Homemade FE Gifts Photo Thread

[kellyb2000]

I just got off the Magic on Saturday from the WB transatlantic voyage. Several of us participated in a scrapbook embellishment exchange. Here are two of the main items that I gifted.

Photo Frame

This frame was created using the Life's A Beach cartridge for the Cricut. There's a feature for window cards, which has this two funnel ship design...perfect wouldn't you say?!!

The base of the frame is black, then the pieces and parts are glued onto the base to give the ship and frame their design and dimension.

Medallion

A previous post in this thread introduced me to an application called "Make the Cut!" to use with your Cricut, which is what I used to make the following embellishment.

I created the word "Eurolanticbbean" to combine the various areas of the world that we experienced on the transatlantic cruise...Europe, Atlantic Ocean, and the Caribbean. Make the Cut! took my text and put it in a circular form a well as laser cut the waves of the DCL logo and the Mickey head. The cut piece is white, then everything else is layered behind it with the exception of the red Mickey head being on top of the white.

I made an extra one of these into a magnet for the stateroom door as well.

VERY cool! I have the Life's a Beach cart and thought the ship was perfect!

 

[jilljill]

How does the FE system work. There are over 50 families on the Holiday Cruise we are taking. Will they be divided into smaller groups? Otherwise it can get too expensive.

This is something that needs to be discussed on your meets thread, only the people participating can make the decision on how FE's will work for your cruise.

 

[tinker1bell]

How does the FE system work. There are over 50 families on the Holiday Cruise we are taking. Will they be divided into smaller groups? Otherwise it can get too expensive.

I just got off the Sept. 18 Westbound Transatlantic and one person divided our folks into groups of 15 cabins. Then you could choose how you wanted to give your gifts. Of course, a few people decided to be in more than one group.

 

[Hmorale]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question. Guess we'll.have to wait and see if the group gets divided. Also- one more question.....I am seeing all these beautiful gifts being made. Do people usually bring a gift for each night or just once or twice during the cruise?

 

[tinker1bell]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question. Guess we'll.have to wait and see if the group gets divided. Also- one more question.....I am seeing all these beautiful gifts being made. Do people usually bring a gift for each night or just once or twice during the cruise?

It seemed to work that some gave their gifts out the first week and the rest of us gave ours out the second week, but it was only one time for each cabin. One person had travel books for the kids in her group so she gave those out the first night and then the rest for her adults later in the cruise.

 

[jilljill]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question. Guess we'll.have to wait and see if the group gets divided. Also- one more question.....I am seeing all these beautiful gifts being made. Do people usually bring a gift for each night or just once or twice during the cruise?

Again, that is a question that needs to be asked and discussed on your meets thread.

 

[shwarren70]

How does the FE system work. There are over 50 families on the Holiday Cruise we are taking. Will they be divided into smaller groups? Otherwise it can get too expensive.

Go to the meet thread and to your cruise date. Their should be someone coordinating the FE. Most of the time on large groups, they break into smaller groups.

 

[SILLYANDI]

BRILLIANT!! This is incredible!

 

[SILLYANDI]

BRILLIANT!! This is incredible!

 

[jgura]

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question. Guess we'll.have to wait and see if the group gets divided. Also- one more question.....I am seeing all these beautiful gifts being made. Do people usually bring a gift for each night or just once or twice during the cruise?

I am on that cruise and pulling to split the groups. Obvious reasons to me. You need to post your opinion in our thread. Talk to you there!

 

[Cindi0511]

Our upcoming cruise got split, and I'm thankful only because we have 10 cabins for our family reunion, and most of them have no idea what the whole FE thing is. It's just one of the little extra surprises. My one sister in South Africa and I have done the whole thing, so it did get a little expensive, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime for all of us to be together before the grandkids start scattering, so it is worth it. I can't wait to do it.

 

[Buckeye Gal]

BRILLIANT!! This is incredible!

Thank you, Andrea! You should make the beach brushes, too!!

 

[mrp4352]

So, I've been thinking about the questions on the cost of participating.

I know for my Mom and I, part of the FE gifts' purpose is to help us deal with the length of time from booking to sailing. Unlike going to WDW where you can spend time planning your days and revisiting and revising those plans a million times (not that I would know from personal experience or anything), a DCL trip has fairly minimal planning ahead of time. So, working on the FE gifts helps the days fly by!

