Personalized Children's Messenger Bag

Peachy gave this mini messenger bag to a friend for Christmas. We filled it with some fun bath and hair products. It was so easy to put together that I got it done in a matter of hours.

You can find the  awesomely detailed tutorial here on the Merrimentdesign blog. I did lengthen the strap. I also added the initial to the top of the flap closure.

The fun purple zebra print is a corduroy from JoAnn Fabrics. The solid purple, also from JoAnn Fabrics, is a twill.

Both Peachy and the recipient loved it!

Dare to DIY: Give Handmade Gifts: Ladies' Day {Covered Button Earrings}

Sorry, I didn't get around to posting this last week. You see, this little project wasn't completed until yesterday! It is hard to post about something that isn't done! I think that it is worth the wait, though!

The inspiration for this project comes from several craters that I know or follow. Dana from Botny makes the most awesome hand-colored earrings. You can check out her awesomely unique items on her Etsy page. Another crafter that makes some awesome earrings is Emily from Taea Made. Hers are finished with a high gloss. Totally rad. You can find a pair or two of her earrings on her Etsy shop and see some of the other unique items she makes. Also, Lindsey with the Pleated Poppy just released a new line of fabric earrings. Here is her shop where you can also see some of the other great products she produces.

For this project, I purchased the blank button sets at Joann along with the earring backs. I went with 1/2 inch and 5/8 inch because I wanted mine to be dainty, but you could totally go bigger. Then I set to covering the buttons with fabric scraps. This was so much fun! I loved looking through the fabric to find the perfect fabrics for this project. Just keep in mind the scale of the print. If you have smaller buttons, you will want a smaller print.

After covering the buttons, I removed the shank on the back and glued on the earring back. And just like that you have a totally unique gift for the any lady on your list.
***Note, I had some difficulty getting the shanks off. I eventually got them off. I have purchased blank buttons without shanks in the past for crafting, but didn't see any this time. I would recommend trying to remove the shanks before making the buttons.***

After assembling the earrings, I punched out a fun shape from card stock, poked two holes, free-handed some doodles, and put the earring sets on the cards.
Look for my children's handmade gift post here.
And my gentlemen's handmade gift post here.

Dare to DIY: Give Handmade Gifts; Men's Edition {Beer Bar Towels}

In continuing with the handmade gift theme, here is a great gift for the gentlemen on your list. I saw these beer bar towels online last year and decided to make up a set for my brother-in-law. Of course I can't find a picture this year of the towels that I made. Grr. Anyway, I bought a set of simple linen dish towels and using large letter stamps and acrylic paint made a set of beer bar towels similar to these from the website Keg Works.

A simple and fun gift for the beer lover on your list!

Dare to DIY: Give Handmade Gifts; Kids' Edition {Superhero Cape and Mask}

My blogging friend, Kim, and some of her friends are hosting a Dare to DIY this month. You can read about it and follow along on Kim's blog Newly Woodwards. This week's challenge was to give handmade gifts. Now that is an easy topic for me. I love to give handmade, either by me or another crafter. The hard part is to post about it without giving a gift away to the recipient. :o) I am going to be posting a different gift idea the first three days of this week. Today's will be for kids, tomorrow's for the guys on your list, and then Wednesday is ladies day.

I recently whipped this superhero cape and mask set up for an order, but decided that it would make an awesome handmade gift for any child on your list. I used the cape tutorial from Nancy's Notions that can be found here. (The pattern is actually intended to be used for the Capes for Kids campaign. You can find out all about it here, but you can sew and donate capes for children living in shelters. Wouldn't it be great to make two capes, one to give as a gift and one to donate to Capes for Kids?)

Using felt, I customized the cape with the child's initial. But you could also use a symbol if you would like. I also created a felt mask with elastic to go along with the cape. This was a fairly simple project. I am sure a beginner sewer could tackle it. And what child wouldn't want a swell cape and mask this Christmas so that they can be their own superhero?
If you are looking for even more handmade gift ideas, you can check out this post from last year with a roundup of some of the handmade gifts I have featured on my blog.
And here are a few more:
Ruffled Tote
Fabric Luggage Tags
Coordinates Frame
Tea Wreath
ABC Cards
Wine Gift Bags

A Memory Rag Quilt

When we found out our good friends were moving far away, I immediately got to thinking about what we could give them that would be meaningful, thoughtful, and fun. I got the idea to make the framed state art to my friend, but now I wanted to come up with something for their daughter, Miss S, Peachy's friend since they were babies.

Since I know that they love handmade things, I went that route for both gifts. I settled on a quilt for Miss S, but a quilt with a personal touch. I had each child in our playgroup color a square for the quilt. I interspersed the drawing blocks with some fun bright flannel and made it into a rag quilt.

