Christmas is coming up in a big hurry, and I’m going to provide a whole bunch of Christmas Present Ideas for 2011. And among those, will be handmade gift ideas!

Why Handmade Gift Ideas?

Whether you’re budget-minded or whether you simply enjoy creating things yourself, this is a great year to give handmade gifts!

I just created a gift for my subscribers with a bunch of suggestions for handmade gift ideas even if you have two left hands. Creating gifts from scratch doesn’t have to be hard at all.

Handmade Gift Ideas – Not Just For Cheapskates

And no, handmade gift ideas are not just for “cheap skates”! In fact, these days, you won’t be seen as “cheap” but as thoughtful, creative, and smart if you opt for handmade gift ideas.

If you fill in the box on the top right, you’ll get a whole BOOK full of handmade gift ideas. Heck, these gifts are even edible! What could be better than that?

If you want to find out a bit more about them, you can also go to my Edible Christmas Gifts page and claim it from there.

In the meantime, your local Ben Franklin or Michael’s or other crafts store is bound to have bargains galore right now, so I would suggest you shop your heart out and get tons of handmade gift ideas.

Once you’ve claimed your Edible Christmas Gifts book, I’ll also send you my little guide to making handmade gifts, plus more.

In the meantime, you may also wonder just how to get some Christmas Portraits that aren’t the same old same old! Here are some ideas:

Christmas Portrait Ideas

In fact, I am going to throw in a bonus – how to take cool Christmas phots of babies! This will be sent separately until I have edited the main guide to include it.

And you can even combine those photos with your handmade ideas – in fact, family photos, particularly baby photos, make some of the most popular gifts of all!

What else? Missing the Christmases from bygone days and want to rekindle the magic?

You can! You’ll get a lot of ideas right here:

CLICK HERE to Bring Back the Magic!

And that’s it for today! I hope you’ll have fun coming up with handmade gift ideas and taking action! Oh, and one last thing…

If you LOVE the hand crafted look but don’t have the time or energy to do it yourself, you’ll find a TON of them at Etsy.com. Of course, that’ll cost you, but it’ll be so worth it!

Wondering what to get your Mom for Christmas? Preferably something that isn’t the same old same old?

She probably doesn’t want another bottle of perfume… though you probably know her better than I do

But try to be a bit more creative… Think about it. Here she is, running around day after day, taking care of everyone else.

How about giving her the gift of having someone take care of HER for a change?

Why not give her a gift she’ll really thank you for: a weekend at the spa. She’ll get pampered from every angle. Whether it’s a great massage or an hours-long soak in a tub, or just a mud-mask facial, she’ll come home rejuvenated.

Keep the pleasure going on a daily or weekly basis by buying her an electronic foot massager. These devices look like a weighing scale. But far from bringing on the guilt, they melt away the tension. Ten minutes with one of these and she’ll be ready to say yes to whatever you didn’t dare ask her earlier.

Or give her something she can have fun with… A day on the golf course with her new clubs will keep her in trim shape, and competitive with dad. Contemporary designs feature composites that would have been top secret in Jack Nicklausí heyday. They can provide the kind of flex that makes a 200-yard shot nearly as easy as that 20-foot putt.

Jewelry is always a great favorite. But go the extra step and personalize it. Even if it’s diamond earrings or the perfect pearl necklace, the gift can still bear a unique stamp. Her initials on either side of the necklace chain can do the trick. Or the earrings can be a design that is duplicated nowhere else.

Women love chocolate. If men donít know that by now, they’ve been spending too much time in the cave and not enough online reading gift suggestions.

But don’t settle for that boring box of random goo. Go for something a bit more special and classy. Try a special thin Lindt Swiss slab. Or, go all out for something made just for her inscribed with a line of poetry that you memorized when you met.

Flowers are wonderful, but they donít last. Instead, think about a beautiful bonsai that will flower repeatedly year after year. Incorporate a tiny self-watering system. It adds little to the cost and make maintenance a matter of seconds per month rather than a daily chore.

Does that special woman in your life love wine? Take it a step beyond the special vintage you had in mind. Get a subscription to a Wine of the Month club and youíll get an ever changing selection from around the world. One month it may be a super Sake from Japan, the next a great Gew¸rztraminer from Germany. The month after that an awesome Australian Syrah will arrive in the mail.

What mom couldn’t use more shoes? But buying shoes for women is a very tricky business whether the shopper is dad, son or daughter. If you havenít heard her mention that unique pair down at the mall, better go virtual. Online shoe shopping can now fit her foot better than a careless salesperson. Templates allow her to tailor the fit to her individual foot and the selection is unbounded.

No matter what that special woman in your life is looking for you can find it with a little diligence. Remember, what they want most is to know that you cared enough to search for just the right thing. Now, if you could only figure out what that is…

And then… remember, EVERYONE expects a gift for Christmas. So why not surprise her with an early gift — something she’ll really enjoy.

