I did a couple of homemade gifts for Christmas this year, and now that the holidays are over and gone, I can finally share! First up, monster hoodies for my sister's boys:
These are really fun, and a no-brainer. Find any plain hooded sweatshirt, and embellish the hood with felt teeth and some eyes (mine were a circle of felt and a button). You can buy hoodies like this online, but they are cheap and simple to do yourself. I think the idea would work equally as well with a shark fin, dinosaur embellishments, animal ears ... you name it.
Second, I made them a photo memory game using 2 inch wooden tiles:
I actually had the tiles on hand after doing a crazy random wood order from
caseyswood.com a few months back, but you can probably find them at your local craft store. I was trying to think of something to do with them when I stumbled upon a post on a photo memory game at
Jamie's Digital Designs. Jamie includes full instructions on how to make the game if you want to try it yourself. I got all the photo's straight from my sister's blog, so not only is it a memory game, it is full of memories from 2008.
the assembly line
sock monkey shirt for our buddy Jack who is turning 2
Lastly, some little angel wings for Valentine's Day. I think Oz will make a cute cupid.
And for something new, a baby wipes clutch:
I'm working on a tutorial for this, but it was super easy and I had almost all of the materials on hand. All you need is a plastic travel wipes case, some fabric, a small piece of batting, ribbon (optional), trimming, and a hot glue gun. Presto, change-o, you've got a chic clutch in which to store your baby's bum wipes. :)
For those of you who don't have a close, personal relationship with your hot glue gun, there are a couple of Etsy sellers that make these wipe clutches - check out PlainJane or Sweet 'n Sassy Baby.
Oscar needed a pair of shoes to go with his church outfit, so I whipped these up using the Stardust Shoes pattern. For a change, I added the little strap with a button closure (really easy to do and really dresses up the shoe, don't you think?).
Unfortunately, the shoes only fit without socks, which just won't work for a NY winter, so I'm going to make a bigger pair. Any suggestions for round 2?
These are really fun, and a no-brainer. Find any plain hooded sweatshirt, and embellish the hood with felt teeth and some eyes (mine were a circle of felt and a button). You can buy hoodies like this online, but they are cheap and simple to do yourself. I think the idea would work equally as well with a shark fin, dinosaur embellishments, animal ears ... you name it.
