November 28th, 2011
Do you participate in a Secret Santa at your work or school?
I do when I can, mostly because I believe in the spirit of giving, the fun of anonymity that Secret Santa brings.
I’m not by any means a sewing fanatic, but these bags were so easy and quick, I let the cute designs shine!
First, cut out twice the length plus one inch of what your bag size needs to be, plus one inch wider.
Fold the fabric so the wrong side of the fabric shows and simply do a straight stitch down two of the long sides.
Snip the bottom corners-this helps remove some bulk.
Next, fold down the top sides and stitch 1/8 inch from the top and 1/4 inch from the edge of the folded flap.
Snip the fabric between the two seams and turn your bag inside out.
Run ribbon, twine or jute through the bag as your tie.
The fun thing about this project is that I can custom make any size bag I want and fill them with all sorts of goodies.
Think of fun, inexpensive items like the Candies and Hot Cocoa Mix as shown here.
Or, offer up some hand baked holiday cookies.
Use these bags as a wrapper to hold a gift card for the hard to buy for teenager, just to make the gift just a bit more personal.
I’ve already got a stash of these made using some other holiday fabrics
November 25th, 2011
Hi everyone!!! Happy Thanksgiving week! I hope your holiday was as fun and relaxing as mine. Right now I am on vacation in Taos, New Mexico. My husband and I travel every year over Thanksgiving and decided this year we would travel to Taos to see family. Our past trips have been to England, France, Italy, Mexico, and Jamaica. We love traveling internationally over Thanksgiving because to every other country, it’s just another day!
As I said, we are visiting family, my aunt and uncle and a couple cousins. This particular part of the family has always lived far from me, but they are amazing people and I love spending time with them. My cousin and I text MANY times a day. I decided to make my aunt some cards as a thank you for hosting us for dinner. I used several of Jen’s MME papers!
Gathering my supplies:
White cards, kraft cards, a few pieces of patterned paper, Papertrey Ink’s Botanical Silhouettes set (for the sentiments), and my Memento Tuxedo Black. Of course you’ll need adhesive and pop dots as well.
The paper pads I used: MME Stella & Rose Gertie, Stella & Rose Hattie, and Lost & Found 2.
The patterned papers that I chose. I love the 6×6 size for card making!
And here are the cards! I ended up using some matching cardstock behind the patterned paper to make it a little more substantial on the base. I also used the other side of each paper along the bottom of the sentiment to ground it.
(this sentiment comes from Congrats All Ways)
And the card I plan to send to my aunt and uncle is made with paper from MME Stella & Rose Hattie and a tag from MME Stella & Rose Mabel.
I hope everyone has had some lovely family time this week! Not to mention delicious food! Happy Thanksgiving.
November 18th, 2011
Howdy all! I don’t know about you, but it has sure been a busy week for me.
I am definitely looking forward to heading to the farm for 4 days for Thanksgiving next week. 
I thought I’d wrap up this week with some gift wrapping ideas.
When I came up with my topic idea,
maybe it was wishful thinking that I’d have all my gifts purchased.
Oops! I have 1 gift, with a few more to get yet. Which means nothing wrapped!
Oh well, you’ll get the idea.
A few years ago, I believe I got the idea from Martha Stewart
to wrap my gifts in brown or white paper,
and then finish it off with ribbon {which can be reused}
or other accessories/tags/doilies/etc.
Since I have made the change from regular wrapping paper to brown and white paper,
I have seen lots of fun ideas.
Your options are endless!
Ribbon, bakers twine, scrapbook paper, lace, doilies, decorative tape, balloons,
material scraps, rubber stamps, paint chips, buttons, paper bags, newspaper,
pages of old books, and whatever else you find that you like.
Of course you will need some tags. So go back to Karen’s post and make some of your own!
Once you have your presents purchased, have some more fun wrapping up the gifts.
And there’s no need to stop at wrapping gifts like this for Christmas!
