Edible christmas gifts

For the past few Christmases I have cooked a batch of something to give to friends, neighbours and anyone who I'd like to know that I appreciate them. I enjoy the planning, cooking and making cute little packages, finishing them with hand printed tags. All very satisfying!

Last year I made jars of caramelised red onion chutney and packaged them with a box of crackers and some brie. The year before was peppermint bark in cellophane bags with pretty ribbons. This year I wanted to try cordials to mix with soda water or iced water (or possibly vodka for the grown-ups ;-) So I tested  out lime this time.



I tried this recipe, which I liked, though it was a bit sweet (the kids love it, obviously!) and I'll adjust it next time. I also love the look of this rhubarb cordial and will try that one too. And in preparation for the gifts I bought some empty bottles from Ikea.



I made a little citrus stamp and used it on a hand written tag with some jute ribbon. I packed up a bottle to give to a lovely friend as thanks for a favour, along with a fresh lime to slice and add to her drinks.



While at Ikea (and will food gifts in mind) I spied the lovely fabric above, which previously had not appealed at all to me, and thought it would make lovely shopping tote bags. See, the sewing sneaks in yet again ;-)

I'll also probably make some more celery salt, one of my favourite little condiments which we use a lot and is quick and easy to prepare, plus there's the opportunity to do some more stamping. And the colour fits well with the Christmas theme too. Important details in the scheme of things!



... and another option would be Apple Jam, a pretty safe bet that most people will like it.



I think I'm starting to get into the spirit of Christmas now. A little craft will do that! How about you - planning any edible gifts?

Sleep shorts

These sleep shorts were a Christmas present for the Mr, who had requested them after claiming his previous pair were very comfortable (hooray for handmade!).

These are the same style as the last pair. I'd made a quick self drafted pattern last time from an existing pair of PJs and used that again. They are pretty straight forward, baggy and shapeless, perfect for comfort ;-) I used a piece of soft dark blue jersey from my stash and a length of wide elastic. Again as I did last time, instead of making a casing for the elastic I just sewed it straight onto the waist of the shorts, serged the edge then top stitched it down (I got this idea from a pair the Mr's undies). It really is a quick and easy method, and as you can see below it comes out reasonably neat.

This time for a little embellishment I designed a little school of fish to screen print (pet fish being a new hobby of the Mr's in 2012). I cut the stencil and printed the little rows of fish around the base of each leg in pale grey.

I teamed the shorts with a store-bought t-shirt, as I didn't feel the effort of making a well fitting tshirt was justified, and I'd nearly run out of time. But I did print a little extra fishy fabric and sewed a square over the existing label just to link the tshirt to the shorts (no photo though). A satisfying little gift to make :-)

 

 

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Making and knowing when to draw the line

In my creative space this week I printed some more of my 'lights' design, this time using a different colour palette. I loved the neon design I printed last time but was keen to try another colourway. This one feels more like me.

I had fun experimenting with printing on different woven fabrics and love how different the inks and design can look on different materials. I found that when I printed on the coarsers fabrics (more open weave) the texture comes through really nicely and becomes an element in the design. I love the coarse linen but really love the effect on the hessian (burlap ). It's the first time I've printed on it and loved the effect, experimenting with mixing inks directly on the screen. I've got lots of ideas around this. Hopefully one day I'll get to explore it further.

As with the neon colourway I made some purses and also a larger clutch purse, all gone to The Sweets Workshop for sale.

So that's it for me on the 'making to sell' front at the moment. I really love doing it, and enjoy people enjoying my designs, but I've found it pretty hard going juggling my 3 littlies and household, and the myriad of activities, needs and wants of everyone. And I know from past experience that when the super late nights start to stack up I end up being grumpy mummy and no one is happy :-(

For the next couple of weeks I need to get organised and make those special homemade gifts that I have in mind.

How are you doing in the run up to the holiday season?

Visit my creative space for lots of creative goodness.

 

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My creative space

In my creative space this week I've mainly been filling orders from my new Neon Lights design.

It was really nice to have some lovely promotion on Monday. First I was featured in Madeit's 'Monday Finds' newsletter and shopping guide. I really like our Australian home grown handmade store. It somehow seems to have a personal feel. And then the lovely Steph from Bondville featured my things in her blog post that day.

