Finished Just In Time for Christmas

YoYo Reindeer Card

I have had a busy week finishing up the wrapping, packing and mailing of boxes to send my Christmas gifts off to five different states (Arizona, California, Indiana, Nebraska and Ohio). Then I got to work on wrapping the gifts for my friends at work. Needless to say a couple of the packages I mailed required a homemade Christmas card and although it's hard to make everyone a card I do try to include a little something I have made like the cute little felt gift card holders that came in a kit. This was a wonderful project for me to work on as I watched TV with my husband. It was a little hard to work on when the cat decided to get into my lap but eventually the two of us came to an agreement that she could sit in my lap if she let me sew as she prefers me to sit still while she naps so we compromise - I sit still for a little while as she gets settled down to sleep and then I get to sew. It is actually safer that way for my project as the thread fascinates her and sometimes gets tangled up in her paws with the needle flying into the air!



Felt Gift Card Holders



My mom's December card is the cute reindeer card made with the large oval yoyo's. I love how they turned out and my Cricut Expression machine makes cutting out the letters for the "fa la la la la" a breeze.  The lace Christmas tree card started out with an idea of just sewing the lace back and forth in a very simple squiggly tree shape and then somehow it just evolved into a Victorian type Christmas tree. As the paper and lace sits on my desktop for days as I work with and around it - I have time to say "what if" and "ooh, I like that" and then I start pulling out papers and other embellishments that might give me the design I am looking for.

Lace Christmas Tree Card

Of course after all of my "what ifs" and pulling things out from every nook and cranny in  my craft room it is in shambles!  So today I plan on doing a lot of organizing, cleaning out and putting away so that I can start preparing for the New Year.

Sew many gifts . . . So little time

This & That Nifty Notes - Holiday Gifts

I don't know about you but I love to give handmade gifts for the holidays, birthdays and any special occassion. However, since I work full-time I don't always get to make as many handmade gifts as I would like.  Sometimes I think it's because I really don't enjoy making the same item over and over and making just one of a new pattern takes a lot of time so I end up having to purchase a gift or gift card.  Recently, I found a pattern that I do enjoy making a lot of, it is a This & That pattern called Little Notes by designer Sherri K. Falls, this can be made in so many different color choices and fabrics that it feels like I am creating a new one each time. On one of the blogs I was looking at I read that keeping your fabrics in the same color family helps save you save time as you don't need to keep changing the thread in your sewing machine.  For this batch of Nifty Note holders I tried that and found it really did save me time! Now the hard part will be deciding who to give one to so as not to hurt anyone's feelings-so if any of my family reads this and would like to have me make them one just send me an email with the colors you would like it to be made in and I will try my best to get you one made in the near future. These really do not take a whole lot of time once you decide on the fabrics and get them cut out - I had four ready to be assembled so that is what I spent last weekend doing which is why I didn't get anything posted.  I enjoy the blog but I'd really rather be crafting.

Inside the Nifty Notes note keeper

Here is a picture of the inside of the This & That Nifty Notes.  A very wise person I know suggested I take more photos to should show more of the details so they can really see what the whole item looks like.  I agree.

If this looks familiar to you, I did make one of these for my mom using fabric dyed with different teas.  The one I made for me I added a loop to hold one of the wood pens my husband turned for me.