Children – Simply Made Kitchen and Crafts

In the midst of all of the holiday hoopla and Christmas shopping, I realized that there may be a load of practical gift cards that might be received far better than any piece of clothing or fancy kitchen gadget. For students, especially those living in highly populated cities, transportation can be an issue. Gift cards focused on shuttling a person from one destination to another might be much more appreciated versus a piece of clothing. Train passes, Uber gift cards, bus passes, etc. are all good ideas. Last year my sister in law gave my children transportation gift cards and they were used to shuttle them to the local grocery store, to the airport, and home from the local burger and brew joint. (Each of my children are in college and over the age of 21.). They also received gift cards from the local drug store where they were able to by toiletries, milk, and basic groceries while on campus. Another great idea for college students, gifts cards for sandwich shops and local eateries. Many dorm cafeterias are closed on Sunday evenings so having a gift card for a local diner is always appreciated.

Be creative as you think of ways to “wrap” your gift cards. Think of using beautiful paper scraps, college themed papers, Christmas wrap, or themed scrap book papers. I recently purchased some high-end soap from a local discount store. The soap was wrapped in a beautiful heavy weight paper that I just couldn’t throw away. This gave me the idea to use the paper as a wrap for a small gift; hence, a gift wrap for the gift card. Here’s what I did…

I found a template here. Or, Google various gift card envelope images for the shape you prefer.

I gathered an assortment of scrap paper, and the beautiful wrapping paper found on some milled soaps.

I printed the template and traced the outline on various scraps.I penciled in some fold lines.

I thought it might be nice to have a contrasting liner.Using a few paper punches, I fashioned a gift tag.

Use Christmas paper, shopping bags, newspaper… Whatever you like.This is an enjoyable way to personize and make personal, an ordinary, yet purposeful gift card.

For the past several months, I’ve been working with a local literacy coalition to help promote the love of reading in our schools and regional communities. One of the ideas that we proposed was to promote Little Free Libraries in our urban and rural environments. I figured the best way for me to promote this idea was to create one myself.

Throughout the campaign we’ve been stressing the use of recycled materials and simplistic design. When I presented the idea to my husband, the creative juices began to flow and he soon constructed this adorable residential Little Free Library. To learn more about constructing and registering your very own LFL, visit littlefreelibrary.org

This is a grass roots movement and the LFL site includes a world map where registered LFL locations are posted so that those interested in doing a tour or an afternoon bike ride to visit all of the “mini libraries” in their area can print the map and get going.

As I mentioned earlier, we promote the idea of using simplistic, recycled materials to bring to life this lovely idea to stress the importance of reading in your community. Use old furniture, large baskets, cartons, or plastic tubs to make inexpensive, upcyled models. My husband found scrap wood and other building materials to make this LFL for our home. His skill level might be better than most but don’t stress about the perfect model. Stick with your skill level and be as simplistic or as ornate as you like. Check out all the images on the site to inspire ideas for your very own Little Free Library.