out to me last month, asking if I wanted to do a collab with this amazing idea, and I gladly agreed. I would really recommend checking out her blog, and her five last-minute gift ideas for this holiday season!

With Christmas quickly approaching this weekend, some people may be hurrying to finish making and buying gifts for their friends and family members. I know what it’s like…hurrying to come up with gift ideas, finishing up and wrapping the gifts just days before Christmas comes. For that reason, today’s post is a list of five last-minute gifts, featuring four handmade/homemade gifts made from things many people have around their house, along with one store-bought gift idea!

I couldn’t choose between this image and the one above, so I decided to incorporate them both! Which is your favorite?

1: Baking mix

Is there someone who loves baking in your life? Why not gift them a homemade baking mix? If you have some basic ingredients, you will be able to make a lovely, thoughtful gift that the recipient will enjoy baking! What’s even better? Your homemade baking mix will look great in a jar, maybe with a festive ribbon tied on the top!

To make a baking mix, just layer all of the dry ingredients from a certain recipe into a jar, so that the person receiving this gift will be able to add the other ingredients and quickly whip up a delicious treat! Be sure to give them the baking instructions! Here are four different cake mixes that look amazing, and there are also many recipes online for all types of cakes, brownies, and cookies that you can find online!

2: Decorated mug

I know I’m not the only one who loves receiving personalized gifts, and I’m not the only one who loves warm drinks, such as coffee and tea. This gift idea incorporates the two: personalized decorated mugs! Decorating mugs is a really fun thing to do, and it’s something that many people will appreciate being gifted with.

All you need is a plain cup (white works best with darker markers) and some oil-based sharpies. To decorate your mug, you will draw/write your design on your clean mug, and then bake it in the oven for a little while to set the ink. Here is a helpful, detailed post with full instructions.

3: Playdough

Is there a child who you are trying to make a gift for? I don’t know about you, but playdough was always a super fun gift when I was a kid. I recently learned that homemade playdough is very easy to make at home, as well. It is made with some very basic kitchen ingredients. Check here for a detailed recipe!

4: Bookmark

Any reader knows how difficult it is to keep track of bookmarks. It seems like they just go missing out of nowhere! That’s why this is an amazing gift idea, perfect for any reader. Here are eight different ways to make bookmarks! You can check out that post, and make whatever ones you have the materials for!

5: Kits/sets

Do you have time to run to a store before Christmas? Maybe you are just going to the Dollar Tree, but you want to buy something meaningful for a person you love. One good gift idea is a gift set/kit. Are you trying to come up with a gift for your friend who has a specific hobby? Maybe they like art or baking?

For example, several years back, I was at Dollar Tree and still hadn’t bought something for one of my friends. I was contemplating what to buy when my mom had a good idea to buy things to make an art/school set. I bought a pencil pouch, some pencils and pens, colorful markers, cute erasers, and some glitter glue.

If your friend likes to bake, maybe buy some cake mix, cute muffin papers, a potholder…there are a lot of directions this can go. Some ideas are a baking set, an art set, a spa set, or anything related to their hobbies or interests.

That’s it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it and got some good ideas for gifts for your friends and family! Do you procrastinate when getting gifts? Were these helpful? Do you have any more last-minute gift ideas? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Again, be sure to check out Diamond’s blog, and her post with five more last-minute gift ideas. I hope everyone has an amazing week. Bye for now!

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DIY Fall-ish Pumpkins // Pearl’s Blog Tour!

Today, I’m here with a fun DIY post! This post is my stop on Pearl’s blog tour! I’m so happy to be participating in this tour, spreading the word about Pearl’s new blog!

Pearl Christine is a Jesus-loving historical and contemporary fiction writer who writes to glorify and serve her King. When she’s not writing, you can find her lost in the woods with her camera, in the middle of another creative project, spending time with her seven siblings, running, or writing and decorating letters. You can find her at her website, pearlchristine.com, where she talks about all things creative.

Pearl’s blog posts consist of various topics related to DIY projects and inspo, photography, and writing; I really enjoy reading all of them!

With all of that being said, let’s dive into the DIY tutorial! 😃

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This project is very fall-ish: cute pumpkins, perfect for decor around the house! And, one of the best things about these pumpkins is that they are customizable! Let’s get into it!

