A Handmade Gift and A Resolution

This was my favorite gift of the season–a garland of hand cut snow flakes. It came carefully wrapped in many, many layers of paper by my oldest child.  I unwrapped it to loud exhortations of "Be careful! Mama, be careful. It's very delicate!"And, it is, very delicate and beautiful.  

He assured me that he had made each one himself.  He methodically walked me through each snowflake, discussing how he made it–how each snowflake was unique. It warmed my heart tremendously, reminding me how much I value the handmade.  That he made the effort, that he thought of me with each cut, imbues the gift with such meaning, such tenderness.

I hand-make gifts for people all the time.  I rarely have handmade gifts given to me. This made it all the more meaningful to me.  Charlie's snowflakes remind me, in today's culture of consumption, the continued importance of making gifts.  I know we all get busy and that its hard to find the time.  But, that's just the point, isn't it?  If you can take the time in your life to hand-make a thoughtful gift for someone, then doesn't it add that much more value and meaning?

As Charlie's snowflakes glisten in the sunlight before my eyes, I think I've come up with a new resolution.  My New Year's resolution isn't going to be about dropping weight, or getting in shape, or always getting the things on my to-do list done, it's going to make gifts instead of buy them . . . For one year, I won't buy a gift. Ack! I'm getting scared as I write this. But I'm going to do it.  If I learned anything from making Allie's advent gifts - beautiful and thoughtful gifts don't need to take a long time to make (though blogging about them does ;).  I think this will require some planning, lots of effort, and might make for some belated gifts, but why not!? Will you join me?  I'll share them with you as I do them so you might have a good resource for quick and beautiful handmade gifts as well.  

Happy New Year to one and all! 

Christmas Moments

Bask in the light.  Do it, when you can. . .throw your head back, take a deep breath of fresh air and feel the warm sun on your skin. I have been trying to remind myself to do this, breathe, enjoy the present moment, feel good about accomplishments, and make sure I'm not ruminating too much about the future.  Especially after the crazy month I had completing 24 tutorials in a row, I tried, this week, to slow down and enjoy my holiday moments. I have to tell you, too, I am thrilled to be taking regular photos again.  It's been wonderful to get my head out of my home made light box.

I delighted in pulling out my favorite holiday decoration, my Taos, NM incense pueblo, which is identical to one I had as a child.  Piñon breathes Christmas to me.

I cherished the mantle,

complete with a photo ornament of each child from each year of their lives.  They're going to thank me for that some day.

We made our annual gingerbread house, decorated and designed, and, okay, fought over, by three creative kiddos!

We treasured skiing time with cousins.

We basked in a Christmas that, for the first time, we had all to ourselves. Here is the crew, waiting to go down the stairs to see what Santa brought.

What a beautiful Christmas morning.

That day, we took the kids cross-country skiing for the first time.

They loved it!

We had lots of joy and merriment and also quiet moments and simply time for time together.

I hope your holidays were filled with bright days and quiet nights.  A few more deep breaths and it's 2012.  Get ready to forge ahead!

Day 24: A Poppy Bracelet - a diy jewelry tutorial

Well, this is it, folks–the last piece of jewelry in the series–24 amazing days of glamorous jewelry for the little girl in your life, (even, if that little girl in your life happens to be you, or a relative, or a close friend!)  I have made many of these items in my size and proudly flaunt a little sparkle here or warm pearls there or even a petite bow - why not?! I have to say that this bracelet is one of my favorite, the lush cream of that woven ribbon and the red fuzzy felt next to that gleaming pearl - mmm!

Once I started making these poppies, I didn't want to stop.  I made one in green, lavender and yellow. I made them big, medium and small.  This definitely won't be the last time you see this style flower in one of my designs.  They seem intimidating, but they really are quite easy to do.  Give it a whirl below.

I can't tell you the pleasure I've received out of doing a tutorial each and every day.  Not only did my daughter love to open her gift every day, I got the sense that many of you had a feeling of excitement to see what would come next, as well.  Your support, enthusiasm and positive words kept me going through what honestly was a ton of work!  I've done a lot of tutorials in the life of this blog, but never one every day, for 24 days. It was great practice in efficiency, taking better photos, writing clear directions, using illustrator and much more.  I hope this collection becomes a resource you can keep coming back to for endless hours of creative fun for you or your daughter or your granddaughter.

