Pick two cloths and fold each in half the long way.
Then, tie a coordinating shade of satin ribbon, or a wired ribbon, around it, and insert some artificial fruit or berries to match. If you do not want to purchase anything like that and you are creative with fabric, try making a felt lemon slice, a cherry or strawberry, or a chocolate cookie, to use as a topper. Lacking that, you might be able to make something similar from fancy scrapbook papers and glitters, to tie on the top.
If you make your own soap, just insert a small fruit-shaped soap such as apple or lemon slice, under the ribbon, and you have a lovely gift for your ladies Bible class or your next tea fellowship. If the recipient is not adverse to scent, you could spray some chocolate or cherry spray on them, which is also something you can get at dollar stores. There is one called "Cinnamon Roll" which would be nice with a matching cloth roll, topped with some cinnamon sticks. Place each roll, seam side away from sight, in a plastic dessert dish that will not break, or in a tin of some kind. You can get quite imaginative with the kinds of containers you use for this gift.
I do have several more easy crafts, but as easy as they are, they sure are complicated to photograph and put on the blog, so it takes a lot more time than I had calculated.
30 comments:
Oh Lydia, these are just adorable.
They look good enough to eat and a great touch with the faux berries. I love that. What a great gift to give someone.
I used to make soaps.
When I was invited to a wedding, I would offer sheet or bath towel sets tied up with a wide ribbon, and a pretty Victorian sticker.
The sheet or towel sets were set pretty in a wide wicker basket, and on top of the sheets sat a small pretty dish filled with scented potpourri and a couple bars of my soap with a wide short pillar candle.
Then the whole basket was wrapped with clear cellophane, tied with a wide white ribbon and bow. A card tucked into the ribbon completed the gift.
Baskets can be found for pennies at thrift stores and spray painted white or colors. Potpourri, candles, bars of scented soaps and cellophane rolls and greeting cards can be found at the dollar store.
Sheet and bath towel sets can be found at Ross, and other discount department stores very inexpensively. Wide ribbon by the roll or spool can be found at after Christmas sales at dollar stores and craft supply shops like Michael's.
Thank you Lydia for sharing and showing us that it doesn't have to cost a lot to give a thoughtful gift.
What a simple yet wonderful idea!! They are beautiful :o)
Clever. Your idea would make great bridal shower and wedding gifts.
L.
www.singlehomeschoolingmommas.com
This is wonderful. Love the delicious looking plate of practical treats.
I once attended a baby shower where one of the guests had done a similar thing with receiving blankets and a baby wash cloth to make it look like a two story cake.
The smaller roll was placed on top of the larger roll and baby diaper pins in colors of yellow were placed all around the outside edge of the rolls to resemble candles. A baby rattle was placed on the top of the "blanket cake".
Love that idea-so pretty and not hard to do!
I'm so glad that you mentioned dying white wash cloths-I had not thought of doing that. Next time I'm at Wal-Mart I plan to purchase the white wash cloths and some pink and purple dye so I can dye the cloths to match my bathroom.
Thank you for all of your great ideas and encouragement for homemakers.
~Rhonda
Before I started reading I thought the first picture was a strawberry spongecake dessert..LOL! Cute idea.
I love this idea. It seems like these days ever wants or expects something store bought for a gift, I wouldn't want to give something homemade for fear of offending someone. It is a shame we can't use or are to afraid to use our creativity these days. But things have gotten so sophisticated and, in my opinion, boring!
If you fold the cloth in thirds you won't have any seam edges showing. That's how I fold all my towels.
A fantastic gift idea, it really is. This has good eye appeal, with the colors as well as the way the components are styled. The fact that it really doesn't need wrapping is a plus too....maybe just a simple ribbon around it, or some clear "shrink" plastic around it.
Brenda
That is true. I experimented with that and needed a lot more thickness in the roll, and folding it in fourths gave a lot thicker yet shorter look. If you do not want the seams to show, there is a way to fold into fourths where the ends are on the inside of the roll, but it is not as simple.
Brenda, I have seen things similar to this in catalogs which are in bakery pastry boxes with a cellophane window, or in cellophane bags. It is nice not to have to spend money on a container, as these can have soap or a sachet or a brush or something tucked in under the ribbon tie, and just handed to the the recipient. At the dollar store you can get ice cream or dessert bowls in brown, pink, yellow, etc. and it would look really good in one of them, and is water proof as well, and would not break.
If they were folded in thirds, so that the seams did not show, you could add thickness and shortness by folding it in half once more.
thank you all for the hints and ideas
G. Edward Griffin, who wrote "The Creature From Jekyll Island", about how the federal reserve is really set up, is on jsm.org this morning, on the show "Francis and Friends", live. The show already started at 10:00 EST, but will go for another hour and a half.
