Filling My Gift Shelf

 

I have been busy using up items I already have on hand to create thoughtful gifts to refill my small gift shelf I keep in my bedroom closet.  This is not only practical and an efficient use of my resources, but it is saving me a lot of money.  More importantly I’m having a lot of fun and getting to really tap into my creative side.  Working on these little projects recharges my spirit and fills my heart with joy.

 

Earlier this year I purchased a flat of twelve cute little four ounce jelly jars.  This month I picked up two pounds of strawberries on sale at the grocery store.  I pulled all of my four ounce jelly jars plus the flat I had purchased from the garage and after figuring out how many jars I wanted to give this year I washed up the jars and got busy.  On hand I had chopped frozen rhubarb from last year’s harvest, some organic cane sugar, a cup of leftover cranberry juice and a cup of leftover sweet wine (both in the freezer) and a package of pectin.

 

I whipped up a batch of strawberry rhubarb preserves and with all the juice and wine added in the flavor was amazing!  I filled and process ten of the four ounce jars I had washed up and even had a bit the preserves leftover to add three half pint jars to my pantry.  Lucky me!  BTW - It tastes amazing on vanilla ice cream.

 

I had some label stock in my office supplies so I made cute labels for each jar and using circles of fabric I had cut from scrap Christmas fabrics with a pair of pinking shears I decorated each jar.  I think they turned out so pretty and it was a lot of fun to make these up.  I love having them all lined up on the shelf waiting to be given out this Christmas.

 

Something I truly enjoy making and giving out are journals.  Everyone I have given a journal to have told me over and over how much they enjoy using them.  They all use them for a variety of different reasons, there really is no right or wrong way to use a journal, and I think having something pretty to write in makes it even more enjoyable.  My scrap drawer on my craft organizer was stuffed so I made a point to use as many of these scraps as I could to make three new journals to add to my gift shelf.  It was so much fun!

 

I had already added a couple other journals I had made earlier in the year.  I’m glad I had done that because I’ve already had an occasion to give out two of those journals.  Decorated notepads were also on the shelf but after finding a forgotten stash of paper pads and half size composition books I have added even more decorated and notepads as well as some mini journals.

 

In my sewing stash I had some fabric scraps as well as a pile of hand towels I had purchased a few years ago to make hanging dish towels.  One weekend I was able to get some stitched up.  I like to take one or two of these towels and pair them with a foaming hand soap from Bath & Body Works.  This year I have a $25 gift card to Bath & Body Works and I plan to use it to buy some of those hand soaps to put on the gift shelf as soon as the fall scents are back in stock and on sale.  Those are my favorites.

 

Earlier in the year I had picked up a couple jar candles I found on sale for $2.99 each to add to the gift shelf.  After some thought I decided to whip together a couple of cute padded candle mattes to go with the candles using up some of my scrap fabric.  I love these and use them myself as a way to protect surfaces from hot candles.  I am planning to pick up a couple more candles when I find them on sale and will make mattes for them as well.

 

Another gift I like to give is a wash cloth, a hand towel and a nice bar of soap.  I took a plain hand towel and jazzed it up with trim from my sewing stash.  I was able to make two sets of these to add to the gift shelf using soaps I had in my linen closet.

 

I’m quite pleased with the progress I have made to refill my gift shelf and all of the stuff I’ve been able to use up.  It has really tickled me to eliminate two banker boxes and a plastic storage bin from my craft and sewing room lately.  I’m even more pleased with all of the joy and happiness I enjoyed while doing this.  Do you have a gift shelf?  If so, what’s on it?