Because we live far away from our family and don't get to see them all that often I wanted to do a little something for each of my nieces and nephews this Christmas to let them know that even though we aren't able to spend much time together we are still thinking about them and love them.
I was pondering what I could do for them while organizing my craft room and thought it would be fun to make them each a little something personal.
Thus started a three month journey which was both fun and fulfilling. Being superstitious I didn't want to say anything here just in case I didn't finish. But Christmas is now over and I actually managed to pull it off (hooray!) so I can now do the big reveal. So without further ado: *cue fanfare* I present Christmas presents 2010!
I made this tutu for Aurora who loves to dance. It was so fun and easy! I can't wait until I get to a craft store to get more tulle so I can make some for the girls (who both informed me that they would like one as well - thankfully they were both very understanding about each gift I made being for one of their cousins. I think knowing where each one was fun for them and made it a little more exciting and connected for them.)
This is the whale I made for Reipe. Funny story: it was knitting a whale (albeit a smaller whale) that really got me thinking about making presents. I looked at the smaller finished product and thought that it would be fun to make some of those harder to find toys that the kids might enjoy. (By the way the picture doesn't do it justice on the softness front. It's pretty soft and cuddly.)
This was is Isabelle's kitty which I've been informed has been named 'Kitty' so obviously it came out right. ;) This was my first attempt at crocheting in many (many) years. I won't go into the whole story here but I'd dabbled with crochet before but hadn't actually completed anything. So there was a little anxiety about if it would turn out looking like what it was supposed to and a few times when I almost threw my hands up in despair. I wasn't really sold until I embroidered the nose and put the whiskers on. At which point it suddenly looked like a kitty and I was relieved happy with how she came out.
When I heard that chamberlain was into doing crafty things I got very excited. I knew that the perfect thing for me to do for her would be to put together a little craft kit which ended up including supplies for making cards (markers, glue, paper, ribbons, buttons, stamps and ink) and a braided rug. What Chamberlain probably doesn't realize is that it was probably more of a present for me to be able to give her these little craft kits. I think most crafty people will tell you that the thing they love most about crafting (whatever their craft may be) is sharing it with others and they will almost always jump at the chance to give of their supplies to somebody who is interested in joining the ranks of their craft. (Or maybe that's just me...and a few other people I've observed...) I've got another little project that I don't want to say anything about yet (you know in case I don't actually follow through...which has been known to happen) but it involves being able to share my craft and it makes me smile every time I think about it.
This is Kassel's monkey. It was crochet project number two. Of course I'm still figuring a few things out about crochet so there was a little bit of a learning curve involved but it still came out very cute and should be pretty cuddly for her.
I drew Pamela's name for the family draw on my side. Pam's on a mission so I thought the thing she might appreciate most would be a little stationary holder/organizer. Of course it couldn't be too big but I wanted it to be able to fit stationary paper (which in my world is 8 1/2 by 5 1/2), envelopes, a couple of pens and some stamps.
The stamps go in the right hand pocket...I just hadn't purchased them when I took the picture. When Pam talked to me on Christmas she said she was able to put the letters she needed to write back somewhere and that they fit perfectly. She was very excited about it. As was I. I really want to work on another one so I can make a few tweeks to the design.
Pamela loves skinny long scarves so I also made this patchwork scarf out of scraps from a quilt my friend had made. It turned out incredibly cute (though really hard to photograph in any useful way...apparently in my crafting frenzy my photography got pushed aside a little bit...) I need to play around with better ways to pose scarves so I can photograph them better. As a bonus if I get really good at it I can put it down on a resume as a totally marketable skill. (*skills: Excellent scarf poser - who isn't looking for one of those ;)
And of course I couldn't forget about my own kids. Liberty absolutely loves Dora the Explorer so I modified a rag doll pattern to make this Dora doll.
Side story: My mom has always had great sketching skills. She can do little sketches of all sorts of things and I was mildly sad that I can't draw a straight line...okay the straight line doesn't get me down as much as other things...that's what rulers are for...but I've always thought it would be amazing to be able to draw little things like she does.
I started working on this doll by cutting out a circle and a heart (on the Cricut because I can't draw either one even halfway evenly...see above statement) then glued the circle to the heart and trimmed away until I had her hair peaking just like Dora's does. I then put that paper onto another piece of paper and drew the side hair. (My drawing was much more accurate to what Dora looks like than the finished product because I didn't assemble it in perhaps the best fashion but I'm okay with that because I'm still learning.) Anyhow I drew her hair, then her eyes nose and mouth by looking at a coloring book. And I felt so awesome! I freehanded something just like my mom had always done. It was a very exciting moment for me. The funny thing about this Dora doll is that after I had sewn on the felt eyes and mouth and embroidered her nose she still only looked okay. It wasn't until I added those little white eye glints (just a few stitches with white thread) that suddenly she looked like Dora. It never ceases to amaze me how big a difference seemingly little details can make.
For Samuel I found a pattern at my friends house for a pig, elephant, giraffe and cat. I still needed to do a pig for Emmuska so I borrowed it. Then I started contemplating the giraffe. It looked pretty good but I wasn't sure what fabric I would use as I didn't really have anything orange or giraffe-ish. Then I walked by my scrap box and saw this pair of ACU's (Army Combat Uniform) that Mycal didn't fit anymore. He was going to throw them out but I had snatched them up and put them in my scrap box with all the jeans we wear throw. (You might have noticed some of those got used for the stationary holder.) Anyhow I passed by it and was struck by how perfect they would be for making the giraffe. So I spent a couple days tearing out seam after seam (because they have pockets and patches and who knows what else all over them) and came across some great little odds and ends that I just stashed away. When it came to putting it all together I pulled out the blousing strips from the pants and found that they were just perfect for doing the neck fringe, horns (you can't really see them in the picture but trust me they are pretty dang cute) and tail. Then I used the buttons for the eyes. It was fun and so rewarding to make this entire toy out of something that was no longer 'useful'. Samuel ended up really liking it. We'd been trying to find a little lovey for him for a while and had only had a little success with a little blanket I had made him last year. But when he saw this giraffe it just clicked for him.
I made a few other things but in the hub-bub of Christmas completely forgot to take pictures of them. In the above picture on the far left you can see Emmuska's pig (there will be a few better pictures when I do the Christmas post) and on the far right Bonnie's monkey (which you can read about in great detail here).
Emmuska's pig was exciting in that I figured out how to do the tail all on my own (the pattern didn't have a tail but having learned from experience on the giraffe I knew I needed to put one on...okay so the giraffe didn't originally have a tail but I was informed it needed on as giraffes do so it was sewn on afterwards) and it was even curly. And I found the perfect scrap piece of fabric in the bottom of my box. It was pretty exciting.
I also made these books for Tiedyn and Azure. They are soft nursery rhyme books but I was so worried about getting them mailed in time I totally forgot to take a picture (this one is courtesy of SuZan). They were a lot of fun to make and a good beginner project as all the lines where straight.
And there you have it. That would pretty much sum up why I neglected my blog for the last few months. Each project was so exciting and rewarding for me and I think it was a lot of fun for the kids too. I think they really enjoyed talking about what was for whom and what they thought about. It made their cousins seem a lot closer because we were talking about them each day. It's funny I went into this thinking it would be good for letting the recipients know that they have family halfway across the country which it probably did but what it really did around here was remind the girls about the family they have which was something I didn't really foresee but am completely thankful for.
