little gi

some december kenner road

last night was the december reveal for kenner road's gorgeous new kits.  here is what i've completed so far.  i'll be showing the canvas mini book that i'm working on on the kr blog on the 21st & i've got a few other things in the works for christmas package decoration.  this kit's gorgeous neutral colors are so fun & easy to work with!   

the little mini book will be tucked away as a gift.  really like those little jenni bowlin 12 month journaling cards.  just the perfect thing for mini books. 

 

 

 

hope you all are having a blessed Christmas season so far!!  back to the workshop :)

xoxo

gi

felt on a snowy day...

we got about 6-8 inches of gorgeous snow last night.  the kids had a snow day from school & before they headed out to play in the snow, we spent the morning crafting some little Christmas gifts (& a little pressie for them too :).

we made these adorable little scottie dogs for kelly's teacher.  she has 2 white scotties that she speaks of often & the kids in the class all know of their silly tricks.  kelly says her teacher calls them "little ninjas".  lol!  so we got the scottie dog pattern from allsorts & made these 2 little doggies.  we put little green velvet "hangers" on them so the teacher can pop them on her tree if she wishes.   (& yes, we made choco chip cookies too :)

 

 

next up, we made little felt gingerbread cookies a la happy together.  i embroidered all the faces, kelly sewed the pink buttoned one all on her own (i think she did REALLY well!!!) & ryan did a bunch of the stitches on the blue buttoned one w/ a bit of my help (he did a fabulous job too :).  i love how they turned out & will have to make a few more to make up a dozen for their little kitchen. :)  they are all upstairs right now having a little cookie party.

 

alrighty, LOTS more Christmas crafting to do!!! 

hope you have a happy wednesday!!

xoxo

gi

this Christmas...

we are doing things handmade & homemade...

we are not getting caught up in the "spend, spend, spend" chaos...

we are doing more with less....

we are going to remember what this Blessed Season is all about :)

& to that end, i've been collecting crafting & gift ideas for a while now.   sew mama sew had some really wonderful links to great free tutorials & free downloads during the month of september during their "handmade for the holidays" feature.  whip up also is a sure bet for great free tutorials.  also, if you purchased the november tarisota collection you get all of the new tarisota classes for download (if you didn't get the collection, there are still 2 free classes available & if you wish you can purchase the classes that suit your fancy).

this week the kids & i have been recycling our broken up crayons into these adorable marbleized star shaped chunky crayons & we will wrap them up pretty for gifting to their classmates & friends (& shhhh...they each are getting a full set too :)  

we are having a blast, and because this gift is basically free, it is really a gift from the heart :)

click here for a free download of these adorable hello kitty gift tags (tamar also added some really cute ones for the little guys).  also available for free download are some more sophisticated gift tags that are really gorgeous.

here is what you do:

*  go around the house, the car & dig in your purses to gather up all of used up & your broken up crayons. if your family is anything like us you've got a ton. 

*  pop the kids at the kitchen table w/ a trash bowl & have them remove the paper wrappings. 

*  chop the crayons up into bits w/ a sharp knife.  we chose to keep our bits separated into color groups so that the crayon would be a mix of purple, a mix of yellow, etc.  you may choose to throw all the bits together & create full on mixed rainbow stars (super fab too!!)

 

*  pop those colorful waxy bits into one of those shaped silicone baking trays (i got a star shaped one at michaels, use that coupon!!!)  or you can use a regular muffin tin (just make sure if you are going to use it to bake food in again, you line the muffin tin w/ foil cupcake liners.)

 

*  bake your bits at 250 degrees for @ 15-20 minutes (time will depend on how small you cut up the crayons.  just wait until the bits are nice & melted & liquidy).  remove from the oven & cool completely.  be patient & wait for them to completely cool before you try removing them from the tray.  we had one batch that we tried to remove too early & it got all wonky, so we had to re-bake it.

*  now you have adorable star marbleized crayons

* now wrap up your star crayons really pretty (i used some cellophane bags that i bought way back for some reason i forget why...lol  brown paper bags would also be great.), add some ribbon (c'mon i KNOW you've got gobs of ribbon around :) & add one of these adorable hello kitty gift tags

TA DA!!!!!!!  little perfect pressie all done :)

Merry Christmas & happy crafting!!!

xoxo

gi