Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a joyful, warm and safe Christmas Holiday!

Christmas Crazies

Hello faithful readers, sorry for the little dry spell there.  Life has been crazy for both Marissa and I, but we have been busily crafting and creating in preparation for Christmas.  I will have to wait until next week to share with you the projects that have taken up so much of my time, but let me just give you a peak of some the fabrics I have been using (yes I said some.  I have waaay too much fabric.  Well, if that was even possible.  No, I guess I just have waaay too little space to store it.):

Aren't those fabrics lovely?  I have so enjoyed the excuse to sew so much the past couple weeks.  I like to pick one main project and sew up several for different people on my list.  It makes it a little easier not to have to come up with completely different ideas for several people every single year.  It also helps me remember what I did for people in past years.  Last Christmas Marissa and I made up 5 quilted and hand- embroidered stockings for family members who didn't have special stockings already.  This year I sewed two more; one for my nearly 8 month old son, and one for my brother who has been away for close to 2 years, serving a mission for our church.

If you are in a bind and need a few last minute homemade gift ideas, let me share a few things I made for Christmas last year:
 
Patchwork Star Christmas Ornaments (with a great tutorial) from Linaloo:

I made this little relaxation/ pamper kit for Marissa last year:

If you want to make the fabric manicure kit cover, I used this tutorial from dhbuscher.com

I posted about these microwaveable/ freezable rice therapy bags I made here.  The one on top is meant to go over your eyes- not to sleep, but for cooling relief (if you put it in the freezer ahead of time).  The bottom one is for necks, tummies, etc.

I whipped up quite a few shower caps as gifts last Christmas.  These are the easiest shower caps ever, I promise.  One piece to cut, one piece of elastic, totally waterproof.  Maybe a tutorial in the future if there is interest...

Matching toiletry case with the shower cap:

Good luck finishing up your Christmas preparations and have a wonderful week!

Headbands

Have you seen people wearing these cute headbands everywhere this winter? I love them! I have been so inspired them, and I decided to try my hand at making some! It has been really fun to come up with new designs and join in this little trend.

Here are a few pictures of the headbands I've been making!

I've started an Etsy Shop! Come by and visit! :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HomeSweetHomebodies

Pillows for my bed!

I did this sewing project last spring, right before we packed up all of our stuff for the summer and put it into storage. (We went to California for the summer, because my husband sold pest control, and we were lucky enough to have a furnished apartment) Consequently, I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of the pillows on my bed before we left, and so I am now sharing them with you!

My husband and I found a comforter set that we loved, but unfortunately, it had no euro-shams that went with it. I decided that it would be easy enough to make my own, so I enlisted the help of Rochelle, and we went to work!

I decided to use both cream and black satin fabric, to match my bedspread. I thought it would be fun to have two different options to keep things exciting, so I made the pillows different on each side - one side is black with cream ruffles, and the other side is cream with black ruffles.


First, we measured the length and width of the Euro Pillows that we had, and added 2 inches to the length, and 4 inches to the width. Then we cut the fabric accordingly.

The hardest part about making the pillows was the ruffles! We sewed only one line of straight stitches down the middle of the fabric strips, and attempted to gather the ruffles. Turns out, long strips of satin are hard to gather. After a lot of anger, frustration, cursing, spitting, etc. we talked to my mom, and she told us a little tip that would have made things a lot easier: sew TWO lines of straight stitches. Apparently, this makes the ruffle lay more flat, and if one of the threads breaks (which happened multiple times to us..) then you still have the other one. Aren't moms so smart?

So, after gathering the strips, we sewed them onto the pillow case panels.


Then, we sewed the panels together - one side was cream, the other was black - girls like to have options! :) I left one side open and used grosgrain ribbon for the ties.


And here is the final picture - this is how my bed looks when its made... ;)


Check out this post about how I made the green accent posey pillow!

Cinnamon Ornament Gift Tags

Here is a fun way to "fancify" neighbor gifts such as baked goods: a divine- smelling gift tag that will last all season (and longer) as a beautiful and fragrant tree ornament.

Let's make a few, shall we?

For the ornaments, you will need:

Cinnamon
Applesauce
Small mixing bowl or Ziplock bag
Several sheets of wax paper
Rolling pin
Drinking Straw
Toothpicks
Thin spatula or turner
Ribbon
Any other embellishments

Note: This recipe only uses cinnamon and applesauce (no glue) so it is very safe if you want to do it with kids.

Start with equal parts of applesauce and cinnamon, 1 cup each.  Then, if you like other spices, take your pick of nutmeg, ground cloves, allspice, and/ or ginger, and add about a teaspoon each.  The amount is flexible, as you can always add a bit more applesauce if it gets too dry, or more cinnamon if it ends up too runny.
Now knead the whole thing in a bowl with your hands, and you will end up with a dough that is a little sticky, but holds together in a ball. Tip: For a less messy version that works great for kids, skip the bowl and put everything in a ziplock bag, seal it shut, then knead.

 
Put the ball of dough on a sheet of wax paper and put another sheet on top, and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to between 1/8"- 1/4" thick (any thicker and it will take a really long time to dry, and not look as good; any thinner, and it will break more easily).

Cut out various shapes using cookie cutters, and use a thin spatula or turner to carefully lift the shapes from the wax paper, onto a new sheet of wax paper for drying.  Take the remaining dough and knead it into a ball again and place on new wax paper (don't try to reuse wax paper because it just gets soggy and will rip), repeating the whole process until all the dough is used up.

Then use a plastic drinking straw or a toothpick (depending on the sizes you made) to make holes in each shape so that a ribbon can be strung through them.

Allow to dry at least 24 hours (or 48 hours if they were 1/4" or thicker), turning the shapes over a few times.  After the shapes have hardened a bit, you can transfer them to a cooling rack and they will finish drying faster.  My shapes were small to medium size and about 1/4" thick and I got 23 of them.  If you don't need quite that many, cut the recipe in half.

Ok, now that your shapes are dry, let's turn them into the ornamental gift tags!  Some people like to paint the shapes with acrylic paint, but they look lovely just as they are.  I tend to favor fairly simple designs.  I added ribbon, bows, and a few rhinestones to dress them up.  You could add buttons, beads, glitter, anything really.

Make your own tags or print some free tags (see this roundup I did last year of free printable gift tags) available all over the internet.  Add the tags and admire!  They are ready to serve dual duty as gift tags and ornaments!

I think they look so pretty on the Christmas tree, although my husband pointed out that the uniformity and paper tags made it look like a mall tree.  Not that I was considering keeping them all for myself or anything...  These will go out in batches with bread and assorted Christmas cookies over the next couple of weeks, but until then, I may as well enjoy the wonderful smell and colors on my tree, no?

P.S.- What is your favorite kind of treat to receive from friends and neighbors during the holidays?  I have a few ideas but I'd love your input!