To see the entire collection of diy advent gifts that I made for my little girl, click the photo below:

Materials:

6 - 8" of woven cotton ribbon (try carta, inc. for beautiful cotton ribbon)

1 8mm glass pearl

1 snap closure

100% wool felt

Thread

Scissors

Needle

Time: 40 minutes

Cut an approximately three inch circle out of 100% wool felt.  I cut a larger circle than I think I need and trim the excess when I get the size flower I want. 

Cut a spiral in the circle.  There is more lee-way in this than you might think.  I was concerned that it would need to be perfect, but you can trim here and there to adjust it after the fact.  I didn't measure or draw anything, but just cut it by hand.

Now that you have your spiral, start twisting it, beginning with the center. 

 It should spiral up like this.  Trim off any excess spiral you don't want to include in your poppy.

Stitch the poppy together at the bottom of the blossom.  I went both directions across.  I also came up the outside petal and stitched the top of the outside flap to the the inside layer.

Come up through the center of the poppy, just off from dead center. Add the pearl. 

Bring your thread back through and finish off underneath the blossom.  Voila!  There's your poppy.

Measure the ribbon to your wearer's wrist, or take a measurement with a string.  Note that with the snap closure, 3/8" of the bracelet will overlap.  You want the bracelet to be pretty snug so the poppy won't swing around to the bottom of the wrist. Hem each end of the ribbon by 3/8".

Sew on the snap closure (you could also do a button and cord elastic like many of my other bracelets). Remember that one part of the snap goes on the wrong side of the bracelet, and one part of the snap goes on the right side of the bracelet, as they will overlap.

Sew the poppy to the bracelet in the center. 

 Finis!

Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope you all have a joyful and bright holiday!  I will be taking a bit of a respite from the blog for recovery's sake.  But, trust me, this whole project has my brain churning on other series for next year.   Can't wait to share my ideas with you!

Day 23: A Rhinestone Circle - a diy pendant necklace

Oh, what can I say about this one?  I love it.  I don't know if its the sparkle, or the robin's egg blue, or the delicate white ribbon, but I just want to put it on. Part of me is sorry that I didn't post this one sooner, so you all could have made this as a xmas gift for someone you love. Part of me is sorry that I didn't make a bunch of these for loved ones, myself. Well, how about a New Year's gift, or a just-because gift, or do-it-with-your-daughter over the week after Christmas craft?  In fact, take the time to craft many of the pieces in the collection and you'll be all glammed up and well-entertained!

Actually, I do know a big reason that I like this pendant. When I first designed it, I did the pendant as a tear drop.  I kept looking at it thinking, I don't like it. I should like it. I don't like it. . .  I even went so far as to start taking the tutorial photos for the tear drop pendant, with resistance the whole time. It never ceases to amaze me, however, how one little design tweak can change your feeling about something altogether.   All of a sudden, with no warning, I just cut the top off of the tear drop and it happened. That place in my gut that warms fiercely when I love how something looks started to glow. 

Yep, I love it.  This definitely is one of those pieces that makes my making-place hum.  I hope it does for you too.  

For more pretty jewelry ideas, check out the gallery of glam that I've been posting all through December by clicking below.

 

Materials:

100% wool felt

Thread

1/8" ribbon (36")

Rhinestone trim (attached rhinestones)

Needle

Scissors

Craft glue

Time: 40 minutes

Cut TWO approximately 1" diameter circles of 100% wool felt.  I used the inside of an electrical tape spool as my guide.

Cut enough rhinestone trim to outline your circle.  In my case, it was 10 connected stones.

Sew rhinestones to the felt by stitching in between each stone, bringing the needle up and down as close to the attachment point of the rhinestones as possible.  There will be two rhinestones that won't be attached, as that was where the trim was cut.

With craft glue, glue the two unattached rhinestones to the felt to be in line with the remainder of the circle.

Now, you have a circle with the rhinestones fully attached. 

 Cut your 36" of 1/8" ribbon in half.  Fold down approximately 1/4" of the ribbon.

Attach the ribbon to the back of the necklace, bringing the needle up in the same area in which you attached the rhinestones. I bring the needle down across an attachment point in between rhinestones and through the felt and ribbon.

Finish off the thread and trim the excess ribbon from the folded tail.  Repeat adding the ribbon on the other side, such that the ribbons are at approximately 10 and 2 on a clock face.

Apply glue to your other 1" circle. The two circles should be identical in size. 

Apply the felt circle to the back of the pendant to stiffen the backing and to hide your stitch work.

 Finis!

Oh dear, tomorrow is the last day - I am awfully sad and awfully excited at the same time.  There's a great project for tomorrow, but its hard to believe the series is almost done.  This has been such a rewarding experience.  I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as I have.