Gifts Archives - Page 24 of 32 - Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

A Few Handmade Holiday Gift Ideas

December 3, 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw

Here are a few tutorials of handmade items I’ve made over the last 2 years that might spark some ideas for your own gift list! More to come soon!

Tie Dyed Elastic Accessories (A Tutorial)

August 22, 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw

On our road trip this summer I found some hair accessories in a store that were tie dyed…but they were so expensive I was determined to make a bunch of them myself!

The perfect ponytail holder:

Foldover (FOE) elastic is perfect for accessories because it is extremely strong, it has high elasticity and you can dye it! The biggest plus? It doesn’t get tangled in hair easily…and with Boo’s crazy hair we love “friendly” elastic. It’s also nice that foldover elastic costs about 30 to 50 cents a yard.

First, I took the elastic:

Then I folded the elastic several times and placed rubber bands tightly around it in several places:

I mixed up a small amount of pink and purple fabric dye in two squirt bottles….

…and applied the dye directly to the elastic:

I place the tie dyed elastic in a ziplock overnight for the dye to set in. To dye a few pieces just one color I just added dye directly to the baggies (the left and center baggies):

The next morning I took the elastic out of the baggies and rinsed the excess dye out.

I added a small amount of dye fixative to a bucket of cool water……

…..and let the elastic sit for about 10 minutes just to ensure I wouldn’t have any dye bleed later on.

Finally, I set the elastic pieces out in the sun to dry:

To make the accessories, I just looped a piece of elastic, then tied a tight knot at the end and then clipped off the satin elastic at a decorative angle just below the knot:

I used a tiny amount of fray block to keep the ends of the elastic from fraying over time:

We use these satin elastic bands for so many things….Boo has her own preferences:

I use them for my hair but also to keep my journals and address book closed:

A pretty way to keep some like items together:

My favorite idea? Make a bag of several sizes and colors for a handmade gift…or better yet a bunch of bags for party favors or stocking stuffers!

Note: This tutorial is only recommended for accessories. Many types of elastic will not hold dye due to their fiber content. The foldover/satin elastic typically has enough natural fiber in it to react to dye.

A letter from an imaginary friend…..

April 9, 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw

A few months back my friend Shari asked if I could write a letter to her daughter Finley from her imaginary friend Soren Lorensen. I finally got around to it:

It took SO long for me to get to it I had to come up with an elaborate plan to explain the delay! “Soren” explains to Finley in the letter that he was traveling the world and forgot about the letters in his backpack.

I included letters and postcards that “Soren” wrote while traveling the world (complete with fake postmarks and stamps)……

…..plus a little metal box of trinkets and gifts he picked up for Finley along the way.

Each letter corresponds with a trinket or gift and has a story behind it:

Letter 1: Soren visits “the beach” and collects seashells
Stamped and postmarked from Canada (you can get fake stamps and postmarks at your craft or scrapbook store), the envelope features a generic beach photo

Letter 2: Soren visits an “elephant” store and purchases some elephant gifts

Letter 3: Soren visits a farm, befriends a small mouse, and they both clean out a smelly pig pen.
Soren mentions in the letter that they had to wear clothespins on their nose, one for Soren, one for the itty bitty mouse!

Letter 3: Soren visits Australia and picks up some stickers and animal medallions in the hotel gift shop.
Stamped and postmarked from Australia.

Letter 4 (postcard): Soren runs out of money and gets a job at an eraser factory for a day, they pay him in erasers
I designed and printed out the company logo and pasted it to the front of the postcard.

Letter 5 (postcard): Soren visits Japan and China and picks up some origami paper.
I made the postcard by pasting a note card to the back of some pretty origami paper. Used a sticker for the stamp/postmark.

And a few extra trinkets just for fun: a superhero necklace (see tutorial here) and a tiny origami crane.

I had so much fun putting this together the last day or so. It is kind of like a scavenger hunt in an envelope…..Finley will have to guess which gifts go with each letter!