Creative Packaging for Homemade Gifts (Bath Powder)

This post is from when I was creating other bath products (here) with my grand daughter Alybeth. So this is rather late, as I just found the photos I thought were lost, but hopefully it can be useful later on.

We made our own bath powder allowing the fragrances to set for a week before packaging.

As far as containers go, they needed to be economical for Alybeth to give them as gifts for family and friends, so we tried to buy items that would keep the cost range at around $5.00.

Price wise these are a very good start. 

I bought several sets of salt and pepper shakers for a $1.00 a set at a discount store.

This design seems to disguise the fact that it is a salt shaker and looks cute as well.

The items used to make the snowman powder container in the previous photo are these:

 A salt shaker, a snowman face and buttons printed on card stock and formed into a sleeve to fit around the shaker.  The hat was made using a baby sock. To hold the hat in place and also section off the hat's shape clear hair bands were used. The bell is attached with jewelry findings. The scarf is just striped tee shirt material with the ends cut into fringe.

Using a glue gun to attach ribbons, stickers, and charms, here are a few more designs options for more elegant yet still price conforming containers.

It's important to keep the powder from getting away before it gets to it's destination so

 a decorative envelope seal was used to cover the holes. 

On the ones below a seal or a small piece of tape was added to the rim before the top was screwed on.

For a container with a more elegant look, I embellished a decorative glass salt shaker with rhinestone trim and ribbon. It looks great on it's own as well. 

 I bought this set at a discount store, so using just one as a gift will still be slightly over $5.00, but to be fair I already had the ribbon and rhinestone trim on hand from previous crafts. 

 We made bath powders in many different scents so I decided to use the leftover bits by pouring 

them into these mini shakers and packaging them together as samplers.

  I bought these shakers as a set of 12 for about $7.50 at a discount store. A package of four is well under the $5.00 limit.

Note: Take the tops off and cover with a piece of tape to keep the powder from getting out, replacing the tops of course.

This is the only photo I found of the penguin designs we did. 

The smaller penguin is again a salt shaker from the double pack at a discount store. The larger penguin design printout is covering a foaming hand soap container. We actually made our own soap and added a gingerbread type fragrance.

♥ Happy Decorating ♥

Christmas Cookies - 2014 Designs

I had some left over dough and icing from a cookie decorating party with my kids and grand kids, so I decided to have some me time in the kitchen and play with some designs I've been wanting to try.

Icicle cookies.
These are fancier and have more dimension than the ones I did years ago.

I used a carrot cutter for this one, and forgot to round off the top before baking. I decided to decorate it anyway figuring I could always cover it with a snowflake cookie later.

Snowflake with a decorative center indentation.

Ornament cookie with a decorative center indentation.
I'm not really liking the shiny center.

Ornament and simple tree cookies.
I like the center of this ornament much better.

Two variations of the decorative center.


♥ Happy Decorating ♥

MIni Christmas Cookies - Packaging

Lately I've been using more power tools than flour tools as the unrelenting joys of home ownership have taken precedence over everything else while I work to get my house into shape to sell.

I did manage to get some mini Christmas cookies made to add to Christmas gift baskets, and I hope to be able to play some more in the kitchen during the holidays. Maybe I'll let that be my present to myself.

I'll admit that mini cookies can sometimes be more difficult to ice than a larger cookie, but I love how cute they look all packaged together.

These are placed in pretzel bags and sealed in between. This will help to keep them from breaking I hope. I stapled on a hang tag made with a scrapbooking punch. A decorative envelope seal covers the staple for a more finished look.

I'll cover this with a cellophane bag and bow, but due to light glare I photographed it without.

A half pound candy box of Christmas minis.

♥ Happy Decorating ♥