We try to keep the cost minimal - for my next cruise, I am doing a per-stateroom gift that totals out to $1.50-ish each. Gecause of the quantities on my cruise (we're at 130+ staterooms now) and having almost a year to plan and execute, I was able to spread those costs out - $15 here, $20 there. I was actually surprised when I added everything up because I had spent very little money at any one time on the gifts. For the cruise after that - we're hoping the cost on the per-child gift we're planning will work out closer to $1 each (only 20 or so staterooms so far and two of those are my family). Yes, these are both more labor-intensive gifts, but the cost savings are well-worth the time. (and no, I'm sorry, I won't share my ideas until after the cruises - but yes, I will share them then!)

Also, the excitement of seeing what the FE Fairy dropped off while we were gone never dies! It's amazing - drop in two pencils and a postcard from your home state and we're exclaiming over them like they were the Crown Jewels! Knowing that someone I really don't know took a moment to sprinkle pixie dust on me is such a great feeling - that I want to pay it forward, and so I participate!

Anyway - my $.02 about why I spend the money to participate in the FEs.

(YIKES! I'm really wordy today, sorry about that!)

 

[wcw57]

MRP----well worded and very clear

The under $2 range seems very do-able but I was impressed/shocked by what some people do.....Good for them and good for their FE group!

 

[uncw89]

I promised to post my primary FE gift after my cruise, and sadly yet happily, that time has arrived.

Beach brushes to help get the sand off were my crafty gift this time. Being I was gone 2.5 weeks for the WBTA, I didn't have the luggage room to include a small container of baby powder, but if we were embarking from Port Canaveral, I would have shipped the baby powder in advance as part of the gift. (If you didn't know, baby powder helps the sand to easily come off.)

Supplies and instructions are noted below if you would like to make them as well!

Beach Brush

Supplies and Directions

• Soft Bristled Paint Brush (3” shown): remember SOFT is a key word here because someone may have a sunburn when they use it
• Mini Mickey Parts Rubber Stamps: these stamps are included in the Disney Alphabet set from EK Success (although these Mickey parts could be free-handed rather easily)
• Acrylic Paints: black, white, red, and goldenrod yellow
• Small Paint Brushes: use to fill in the shapes from the rubber stamps with the paint
• DCL Logo: print in color on standard paper and cut into small pieces
• Mod Podge: used to affix and seal DCL logo to brush handle
• Grosgrain Ribbon: I sewed the end that was going to be lying on top to get a clean edge. This was placed on the metal band below the handle.
• Dritz Fray-Check: use to eliminate the fray of the cut ribbon; clear nail polish could be used in a pinch
• Avery 18665 8.5”x11” Clear Label: print words for handle and cut to size
• Strong Glue: This is needed to hold ribbon in place, and you have to make sure you don’t use a kind that would come off with water. Velco Glue worked great by dabbing only on the ends of the ribbon and the sides of the brush. I do recommend you test whatever you use first to ensure it won’t leave a wet-looking spot on the ribbon after it dries.
• EK Success Jolee's Disney Mickey Head Dimensional Stickers: found in the scrapbooking section of your craft store
• Krylon Satin Finish Sealer: use 2-3 coats on both sides of handle after it’s decorated
• Rope Trim: Having something to hang the brush by is nice so you can tie it to a beach bag, stroller, or elsewhere. A large loose-leaf book ring would work great, too. Of course in this case, it also worked to attach the romance card I made.
• Romance Card: I wanted to ensure the intended use of the brush was known, so I wrote a poem and printed it off on cardstock paper with a Castaway Cay picture in the background. On the back side, I used a self-inking stamp I purchased that states the cruise and its voyage dates as well as a sentiment with my DISboard name. I then rubber stamped Tink beside it and colored it in with wet chalks. Finally, I laminated the romance card so it could go to the beach or be repurposed on luggage, a bag, or a scrapbook album.

POEM

Here is the poem I wrote for the romance card:

We sail from sea to shining sea,
To see the sun rise at Castaway Cay.
You feel the sand embrace your feet,
Which is a marvelous, warm treat!

As the day comes to a close,
The sand is tickling your little toes.
Just feel the bristles between your fingers,
Then the sand no longer lingers!​

For me, the highlighters, post-it's and backpacks were the most expensive parts, the pillow cases I made from my stash (so I already had the fabric) and I already had levt-over ink-jet iron-on paper too so that was easy! I liked making the gifts, they were lots of fun!

