Happy and Homemade Part 1

As promised, here are a few pictures of some of the gifts I made for Christmas. I had a busy but great time making gifts for family, friends and my girls this year. It definately meant I was up way way late for most of December, but it also was really neat to give gifts that I really had put alot of time and thought into.


For my brother's little girl, I made a laminated apron and oven mitt for her new toy kitchen (my parents give the grand-daughters a toy kitchen when they are around 1 - 2 years old). I got the laminated material at (shock) Joann's. I used some double fold bias tape in "shocking pink" for the sides and ties. I definately could have made my own bias tape but this was easier and worked just as well. I also added a bit of pink ric-rak to the top of the apron and the pocket. I used a child's apron we had here as a template for this apron and same for a child's size oven mitt we had.

For the oven mitt, I used some red and white polka-dot material I already had (not sure where I got it) and quilted it very simply. I have enough left over of both of the materials that I will be making another one of these again soon.For our neighbor gifts, I decided to go with something simple and made some holiday goodies. I went over to Packaging Specialities in Redmond and got these cute take-out containers in kraft brown. I tied them up with a bit of red and white baker twine from Martha Stewart. I think I will buy a huge roll in the future since it looks so classic with just about anything. Inside were homemade chocolate turtles and ginger-snaps. Yummy.For my Dad, SEAN actually make this apron. We saw this apron online and thought it would be great for my Dad. He is a huge BYU fan. We cut the letters out of carstock on my Cricut (sidenote--it's the best invention for a crafter...I didn't think I would like it as much as I do but when my parents got it for me as a thank you gift for watching my younger brothers while they were in Hawaii for 10 days, I didn't say no. I use it all the time now.) We then used the cut out paper to act as a stencil for painting the lettering on. It says "NOTHING beats a Cougar". We learned some important details about stenciling while doing this project--first use freezer paper. My sister-in-law stenciled some ballerina silhouette shirts for my girls and they look WAY better. Second, use a good stencil brush (which we didn't have) and a LITTLE amount of paint. I would have liked it to look a bit better but my Dad loved it anyways (or at least told us he did).
I'll post some more pictures of my other gifts in a few days...including Liesl's Quiet Book--a two month project!!!