Pretty things

Here are a few of the handmade gifts I gave for Christmas this year...

My first project came from an idea using freezer paper stenciling. If you haven't tried this craft technique I highly recommend it for those of you that like instant gratification. Easy and fun!

The tutorial I used for help was this one, from Cheri at I am Momma Hear me Roar.

She uses a video which is super helpful.

I bought the shirt at Sports Authority, but then I also found shirts similar at Walmart. The only place I found the freezer paper was also at Walmart. Considering it was my very first try I thought it turned out pretty good. The possibilities are endless and I have a ton of freezer paper left. :)

Next, I made some simple tea towels with a cute fabric I found at Joanns. I bought the tea towels at Target, then just added a strip of fabric along the bottom and sewed the fabric in place.

Very easy and they were a big hit!

My third craft, involved an attempt at jewelry. I don't know very much about jewelry making, but I would like to learn more. Last year I found a great tutorial by Disney at Ruffles and Stuff.

She goes into great detail about some basics, which I tried to replicate for this necklace.

I found the beads at Hobby Lobby and the hardware at Michaels.

 Here was the finished product for my Mom...

Last but not least here are a few more pictures of the tree skirt.

I wish I had taken 100 pictures of every step, but alas I was kind of in a rush to finish and didn't pay attention to details like blogging. It took me forever to commit to the size. I was so afraid to cut this pretty fabric. So much so that I began dreaming about making it. I was at Gabe's mom one night explaining my fears and she made it real simple. "Here, just cut it the same size as my kitchen table." And that was that. It was precisely the right size. So, I cut the main fabric, and also a liner for the back with the table as a template. I then took one yard of the gold fabric and cut long, even strips. I folded each strip in half to add more volume then sewed them all together to make one very long gold piece, that was later ruffled.

The sequence went like this

Top--Main fabric (right side facing down)

Middle---gold ruffle pinned along liner with ruffle facing in

Bottom---liner (right side up)

I then sewed around the outside, then up the middle making a keyhole shape, leaving a small opening to flip it right side out and voila. I made ties for the back and it was done. I was so glad. Now, I'll need to make one for me one of these days. Thanks to everyone that helped with the details. It's amazing what you can come up with, when you have some extra mommas around ;)