
I cannot believe that Christmas is almost here. Us Floridians always have this problem. The warm weather sticks with us so long, it takes a little imagination to feel festive and get in the holiday spirit. The stores can decorate early all they want in October, but when the temps are still in the 90s outside, it just doesn't click in my head. The thing that ends up happening as a result, at least for me, is I'm scrambling at the last minute. We all need those small gifts to give as thank-you's during the holidays. And those little gifts are the ones that are so important because the gesture itself says a lot. It doesn't always have to be a huge, extravagant gift. If it's handmade and cute, it's always a hit. Here are a few of my favorite little quick gifts I've made this year and in years past. They're cheap, easy and cute, and I love making them because I get to use up paper scraps, leftover chipboard, stickers, ribbon and other do-dads.
Anyone who knows me knows how I love my coffee. What could be better than enjoying my favorite grocery store Starbucks Frap drink, then repurposing that cute little bottle by adding some festive paper, simple stamping and a little ribbon? I add candies that match the paper and that little touch completes the gift so nicely!

This little red tin was about $2 at Michael's. A little holiday paper, ric-rac ribbon and some leftover chipboard letters make this the perfect little cookie tin. My daughter and I like to fill these with our gingerbread men and give them out to the crossing guards on the way to school.

Did I mention how I love my coffee? I just assume that everyone else does too. This is simply cardstock, paper, stamping and some ribbon. I put some International Foods Latte mix in a little zip bag and stapled it inside the tented cardstock.

The good old pie-box. These are in abundance at Oriental Trading and other craft stores. Plain white and flat, they are easy to stamp and cover with paper, then assemble and insert something sweet inside.

I love the wood craft aisle at the local craft store. There are so many cute little boxes and things that are so cheap! This little handle box was $1. It started as bare wood, and I used a reinker and sponge brush to give it a Juniper stain, then covered it with paper, stamping, Stickles and ribbon. You could put any cute little sweet treat in here.

This little rectangle tin came from Oriental Trading for super cheap. With some liquid glue, it's a snap to cover with paper. I topped off the stamped snowflake with a big Twilight corduroy brad. This tin could hold a gift card, pair of socks, fancy candies, or a wallet, or gloves, or... the possibilities are endless!

I personally would love to get this as a gift. It's a 20-pack of gift tags. The trick to keep this simple and fast is to use a tag punch. I also kept it simple by mostly using stickers and only stamping the words "To" and "From" on each. I included coordinating ribbons and packaged it nicely. One of my daughter's teachers will be getting this this Christmas.

We always need a little gift bag, but sometimes don't have time to run out and purchase one. I like to buy the 10-pack of white bags at WalMart and keep them on hand to make my own personalized gift bags. These bags are about 8 x 10 in size, so generous enough for large stamped images, punched images like this big Sizzix snowflake, and some pattern paper I had in my stash.
I would love to hear your comments and also hear about quick gift ideas you have tried and love. Leave a comment here and your name will go into my drawing for a FREE scrapbooking kit!