Last time I was here I said I wanted to share some of the fun projects I had been working on in my blogging absence and I thought I'd pop on over here and take a moment to write while I wait for my blueberry muffins to come out of the oven. If you're looking for a to die for blueberry muffin recipe by the way, try Joyful Healthy Eats recipe. Mmmmm. I think this is the fourth batch I've made in the last month. Everyone here loves them. Even my hubby, who up until this recipe (and her recipe for orange cranberry muffins which I have also made several times), was a self proclaimed muffin hater, is now requesting I make them for his lunches.
Anyway, let's get back on track and talk about the pursuit of craftiness, which is why I came on here tonight.
I had a lot of fun working on little projects - you know the kind. Quick, simple, almost instant gratification. To start out, I ended up participating in the Secret Santa exchange at work this year. I usually dread those sorts of things, because I tend to get super stressed out about picking out the perfect thing, but I thought it might be a fun way to get involved and participate at my new school. We did the last five days of school before the holidays and I ended up doing a mix of hand made and store bought gifts. I really enjoying myself and will definitely do it again next year! I love putting a handmade touch on my gifts for my exchange person, our lovely gym teacher.
For her handmade gifts I pulled out my embroidery thread and my old Betz White pattern that I used several years ago and made her a peace dove ornament. I haven't done any embroidery since the last time I sewed one of these ornaments and I found once I got into the rhythm of it, I quite enjoyed the stitching. I love this ornament so much. I definitely want to make one for our tree!! On another day, I set to work using my Silhouette Cameo and changed up a design I had bought in the design store to perfect it for her. I think she liked having a "gym teacher" specific mug! For the last homemade gift I thought being a gym teacher, she might like something to relax with at the end of the day, so I sewed up a flax heat/cold bag for her. (Note to self. Sew one for yourself, Sarah.)
Once those were done, I set to work on the gifts for the little boys teachers. Last year I made a zippered pocket infinity scarf and it was a big hit, so I thought I'd go the same route for the ladies. I got a bit fancy and used embroidered cotton for the scarves to make them a bit more festive. For the lone male teacher in the group I made a mug in the same style of the mug I made for the gift exchange at work.
Once those were done and ready to go, I set to work with some fun gifts for the kids! Making special things for them is one of my favourite things to do. My Silhouette Cameo 3 got a work out this year! I made t-shirts for each of the big boys, and socks for the girls. I also sewed up pocket scarves for each of the girls as well and completely forgot to photograph them.
Of course, like every year, I made the little boys a new pair of pjs for Christmas Eve. I think at this point there would be some sort of revolt if I didn't. I used the Walk the Plank for the bottoms and the Jolly Roger Raglan for the top. Both patterns are from Patterns For Pirates and worked out really well for the boys! Of course I had to play with my Silhouette and cut out some vinyl for their pjs too. Instead of tags or label like I would normally use I also used vinyl to put their hockey jersey numbers on the inside of both the pants and the shirts!
The next project made was not actually made by me, but I have to show it off! I had more of a supervisory (and ironing) role. The boys always "make" a shirt for Daddy for Christmas and this year, Little Man sat down one day after school and created his idea for the design. He and Baby Boy had a consultation meeting and came to an agreement that they would create the shirt using a combination of vinyl and paint. Then they sat down at the computer and designed it on the Silhouette, choosing the fonts, making the lettering, aligning everything, and then they selected a simple snowman shape to create a stencil with. They did the sending to print and all the weeding of the vinyl except the star font which was a beast to do. I was really impressed with both their level of collaboration and their efforts. It's such a cute shirt and even better because it was their very own concept!
Last but not least was a fun little pattern that I made as a safe way to transport the mug that the boys made Daddy as well. Last year we hadn't painted a mug and I think everyone was a bit sad about that, but I couldn't find one that would transport easily or if it could it wasn't microwave friendly which was a must for his coffee breaks. If it transported easily and it was microwave friendly there was no way for the boys to personalize it. After perusing pinterest for ideas I found a tutorial on making a mug carrier that would fit the bill perfectly allowing us to paint a regular coffee mug, and allow for safe transport (turns out if you leave mugs at work in that staff lunch room, even when they are clearly personalized and someone's special mug, people feel free to use it and not wash it out - yuck - so transporting it back and forth became necessary). This little bag is padded enough that it keeps the mug safe, but small enough that it's easy to put in a lunch bag or backpack.
So that, along with some test projects I can't talk about yet, and a few other things are the crafty pursuits that kept me busy! I really did have fun making each and every one of them. It's fun to do the quick and easy little projects every now and again. I'll be back again soon to talk about a few other projects I've done in the last couple of weeks. I even have a knitted finished object!!! I just need to block it and take some photos. I can't wait to show it to you though!
I'd better head off for now. I've nattered on long enough. The muffins are cool now (it's taken a lot longer to write about these than I thought!) and I need to make lunches for tomorrow!
Until next time, happy crafting!
