Christmas Sneak Peak

My Etsy shop is closed right now until next Sunday. When it opens, I'll have several Christmas items available and a few brand new, never been carried in the shop before items. Here's a sneak peak of some of the things you'll find:

Using Plastic Wrap for Applique/Embroidery

If you've embroidered or appliqued for any length of time, you have figured out that doing it on knits (tshirts, onesies, thermals, etc.) is difficult without a stabilizer on top. I highly recommend Sulky Solvy Water Soluble Stabilizer if you want to do it the right way. However, I recently ran out of this product right in the middle of turkey shirts! Ugh.

So what'd I do? I took the advice of a fellow applique enthusiast I met through Facebook. She mentioned a long time ago to simply use plastic wrap. Yes, Saran wrap. Cling wrap. Cheap food wrap. Of course, at the time I thought she was crazy. But now I'm addicted! It's so much cheaper, readily available, and tears off more easily. It is more difficult to get in place, though. I recommend using the Sulky Solvy the first time so you understand what you're doing.

So here's me using the redneck plastic wrap method.

And here's the outcome. Not bad.

Handmade Holiday: iPad Cover

I totally thought this project was going to take a while to finish. I was so wrong: It was the quickest one so far! Yippy! I purchased three e-reader patterns from Birdiful Stitches on Etsy for only $15! This was the padded e-reader cover version and can be purchased separately, too, for around $6. The includes patterns for the Nook, Kindle, and iPad. 

I liked this pattern over others I've seen because it included two inside pockets:

The button was the last step, and I had to hand-sew it on because the inside pockets are behind it. I'd rather use my machine for that so next time I will see if the pattern works with me sewing on the button earlier in the process using my machine.

This is totally a beginner's project since it only required straight stitches. As always, make sure your measurements are exact and cuts are straight. (I'm loving my rotary cutter and mat for this since I've never been great with scissors.)

  

Posterized Wood Plaques

Turn this:

Into this:

I've been doing this for a year now and love the results. These make perfect gifts to commemorate a special event - the one above is for a two-year old birthday - or to give to grandparents. I got the idea from Happy Together's tutorial, and finally tried it after reading Lil Blue Boo's gel medium transfer tutorial.

The only thing I do different from Happy Together's tute is I paint over the transfer to fill in gaps that didn't transfer and to give a hand-painted portrait look. I started doing this after I rubbed off a baby's eye in a transfer but the rest was otherwise great. I so didn't want to start over, so I painted the eye referring to the original photograph. That eye stood out like a cyclops, so I ended up painting over the entire thing. Looked so good that I do it that way all the time now.

More examples:

See an engagement gift example here.

Try this yourself. It's not difficult, but it is labor intensive. It takes a good while to rub off the paper. (I found using my fingers works a heck of a lot better than any tool suggested.) If you don't want to make your own, I will make one for you: Visit my Etsy shop for more info on that.




    

Handmade Holiday: Diana Hobo

I had a productive Christmas gift-making week. Project 2 was this Diana Hobo bag from ThinkLiz. (Don't be jealous over my awesome display hanger.) What I love about the gal from ThinkLiz is that she is not only a fellow Texan but also a fellow Aggie. Gig 'em! (Btw, the husband just told me that some poll ranked the Aggies 18 in the nation today. Who'd a thunk it?)

Anyway, back to the bag. I found this tutorial pretty easy to follow, especially on the heals of the pleated purse I recently finished. This bag required no darts, a little bit of pleating, and a magnetic snap. (This was my first magnetic snap, and it wasn't hard at all!) This would be a fun 3rd or 4th sewing project to attempt because it's useful, super cute, not difficult, but still requires you to learn a new skill or two. 

I also included a bit of applique from UrbanThreads for a bit of femininity.

And my favorite part is actually the inside of the bag where I used Amy Butler's Daily Chain fabric. 

If the lucky lady who will receive this bag for Christmas doesn't love it, I will gladly keep it in my closet! :)

Pleated Purse

Some women collect shoes. Others, clothes. For some, it's lipgloss. For me...Bags. Or, more generally, fabric containers of any kind: totes, purses, clutches, pouches, luggage, shoe bags, etc. Now that I can sew, I can indulge in this obsession passion on my own terms. You are about to witness my first fabric container creation....

The Pleated Purse from ISLY's site. This tutorial/pattern was super easy to follow and could easily be customized to be bigger, deeper, have extra pockets, etc. I would say this is a good intermediate project only because I had to sew darts for the first time. Yikes! As all things sewing, I found out it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. A few Google searches and a YouTube video later, I had a pretty good idea of what a dart entailed. 

I couldn't figure out the pleated using just the instructions - I've only pleated once before - so I kinda just did my own thing. Turned out fine but not as "triangled" as ISLY's.

Her pattern did not include way to close the purse, and I have a thing about needing my purse closed. So I just included a button-tab sewn on the top. (Got to use my handy-dandy button hole setting on my machine. So underutilized.)

From what I could find, the pattern or website doesn't say I can't sell recreations of ISLY's version, but I won't put these in my Etsy shop until I check with her. If you'd like me to make you one before then (because it was fun to make), we can work something out. I would love to see what this purse looks like using different fabric.

Check out her website even if you don't sew. It's easy on the eyes, and she has LOTS of crafty ideas that don't include machines. :)

Btw, I used Pillow and Maxfield's Pretty Bird fat quarters for this project.

 

Non-Sewing Handmade Gift Ideas

A friend FBed me today asking for a few handmade Christmas gift ideas she could do to be a little more frugal this season. She claims she's far from crafty and does not own a sewing machine, so I came up with this list of non-sewing, simple handmade gift ideas and thought I'd share it with the rest of my six readers. :P Here goes:

Food Gifts

Hot Chocolate On a Stick from Giver's Log

Pesto With Printable from Giver's Log

Cherry Jam With Printable from Giver's Log

Root Beer Tour from Giver's Log

Praline Ice Cream Sauce from Skip To My Lou

Easy-Peasy Spicy Pickles from Prudent Baby

Homemade Bread from Inspiring Creations

Hot Fudge from Eat Make Read

Kid Gifts

Felt Fishing Set from Just Another Day in Paradise

I promised no sewing: You can use hot glue instead of sewing for this one.

“Grow” Photo Frame by Inspiring Creations

Little Birdie Boxes from Inspiring Creations

These could be painting according to any theme.

Button Tree Art from Inspiring Creations

Totally doing this in Presley's Big Girl Room.

Snow Man Kit by Make It Do

Pretty Dry Erase Board from Giver's Log

Flower Rings from Giver's Log

For older girls, just giving them the pieces and instructions - like a kit - would be cute, so they could put the rings together themselves.

Photo Puzzle Blocks from Photojojo

Adult Gifts

Monogrammed Stenciled Canvas Bag from Tidy Mom

Stenciled Canvas from Are We There Yet?

Paint Chip Mosaic from Hope Studios

Christmas Countdown Blocks from Jenny Garland

Fabric Wrapped Photo Frame from Sew4Home

Bird Frame from Inspiring Creations

Apple Placemats from Bloesem Kids

Use your imagination to create whatever design you'd like.

All photos are property of the perspective websites and are definitely not mine as I am not this talented. :)