made and gifted with love :: handmade christmas 2016

This past Christmas, I found myself challenged with a limited budget for gifts. At first I felt stressed out and worried, that I wouldn't be able to give nice gifts to friends, or to the kids for that matter, but after discussing these challenges with friends, I realized that I just needed to find the inspiration to make my gifts.
In the past, I have always enjoyed making gifts for family and friends, so I decided to take a look through some old pins on my Pinterest boards and get inspired.
These really cute and simple wooden houses came to mind, so I asked Winslow to cut some up for me and I made up some simple villages and Christmas tree ornaments.
My second challenge was that I really wanted to buy this play campfire for the kids, but couldn't justify the price. On top of the exchange rate, I'd have to pay shipping, duties and taxes. So I just couldn't afford it. My friend sent me this pin, so I took a look at it and adapted it to my liking.
In the end, I am very pleased with the play campfire I came up with, and love how it promotes open ended play (camping, storytime, ect). Also, it was made with love, by me. I hope the kids know that it was made especially for them.
A few other simple gifts I made and gave this year (no pictures sorry), were homemade potpourri bags like these (for neighbours) and some peppermint bark (to give to Scouts/Sparks leaders and bus drivers).
Hope this inspires you to make and give some handmade gifts!
xox

handmade holidays 2014

A few pictures of this year's handmade gifts.

In past years, I would often make one type of gift and give it to many people, but this year, I was drawn back to my painting and did a few individual and unique paintings for just a small selection of family and friends. I painted a few mini canvases (of course, birds!) and made them into magnets.
I also felt drawn towards quotes and inspirational sayings/mantras. I painted a vintage looking sign that said, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound" for my sister Katie, but did not get a photo of it.
For my sister Sarah, I decided to paint a chalkboard looking "In our home" style painting. They are very outdoorsy and adventurous, so I tried to come up with some mantras that would fit their family lifestyle.The "You are my Sunshine" painting is gonna be kept for me. A gift from me to me.
For the kids, they got in on painting picture frames (that I picked up at a garage sale in the summer). We then put their school pictures in them and made them into magnets. These were sent  off to the Grandparents.
We also made many ornaments this year, some with Crayola airdry clay (Santa handprints) and some with fabric (drawings on fabric with fabric markers). I really like how the fabric ones turned out (I stuffed and sewed them up).
A few other treats were made up and given. We made cranberry orange loaves,, as well as spicy and sweet pecans- so easy and so tasty.
And that's it for my handmade edition of this year. I have to say, I am very inspired at this moment to keep on making and giving handmade gifts. One of my goals this year is to remain creative and to make creativity a weekly practice for me.

Merry Christmas friends.

xox

handmade Christmas

Back in the day, I used to be much more resourceful and crafty when it came to my Christmas gifts. It came mostly out of necessity, I had very little money, but wanted to make meaningful gifts for family and friends. I would make little hand sewn bird and owl ornaments, jewelry, art, stationary and more. More recently I have found it difficult to find the time to make things the way I used to. Time is limited and these days, my attention is pretty much focussed on the children, but still I managed to make a few gifts that I thought would be fun to give and receive.
The first was a very simple sachet of homemade potpourri. I simply filled tiny bags with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom pods, dried orange peel and bay leaves and wrote out the instructions (simmmer the bag in a pot of water on the stove). Easy and very Christmassy.
The next idea I had was found on Pinterest. It was to create "family conversataion starter"jar. I found a cute printable and printed off a bunch of sheets at the local printer. I then cut the strips up and put them in a little decorated jar. A simple gift that promotes family time and eating meals together. I gave these as "family gifts" to some of my friends. (I can't find the original source of where I got mine, but if you do a search on Pinterest, many show up... here is one I found.)
And as a gift for Noah's friends, I made a big batch of gingerbread playdoh and included a Christmas cookie cutter with each package. Simple but useful. Noah is just at the age where playdoh is still fun and useful. In a few years, this gift wouldn't fly, so I'm taking advantage of this one. For the older friends I made simple bead kits (no picture). Just a clear baggie with multicoloured wooden beads and elastic.
I also made up a few beeswax ornaments but forgot to take a picture of them. They were so easy to make and I am excited because I recently purchased some bee
swax candle making supplies and plan on making a few candles over the winter months with Noah. That's all for this year. I'm hoping to gather my ideas a bit sooner for next Christmas so that I can get back into making more of my gifts.
xox

