Tote arrived, plus an ornament share

My tote package from Teri was waiting for me when I got home Friday - all I have to say is WOW! The tote is wonderful, and her gifts blow me away. Check it all out:



Of course, I had an audience as soon as I started opening the box, so the peppermint sticks were immediately enjoyed by all. The boys were all a bit disappointed that there weren't any toys inside - though I thought the toys were great - and for now, will enjoy the fact that our definitions of toys don't match! I enjoy crafting with the boys and do hope to someday have a quilter, but considering how tough crafts can be at the ripe old age of 3.5, I hope to delay their interest in the sewing machine a few more years! A HUGE thank you to Teri for some wonderful treats! I can't wait to have some "down-time" over the holidays to play and create with them!!! I feel a mug rug coming on...




Every Monday, Cindy over at 'Skip to My Lou' puts out the call for people to share handmade gift ideas. I have several that I've been wanting to share, and finally have the pictures taken for one!

This craft can be done with kids (my favorite kind of craft) and can even be made to fit in Christmas cards, which I've done often in the past. I used to keep my eyes peeled for little inexpensive gifts that I could add to cheer cards that I sent for kids in the groups listed under 'Sites close to my heart' (left panel of my blog). This is one of my favorite finds and is made from grocery sacks and other items easily found around my house.

1 - pick a couple shapes (one large, one small) and draw them on any paper - this will be your template. For this round, I chose hearts and stars. Cookie cutters are a good source for shapes if you don't want to draw your own.

2 - cut out your templates



3 - open a paper grocery sack along the seams and lay out flat

4 - figure out how many ornaments you want to make, and if you want them to be one or two-sided. For one sided ornaments, cut two of the large shapes and one small for each ornament you want to make. If you want them to be 'two-sided', cut two of each shape for each ornament.



5 - paint or otherwise color your shapes and then cut them out - we used fingerpaints, which would have covered my cutting line, so I chose to cut the shapes first and then color them. With the fingerpaints, we let them dry for a full 24 hours.

6 - decide if you would like buttons, and if you do, pick out buttons matching your colored cutouts



7 - match up the big-and-little, front-and-back ornament pieces and begin to layer them. I paired up the solids that I painted with the multi-colors painted by the boys

8 - using pearl cotton or embroidery floss, sew a single stitch through all layers (big cutout, little cutout, and button) and tie with a single knot



8 - match your ornament front and back wrong-sides together and begin to stitch. To make poking the needle through all layers easier, I set the ornament pieces on top of a spool - lining the desired needle hole up with the middle hole on the spool. If you have a mini-hole punch and the patience, you could also pre-punch the sewing holes.



9 - continue 3/4 of the way around the ornament. If you would like a 'puffy' ornament, add in a cotton ball or small piece of batting at this point



10 - finish stitching around the ornament and tie off



11 - for a hanger, I used a coordinating piece of pearl cotton and looped it through a couple of the stitches on the back. You could also work the pearl cotton between the front and back layers to hide your knot.



Whaalaaa! A simple ornament using what you already have around the house. It can be flat enough to fit in an envelope to share with those on your Christmas card list.