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Holiday Gift Baskets - Siimply Great

A gift basket is great way to say ”You are special.” Because if you know the person you are making it for you can select those perfect little treasures that delight the senses. And what better way to go about it than with the ever popular gourmet theme? The first decisions are probably whether to buy a ready-made or make your own. Of course, if you wait too long the first option will be out the window. Make it yourself and a trip to a couple of gourmet food stores will give you plenty of ideas for that holiday gift basket. There may even be baskets available there. Another approach is to add a few items to a commercial basket for a more personal touch.

That old holiday favorite - gift baskets offers a quick solution to gift giving. And because it offers an abundance of items it's likely to hit the mark. Holiday gift baskets have the power to delight the senses with their bountiful offering. Most commercial baskets offer a variety of themes to choose from. Just choose your price range and cross your fingers that it will arrive on time. The alternative is to make your own. Take a tip from the pros, start with a theme. A hand made gift basket with a theme sends a personal message as well as delightful holiday gift.

For something extra there are items like movie tickets, subway pass, coffee shop gift card and small stuffed animals. Other ways to add a little fun could be to include some Belgian chocolates, CDs, toys, and crossword puzzles.For an offbeat treat there are sock puppets and voodoo dolls for the active imagination, or a how-to juggle kit.

To be successful, not everything in a food themed holiday gift basket has to be peeled or sliced. The same goes for any other theme you choose. This could mean a bunch of artificial grapes or other items that could be used in a table arrangement. Even a few artificial flowers, this is a time to think creatively and with your thinking cap on you should be able to come up with a variety of items that will do.

Got the theme all wrapped up but still looking for something different? A sample of vanilla bean or saffron would really delight the cook.

Still looking for something special? Local craft fairs hold lots of possibilities. Jewelry, pottery and sun catchers being a few favorites. Mini pet portraits would definitely tickle someone’s fancy.

Putting it all together - the thing that creates the magic. It should be visually pleasing but have balance. Bigger, heavier items in the center, tall bottles like wine and olive oil reclining and lots of small things to fill in the spaces. Feel free to rewrap items that you think can be made more attractive. Esthetics are important for success, the finished look should be bountiful but not cluttered.

It all comes together when you give it that final wrap of clear plastic. The nice thing is it doesn’t hide the effect you have worked hard to create and conforms well to irregular shapes. It also helps hold everything in place and preserve freshness. You see all those gifts lying there in a bed of raffia - your holiday gift basket has become a cornucopia of delight. It’s a very exciting effect. For an added touch, at this final stage, you can try your hand at doing a double wrap of clear plastic and sprinkling confetti between the layers. And top it all off with a fancy bow and a few streamers of curly ribbon. Be sure to include a gift card that expresses your holiday best wishes. Make it even more heartfelt with a handmade card for your personal message.

Holiday gift baskets

A gift basket is a festive gift that will certainly delight the senses. Put on your thinking cap before you start shopping. First take a look around,the holiday season offers many possibilities fot a theme. A theme gives you something to build on, a jumping off point for collecting a variety of items to create that fun basket. There are many ways to go, keeping in mind the occasion and who it is for. Setting the mood of your gift selections could be considered a sub-theme. Here you have the opportunity to be playful, completely wacky or formal, to name a few of the possibilities. Keep in mind the visual presentation as you go along.

To get the ball rolling try to imagine the excitement you can create by gathering together a few unusual gift items that will enhance the effect. A fruit basket, for instance, doesn’t just have to be about island mangos an Fiji apples - although they are very nice. A set of hand carved wooden spoons from a craft fair or a couple of fortune cookies - if you can replace the fortunes, even better.

To be successful, not everything in a food themed basker has to be peeled or sliced. The same goes for any other theme you choose. This could mean a bunch of artificial grapes or other items that could be used in a table arrangement. Even a few artificial flowers, this is a time to think creativitly. Bath products, gourmet foods, wine and cheese and craft supplies are a few of the populr ones. You should be able to come up with a variety of items that will make your theme perfect.