handmade giving

Christmas may well be over, but I wanted to share with you this little toy that I made to give to the babies in my life for Christmas this year. It's a simple taggie triangle that has two different materials on either side (for texture and colour) and has cellophane paper inside to make it crinkle. It was really easy to sew up, so easy in fact that I made up 4 of them in like 10 minutes. Done and done!

I wish I had taken step-by-step photos to show you how to do it but I didn't, so these instructions will have to do. Feel free to ask me any questions if it doesn't make sense.

Step 1:

Gather supplies : 2 different fabrics, assorted silky ribbons, stuffing and cellophane paper. You will need scissors and a sewing machine too.

Step 2:

With a pen on the WRONG SIDE, free hand draw a triangle onto one of your fabrics. Make the triangle larger than what you hope it to be, as you will need extra room for the seams. I would go 4 inch long sides.

Step 3:

Hold your two different fabrics together and carefully cut out the triangle. You should have 2 pieces of fabric cut exactly the same now. Place the fabrics RIGHT SIDE together.

Step 4:

Cut 3 different coloured ribbons to 2 inches. Fold the ribbons in half and place them in miscellaneous spots inside the triangle. Pin them in place.

Step 5:

With your sewing machine, follow the outside and sew the triangle, leaving about a 2.5 inch space unsewn so that you can turn it inside out.

Step 6:

Turn the triangle inside out and then stuff the triangle with stuffing. Don't fill it too much, as you also want to put cellophane paper inside it too. I kept taking stuffing out and adding more cellophane until I was happy with the the softness-to-crinkle ratio.

Step 7:

Hold the gap closed tight and sew up the triangle with your machine or by hand.

And that is that! A super simple tactile and colourful toy that takes no time to make.

xox

handmade holidays

I love to give handmade gifts for any occasion but I especially enjoy giving handmade at Christmastime. Last year I made and gave a few different gifts like these little pins for my friend's children, chocolate bark and some of my prints packaged up nicely. This year I decided early on that I would try to make a sugar scrub to give to my girlfriends. I looked through a few different recipes until I found one that looked simple enough and then made up a batch before Katia was born, as I knew I wouldn't get anything done after she was born.

The results were great! I really was impressed and happy with how easy it was to make the scrub and how lovely it felt on my skin (I had to test drive the product first!).

I also had a lot of fun packaging up the scrubs in little mason jars with cloth covers and little wooden scoops. I bought the scoops in a shop in PEI this past summer and knew I'd use them for this project. I would suggest scouring dollarstores for little spoons or a kitchen shop or a shop in Chinatown for something similar (if you have a Chinatown...we don't here in the Yukon).

I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone who wants to give it a go. It was a super easy project and like I mentioned, the results were lovely... it really softens the skin and I love to use it on my feet! And bonus, you most likely will have many of the ingredients in your cupboard!

Candy Cane Sugar Scrub

3 cups of granulated sugar

1 cup of olive oil

a few drops of peppermint essential oil

In a bowl mix the sugar, oil, and essential oil together until well combined. Experiment with how much peppermint oil you want to use. Start with less and add in more until you get a nice but not too strong scent. When you have a nice scrub consistency, spoon the scrub into little jars and decorate them however you like. This scrub can be stirred up if it settles.

I hope you enjoy this simple recipe. Stay tuned for my simple handmade baby gift...I'll post about that soon! And how about you? Did you get up to any crafting this holiday season?

xox

just for fun

I just wanted to share a little something that I whipped up as a baby gift before I left for vacation. I got inspiration for the hat from my friend Leanne, who made a ton of these beautiful hats last Christmas season and sold them at some craft shows. It's made from an old T-Shirt and I added some felt embellishments that I ordered from Etsy. It really is the easiest thing to make and is the perfect beginners sewing project.