When you design and create in an isolated environment where you're not getting feedback (asking the cat what he thinks doesn't seem to work ;-) I find it's easy to wonder if what you're doing is up to scratch and will it be of interest to others? So it's fantastic to get these kind of endorsements. Thanks Madeit and Bondville!

Also in my creative space I've been gathering materials for holiday gift wrapping.

There seems to be a red and natural theme going on.

And I found these gems in my favourite fabric shop The Remnant Warehouse, perfect for making scooter bags for the kids Christmas presents. Think I'll use this tutorial as a basis.

How is your holiday prep going? I'm trying not to panic about all the things on my 'to do' list in the next few weeks and hoping I get around to making at least some of them.

Joining in on my creative space.

 

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Baby bag

After making myself several nappy (diaper) bags over the last few years, and using them til they fall apart, I consider I am well placed to design and make a useful one. So before my new little nephew was born I offered my services to my SIL and she accepted. Yay, another excuse to sew :-)

I gave her a choice of fabrics (via phone pics at fabric stores) and she chose this very cute bird print from Ikea. When I cut out the main panels I made sure I got some of the sweet and quite humorous little birds in prominent positions. For the lining I used a robust denim, as the main fabric is a mid weight and needed a bit of structure.

I based the design on this bag and gave it more rounded corners. The adjustable strap, magnetic snap, outside zipper pocket and various inside pockets are all things I find useful so I included those.

And, in what was the most fun aspect of this project, I made a matching change mat to keep in the bag for outings. I first made one a few bags ago and based it on the design from Lotta Jansdotter's book "Simple sewing for baby". It uses a layer of wadding in the middle and is topstitched around the perimeter. Even though I am definitely no quilter, occasionally I love to try a little kinda quilting type stitches and in this case I stitched diagonal lines through all the layers to hold them together well, then stitched around the  birds for a little extra detail. I finished the mat with some blue grosgrain ribbon and velcro. I also used the same ribbon on a pair of slippers and blanket that I made for bub. Ah, gotta love that feeling you get from a bit of coordination ;-)

Bags are something I never get sick of making and this was no exception. I hope my SIL uses it to death like I have mine, then I'll consider it's a job done well.

Coffee print iPad sleeve

After setting up and printing the Mr's birthday t-shirts I couldn't not print a piece of fabric, it would seem like a waste to just do one print. So I printed on some great coffee coloured linen and then decided I couldn't leave it to languish in the stash. So late the night before his birthday I made a sleeve for his much loved iPad.

I combined two great tutorials to get make the design I envisaged. Firstly this one for neat zipper ends. It means the seams are unfinished (rather than being tucked inside, as in other pouch methods), and you finish them with bias binding. I had a length of a lovely mustard coloured binding so I used that as a little feature. The pic below shows the sleeve inside out.

And then when I googled 'sewing zipper on a curve' I found this fabulous one at Design Sponge. I know we often sing the praises of tutorials, but honestly, if it wasn't this particular one, there would have been tears, I'm sure!

I ran the zipper around 2 sides (rather than just the top) and added a few of my own little features like extra padding and a zipper pull.

 
And so in the early hours of the morning it was finally finished and I went to bed tired but happy :-)

Lots of creative goodness to check out over at My Creative Space.

Coffee print t-shirts

Thank you for your comments and emails on my last post about social media. It's really interesting to hear how people use it and has given me a lot to think about.

It was the Mr's birthday yesterday and I made him a few homemade presents. You might be thinking 'of course you did', but actually he is normally spared  from the crafting frenzy outcomes around here.

 

Looking for inspiration on what to make, I looked at some facts:
1. The Mr is a self-confessed coffee nerd, I'm sure he won't mind me telling you :-) Obsessed.
2. He never seems to have enough t-shirts
So I thought I'd combine the two and design and screen print a 'homage to coffee' type themed t-shirt.

The design I settled on is a stylised illustration of the filter basket thingy (the thing that holds the coffee grounds as the water get filtered through).

