Christmas Gifts

So as some of you may already know, this year Michael and I decided to try and make most of the gifts that went to our immediate family members. And by we, I mean I made them while Michael took Miss E and watched Phineas and Ferb, or had tickle wars, or 'tormented' Butch.
I promised that I would post pictures of the gifts and links to the ideas/tutorials for them. My apologies for taking so long on this. But here they are! Look for my tips too on how I would do it better next time, or what I did differently from the tutorial. Enjoy!

Handwarmers! Everybody got some of these cuties!

 So these little guys, I pretty much followed the tutorial to the letter. Most of the ones I made were flannel, a few were from some leftover fleece. They were super easy, and I will definitely make them again! Follow this link to get to the tutorial.

Dad's present

For my dad, I made two Kindle covers to go on the brand new Kindle that I knew was under the tree for him at my parents house. The cover on the left was made using this pattern. It also has directions on how to make it for a Nook, and a different closure using Velcro as well. I actually bought my pattern from this site, because it was a little bit cheaper. The cover on the right was made using this tutorial that I have used before. The only thing I did differently was to use sew-on Velcro rather than stick-on. To do that I positioned the front piece of velcro (not the flap piece) before folding up the bottom and stitching the sides. Hopefully that makes sense. I also love that she did a stay-stitch at the top corners, although I didn't bring mine quite as far down. The second picture just shows what the inside of that cover looks like. 

Mom's present

Inside of left Kindle cover from top picture

For my mom, I made the same two Kindle covers as I did for my dad. In case you missed it, those links are listed above.  The yellow squares in the top picture are her hand warmers. The aqua and white is a cute key fob that I did for her following this tutorial. Because I don't have a serger, I just zig-zagged the edges on my sewing machine. Also. I tried assembling it a little differently than she did in the tutorial. Don't. Just follow her directions, even though they seem like a pain in the butt (and they kind of are) it was much easier and cost less blood (literally) than the way I tried.

For my brother J., I made a decorative bowl out of little green, plastic army men. It actually turned out really well, but I forgot to get a picture of the finished product. I used this tutorial to do it. I initially tried just using my hair-dryer to melt the bottoms together. But the day that I decided I needed to get it done, the weather here was frigid. And there was no way I wanted to be melting plastic (purposely) inside my house. So I ended up using my hot-melt glue gun. The  bowl turned out great, but I feel like it would have been a little sturdier if I had been able to melt it together. Alas. Also, I had a really really hard time finding green army guys anywhere to buy. Luckily, my mom still had some (okay, a ton of them) stashed in the garage from my youngest brother. Also, we gave him a gift card. To buy groceries and/or gas. Because he is a poor starving college student, trying to graduate.


For my next brother, I crocheted a scarf following this tutorial. And I don't even have a picture of the process. So sue me. It turned out really well. And because we love him, he also got a gift card. To Amazon, because we had no idea what the guy wanted or needed.

For our sister-in-law, I made two bags and a camera strap cover. The chevron bag on the left was made following this tutorial. I made the straps out of fabric. I also did this same bag in yellow for my sister for her birthday. And I barely had the self-discipline to give them away. Because they were both adorable!
The camera strap cover I made following this tutorial. It was super simple and turned out just as well as I had hoped! The camera strap is at the top center of the photo, folded up. Sorry if you can't see it very well!
The bag on the right I'm still working on finding an online source for. If I can't, I will tell you that I found it in one of my copies of Quilts and More. Which I love. Hopefully though, I can find a link for you guys!

For my little sister, I made several things as well.  From left to right are: mittens, a scarf, boot cuffs, hand warmers, and a key fob. The tutorials for the key fob and hand warmers are listed above. For the boot cuffs, I followed this tutorial. You can't see them in the picture of mine, but I did do the bobbles and they turned out super cute! For the mittens, I used this tutorial. Because I used a yarn that was bulky weight, not worsted, I actually followed the instructions for the preschool size. I then just increased the length until they were the right size. For the scarf, I followed this tutorial from Lion Brand yarn. You may have to make an account to see it, but it's a freebie!

For my youngest brother, we could literally not think of anything to make him. So he got a couple of CDs (including the one from the Piano Guys. If you haven't heard of them, go look them up on YouTube. Now). So, no picture here sorry!

For Michael's family, we draw names so that each person has one person to give a gift to, instead of giving one gift to each person. So we had his brother B., our niece who is five, and our nephew who is two and a half.

For B., I made two pillowcases. He loves Peanuts, so when I found the fabric, I knew I had to do something with it for him. Because he is married, I did two so that they can have matching pillowcases on the bed at the same time. Even if they don't match anything else. And I hope his wife doesn't hate me for it. I didn't follow a tutorial, as pillowcases are one of the very first things I ever learned to sew, and I could literally do them in my sleep. This tutorial though looks very similar, and like I said, they are super easy!

For our niece, we knew that she was going to be getting an American Girl doll from Grandpa for Christmas. I also knew that Grandma was going to make a whole bunch of clothes for her.  Michael stumbled across this doll bed at a little auction that his workplace did to help raise more money for the Sub for Santa family. He re-painted it and put a bottom in. I made a little mattress, pillow and quilt so that dolly has her very own (and very cute place to sleep). All three of them are reversible so that she can change them up depending on how she feels.

Crayon roll, rolled up.

For our nephew, we bought a couple of puzzles. He's just at that age where those are starting to be fun. I also made a crayon roll for him. It has lots of little slots for crayons, then rolls up and ties shut.  I made one for our niece a couple of years ago, and they keep hers in the church bag so she has it on Sunday. It's cuter and quieter than a plastic baggie! The pattern that I used for the crayon roll also came from a magazine, so I'm working on finding either a link to it online, or a similar pattern since it's not my own, and I have absolutely no distribution rights.

Lastly, my brother and his wife are expecting a baby in July! Which is so exciting. But because they don't know the gender yet, I had to come up with something that would work either way. So for these bibs I used a couple of patterns that I picked up at Joann's awhile ago when they were on sale for $0.99.  The critters ones are Simplicity 2468 and the fruits and veggies are from Simplicity 2273. Both of them have at least 9 patterns in the set, I just didn't make them all.

Sorry that I don't have more pictures of the processes. I figured that since most of them came from blogs that have those pictures, mine would be redundant. Not to mention that each gift would need its own post for all of them. Anyways, hopefully you enjoyed these!