I hope that this quilt serves to not only warm the body, but the heart as Miss S looks back on her first four years with a wonderful group of playgroup friends.

Pajamas and Pillowcase Birthday Present

Remember that darling girl that Cream got to share her birthday with? Miss W is is as cute as can be and a sweetheart to boot. We wanted to give her a super great birthday present. And you know me, I can't just get a gift at the store. I have to add a little something homemade. Its just my style. So, I nabbed some pajamas off of her wishlist and then made a little travel sized pillowcase to go along with them. (Cream loves her little travel sized pillow, so I know it is just the right sized for little heads.) I did my typical french seam pillowcase and got the measurements from the blog As Reasonable as Can Be. I bought my travel pillow from Target. (They happened to be on sale the day I bought it!) I have also purchased them at Walgreens in the past.

There you have it! A duper fun birthday gift for anyone, really!

Teacher Gift: Mason Drink Glasses

Don't you just love it when a project comes together? Peachy has been attending a park program for the last 6 weeks. I had been thinking of giving her teachers a present on the last day. I was thinking of doing acrylic tumblers filled with drink mixes. Of course I didn't start on it before this week. (Why would I have something ready to go ahead of time???)  When I went to Wal-Mart to pick up supplies I was a bit alarmed to find the school supplies out in place of the summer items. Uh-oh! What if they didn't carry the tumblers anymore? Thankfully I found an end cap with clearance acrylic tumblers!! And they weren't just any tumblers, they were made to look like mason jars! Clearance and cute? Awesome!

Similar tumbler from Aladdin

 I didn't start right on the project when I got home. (Again, why bother working ahead? I do so much better under pressure.) In the mean time I did what any procrastinating stay-at-home-mom would do, I jumped on Pinterest. There in the top of my feed were the tumblers I had just bought. The link took me to the Lil' Luna blog where Kristyn had an entire post about using the acrylic mason jar tumblers as, wait for it, a teacher gift. And wait, it gets even better! She had printable labels to match! Um, score!!!

So, I used the tags, tossed in some individual drink packs and viola! A wonderful teacher gift! See, sometimes procrastination really does have its benefits!

Boden Inspired: Felt Circle Shirt

A while back, my friend had given me some pages from a Boden catalog of their felt embellished shirts as some inspiration.  Of course they were seasonal and I can no longer link to the actual shirts, but here is one from Ebay.

When that friend's daughters birthday rolled around, I knew just what to make for her. I decided to go with felt circles and a found a great stripped shirt at Target.

I layered mustard and grey wool blend felt and sewed a simple navy line through each one. I love how it turned out and may need to make one for myself.

Ballet Bag and Shirt

One of Peachy's friends recently turned 4. (Okay, by recently I mean back in November. Time is really a relative thing on a blog, right?) We decided to give her a ballet themed gift that she could use for her dance classes.
I found this shirt on Etsy for inspiration: https://www.etsy.com/listing/59472575/prima-ballerina-pop-up-petti-tee-pick?ref=shop_home_active
Using a freezer paper stencil, I painted a ballerina silhouette on a plain shirt and a bag. Then I added some pink trim as the tutu and as edging on the bag.

Fabric Letters

As I was planning for Christmas, I was a bit stumped as to what to get for Cream. She is young enough that she wouldn't even notice whether she got anything big from us, but as a mom, her mom, I wanted to give her something special. With an older sister she doesn't really need any new toys, either. I ended up going with some new Melissa and Dough wooden puzzles. (Thanks Amazon daily deals.) I also gave her the typical of pajama, a tooth brush, and some books. Still nothing that special.

I finally came up with the idea of giving her a homemade fabric alphabet set. I had pinned this idea from the blog Happy Together. I used the pattern for the letters that Jessica has there, but I made the letters a little differently. (Sorry that I don't have any pictures. I need to get better at documenting projects as I do them.) I printed off the patterns for all of the letters and cut the letters out of from the printed paper. I looked through my scraps to find fabric pieces large enough for the project. (But not too large, I hate to use big pieces of fabric on little projects.) I traced each letter onto a pieces of fabric with a disappearing fabric marker. (I just did one at a time so that I could get it sewn before the marker disappeared. You could always use a water soluble marker and do more tracing at a time.) I then sandwiched a piece of batting between the traced letter and another piece of fabric that was large enough to cover the back of the letter. After a little pinning I used my machine to sew on the traced line. After sewing all 2 letters this way I took my pinking sheers and cut around each letter fairly close to the stitching. If there was a spot that I couldn't easily get into with my sheers, like the inside of the letter O, I just used regular scissors to trim that section.

And now Miss Cream has a happy little fabric alphabet set that she shares with her sister who like them as well.

