How to reuse, recycle Christmas and greeting Cards

Sherri Osborn has a whole plethora of Ideas on this subject in her great family crafts blog. I made a bunch of gift tags out of this years greeting cards. I made enough to cover next years Christmas!

<-A whole lotta gift tags re-used from

Christmas Cards

Gifts for Kids to make and give

How about making a calendar for christmas? About.com's Sherri Osborn has templates on her blog, and easy intructions. You could do a recipe calendar (feature different recipes each month, a birthday calendar if you com from a larger family- list everyone's birthday, anniversaries, special events throughout the year, month by month. Another gift idea for kids to give is have them draw a picture and frame it. Frames can be found at thrift stores, dollar stores etc. This makes a great gift for grandma, and it makes the child's artwork look so professional.

Another gift for kids to give is take some burlap, and a frozen orange juice container or similar size can, role the fabric over the can, glue it and glue some ribbon on the top rim and bottom rim of can. Make s a great pencil holder (I think my mom still has hers, 40 years later! Or if you know how to do t-shirt transfers, have your kid draw a I love grandma or grandpa picture, scan it into your computer, make a transfer, and make a shirt. (If you have some talent sewing, you could hem a piece of fabric so that it forms a rectangle and make a wall hanging this way. All easy inexpensive options!

One more gift for kitty!

All kitty's love an elevated place to stand, nap, glare at chihuahuas. Why not revisit the post How to build a cat tree/cat condo and make your kitty a cat tree for christmas?

Kitty's Turn: Making your own Cat treats and Toys

Yesterday we remembered the pooch for christmas, today lets not forget kitty cat! For treats, we can go to this site to make your own cat treats. My cat Sammy swears by the Tuna treats. And here's how to make your own cat toys.
One of the best cat toys are to take baby socks or small clean cotton socks like ankle high socks, fill with catnip and tie a knot at the end.
Finally, cats love fluffy pom poms on strings (at least my cats always have), here is a video on making pom poms your kitty would love to play with:

Make your own dog gifts

Let's not forget Fido on christmas morning. Here is a list of Dog treat recipes that should more than satisfy canines at Christmas time. If you have a smaller dog, look at How to make a Dog sweater from a sock to help keep your chihuahua from chilly bones. And here are instructions to make homemade Dog Toys, and here is a ball toy to make for your pooch

How to make Your own Hot Chocolate mix-

Getting ready to make Hot Cocoa Cones or Cocoa in a jar? Need a mix recipe? Here is one from that is simple easy and good And arecipe for sugar free Hot chocolate mix. Add 3 tablespoons of cinnamon for a spicy cinnamon cocoa mix.

Ande here are a couple of extra Hot Chocolate recipes:

Hot Cocoa Mix Recipe(allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

16 ounces dry milk powder
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
DIRECTIONS
Sift together milk powder, white sugar and cocoa powder. Store in an airtight container.
To prepare, stir approximately 1 heaping tablespoons of mix into 1 cup of hot water.

SUGAR FREE HOT CHOCOLATE MIX:

INGREDIENTS

16 ounces dry milk powder
1 cup NutraSweet (Sucralose)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

DIRECTIONS
Sift together milk powder, Nutra Sweet (Sucralose) and cocoa powder. Store in an airtight container.
To prepare, stir approximately 1 heaping tablespoons of mix into 1 cup of hot water.