Gifts for the Musically Inclined

This post is inspired by our little brother who will soon be releasing his first EP.  Lisa & I are both so proud of how far he has come creatively.  Seriously, he used to color only in black.  Once, he drew what I thought was an ice cream cone.  He got really angry because it was a baby in a blanket.  Who knew?  You can check his music out here.

This is an ingenious idea - a cover for your old guitar strap.  Awesome.  Pink unicorns might be a bit girly, but I think that something screen printed with his band's name would rock his world.  The tutorial from Prudent Baby is here. 

For those who are old school and still rock the cds, check out the sewing tutorial for this car cd holder.  Looks like a great stash buster to me.  Click here to find the tutorial from Puking Pastilles. (Fun fact - I lived across the street from one of the most famous pastilles factories in France.  They are yucky =).

For the kids, I love these DIY rhythm instruments.  The tutorial is from my all time favorite blog Skip To My Lou.  Check it out here.

Check out this record bowl tutorial.  Everyone likes these and they are pretty much a free project if you have any old records.  Plus, you can always find old vinyl at thrift stores cheaply.  Having a recovering hippy for a mother, we have made many a record bowl around our house.  Love em.

This is fun little project.  My mom made me a few record purses several years back and everyone loved them when I carried them around.  Her design was much more complicated than this, but I like this tutorial.  Mod Purse tutorial here.

Another fun thing to do with old records is to make cuff bracelets.  They are easy to cut with a dremmel tool.  I have made about 100 of these back when I was doing craft shows.  They are really fun and people love them.  This is a great teen and tween gift item.  Depending on how you decorate them, they can end up being quite chic.  Check out the video tutorial from the Naughty Secretary's Club here.

This final one isn';'t a tutorial but an inspirational piece showing how creative you can get with the old records.  I love this and I see it being created as a Christmas gift for someone I know.  You can check out the designer's etsy shop here.

Boy's Sleep Pants

This pattern is a great all around pattern.  Made from cotton they are nice relaxed fit pants.  Make them from flannel for PJ bottoms.  Boys love to choose out their own fabrics jsut as much as girls do. 

The pattern is unisex so it works for girls and boys.  Click here for the pattern.

Paint Your Own Corn On The Cob

Make your own Thanksgiving Harvest at home with your child!

This was so much fun and super easy!!

And look at the cute result!

So I adapted this project from a bubble wrap corn cob that I saw on another blog. I was so excited to get started that I ran down in the basement to get the bubble wrap that I had stashed away only to find out that someone *not my husband* had thrown it away! UGHHH! Determined to do our project I found a length of plastic canvas and thought, I can do this!

So in order to do our version, you will need:

toilet paper tubes

green construction paper or card stock

glue (i used hot glue ~ who wants to wait for it to dry?!?!)

and some paint ( i used yellow and orange)

Cover your surface and your child!

We did our project over a brown paper bag which we later used as a gift bag for Grandma and Grandpa's 40th wedding gift bag! No waste:) I love it!!

Lay your canvas or bubble wrap down and pour some paint on it.

Next, let your little one roll the tp tube over the canvas.  

This really worked well because the paint actually looked like little kernels or corn!

We let them dry.... okay, we blow dried them! What?! I don't like waiting and neither does my 3 year old:)

 Then we cut our our long leaves for the corn husks and glued them on the sides overlapping in the back yet open in the front. And voila!

I had one happy toddler:)

Happy crafting!

Baby Booties Pattern - Great Charity Donation

These adorable little booties are a great way to use up scraps of fleece left over from other projects, plus they make a nice gift or charity donation.  With Christmas right around the corner, I am always looking for ways to give back and celebrate the amazing life I have by helping others.  Check out the pattern here.

P.S. - they are just as cute in camo or other boy prints. 

Gifts for your Inner Geek

Ipod nano case tutorial from Whipup.

Kindle Cover tutorial from Harmless Color.  Once you see the basics of the tutorial you can easily adjust the sizing to fit any device you have.  I have a Sharper Image model and it needs a new cover so this is on my to do list.

iPad Cover.  I like the style of this cover with the extra pockets on the side.  The tutorial is from Sarah v. Sara. 

I just had to add in one more tutorial for the ipad covers because this one is so great.  This tutorial is from Smashed Peas & Carrots.

I love this laptop sleeve from Film & Thread.  It isn't your typical pouch and would make a great and stylish gift for any woman.  Tutorial here.

Dress Up Clothes Patterns

Looking for a great gift for this holiday season?  How about dress up clothes for toddlers/preschoolers.  I even donated several to the preschool classroom.

You can make 2 for under $8.00.  Talk about a great and affordable gift.  Plus, what little kid doesn't like dinos and dragons?  We also have bears, puppies, cows, and more.  Here.

Gifts For the Cook

Here are some cute handcrafted gifts to give the baker/cook in your life.

Book Markers

I'm not hot on the design, but I love the idea.  I was thinking of changing the idea up a bit and making them look like little girls, one for each of my mom's granddaughters.  Tutorial here.

Click here to get this free apron pattern from Joann's.

