Relax! More handmade gift ideas

Friday I passed the Rathaus and noticed they were preparing for the Christmas markets. I think they open on Saturday! Why would I go to the Christmas markets when I'm making all of my Christmas gifts, you may ask. The food, of course. Last year they had a stand with a huge chocolate fountain and you could get little waffle bowls filled with fruit and covered in chocolate. Yum!

Speaking of making gifts... I have three gifts finished and plan to finish three more this week. Three in one week! I'm very optimistic. But for now I have some more ideas to share. I would definitely make some of these products if they were more conclusive to mailing, but since they're not, I'll pass them along to you.

Today's theme: relaxation.

Angry Chicken is one of my favorite blogs. Amy's Bend-the-Rules Sewing was my first sewing book and some of the patterns are sure to be use once again during this year's gift-making extravaganza. If you like sewing or baking or making your own personal hygiene products, I'd recommend checking her blog out. For gifts, take a look at her posts on making sugar scrubs and bath melts. She provides links to recipes and tips based on her own experience. One of those posts links to Recipezaar's Bath/Beauty list, which has a lot of bath product recipes. I think I may make a sugar scrub for myself. :)

If you're not into the bath products, check out the rice heat therapy bag from Sew, Mama, Sew's Handmade Holidays 2007 list. Or if you're ambitious, take a look at the wellness bag which includes a heat therapy bag, a cold therapy pack, and a cold therapy eye pillow.

Here's an awful photo of a rice bag I made earlier this year. I made it long so it could be draped over the shoulder or around the neck and segmented it so the rice wouldn't bunch in the ends. It was a pain to sew, but it turned out quite well.