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Gifts I Made – Grandkids Signs

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I was really excited for this gift because it gave me a chance to use my Silhouette CAMEO and try out the vinyl material. I made one of these Grandkid signs for my parents and for Josh's grandma. Josh cut a board to size for me and I painted it with a layer of craft paint. I only did one layer with a really thick brush so that you could still see the texture of the wood underneath. Using the vinyl material was really easy and I got it transferred on there without too much difficulty. I drilled a hole in the bottom two corners and used some stone colored ... Read More

Gifts I Made – Embroidered Felt Mandalas

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Several people received these embroidered felt mandalas for Christmas this year, made with this tutorial from Wendi at Shiny Happy World. For the larger one I used this Sulky 12 wt. cotton "Petites" thread and I really enjoyed working with it. Combine that with Benzie wool blend felt and it was really great to stitch with! Wendi was also the one that let me know about the existence of this thread, it's really great. The thread can't be split but it's much thinner than DMC thread, it's the equivalent of two strands. It's really nice to just be able to cut it and ... Read More

Gifts I Made – New York Cross Stitches

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My mother in law loves New York City, so last year I decided to make her a cross stitch of the Statue of Liberty for Christmas. I chose colors that were very similar and while I loved how it looked, I hated working on it and wasn't going to finish in time for Christmas. So I switched to a different gift idea and put it aside for a year. I revived the project and finished it for this Christmas. I ended up winging it because I had miscounted quite a few areas of the pattern. I'm really happy with how it turned out, I like it a lot. I also made another New York ... Read More

FlowerPOW Mug Rug Gift Set

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I wanted to show off a little gift set I put together using CraftyPod's FlowerPOW mug rug pattern! I've discussed my love for these mug rugs in the past, which is evident by the fact that I've made 6 so far... I put together a little gift set with a coffee cozy that I made using the same fabrics as the mug rug. I used this great free tutorial from Skip to My Lou. I'm not a super confident machine sewer but it was really easy to follow and came together really quickly. I added one of those cool reusable Starbucks mugs they have at the counter and ended up with a ... Read More

Just a Little Update

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I'm in an awkward place right now with my blog. See, I'm actually on top of Christmas gifts this year, I've already finished four of them. I don't think I started making any gifts until November last year, so I am feeling extremely accomplished. Plus I'm working on my project for the Crafty Christmas link up that Laura from Bugs and Fishes is organizing. If you're interested, check out the information here! While I'm feeling super accomplished because of everything I've been making, it's also a lot of things I can't really show off yet. Not all of the gift ... Read More

Starting Christmas Gifts

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I really love making Christmas gifts but I'm not great with time management. Last year I was finishing up a project on Christmas Eve and this year I am determined to avoid that. So in a completely uncharacteristic move, I've started Christmas gifts already. I haven't sat down and made a complete list of what I want to make, but I have started a couple things and that's a huge step for me. Have you started thinking about Christmas gifts? How early do you start planning? ... Read More

Handmade Christmas – Ackbar Coffee Sleeve

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I kind of can't believe I forgot to post this! I saw this Admiral Ackbar coffee sleeve on on Pinterest and knew I had to make it for Josh. There wasn't a tutorial, just a link to a Flickr photo. The creator answered my questions and I got started. The original is definitely neater. I should have made the sleeve tighter, it falls off a bit. I chose a more challenging shaped mug because of the bulge so it doesn't fit as well as I would have liked. The eyes gave me a bit of a challenge as well. My original plan was to do a magic circle for the back of the eyeball ... Read More

Handmade Christmas – Pixel Grandkids

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It's very likely you've seen these pixel portrait cross stitches around. I think they first showed up in a tutorial from Martha Stewart, but plenty if cross stitchers have taken the idea and ran with it. Wee Little Stitches has created a whole series of different pop culture icons in this pixel style. Teresa from Daisies for Violet made a cross stitch for her mom of all the grandkids and I thought it was a great idea. I did my three nephews and then Evie and Mira. I added the year in case I decide to do more. I'm really happy with how I turned out, but I really ... Read More