Frugal Intuition

I made a realization this weekend.  Of all the ornaments I’ve made over the years for friends–I’ve kept almost none for myself.  SO, for this post, I’m going to round up the instructions for various ornaments I’ve made.  Today I’ll focus on the myriad of Christmas cuties you can make with clothespins.  Why?  Because wooden clothespins are cheap, readily available at The Dollar Tree or your other favorite dollar store, and can be made into all sorts of cute stuff.

First up, Clothespin Snowmen.  This one was probably my favorite of all the ornaments I’ve made (as evidenced by the fact that I still actually HAVE some of these).  Instructions can be found here.  These call for spools and wood circles, but when I went to Hobby Lobby to find them, I actually found some sort of wooden beats that by themselves looked like hats, so I got those instead.

Next, the classic Clothespin Reindeer.  You gotta love the googly eyes!

Instructions can be found here.

  These clothespin Santas are sure to please and are easy to make with readily available materials.  Instructions can be found here .

These clothespin soldiers are always cheerful additions to the tree.  And for those of you with family members in the military overseas, you could easily change the paint job to fatigues to make something more personally meaningful.  Instructions can be found here.  I have used this same concept to make little martial artists for my aikido class (yeah, I was the only girl).

If you’re feeling more adventurous and crafty, you could try these clothespin dolls made by Martha Stewart.  I’ve not yet tried these, but they look really cute.  Instructions can be found here.

And finally, for the little angel in your life, a clothespin angel.  Instructions can be found here. 

You can be as simple or as complicated as you like.   Whatever your budget there are clothespin ornaments to fit it and they are always popular gifts.

Okay folks, for those of you who plan to bake or make candy, you’re going to need gift containers.  This is the time to go out and hit places like The Dollar Tree or Dollar General.  I picked up 8 snowman tins at The Dollar Tree this afternoon.  Last year I waited until December to look and there were no inexpensive tins to be had.

If you do happen to wait, there are options.  You can always purchase inexpensive plasticware containers and decorate them with paint (even if you’re not artistic, you can manage a Christmas tree or Christmas balls).  There’s also the classic of wrapping your goodies in celophane and securing it with pretty ribbon.  Another classic, goodies in a cheerful Christmas mug.  Again, The Dollar Tree has a great selection of cute mugs.  A good gift idea is making up homemade hot chocolate (there are a zillion recipes online using inexpensive ingredients ) and putting a serving of the mix in a little plastic baggie with marshmallows (and possibly a few chocolate candies) in the mug with a curly ribbon.  For extra flair, you could also tie on a Christmas ornament.  Also popular, gifts in a jar .  At the end of the season, stores will be marking down their leftover Mason jars from summer canning.  These can also be painted and decorated. Last year I made hot chocolate mix and shortbread cookie mix and painted on the directions on the jar.  Tied a ribbon around the top and it was a hit! Anyway, the variations are endless.  The point is to check out your dollar stores now, while supplies are high so you can stock up on packaging for your goodies at a good price.