I think the most fun were the bottlecap magnets. I bought a kit for $20 off of E-Bay for 100, and went to town! They were new to me, but I'll definitely make something like them again!

All total, I think I spent about $100 on gift stuff...

Those are great! I also love the frames. I have the Life's a Beach cartridge and I might have to make those. You always come up with cool gifts. Last year (8/09), on our cruise I used your hilighter gift. They turned out great! Thanks for all your help on those. I hope everyone liked them. I'm not cruising again until Aug., so I'm on here looking for ideas.
The bottle cap magnets are cool too.

 

[Buckeye Gal]

With the discussion about cost, I thought I would add some commentary about the beach brushes I gifted. I also think staying around $2 is reasonable for me. The finished beach brushes were less than that, believe it or not! I found the brushes on-line for around $1.10 each with S&H (www.hardwareandtools.com). Obviously you could pay around $5 or up for a really nice natural bristle brush. The ones I went with felt better than some of the $3 ones I found in the stores. Even the ones I found at Dollar Tree weren't too bad. For most of the remainder of "consumable" supplies, I was able to use 40% off coupons from Jo-Ann's and Michael's Crafts. So I was quite pleased with what I got for the investment!

Those are great! I also love the frames. I have the Life's a Beach cartridge and I might have to make those. You always come up with cool gifts. Last year (8/09), on our cruise I used your hilighter gift. They turned out great! Thanks for all your help on those. I hope everyone liked them. I'm not cruising again until Aug., so I'm on here looking for ideas.
The bottle cap magnets are cool too.

Oh I'm so glad that your highlighters turned out!!! I highly considered the bottle cap magnets, too, for this past cruise.

I was inspired to make the scrapbooking frames from the painted wooden photo frame that was posted in this thread. I just fell in love with the look that she created! So I can't take all the credit for the idea!

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Oh I'm so glad that your highlighters turned out!!! I highly considered the bottle cap magnets, too, for this past cruise.

I was inspired to make the scrapbooking frames from the painted wooden photo frame that was posted in this thread. I just fell in love with the look that she created! So I can't take all the credit for the idea!

I took the color scheme from that frame to come up with the adult/stateroom Mickey pillow sham I made too. I thought about doing small frames like that (Hobby Lobby has small unfinished wood Christmas Ornaments for $.99) but figured with everything else, that was it. I probably should have done the frames instead of the post-its, but the kids had fun stamping them, me, not so much cleaning up the mess!

This was my first FE, and I'll definitely do the bottlecap magnets again, they were $20 for 100 of them so about $.20 apiece, very economical!

I got so many great ideas from this thread, I'm thinking I need to make Mickey ornaments for my tree in the same color scheme with the white/gold/black/red... Hmmmm...

 

[kimmiepcft]

For those that use Vistaprint, I just ordered some personalized items for $12 shipping with a palm tree on them: post its, pen, tee shirt, cap, tote bag, keychain, and note cards. Great for adult gifts and only $12 total

.....just realized that this was the homemade thread, sorry!!!

 

[magic2go]

Hi Everyone!

Now that my cruise is over I can finally post photo's of my FE gift without spoiling the surprise for anyone!

For each cabin, I made a Pirate Mickey out of stained glass. They are 4 or 5" in diameter and they all had different earrings. Some had charms, others had gold hoops, others had silver hoops... I mixed it up!

I had a ton of fun making them, and I hope everyone enjoys them !

We did receive a bunch of great homemade gifts and embroidered presents that we really love. I'm very thankful that we had such a great group of Disers to cruise with!

 

[ILoveDisney&Cruising]

Hi Everyone!

Now that my cruise is over I can finally post photo's of my FE gift without spoiling the surprise for anyone!

For each cabin, I made a Pirate Mickey out of stained glass. They are 4 or 5" in diameter and they all had different earrings. Some had charms, others had gold hoops, others had silver hoops... I mixed it up!

I had a ton of fun making them, and I hope everyone enjoys them !

We did receive a bunch of great homemade gifts and embroidered presents that we really love. I'm very thankful that we had such a great group of Disers to cruise with!

OH MY WORD!!!!!

Those are out-of-this-world and completely FANTASTIC!!!

How lucky were your recipients!!!!!