2012: The Year of the Handmade gift

I told you it was coming.  

Now that half of the year has passed and roughly half the gifts have been made and given I can share all the fun we've been having making gifts for our loved ones.

Looking at all the compiled images I'm kind of in shock.  When I started out the year casually thinking wouldn't it be great to make all our gifts this year? I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.  

The year started out easy enough.  With just two birthdays (nicely spaced out birthdays) in January we were primed for success.  We made a simple embroidered bookmark for my grandpa and another for Nana.  I'd always wanted to knit something for Ruth so I knit her a hat too.

recall the start of it all?

shying away from the camera while drawing Nana's bookmark

Nana's hat

 embroidering bookmarks

Ooh the end of January felt good.  I can totally do this!  This is easy, fun even!

Then, my dad's and brother in law's birthdays in Febraruary found me a bit stumped.  We made another bookmark for Pop, but I felt he needed something more and had NO CLUE what to make for Bryan (he has kids of his own and I doubt he needed an Ainsley bookmark, when he has so many great things made by his own cuties).  

Kind of by a stroke of luck I came across an idea on pinterest for scrabble tile coasters.  Genius!  I went to our local thrift shop and bought two scrabble games for one dollar each and got to work.  Beer, wine and coffee themed coasters quickly materialized with the help of some woodglue and carboard backing.  I of course took no photos of these, but I think they turned out well!  Although next time I will glue them to heavy duty wool instead of cardboard, those little tiles don't like to stick to the cardboard.

Next up was cousin Connor.  I was excited about this gift as I'd already made it once for Ainsley's friend Gillian in the fall.  We made him a fort kit, another idea I nabbed on pinterest.  A homemade (handpainted I might add) simple drawstring bag filled with a dark sheet, clips, a book or quiet activity and a flashlight.  We also added an Uncle Ian drawn puzzle because Connor is the puzzle boy.  I hear it was a hit!  and really so easy to put together.

story cards by Eboo are one of my FAVORITE 3 year old gifts, I included them in lieu of a book

painted canvas bag, 

I lay out a big piece of canvas and let the girls at it, then I cut it up into pieces to use as wrapping and bag material, add a simple drawstring and whalla!

Another super fun kid gift idea I have yet to execute?  A puppet theather kit, with a spring rod and curtains to hang between a door and homemade sock puppets!  

And now I have to be truthful. For Uncle Joey's birthday in May I was completely stumped. He had no need for a bookmark or scrabble tile coasters, and is a tough one to shop for to boot!  With Ragnar right around the corner I cheated and bought him a pair of my favorite Smartwool running socks.  Sorry Joe!  But I hope you liked them anways!

Even with this minor setback I was determined to charge ahead with handmade gifts for all our summer birthdays.  

Wait, how many are there?  Ok, one, two, three...NINE?!?!  and that's stopping BEFORE we get to early September where we have three more and NOT including Father's Day or the girls' friend's birthdays.  Oh goodness.  What was I thinking?

Thankfully I've gotten better about compartmentalizing and planning.  I started with the most imminent birthdays and the most time consuming presents and went from there.  There were surely a few late last minute nights but hey, it all got done!

You've already heard about Father's Day, Ian's bookmark and jammie pants, but what you haven't heard is how quickly that all came together.  A baseball cap that I'd ordered for him for the occasion didn't arrive on time so we needed to punt and two days before father's day we whipped up some pants with flannel I had in the basement from the economy shop and a bookmark from the scrap bag.  Proving to me at just the right moment that homemade gifts can indeed be quick, easy and successful!

For Aida girl's first birthday I knew I HAD to make her one of the In Threes cardigans that I have now made for all the girl cousins.  It's summer appropriate but will hopefully work through the upcoming fall and winter, plus I just love to make it.  It knits up so fast and with the right yarn is kind of luxurious as far as baby apparel goes.  Accessorized with buttons from my favorite fabric button shop on etsy HeyDeyHandmade, it came together nicely.

this yarn was called Summer Sunset...it works.

Laundry Line buttons by HeyDeyHandmade

cute Aida Bean sporting her new sweater at the cabin

For my father in law I hit a bit of a roadblock again.  Boys are hard to make for!  I pushed through the temptation to put the ball in Ian's court and paged through my beloved Weekend Sewing.  I zeroed in on a dopp kit bag that I'd always wanted to make, scoured my fabric and notions pile and to my delight found the perfectly sized manly scrap of canvas weight fabric and a metal zipper.  I cut up an old linen shirt of Ian's for the lining and in one afternoon it was completed!  Everyone can use a zippered pouch for their toiletries, right?