Basics on the pumpkin design

These pumpkins are just made by sewing a rectangular piece of fabric into a cylinder, sewing up one end, stuffing it, and then creating wedges along the pumpkin with your thread on the pumpkin. All you have to do after this is sew/glue the stem on and tie off the thread!

Materials

These pumpkins can be made with a piece of fabric, a crocheted or knitted rectangle, or even a sock. If you’re using fabric, you can make it any size, but just make sure that one side is about 2.5 times as long as the other side. Same with the crochet/knit fabric: one side should be about 2.5 times as long as the shorter side.

You’ll also need a needle and thread (yarn needle and yarn if crocheting the pumpkin.) Stuffing, as well! The last thing you will need is something to use as a stem! I like the look of a crocheted i-cord, but you can also use a twig or cinnamon stick! If you’re going with any of the last two options, though, you’ll need a hot glue gun and hot glue.

Fabric pumpkin

If you love sewing, you’ll probably go with the plain fabric pumpkin! Firstly, cut out a piece of rectangular fabric. It can be any size, just be sure to make one side 2.5 times as long as the other side. It doesn’t have to be exact, but just try to get it pretty close.

Next, take your needle and thread, and (with the right sides of your fabric together) sew up the short sides of the rectangle together, making a cylinder shape. I used a running stitch. Shown in the photo below.

Sorry about the pictures. They’re not the best. I did take them during a rainy and cloudy day, so I understand the lighting’s not the best. Also, I didn’t have any fall themed fabric, so this butterfly one will have to do! 😄

Now, you’ll want to sew up one end of the cylinder, as shown in the below photo. I just used a running stitch, pulling tight to cinch up the end.

Now, turn the fabric right side out. Stuff, and then, sew up the other end, which will be the top of your pumpkin. Now, you’re going to take the needle and thread, and take it down to the bottom, coming back through the pumpkin to the top. This step is a bit difficult to explain, but I hope you understand. You’re creating wedges in your pumpkin, and you can sort of see what I’m talking about in the photo below.

Now, you can sew (or glue) your stem into the pumpkin, tie off your thread, and you’re done! ❤

Crochet pumpkin

Making a crochet pumpkin is fairly simple, basically the same as the fabric pumpkin. First, crochet a rectangular piece of fabric with one side about 2.5 times as long as the other. (Shown below.) You can use any stitch you like, but I would recommend alternating rows of single crochet and back loop single crochet because I like how the ridges look! Make sure it’s a tighter stitch to ensure no stuffing comes through.

Once you’re finished crocheting your rectangle, fasten off your yarn, leaving a long tail. Turn the right sides together, and sew the shorter ends together to make a cylinder. Sew up one end, like you did with the fabric pumpkin. This step is shown in the picture below.

When you’re done, turn the pumpkin right side out, stuff it, then begin to close off the top by weaving the yarn needle in and out of your rows. Photo below.

Now, you are going to make the “wedges” by taking the yarn across the pumpkin, and going horizontally up through the pumpkin, as shown in the photo below.

Add the stem, weave in your yarn’s ends, and you are done with your crochet pumpkin! You could also make a knit pumpkin by following these same instructions!

Sock pumpkin

Last, but not least, is the sock pumpkin! You can follow the same instructions for the other two pumpkins, the only difference being that the fabric is already in a cylindrical shape. Basically, you just get a sock, cut out part of it into a cylinder, and follow the same instructions from the other two pumpkins: sew up one end, turn the pumpkin right side out, stuff it, sew up the other end, make the wedges in the pumpkin, and secure the stem to the pumpkin!

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That’s all for today’s post! I hope you liked it, and please go check out Pearl’s new blog! She’s also currently hosting a giveaway, which will end on the 21st. Go check out this post for more info and details. It looks really fun!

Be sure to go read the post on Rosie’s blog which will go live tomorrow, the next stop on this blog tour! Also, here is the complete schedule for the fun posts ahead!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Pearl’s new blog and these DIY pumpkins in the comments! I hope you all have a blessed week, and I’ll be back on Thursday! ☺

~ Rebekah