The show about the federal reserve re-airs at 10:00pm, if you miss it, under the "to Sonlife Radio" heading, not "watch live TV".
jsm.org
That is so cute I almost can't stand it! Our kids bathroom has a tropical theme (lots of blue, green, white and dolphins) so I might try it with aqua and green towels instead. With shells to top it!
~Jo~
I just sent you a Sunshine Blog Award. You can claim it here: http://llljourney.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-sweet.html
Thank you so much! I have had awards before but never knew what to do with them.
I would recommend to those who can stand the stress of todays crooked politics, the book called The Creature from Jekyll Island. It tells where the money comes from and where it goes and who causes the wars today and who pays for them.
I agree, I think it is important to read books like this one, because they cause you to be more spiritually vigilant in your own life, realizing that this world is not our home.
It made me more sober, which is one of the attributes we are supposed to have.
Over the years of hearing authors like this one, you also realize just how much of the main-line church is being run by people who are allied with the same wicked, one-world organizations, like the Council on Foriegn Relations (Rick Warren, who wrote the "Purpose Driven Life/Church" books, is a member). You start to realize why you are feeling so "different" while sitting amongst Christians in your church. Most of the literature being put out by big Christian stores, and being used in church curriculum is of the same "One-World" spirit, and use enough scripture that it confuses people into believing it is of a Christian nature.
Right now, my church started using a Wednesday night curriculum that is so "off" that I am not sure how to approach it with those who selected and are using it. It is such a big topic, and it will just look like I am a picky, complaining, unappreciative home-school mom if I try to say anything about it. Yet I can't rest in my spirit. Even my children, who are very young, see the problem with it and feel like it's wrong.
The people at my church already think we are another species because we home-school, but I think I have to try and explain, my kids make up 3/4 of the children's program!
If more people would be informed about what is really going on in this world, it wouldn't be such a shock to them to learn that much of the stuff they are being taught in church, is to slowly get them to line up to the world's way of thinking. Most of it is being taught by sincere, God-loving people who are just not sharp enough on their scripture.
Lady Lydia: I just bought that book for my husband off Amazon. Says it is a huge eye opener, and is going to pass it on to me once he's finished.
~Jo~
I am the one who mentioned hedgerows in the other post. I ordered a book titled "Hedgerow", by Eric Thomas, from Amazon.com, and it is an excellent little history of the English hedgerow, beautifully illustrated, and brief. It was very good to read to the children, and had a good explanation of how the original hedgerows, and the way they were maintained, helped to keep the whole system of wildlife in balance.
I ordered another book, "Hedges and Hedgelaying", and it is a little more like a text on what to use, how to do it, etc, Has only black and white pictures, but valuable for it's information.
We are planting a garden this year, and it all came up in Johnson grass - which basically means the end of the garden. The roots are so enormous and pervasive that you can't get rid of them. It is even becoming herbicide resistant because it is crossing with strains of herbicide resistant sorghum.
We are learning about "permaculture", so I thought, there must be an animal who can eat this stuff. I remembered watching youtube videos about Polyface Farms, and how their pigs keep problem root weeds down for them. Now we are going to borrow a pig to clean the garden dirt out of this stuff! The pig will ruin what I have planted, but so will the Johnson grass - and it will continue to get worse if left to itself.
I have really enjoyed learning about natural animal solutions to environmental problems (i.e. building a bat box will keep your mosquitoes down) so that you don't need to use deadly chemicals everywhere.
The book mentioned above, "Hedgerow", emphasized this idea.
Another good youtube video to go along with this book is "A Farm for the Future" -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xShCEKL-mQ8
Wonderful post! I just wondered if you could possibly do a message on regrets! I KNOW there is nothing I can do about my past. The thoughts will not stop though!! :(
Thank you for ALL YOU DO!!!!
These are very clever and wonderful gifts. I hope I can remember how to do it when I need to make a gift :-)
That's a lovely idea! Thank you for posting the instructions too. :)
These are so unique. They would make a very nice gift. I've not seen anything like it.
Very original....
Laura
Lydia,
This is wonderful! What a delight. I will use this idea for our next Titus 2 young ladies class in May. I also love your readers idea for wedding gifts. Our next class will be honoring Mothers and throwing a wedding shower for one of our young ladies in our class. I will post the pictures of your ideas on my blog afterwards!
Lisa
Thankyous to all who recommended the books. I cannot believe how much the Constitution is under attack and people seem to want to change the very roots of our country. How can people not realize what is happening? This is not a new course but seems to be escalating quicker. I know you do not want this to turn all political so I will just say thankyou again. Your guidance in how to enrich our homes is so appreciated. Your projects help us creat things out of love for our families.
How pretty!
I just made this!!! I am not crafty at all, but this was very simple and enjoyable. It is now sitting in my bathroom!!! Thank you for the cute idea!
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