On to my sister Jenny.  I knew I wanted to make her a bag.  I LOVE my Everything Tote from Weekend Sewing but wanted to try a pattern from my new book Sew What You Love and am so glad I did.  This Easy Sling Bag is just that, VERY easy.  The tricky part for me came with the fabric choices.  I wanted to use the last of my favorite vintage sheet for the outside and an old flannel shirt of Ian's for the inside but was a bit stumped when it came to cutting out the pattern.  I ended up sewing the button front of the shirt closed and placing the pattern in such a way that the front pocket now serves as a small interior pocket for a cellphone or chapstick.  Finished off with an oversized wooden button the girls helped me pick out, it came together nicely!  (I also gave her a copy of my FAVORITE "parenting" book Under the Chinaberry Tree because it's always fun to have stuff IN your bag).

For Grammy's July birthday we made her a bookmark, one for Grandpa Dan too.  Now that Louise is such a little drawer herself both of the girls helped with the images on the bookmarks.  Ainsley drew letters, names, and figures and Louise drew lots of her "elephants".  We also got Grammy some local herb vinegar and a Melaleuca candle lest you think she got a bit jipped :o).

And the crowing jewel of the summer birthdays this far SURELY has to be Aida's ginormous ball.  This pattern is also from Sew What You Love and the girls and I had such fun making it.  I used fabric I'd bought at the warehouse in Minneapolis last summer and THREE BAGS of poly-fil.  The girls were quite helpful with the stuffing and testing out of that ball.  I'm glad I had room in the car to bring it with us to MN, it was a whopper!

More Gifts

Gardening Gloves for Grandma Ruth (given with a few pouches of seeds)

Bedtime Bag for Ainsley's friend Garnet

We filled the bag with matching jammie pants and two of the girls' favorite books

At the 6 month mark I'm feeling good, still a bit overwhelmed by ALL there is to do by September's end (and don't even get me started on Christmas!), but mostly I feel really really good.  I've always loved making things for people and this challenge to make everyone gifts has really stretched my creativity, time management and thriftiness.  It's incredibly exhilarating to give someone a gift that they love (I hope!), that you enjoyed making and spend SO MUCH LESS than buying alone.

When I do purchase something for a gift I've been much more mindful to buy locally, even if it means revamping my plan to be able to afford it (paperback books from the local bookstore, smaller sizes of pantry items from the farmer's market).

Making gifts has also helped so much with budgeting.  There have been quite a few times that I had NO money left in a monthly budget for gifts so I'd go down to my craft closet, scour, and come up with something (the birth of the bookmark and all those jammie pants).  Pretty cool right?

I've been so inspired that I've been scheming and dreaming of all handmade gifts for Louise's birthday and the girls' Christmas gifts.  I will of course have to find room in the budget for a few new books but save that I am confident I can make most (hopefully all!) of what they need and desire.

A sampling of ideas for Louise's birthday

Her very own toddler sized sleeping bag, made from CRAZY on sale luscious fleece, and modeled after her big sister's.

A new fall sweater (FINALLY, right?!) very much inspired by this seed stitch T style below

Some new falls clothes, including some flannel lined Quick Change Trousers and a few shirred blouses

Her very own tiny backpack for playschool in the fall, I'll use the same pattern I used to make Ainsley's, it's perfect!

And because I can't resist making her something playful I am SO EXCITED to try my hand at needlefelting again to make her a few tiny friends.

I got this book from the library and man oh man, will I have to hold back not to make it ALL.

But at the very least, of course, there will be a large family of these...

EPHANTS!!!!

Oh goodness, so much to do, but so much fun and satisfaction to be had in the end.  Rather than being defeated by the stress and exhaustion of this undertaking I find I am more excited about the challenge than ever.  The planner in me LOVES laying out the how and when of making and the crafter in me of course LOVES the making, and the artist?  I'm finding she's quite happy with all the yarn and fabric choosing, quiet mindfulness of making, and rhythm and pace of production.   I find I turn on the same playlist I made in college for my long nights in the painting studio when I'm sewing now.  This endeavor has fed every part of me and I'm really looking forward to the even greater challenge the next 6 months will bring!

See how prepared I am?  CHRISTMAS KNITTING!!! ALMOST DONE!!!

And please oh please.  Wrap those handmades in handmade paper.  It's just kind of a must, you know?

So here's to homemade gifts!  My needles and mind are never empty and my sewing bag and joy overfloweth. Huzzah!