Inspiration and tutorials

I am so excited to be a part of the Crafty Christmas Club again this year. I have already begun making the presents for my family and I just wanted to show you some of the great tutorials I have been inspired by.
First I want to share with you the new Pinterest board that I have setup for this purpose: "Making Christmas Gifts 2011". I am a great fan of Pinterest especially if you can link through and find amazing tutorials.
One of my favorite is the Porcupine Pin Cushion  from Prudent Baby. It was so easy to make and look real nice - just something for the people in my life who love sewing.
Another of my favorites is the 3-way laundry bag by // Between the lines //. Its so easy to make and I have already made 3 for myself (check them out here on Grey Duckling) and 2 for family gifts.
Last year I made decoupaged a bowl with stamps for my husband and this year I have also been decoupaging a couple of gifts for the family (more later).
Finally I want to show you a picture of a couple of decoupaged Christmas decorations I made this year (see last years decorations here).  





During the summer I decided to move more of my personal projects over to my own blog "Eddie's Room". Since I am now 8 months pregnant the latest posts have been about making baby stuff so if you are in need of inspiration for baby gifts you are welcome to have a look over there or on my other new Pinterest board "Creating for baby".

Unless I give birth before then I will be back soon with some pictures of the gifts I have made so far.

Eddie

A -Slightly Psychedelic- Pompom Wreath

Only 2 weeks to go...!

Elisalex here, howdy!  With the majority of my presents done and ticked off the list, I'm now turning my attention to decorating...

For some reason, traditional Christmas Wreaths have always felt a little morbid and ominous to me.  Dark, spiky and somewhat reminiscent of funerals.  Beautiful, but depressing.  But then I saw this Pompom Wreath, and this tutorial from JCasa*Handmade, and I knew what I had to do.

For the wreath's structure I used some foam tubing from the hardware store and a coat hanger to create the shape -

Then made a bunch of pompoms in my favourite reds-dusty pinks-off whites colour combination and tied them securely onto the foam tubing.  To finish I wound around some woodland mushroom fairy lights I had (which I think look a little too acid-y when switched on, but perfectly cute -and innocent- left off) and attached a grosgrain ribbon loop so it can be hung. 

But no way is this wreath getting hung outside... I've become very fond of its sweet, not at all morbid or ominous, and very soft self.  I couldn't possibly risk it getting rained on or stolen, and most of all I want it inside where I can appreciate it.

Bags, bags, bags! (and tutorial links)

Hello fellow Christmas Crafters. This is Andrea from Stitch Parade checking in with an update on my pressie making progress thus far. I must confess it’s been great reading about your own progress and I’ve been inspired by the great present ideas you’ve all had.

With less than 3 weeks to go, I’m about 80% done but it’s been raining cats and dogs in Toronto for days so I’ve not been able to get pictures of all my makes. Today I’ll show you what I’ve got so far in the bags department. First up, toiletries bags for my dad and brother:

I learned to make these bags a couple years ago at The Workroom, a local sewing studio, but the process is super easy and I even fund an online tutorial for you over here. For these bags I was able to up-cycle wool materials from hardly worn trousers I rescued from a friend’s Goodwill pile. I figured the look was manly enough. What do you think?


For the ladies I made clutches using a pattern also from The Workroom. I used some leather scraps for two of them, quilting cotton for another two, and the leftover embroidered border denim from my Ginger skirt for the last one.

All bags, except for the leather clutches, are interfaced for structure, include an internal pocket, and are also lined with contrasting cotton fabric for a fun pop of colour.

If you are interested in making similar clutches I found this handy tutorial here. As an FYI, the frames can be bought from several vendors via etsy.

Hopefully we get some sunshine this coming weekend so that I can photograph some of the other presents I’ve made. Wishing you all days of absolute present making productivity over the next couple of weeks!