Notebook Holders

Looking for a quick and easy sewing project that makes an awesome gift? I have been whipping these pen and notebook holders up lately and loving how they have been turning out. The pattern is from This and That and is called "Just a Note." The intention is to make a patchwork top out of a charm pack. I changed the pattern a bit and just used one piece of fabric for the top. Instead of using a charm pack, I used fabric from my stash.

When I make the inside small pocket,  I stitch a spot for a pen. Or in some cases spots for crayons or colored pencils.

I bought the notebooks from Target, but also recently spotted them at Sam's Club. I also purchased a pack of ball point pens from Target.

These are such a fun project. I just love putting together sets from my scraps and watching them come together. And I don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy receiving something so cute and practical. They really are as much fun to give as to receive.


I am linking to these wonderful parties this week.
Today's Creative Blog
Making the World Cuter
The Sweet Talk Shop

{Homemade Holidays: Week 5} Tea Wreath

I saw this tea wreath at Kojodesigns last year and made it for my grandma. (Hi Nana!!)

It was a fun project that turned out really well. I love that you can customize it with different paper and different teas to suit the receiver.

So if you are in need of a last minute gift, whip one of these up!

I am linking to these wonderful parties this week.
Today's Creative Blog
Making the World Cuter

{Homemade Holidays: Week 4} Coordinates Frame

Time for week #4 of Homemade Holidays!! (You can catch weeks 1-3 here, here, and here.)

With a father as a geography professor, this gift was just the project for me. I printed a map of my hometown and used that to mat a picture of my parents. I added a slip of paper at the bottom with the coordinates of the town printed on it. And viola! A super fun and personalized gift.

I am linking to these wonderful parties this week.
Today's Creative Blog
Making the World Cuter

{Homemade Holidays: Week 3} Fabric Luggage Tags

Time for the third week of Homemade Holidays. (You can find the first week here and the second week here.)

A gift for the frequent flyer on your list is a unique luggage tag that will help them pick their suitcase out from all of the other black suitcases on the carousel. I followed the tutorial at Skip To My Lou to create the two tags pictured. Simply print their name and address on the back and you are all set.

I am linking to these wonderful parties this week.
Today's Creative Blog
Making the World Cuter

{Homemade Holidays: Week 2} Ruffled Tote

I hope you enjoyed my first Homemade Holidays post last week. If you missed it, you can check it out here.
Now on to the new Homemade Holiday idea for the week. I got the inspiration for this project from a bag I saw at a craft fair. While you could make a bag of your own to decorate, I bought mine at Hobby Lobby and simply added the ruffles.

This is the perfect gift to give as is or to use as a gift bag. I can't think of any girl who wouldn't like receiving a fun ruffled tote.

I am linking to these wonderful parties this week.
Today's Creative Blog
Making the World Cuter

Dinosaur Taggie Toy and Tee

I always enjoy giving homemade gifts. It is fun being able to give the recipient something that is one of a kind and created from my heart. When we were recently invited to a one-year-old party, I came up with this dino-mite gift. :o)

For the tee-shirt I appliqued a dinosaur shape cut out of cotton fabric. I stitched around him and added an eye with an iron on transfer sheet.

Then I made his friend the taggie toy. I simply cut out two dinosaur shapes from cotton fabric and rainbow ribbon loops. I first stitched the loops onto the right side of one of the dinos. Then I stitched the two dinos together, wrong sides together, leaving a spot for the stuffing to be inserted. I clip curves, turned it right side out, and stuffed it. I then slip stitched the hole  together and used a fabric pen to draw the eye.
A fun gift for a fun one year old.
I am linking to these parties this week.
Todays Creative Blog

Father's Day Gift: Mustache Mug

Looking for that perfect gift for the dad's in your life? This is sure to bring a smile to their faces come Father's Day.
For this project, I bought inexpensive beer mugs (mine are from IKEA) and using glass paint added a fun feature. Once stuffed with a favorite treat, this mug is a gift any dad would appreciate.

Directions:
1. Thoroughly clean your glass.
2. Make a mustache template out of Contact paper.
3. Adhere the template to the glass. You will want to make sure to position it so that it looks as if the drinker has a mustache. I went a few inches down from the lip of the glass. I also made sure to make it on the correct side. (For this you will have to think about whether the recipient is right or left handed.) Also make sure to rub around the  edges of the Contact paper. This will ensure that no paint leaks through.
4. Apply the paint following directions on the bottle. I found my paint at Hobby Lobby by the other acrylic paints. Just make sure that the paint is for glass. After applying several coats and allowing them to dry, I peeled off my Contact paper. My directions had me put the glass into the oven and bake at a certain tempertature for a set amount of time.
5. Stuff with a fun treat, or present with a favorite beverage!

I am linking to the following parties:









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Somewhat Simple: Strut Your Stuff