Frugal Gift #1 ~ Pinecone Skiers

I love making homemade gifts. I enjoy creating and I also enjoy giving, so homemade gifts puts the two of them together.

These little skiers are a fun winter decoration. They can be set on a shelf, hung on a tree ( add a loop to their hats), used as a place card at the table ( write the name on their ski) , be the finishing touch on a gift or whatever you desire. For a small gift these are nice to give all by themselves.

They are very simple to make, only taking a few minutes to actually put together. All you need is a pine cone (with a fairly flat bottom), Popsicle sticks for skis (you could also could use little pieces of cardboard cut out), a large acorn or some other round object for the head (a wooden ball, a nut, etc.) and material for the scarf (felt, corduroy or some other fabric), toothpicks for the ski poles, markers (or paint) to draw on the face and hot glue sticks and gun for putting it together.

To assemble line up the skies as desired and then put a little glue on each one where you want to attach the pine cone. Stick it on and the put a little glue on the top of the pine cone and firmly press in the head. Let it harden and then you can glue on the hat. For our hats we used the caps of acorns. You could also make one out of the finger tip of an old glove, a little bit of felt or make earmuffs using pipe cleaner or a twist tie and felt. Next you could tie on the scarf which you cut to be the length desired and then fringe the ends. After you tie on the scarf put a dab of glue on the end of each toothpick and stick it up under the scarf so that it comes out at an angle like ski poles. Next draw the face as you desire. Now you are all done! There are many ways you could do this differently- allow yourself to be creative! Use what you have on hand and maybe make a family of skiers each with its own personality.

I have a lot of different ideas for homemade gifts, I am hoping to post one a day for a week or so or maybe all the way until Christmas. Keep checking back and hopefully you will find something that you can use. Also I would love to hear about what you are making!

To see other gift ideas go to "Whats on your frugal gift list" hosted by Pure Joy.