Handmade Christmas 2011

Now that all of the Christmas gifts have been opened, here's a peek at what I crafted this year for Christmas gifts! Not all of the gifts we gave were homemade, but I tried to have some type of handmade touch to them. My Silhouette machine got a good workout this holiday season - that thing is so impressive and I don't even know how to use all of the features!

This was a gift from my brother to his girlfriend, but I helped him out. I purchased the robe from Target then my friend let me use her embroidery machine to add the monogram.

I sewed my sister and brother's girlfriend infinity scarves out of these cute knits I found at JoAnn's. Just cut a rectangle of fabric, sew three sides then pin the two open sides together and sew to form a loop. 

My hubs likes Taylor Swift. Sometimes I can't tell if he's joking or not, but I'm pretty sure he's serious. I downloaded a Taylor Swift font (yes, it exists) then used my Silhouette to cut out her signature onto heat transfer material. 

I made this picture for my brother who has a corgi. I got the idea on Pinterest and used my silhouette to cut out the shapes onto card stock.

For my brother-in-law I painted a cooler. I just used normal acrylic paint and thought of things he enjoys. The five sides included: His name, an STL cards logo, a silhouette of a black lab, camouflage and water skiing. Sean sprayed a protective coat (Krylon fusion clear coat) to it is water resistant. 

The first year I started sewing I tried to make my dad pajama pants. They. Were. Awful. Seriously bad. My sewing skills have improved much since then, so I took another stab at pajama pants and finished these (along with the help of a pattern this go around). This was my first pair of pants to sew -- it wasn't hard but a little counter intuitive when putting it together. These even have pockets and a drawstring! :)

This is a stock photo from WS, but I did a lot of glass etching for the girls on my list. A couple of glass pitchers with monograms and a couple of pyrex dishes with names on it. I used my Silhouette to cut vinyl stencils, then used Armor Etch cream (really easy to use) to etch the monogram. 

I sewed this cute camera strap cover for a friend to give away and really like how it turned out. Here is a basic tutorial I followed, but I added ruffles and a pocket for the lens cap to mine.

I really enjoy making gifts for others. It's fun to be able to personalize things and is also very cost effective. There are times, though, that homemade just doesn't work, so I don't force it. I would rather buy someone a gift at the store if I think they will use it more than something I'm able to make them. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We enjoyed time with family and were especially thankful to have an entire week off together to relax and get some to-dos crossed off out lists.