Think: birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, new neighbors, baby showers, etc.
Be the one at the party where your gift makes a statement before they ever see your gift.
{All the images above were found via Pinterest.}
If would like some more inspiration, head over to my Make It Look Pretty board,
or just search Pinterest or the internet in general.
And a side note….if you are looking for a delicious coffee cake for Thanksgiving morning
or sometime over the weekend, head over to the Tasty Kitchen
and check out the Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze.
It is DELICIOUS!!!
I jazzed mine up a bit by adding butterscotch chips and toffee pieces to the topping,
instead of walnuts, before I baked it. {Not a fan of walnuts.}
And it is OH. SO. GOOD!
November 17th, 2011
Anyone on your gift list can use a new kitchen towel, I promise! Let’s face it, kitchen towels are extremely functional, but have constant turn over… so, why not make them fabulous too? Hi, Janell here for another idea for a quick and thoughtful gift–make one for your own home while you are at it.
I am sewing with Jen Allyson’s fabulous Christmas fabric line: Holly Jolly from Riley Blake.
Materials:
- Fabric for decorating towels
- Towels to be embellished
(helpful hint: when possible pre-wash and dry your fabric, especially when using dark colors to prevent them from bleeding color onto your towels)
- Additional trim such as ribbon, lace or rick rac
- Scissors, sewing machine, measuring tape, thread and straight pins
Steps:
- Measure the width of the towel. Cut the fabric strips the width of the towel, plus one inch. I like to layout my towel with the fabric and trim so I can see what the over-all effect will be.
- Measure trim the width of the towel plus 1/2 inch and cut.
- Turn under 1/2” on each long edge and press with your iron. Turn under 1/2” on each short edge and press.
- Load your bobbin with thread that is the same color as your towel and the top thread the closest color to your trim and fabrics. You may need to switch colors for the same towel, but keep the bobbin thread consistent.
- Pin your fabric and additional trims with straight pins onto your towel. Now you are ready to sew!
- Start with the fabric and edge-stitch along front pressed edges of strip, through all thicknesses.
- Decorate with more fabric strips and embellish with coordinating ribbons, lace, or ric-rac.
Pair your finished towel with your favorite bottle of hand soap and you have a wonderful gift that you’ll be proud of giving and the receiver will be pleased to get!
November 14th, 2011
Karen from The Bald Dragonfly here, and I happen to think that nobody describes the iconic holiday image better than Clement Clarke Moore from his poem, The Night Before Christmas. The image portrayed in Lost & Found Christmas is the spitting image of what is written…”…He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf…” It became a great focal point to my hand crafted holiday gift tags and ornament holder. The beautiful textures and patterns from the Lost & Found: Christmas line offer a nice vintage vibe, while the red glittered accents add a touch of sophistication and glam.
To make the tag/ornament holder, I started with an upcycled package from my boys’ toys. After washing and cleaning the inside and out, I carefully measured the Santa paper and cut to fit inside the packaging. After rounding the corners, I simply added a bit of repositional adhesive in strategic locations to secure the image to the clear packaging. I repeated for the back side of the packaging as well with the same sheet of paper. Then I wrapped some jute twine around the outside of the packaging, having secured that with hot glue.
The tags were created from various designs from the Lost & Found: Christmas collection and scrapbooking/cardmaking tools such as corner rounders, label die cuts, twine and fasteners. I found a bit of red, glittery ribbon that had been recycled from my mother-in-laws holiday arrangement from last year that was a perfect match to the red glitter accents! I simply added a strip of the lighter patterned paper to the back of the tags as a place for the address of the gifts.
Once the person that I gift this to has used up all the tags, the decorated box remains as a perfect place to store precious and delicate ornaments. It’s is like two gifts in one! The possibilities are endless for tag-making with this line. Mix and match patterns and shapes to add variety to your tag line-up or let your tags become more vintage by including such things as lace and buttons.
