Handcrafted Ornament and Homemade Soup – Frugal Gifts for Under $2 #GlueNGlitter

Elmer’s Memory Keeping Section at Walmart

Your budget is stretched to the max, time to the holiday is closing in, and you forgot to get gifts for your neighbors, book club, moms group, or office pals.  Or maybe your family doesn’t exchange gifts, but you want to give a little something to everyone “just because.”
What do you do when you have only change to spare?

First, you drum up a few ideas that can be created lickety-split without looking like they were whipped together last minute.  And if you are truly stumped, you think of the two items that are always well received during the holidays: food and decorations!  (Either or are nice, but for this how-to, I’m going to show you how easy and frugal it is to gift both.)

Then, you head towards a retailer like Walmart that carries pocket-book friendly products and craft items like the Elmer’s CraftBond and X-ACTO lines.

This year, I headed there with the idea of creating Winter-Wonderland Potato Soup gifts and/or a festive ornament.  (To follow me on my complete shopping journey, join in at https://plus.google.com/#photos/110626780416241914200/albums/5684954180740696289 )

Thanks to the bargains I found, I was able to create both.  I got 8 “souper” gifts, 8 ornaments, get some awesome craft supplies to use on this and future projects, and enjoy a few bowls of soup myself for under $20!  If I average on the 16 gifts alone, it’s less than $1.25 per item… now that’s a whole lotta frugal!

Want to duplicate?  Awesome… what follows are the directions for making Winter Wonderland Potato Soup (a simple, delish recipe) and a Glitter Stencil Ornament (easy to make and sparkly!)

WINTER WONDERLAND POTATO SOUP

This filling soup is low on ingredients, easy on prep, but rich in hearty goodness. A soup mug or soup bowl are both suitable containers for gifting.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Potato Flakes
1/8 cup Plain White Biscuit Gravy (dry package)
1 Tbsp. Parmesean Herb Seasoning
1/2 Tsp. Garlic
1/2 Tsp. Dried Onion Flakes
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Pepper

Instructions:

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients until thoroughly mixed.  This will yield aproximately 1 cup.
TIP:  If you are making multiple gifts, you can mix all together.  For example, if you are making two gifts, double the recipe, then extract 1 cup of mixed ingredients per gift.

Place 1 cup of mix in a small zip bag and seal.  Place sealed zip bag into bowl, soup mug, or pint mason jar.

Create an instruction tag to include either inside the container or added on a tag for the gift.  The instruction tag should read:

Winter Wonderland Potato Soup – Pour soup mix from bag into bowl. Heat 2 cups of water, bring to a boil.  Pour boiling water over soup mix, stir until ingredients are dissolved.  Cover for 5 minutes.  Uncover, stir, and enjoy!  For an extra treat, top with Cheddar cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, or all three!

GLITTER STENCIL ORNAMENT

This is a super easy craft that uses a little imagination/creativity, producing a lovely work of art to be hung on a tree or used as a wall ornament.

Materials:

Felt Squares (any color)
Craft Paper (white or same color as glitter pen color used)
Glitter Pens (like Elmer’s 3D Washable Paint Pens in Classic Glitter)
Stencils (like X-ACTO Decorative Shapes Templates)
Elmer’s CraftBond Flexible Duo-Tip Glue Pen (for paper and fabric)
Scissors
Thin Ribbon
Pen or Pencil

Directions:

Cut a 5 x 5 inch basic shape from a felt square.

I created a circle from green felt, suitable to use with my soup container.

Use stencils to create holiday-style shapes to apply to your basic shape.  For example, stars, Christmas trees, swirls, ornament shapes, snowmen, and so forth.  Cut out shapes.

I created two poinsetta-style flower shapes from red felt, and improvised a stem shape from holly-like stencil.  Both shapes were created using the X-ACTO Decorative Shapes Template.

Glue the stencil shapes to the 5 x 5 felt shape in desired pattern.  Allow glue to dry.

I arranged the stem and flowers to create a plant-like effect. 

Using glitter pens, embellish and/or trace the stencil shapes to add sparkle!  Allow glitter to dry.

I filled in the stem and embellished the flowers with a glitter dot in the center. 

Cut a four inch length of thin ribbon.  Fold in half.  Staple, glue, or tape ends together to secure. Using glue, attach secured end of ribbon to the upper back portion of your ornament to form an ornament hanger.  Allow glue to dry.

When my ornament was complete, I attached two strands of ribbon around the base of my soup bowl and looped them through the ornament hanger to secure it to the top of the soup bowl- completing a festive look for my duo-gift!

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As you can see, it is extremely easy to quickly create simple, lovely, frugal hand-crafted gifts from the heart that will be well appreciated by your gift recipients.

Add your own touches by experimenting with the soup mix by swapping nacho cheese seasoning for the parmesean herb… or use wood or paper instead of felt.  What everyone will appreciate the most is the time you took to craft them an original and thoughtful gift!

Disclosure: This project has been conpensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #ElmersHoliday #gluenglitter #collectivebias #CBias  Craft ideas, craft development, and opinions are my own.