Then I added a starburst or halo of coffee beans around it for a bit of fun. I bought 2 t-shirts to use (not trusting myself with 1 in case it went wrong) from American Apparel. I printed one, holding my breath - what a scarey thing it is to print straight onto the finished piece! So different to using a length of fabric where you can just print more.



And I also printed some coffee coloured linen for another little present which I'll show you later this week when I'm organised.


And then, as I find often happens with the creative process, suddenly I looked at the filter basket again in a different way. It looked like a person, complete with little ears :-) Adding a few coffee beans completed the picture. So I printed that one up too.

 I'm pretty happy with the outcome, and think they look like 'real' t-shirts, if you know what I mean!

Little flower stamped gift tags

I've always disliked wrapping gifts and writing cards. Which seems kind of strange for a graphic designer. I think part of it is that I find it hard to get the damned paper wrapped neatly around the gift (square edges, neat creases etc). But it recently dawned on me that when I make the wrapping/card myself I really enjoy it. So maybe it's just that the store bought stuff feels mass produced and impersonal (which it is, as it has to be, of course) and just well, not me.

 I was making a card for a little friend when I had this thought. I used some of my existing hand carved stamps and trusty versa stamp pads...

 

 And was inspired by this little still life that I keep on a shelf in the kitchen (above).

And thoroughly enjoyed making some more little cards and wrapping paper, matching them with string, ribbon and envelopes.

So next time I have a gift to give I'm going to try to remember to design the presentation myself. I'm sure it shows when you enjoy what you've done, don't you?

Check out other creative spaces here.

Little cloud pillow

My little boy has a few friends in the way you do when you're 2 (make that almost 3 - boo hoo!). That is, a few littlies who he kind of shares toys with a bit and sees around largely because I like their mums (or dads). I'm glad he has them - it makes him feel like he's not just following around after his big sisters all the time but has his own little crew ;-)

As it was the birthday party of one of the buddies on the weekend and I wanted to make the sweet little girl in question something special. I'd just borrowed Fiona Dalton's fabulous book "Hop skip jump, 20 eco-friendly toys to sew" from the local library again (must buy a copy) and this little project jumped out at me... cute, quick and fun.

 It's a cute little pillow with front in soft white flannel with an embroidered face.

And the back I did in a cute pink/red striped cotton. Stuffed softly it looks like a good bedtime buddy to me...

And to my boy, by the look of this pic ;-) Lets hope it has the same effect on our little friend!

PS. No, I didn't dress my son up in a pink t-shirt for the photo shoot (though that is certainly not beyond me, hee hee). As I mentioned recently, his lack of appropriate sized clothing means that his big sister's clothes get called in occasionally, in this case as a pyjama top. Oh well, he's a well-adjusted modern man (this boy frequently runs around in a tutu (mama-made of course), much to my delight :-). He can send me the therapy bills later...

Birthday treats

My big girl turns 7 this week and had a get-together yesterday with a few buddies. It was set to be a low key play date rather than a full party (which could not have been arranged with 4 days notice - she had changed her mind at the last minute, but that's another story ;-) So rather than doing party bags I thought I'd make a couple of little things for the kids to take home and also have a lucky dip, which I find is always popular.

The toffee lollipops was an idea that came from Kate at Foxs Lane. She had posted a pic on Instagram, which I've just joined, incidentally (come follow me, I'm bubala_jo, and I can follow you too ;-). They took me back to my old primary school fetes. My goodness, I ate quite a few of those things! Maybe that's why my teeth have given me so many problems! I thought putting a little on a paddle pop stick was a great idea and limits the portion size. Of course I made the girls promise to brush their teeth extra well when they got home (and hopefully the parents won't hate me!).

And the little felt owl came about because I wanted to give each child some kind of badge so I could identify them quickly in the play centre crowd of squealing children. I decided to make it a purse with a zip in the back and a clasp at the top so it could be put on their clothes on the afternoon and then they could clip it on their school bag or wherever later.

After making one prototype I got into full production mode and spent a bit of time cutting, pinning, sewing and finishing. My big girl suggested we have some owls asleep and some awake, which I loved. Then we added in the winking ones ;-) My big girl sewed on the buttons with me looking on proudly.

For once I was organised and took photos at each step, so that I can do a tutorial for them... hopefully soon :-)