To make it I drew out a pattern on some paper and then traced it onto the wrong side of the fabric and cut it out. I placed the wrong sides together and sewed the outline of the hat.

Then I hand sewed the flowers onto the hat. Easy peasey and cute, I think.

Oh and here is the little miss that I made the hat for, baby Meredith. Isn't she just so beautiful and sweet? I can't believe that I will get to hold and cuddle and take care of one of these tiny little humans in just less than 3 months. It's really getting to be very exciting!

xox

rockin' out the bday gifts

It's been birthday season around here. Already this sumer Noah has been invited to 4 birthday parties and soon his will be coming up! I love going to a birthday but for me, finding a good gift is always a challenge. We live in a small town where the selection is limited, so finding a unique gift that no one has seen before can be a real challenge for me. How do I solve this problem you may ask? Enter the collage kit and personalized freezer paper t-shirt! My new go to gift...until I think of something else.
Okay, so I showed you my collage kits not to long ago, but I am happy to report that they are getting more and more exciting as I make a few more. I've added some more embellishments as I go along and have been having fun making the packaging look more appealing. And then just a few days ago when I did my girl's night in/ get your craft on, I discovered that freezer paper t-shirts are super easy to pump out.
So last Sunday I realized that Noah had a birthday party to attend to and we didn't have a gift to take. Our only option at that time was Walmart and not that I am a Walmart snob, but the toy section there (at our location) down right sucks. So I thought long and hard about it, hit up the craft section to fill up a collage kit bag and then went to the boy's section to find a plain t-shirt. I dashed home, actually first I stopped at Starbucks to pick up a coffee and then I dashed home, only to kick Noah outside to hang with his Dad while I frantically put together this gift. I whipped up the collage kit, cut out my stencil for the t-shirt, applied the paint, and decorated the collage kit package while my t-shirt was drying. Easy peasy with only minimal sweat.
The time it took? 40 mins beginning to end. The cost? Maybe 10$ for everything. Yup! I was pretty darn pleased with myself.
So from now on, I am stocking up on plain t's and am going to be on the look out for cute things to put into collage kits.
Next project on the go? Loot bags 101 and Noah's birthday details!
xox

girl's night in

chocolate cake with hot caramel sauce is necessary when you are this crafty

Happy Monday friends! I hope you had a fun weekend. Around here it was a busy time with lots going on. On Saturday I spent the day getting ready for my "Girls Night In/Get Your Craft On" by cleaning and cooking yummy things to eat. Then on Sunday, I took Noah to his buddy's birthday party and then came home to set up for a newborn session that I had at my house.

I wanted to tell you a bit about the "Girls Night In/Get Your Craft On" party that I hosted on Saturday night because we had such a blast! This was the second time I did something like this and it went off so well! Here is the first one I did in case you are interested.

I decided about a month ago that I wanted to host a party where we would do freezer paper stencils onto T-shirts and things. I had seen many tutorials in the past on how to do this and I had been wanting to try out this technique for a long time. I searched the internet and found some great tutorials and videos, so I decided that this would be our craft for the night.

I sent out an invite about a month before the date because the summer gets so busy and it can be hard for people to make the time for things like this. I decided to make it a potluck and also asked people to bring their own T-shirts or what ever they'd like to print onto, as well as a few other materials (like exacto craft knives, cutting boards ect) if they had them. I sent along a few links for my guests to look at before the night so that they could get an idea of what we would be doing and also did a run through of the project ahead of time just so that I would know how it works and could show them an example.

When everyone showed up I started my little lesson for them so that they could see how it works. I had pre-cut a stencil before hand so that I could get straight to the lesson and not waste anytime. After I showed them how it worked, the ladies got to work by deciding what stencils they'd like to make. We hooked up the computer and printer so that people could trace images that they found on the internet and then they all got to work by cutting out their stencils.