Diva Dish Washing Gloves

Blue Bird Studio has a simple to follow tutorial for fancy dishwashing gloves.  I might make a few pairs this year.

Recipe Book

You can easily put together a family favorites recipe book for the cook in your life.  This one is based on a paper bag album, but the pages are already prefilled with recipes.

You can get a video tutorial on creating paper bag albums here.

Doctor Kit Pattern

This is one of my favorite patterns and I just love making it for birthday or Christmas gifts.  Sometimes I throw in a couple of stuffed animals and make it a vet bag instead of a doctor kit.

You can find this great pattern and many more in our store http://www.greenpatterns.biz/.  Click here for the direct link.

Crayon Cake and other Teacher's Gifts

This post is dedicated to easy to make gifts for your teacher for the holiday season.  My sister sent me a link to this awesome pencil cake on Formal Fringe.  My daughter is in preschool so they don't really use many pencils.  I decided to change up the original idea.

Inspiration Post

This original tutorial uses foam rings to create the shape of the cake.  I also saw a very similar tutorial where she used an old cookie tin.  Yeah for recycling.

My Creation

As you can see, I used crayons.  I think it took about 4 boxes.  I always pick up a bunch of boxed when they go on 25 cent sale a couple of times a year.  For my form, I used cardboard oatmeal containers - 1 large and 1 small.  I cut them down to be about 1" shorter than the crayons with a pair of scissors and then hot glued the two layers together.  The crayons are held on with a rubber band on each layer so that they can be reused, but Miss Vicki loved it so much that it is permanently displayed in the classroom.  Had I know, I would have hot glued them on.  Actually, the project was so simple that my preschooler put each crayon behind the rubberband with a little help from mom.  (Plus, the first day of school was our teacher's birthday so it worked out really well.)

Crayon Monogram

Let me just say that I dodged a bullet with this project.  I almost made it instead of the crayon cake above.  

This is another one of those proojects where you would hardly need a tutorial.  Seriously.  Though she did make a great point - she printed the letter out in the size she wanted and then had the cute text next to it.  Which is cute.  Most of them that I have seen as just the monogram.  You can find this tutorial at Chic & Cheap Nursery's Blog.

Pencil Scarf

This is another project I am in love with.  I will be making a couple of these this year.  How fun.  I actually considered just making it from fleece to save time.  If I do, I will post a tutorial. 

Zakka Life has the knit pattern here.  As a lefty, I have found knitting totally impossible, but I do crochet.  I am pretty sure that I could make up my own crochet pattern for this scarf without much thought.  I've also seen a similar scarf done as a crayon.  That looked like more work.

Some easier options for people with multiple teachers.



I know that not everyone is still at the point of just having one teacher to gift to so below are some easier, less expensive options for gifts. 

Embellished Hand Sanitizer



This project looks to be about $1.00 for the bottle of hand sanitizer plus some scraps from your stash.  Plus, your child could really help with this one.  It's just embellished with stickers.  Personally I never use this stuff.  It's horrible for you, but I notice that every single classroom has more than one bottle of it.  You could do the same this with handsoap.  Thanks to Little Birdie Secrets.

The Classic Apple

First, I totally love Skip to My Lou.  It just gets better and better.  You can find the free printable for this project here.

We Need Smore Teachers Like You!

I love this.  Roots & Wings has the tutorial where she shows you how to make this great mini milk carton from 1 12"x12" piece of paper.  Plus, I personally love consumable gifts.  Who doesn't?  You could fill it with candy, cookies, supplies for the class, whatever floats your boat. 



Hope you enjoy the teacher gift ideas I put together. 



Neckwarmer Tutorial

This is a really easy project from the scrap bin.  I think that it took about 15 minutes.  Plus, it would make a nice gift for any child or adult.  P.S. I am trying a new format for the tutorials on the blog and trying to shrink the photos and make the tutorials easier to read and print out. 

I used fleece because I had a little scrap perfectly sized for this project.   

1) Cut a rectangle of fleece (or jersey) about 12"x24".  (8"x18" for a child's size) 
2) Using a piece of double fold bias tape about 14" long open the tape.  Fold over the raw edge about 1".  3) Pin in place down the length of the scarf.  Fold the bottom edge up and pin so that there are no raw edges on the bias tape.
4) Stitch down both sides of the bias tape and then down the middle using the crease as a guide.  Do not sew the ends shut.  They need to be open so that you can thread the ribbon.
5) The easiest way to thread the ribbon is with an elastic threader.  This little gadget costs about $3.00 and is worth every penny.  If you don't have an elastic threader, you can use a safety pin hooked through the end of the ribbon.  Start at the bottom. 
6) Go up through one side and then down through the other side. 
 

7) As you can see, you will have the ends of the ribbon hanging out of the bottom of the scarf.  Pull on the ends evenly to gather up the scarf. 

8) Fold the scarf RIGHT SIDES together and stitch up the side seam.  Trim off any excess.

9) Tie a bow in the ribbon at the bottom of the scarf.  The easiest way to keep the ribbon from fraying is to seal it with a lighter. 

10) Finished neck warmer.