Have a Handmade Christmas ~ Week 2

 Welcome to week 2 of Have a Handmade Christmas Carnival! I hope you are willing to join me in making this a Handmade Holiday!

 This week at Proverbs 31 Living I have been talking about herbs, so today I decided to share some homemade herbal gift ideas. I think herbs are a lot of fun and I enjoy growing them and they are also fun to share with others.

Here are some ways: (and even if you don't grow herbs yourself, you could make some of these gifts by buying bulk herbs at a health food store.)

Idea #1 ~ Pot some herbs and give them for people that enjoy fresh and natural cooking. One of the pots in the picture actually shows a Rosemary plant that a friend of mine gave me last year. I have really enjoyed using it. They other one is Oregano that I potted this fall from out of my garden. Another option is to start brand new plants right now to have them ready for Christmas. Or even simpler, you could give a gift of the pot, soil and seeds.

Speaking of seeds.....

Idea #2 ~ If you have herbs or flowers that are producing seeds, save them! I made little envelopes for these and now they will make a perfect little gift. I know many a gardener would appreciate organic seeds. (And by the way, these two packets, one of Calendula and one of Echinacia are for one of you! See below...)

 To save the seeds you simply find the old flower heads and basically tear them apart. The seeds are usually quite easy to find. Make sure to get them from nice specimens of flowers.

 Idea #3 ~ Bath Bags. Make little cloth bags filled with either 1/2 cup oatmeal or dry milk as well as some (one kind or a mixture) of herbs. Both oatmeal and milk are good for the skin and the herbs can create a very soothing and healing aroma. I used Oatmeal with mint in one and catnip in the other. Lavender and chamomile are some other good options.

To use simply tie under the flow of water while the water flows in or even let it sit in the bath water like a tea bag.

 Idea # 4~ Dried herbs. If you have an abundance of herbs why not make them into welcome gifts for your cooking friends? I dried mine in my dehydrator, but them in sandwich bags and then I made little tags for them as well. I had fun used recycled brown card stock, magazine pictures, white card stock and a marker to make labels.

Idea #5 ~ Make up some herbal teas along with a tea ball and other fun tea things.

Idea # 6 ~If you want a gift for a feline receiver, use some catnip and make a little stuffed toy- I hear they love them!

Idea #7 ~ If you want to give a gift with a Victorian touch, make (or buy) some stationary and in the box put a little bag of yummy smelling herbs. Then they can send out scented stationary.

Idea #8 ~ Give Pesto, mint jelly or other edible treats.

How about a giveaway?

 Since I do have an abundance of herbs I thought it might be fun to share some of them with you! I am going to give away the items pictured as Item # 2 (Seeds) and Item # 4 (dried herbs). If you would like to win please leaving a comment below letting me know which one you would like if you win.

Additional chances to win will be given to those that link up a project of their own (please leave another comment too) and those that are followers through google connect, e-mail subscription or RSS feed of my blog (please leave another comment telling me how you subscribe.)

This giveaway is open to anyone and will be open until October 31.

Now it is your turn!!
Please link up your handmade Christmas projects. You can link up gift ideas, foods, decorations, basically anything handmade. I do ask that you please link back to A Handmade Christmas here at Proverbs 31 Living in your post. If you would add the logo to your post as well that would be appreciated too. Also please link to your specific post not just your blog. Thank you!