Once you’ve got all your bottles, boxes and oddities in hand it’s time to do some arranging. Putting it all together - the presentation, is thing that creates the magic. It’s good to start with a bed of raffia or some similar material. Darker colors usually work best for this. To ensure success, put heavier items in the center, tall bottles like wine and olive oil reclining and lots of small things to fill in the spaces. If you would like to specially wrap a few items, feel free - it will add to the mystery and visual excitement. Use your good judgment - the finished look should be bountiful but not cluttered.

Time to wrap it up - the finishing touches will give your gift basket that professional look. Wrapping gift baskets in in clear or tinted plastic is the usual way to secure things, as you probably have noticed. The reason is simple, it doesn’t hide the effect you have worked hard to create and conforms well to irregular shapes. So add a few special touches, like a bow and gift and happing gift giving.

A couple of cards

These greeting cards use a couple of different techniques but took very little effort to make, once I was shown how. The maroon and purple one uses regular stamping with a wash overlay. Several layers of torn paper are a nice touch.

The blue and green card uses a short flap that slips through hotdog shaped hole to keep the cover closed. The dusting of color around the ellipse is a subtle effect. Both cards use an emboss technique which is created with metallic powder sprinkled on a special ink.

First gift cards with stamping

We just went to a stamping party - first ever, for one of these types of get-togethers. A group of people invited together, most meeting each other for the first time, to learn some of the possibilities of rubber stamping. Of course this technique has lived in the mundane world of commerce for ever. Familiar bold gothic words in red with messages like cancelled, past due and top secret. Their message projecting an urgent call to action.

If you’ve visited an art store you know there is a shelf of these little pink gems, but now they are mostly images with a different meaning. That is what this party was all about. Our host was a perfect pilot into this world, a fun teacher with a huge collection of samples to give us the possibilities for our own creations. After a few simple demonstrations she has us making our own greeting cards. The tools are much more refined than I had imagined, which proved a very important point: If you are organized you can be so much more productive. In no time each of us had made a couple of professional looking cards. And it was very easy, with the tools at hand for scoring, embossing and coloring.

We learned that stamping has a lot to offer. It is probably the most overlooked art technique, perhaps because it is so simple to use. As Tami showed us, it’s how you use it that makes it a versatile art tool. Try for yourself the simple technique of hand painting a stamp with water based markers. See what you think of your multicolored image. Another thing to try is stamping with the usual oil-based ink pad but then coloring in the negative areas with water colors. It looks like there are a lot of possibilities for exploration, and for those that don’t feel comfortable drawing stamping can be a very creative tool. I’m ready to try out a couple of gift wrapping ideas.

Pop-up card

If you’ve ever had the experience of walking through an old, abandoned barn or house you know that feeling, your imagination was probably working overtime. Recently I walked through a long-closed amusement park. It wasn’t abandoned, parts of it were refurbished and being used for other things. Even so, it was quit an experience. Old amusement parks, and especially road carnivals, have such wonderful graphics. The faded art for the bumper cars at this park was the inspiration for this card.

By attaching small coil springs, made from floral wire, these two bumper car figures jiggle nicely with the slightest motion. With the right inscription I’ve been able to use this for several occasions. My favorite being a wedding anniversary, which didn’t seem to need any explanation. But with a funny play on words it could probably work for other occasions. .

Public records like the National Archives have libraries of these images, from the great depression, when out of work artists and others were working for the WPA documenting Americana. If you have the patience there are treasures there to be unearthed - if you can find them. Unfortunately a computer crash lost all except a few. Have been unable to find the location again. Images are probably from the National Archives or National Park Service.

Pop-up card

In addition to our regular gift wrapping stuff, greeting cards seem like a natural way to have a little fun with scissors and paper, So while we have our tools handy, it’s off to see what we can come up with. Handmade cards are such fun projects and a treat to receive. It’s sort of like getting a little surprise gift in an envelope. In fact a friend of mine sends some of his creations in clear envelopes. There no mistaking these for junk mail. So with pop-up cards on the brain I am posting the first of a series handmade cards that do more than just sleep like a cat. If you take pleasure in fold, spindle and mutilate, join us as we go - we know not where.

This a first attempt. The hand raises up off the card about ½” The card which is held in place by two simple cuts in the hand, entitles someone to a free hug.

This a first attempt at a 3-D card. The hand raises up off the card about ½” The card which is held in place by two simple cuts in the hand, entitles someone to a free hug.