Why not get her a copy of Family Holiday Memories? She’ll love the ideas for how to reclaim that magic of bygone days by bringing her family together for the kind of Christmas traditions she probably fondly remembers from her own childhood.

Just click here for making this Mom’s best Christmas season in a long time!

Admit it already. You have no idea what to get your boyfriend for Christmas. It isn’t that you don’t know him well enough. It isn’t that you don’t have time to shop. There are just too many choices now that the world has become one giant shopping mall. Here are a few suggestions for narrowing the fieldÖ

Is your boyfriend the outdoor type?

Sure you could go with hiking boots. Always a safe bet and no hiker could have too many. But every guy loves gadgets, right? How about a solar powered backpack? No, it doesnít fly you up the mountain. But it does have a series of small panels on the pack that will recharge all his electronics on the way up.

Maybe heís the intellectual sort?

Ok, some wonít admit it. But many men do like to think. Sure, thereís evidence to the contrary in any case. But itís Christmas, so how about a little generosity of spirit, here. A fine bestseller or the latest non-fiction book on politics or current events could be just the thing. But it only takes a couple of weeks at most to read a book. A subscription to that obscure journal heís been denying himself will put you in good for a year.

Does he enjoy sports?

A set of clubs is fine for golfers. A new bag is always appreciated. A super lightweight tennis racket can never fail as a gift. But introducing him to a new sport may be the best idea of all. Skydiving is something most athletes want to try but never seem to get around to. Buy him a day at the jump site and heíll get all the adrenaline rush any man could want.

Then again, car racing is also considered a sport. A day at the track driving a machine that goes 240 mph is another way to get those juices flowing. And, unlike skydiving, itís dangerous to boot. What more could any guy want?

Is he a homebody?

Hey, no shame in that. Many men work hard to keep the house in great shape. There is no limit to the gifts available to help make that task easier and more efficient. So, heíll have more time for you. It might be a polesaw for trimming those upper branches so he doesnít have to climb up. Or, it could be a set of flower seeds from around the world to bring color to the entire garden. In this area, there are always a 101 things he wants but doesnít yet have.

Does your guy enjoy traveling?

A cruise is always the perfect choice. Everything from a 1 day excursion to a month or more is an option. He can travel up the coast to Alaska or roast in the sunny Caribbean. It could be a giant five-deck cruise ship or a large sailing vessel that holds only 20 passengers. Of course, if he suggests going without you, you might want to think twice about getting him a Christmas gift at all.

What to give your girlfriend?  The world has become a global shopping mall.  So the problem isnít what to get for your girlfriend. It has become how do you narrow down the choices.

The problem becomes bigger when you think that anyone from 9 to 90 and beyond can be a girlfriend. But having too many choices is better than the reverse, isn’t it?  Here are a few questions to get you started:

Is your girlfriend a romantic?

For that teen girlfriend, jewelry is an ever popular choice. Pretty popular with older women, too. But go beyond the usual and make it personal. A beautiful diamond teardrop necklace is made that much better if the chain contains her initials on each side of the gem.

Thinking of that locket she admired in the window the other day? A perfect opportunity to inscribe that line of poetry you memorized when you first met.

Maybe your girlfriend is more the outdoor type?

Hiking boots make for a gift that creates the chance to do something together. Contemporary styles offer non-slip Vibram lugs and wick-away moisture inner linings with tough leather shells.

Theyíll last for years and you can add a personal touch by selecting some unique laces in her favorite color. You do know what that is, right? You can buy online today more easily than from a store. No-risk return policies allow you to shop without worrying about getting the wrong size.

Maybe she is the creative type?

A scrapbooking kit is the perfect gift for the woman who likes to preserve her memories. Going beyond a mere blank journal, these provide a means for storing photos, text and small mementos of your time together.

Or, if sheís more the technical-creative type there are a million and one software packages that will allow her to use her imagination to the fullest. Drawing packages, podcast creation software and much more will keep her happy and busy while you watch the football game.

Or, if she likes to write — a beautiful journal (or two) might work very nicely too.

Does she enjoy playing games?

What guy hasnít said that before? But in this case, the subject is computer games. Official stats show that 50% of female computer users between the ages of 16 and 40 play at least one computer game per week. There are hundreds in a dozen forms.

Whether itís xBox or just purely software youíll have too many to choose from. Just think about her personal interests and shop accordingly. If you donít know what those are, better study up now.

Maybe she enjoys real games more than the virtual type. More girls and women than ever play golf. A set of clubs with a great looking bag is always an option. If she prefers tennis, the new composite rackets are lightweight and ultra-strong (just like her).

Maybe she just needs a nice vacation.

Getting away, sometimes even getting away from the boyfriend for a while, is the perfect choice. A weekend at the spa will definitely be appreciated by the woman in your life, whether she is 17 or 75. To be pampered from all angles for a couple of days is every womanís dream. And no fair trying to argue that you do that every day. She knows better.