It has become a yearly tradition at our house that my girls and I make the gifts they will give to their friends. We like to get crafty!
Usually the list of friends they need gifts for is quite long and we don’t remember to do it until the last minute! Because of that we have found that the gift needs to be quick and easy to make and inexpensive. This year’s gift fit the bill perfectly!
Last year we made these darling paper covered frames.
This year I saw this great idea over at Blue Cricket Designs and I knew it would be perfect – Holiday Clothes Pins.
The clothes pins, along with a piece of ribbon, are used to display your photos and if you know any teenage girls – they have lots of photos!
We purchased a couple of packs of plain, wooden clothes pins from the dollar store. A pack of 36 clothes pins was only – you guessed it – a dollar!
Amazingly enough I have lots of scrapbook paper around the house, there was a bottle of Mod Podge in the craft closet and I had a box of buttons in there too. I have a bit of a ribbon addiction so that wasn’t a problem either.
The girl’s picked out paper that they thought their friends would like and just cut the paper to size, mod podged it on and let it dry. Blue Cricket Designs has a good tutorial and pictures for each of the steps.
We used the hot glue gun to attach the buttons. One tip though is to be sure and remove all the hot glue tails before taking a picture or giving as a gift – it will look nicer that way (obviously I didn’t do that!)
We also clipped them onto a piece of cardboard with the friend’s name written on the cardboard so we didn’t forget which ones were for who!
The girls were very thoughtful in their selection of paper for each of their friends.
Yikes – see all those glue tails!!
They did turn out cute though – minus the glue tails!
We put a set of five clothespins along with a yard of ribbon into a cellophane bag and tied it up with a bow!
I discovered that the best way to hang the ribbon so that the pictures hang straight is to use those little suction cups that have a hook in them. Attach them to the window or wall and tie the ribbon to that and then clip on the photos.
Happy Crafting!
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Oh my goodness, I love these. Perfect craft to do with my Activity Day girls at church as well.
How cute! Most of my friends and family live in NY so I will have to make these for me
How clever you and your girls are! I’m reminded of a neighbor who packaged a product back in the early 70’s and sold it at bazaars and a local gift shop or two as the “solar dryer”…looks very similar to yours, it was a few yards of rope and a bunch of clothes pins. It was back when “solar” first became a popular concept.
What a cute idea…i for sure am going to do this w/my 9 year old!! Thanks for sharing
Love this idea! Great activity for a Girl Scout meeting too!
Very cute idea! This is a craft that makes me think of spring in the dead of winter!
Greetings from FROZEN minnesota! Where do you get your celophane bags? Thanks
Amy, They are just the clear treat bags that you can pick up at the craft store. Stay warm!!
These are so cute! I just have to forward them to my college daughter, she will love it. I’m including a link from our blog where she used clothes pins in just the same way. She’ll be wild about the idea . . .
http://alpinekleinbunch.blogspot.com/2009/09/low-tech-dorm-decor.html
Kristin
Those are soooo fun & cute!!! I can’t wait to start crafting
Those turned out so darn cute! Love the idea of using the suction cup hooks with ribbon. I bet their friends are going to love them!!
I LOVE these! My eight-year-old will make a million of these, and I can’t wait to show her how. Thanks for the super cute idea!
What a fabulous idea! My daugther, 7, shares her room with our two foster daughters 2 & 2 1/2. She likes a particular actor and has pictures of him taped up. We’re always taping photos to the walls of biological family members or cartoon characters for our foster children – this will be WAY cuter!
I cannot wait to try this! It will help break up the Pepto-Bismol Pink of the girls’ room!