Making Handicraft Gifts

What’s inside: Take a look at these handicraft gifts – you’ll get some great ideas for end projects for your handicraft studies.

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Charlotte Mason & Handicraft

Handicraft was an integrated part of the Charlotte Mason schools. In the afternoon, she recommended “masterly inactivity” but that didn’t mean kids can do whatever they feel like. The afternoons were slated for free outdoor play, “occupations”, and leisure time.

Typically, in her schools, this is exactly what they did in the afternoons. “Occupations” were often of some kind of hand work, housework, or garden work. Then there was also time for free reading and outdoor time in nature. An afternoon might look like teatime outdoors, or a quiet hike, or painting in journals, or spending time in the backyard.

Placing importance on masterly inactivity allows the child to make the connections from the feast you have set before them. With downtime, you are basically giving the brain an opportunity to digest the information from that morning, that week, that year, and beyond.

“Do not let the endless succession of small things crowd great ideals out of sight and out of mind.”

~Charlotte Mason

Now back to the actual details of how Charlotte Mason schools accomplished this. Many of the semesters listed an end goal of some sort of gifting, like “Make three Christmas presents in Sloyd (Form II, ~1905)” or “Make a garment for the Save the Children Fund, (Forms II & III, 1921)”.

I think that was an essential part of learning handicraft – you learn to make useful and beautiful items.

Why Give Handmade Items?

People love handmade. Grandparent people, especially! Parents also often enjoy handmade gifts. Siblings, in my experience, aren’t as amazed by handmade items, but it depends on expectations. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s sisters seemed thrilled by handmade items.

Also, it’s a bit empowering when you make something by yourself – you begin to learn what it feels like to be capable.

Don’t you think some of your friends or people in nursing homes or your neighbor might enjoy a homemade gift?

What kind of items?

In a previous post, I’ve gathered over 90 handicrafts in three broad groupings which you can learn – that’s a lot! I’m not recommending you learn all of these – I’m just trying to give you an idea of what kinds of things you can do.

So in this post, I’d like to give you an idea of what kinds of gifts you can make for someone else by looking at the various areas of handicrafts that you can learn.

Gift Ideas in 3 Broad Areas of Handicraft

Kitchen & Home Ideas

• Cooking: Bake a loaf of bread to give
• Sewing: Sew an apron for your mom or grandma or a grilling apron for your dad
• Embroidery: Embroider initials on a handkerchief
• Sewing: Make a stuffed animal for someone
• Fiber Arts: (Youngest people) Tie a fleece lap blanket for a nursing home gift
• Animal Care: Make a pet toy.
• Canning: (Older students) Can Apple Butter for gifts
• Crochet: Crochet a small toy to donate to the children’s hospital
• Gifts in a Jar: Speaks for itself!
• Loom weaving: Make a pot holder to give
• Macrame: Make a plant hanger

Garden

• Make herbal vinegar
• Make herbal oils
• Dry herbs like mint or raspberry leaves and gift a jar of tea
• Use a flower press to dry flowers and then make a small framed flower as a gift
• Use dried flowers from your press to craft a coaster in resin
• Propagate a house plant to repot and share as a gift
• Make a sprouting jar to give as a gift and put a small bag of starter seeds in it like mung beans – be sure to print some instructions with it!

Sloyd

• Make any small project in wood, like a birdhouse, napkin holder, or candle stand.
• Make paper gift boxes in origami
• You can also papercraft bookmarks
• Make a candle
• Make a duct tape creation like a wallet
• Carve a small decoration to gift like these
• Sculpt a bowl or throw a vase on the potter’s wheel
• Paint a nature scene and frame it
• Bead a bracelet to give
• Wood Burn a sign to hand on a wall

What should you make?

Deciding what to make might take place at the beginning of the handicraft semester. When you have a project you are working towards, you can hone the appropriate skills as you learn the craft.

I hope this has helped you select some gifts to make with your handicraft studies! Remember: When you give a handmade gift, be sure to make a handmade gift tag also!

Related Posts

For More Learning

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For More Study on Masterly Inactivity

• Leisurely Afternoons | A Modern Charlotte Mason
  (This article was guest posted by Delightfully Feasting)
• Keeping Your Balance with Masterly Inactivity | Simply Charlotte Mason