It was a easy going night. Some people were working away, others were sipping wine and mojitos, and others (like me, the pregnant lady) were gorging on chocolate covered pomegranate seeds (oh ya baby!). The idea was to get together for a night where we could all make something that we'd like and use, while having a fun time together just being our crazy selves. It was the best of two worlds, crafting and a girl's night. It was pretty awesome.

The night went on into the early hours of the morning. Once people got the hang of the technique it looked like we had a little factory going on. I loved that people had their own original ideas. We had someone do a Lionel Ritchie T-shirt that was hilarious, a couples people did onesies for a baby, and someone made an extra special anniversary gift by making pillowcases for her and her hubby with the screen names that they had used when they had met online! How sweet!

For me this was the ultimate girl's night. There was good food, great drinks, a mix of awesome women and good conversation. I think we all needed that night. It was the perfect opportunity to catch up, make use of our creativity and meet new people. At the end of the night I had a bunch of happy friends leave my home with some pretty awesome creations, I was really happy about that.

So I'll leave you with some pictures of the night, a few points and the tutorial that I used .

This craft was actually very easy to do and we were all very impressed with the results. We had a few people in the group who aren't that experienced with crafting and they were able to make some pretty awesome creations. The longest part in freezer paper stenciling is the cutting out of the stencil. The more detailed and complicated the design, the longer it will take to cut out. I found the freezer paper at a local specialty grocery store and bought it off the owner by the foot. I got 12 ft for 2$...not bad. I hear that it is easy to find freezer paper in the States. Finally, here is the link that I used to get inspiration.

And that's about it! All in all an awesome night. So awesome in fact, that I am still recovering (my poor pregnant lady back) from it...the last people left at 1am!

Now...what will out next craft night be?

xox

homemade gifts to make and give

the mess! I love a beautiful, creative, messy table.

the galaxy play-doh

maybe more sparkles next time?

I have a confession to make. I stay up way way way too late almost every night looking through my favourite blogs and Pinterest and it's getting a bit out of hand. I might need an intervention...I just might. But at the same time, how can I not keep going back when I'm always finding fun ideas for amazing things to make, cook or bake. Really! How can I not?
While blog surfing the other day, I came across this great idea to make collage kits to give to children ( I heart her blog btw...such impeccable taste and style). I had a birthday coming up for 2 little boys and one of the mommies (who is my good friend Carol-Ann) said that her son Jack would like some new art supplies. So upon seeing this collage kit, I knew that it was something I wanted to make.
I spent a few days looking through the craft isles at the dollar store and also went through some of my arts and crafts supplies (goodness knows I have enough of it!) and then found some old cellophane bags from my craft fair days. I collected, sorted and packaged it up to make 2 very cute and useful kits. On the label I wrote "MAKE YOUR OWN COLLAGE" and on the back I wrote out some simple directions.

Here is what I included in the kits:

:: a small bottle of glue

:: a small bottle of sparkly glue

:: a small 5 by 7 flat canvas

:: a selection of buttons, circle stickers, sequins, pom poms, cut up textured paper and other doo-dads

:: some colourful and metallic papers

You could add all kinds of things to the kit if you wanted to switch it up...cut outs, different stickers, fabric, paints...it goes on and on.

The second project I made for the birthday gifts was "galaxy play-doh". I found this idea on Pinterest and love the look of it. It is basically play-doh that you cook on the stove with black and blue food colouring added and then lots of lots of sparkles. I went to the dollar store and found a pack of 3 containers for 1.50$ and made a batch that was divided into three. One for Jack, one for Aiden (the other birthday boy) and one left over for Noah. At the dollar store, I also bought a small rolling pin and some cookie cutters to go with the package. I thought it looked really cute all packaged up.
I just love giving gifts that I know will be used and enjoyed by the people who receive them, but when I get to make the gift, I find it that much more enjoyable to give. I'd love to hear if any of you have come across any good homemade gift ideas.
Hope you are having a great day! I'll be back soon to tell you about Winslow and my date day!
xox

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