What I Made | Summer 2012 Gift Exchange with Craftaholics Anonymous

Have you heard of Linda from Craftaholics Anonymous?! I'm sure you have, but if not, you should get to know her! Not only is she super crafty and the owner of a to-die-for craft room, but twice a year she holds a handmade gift exchange, one in the summer and the other right before Christmas. This is my 3rd exchange, and I'm never disappointed! The basics are, you sign up, draw a name and make that person a gift. Someone draws your name, and they make you a gift. Easy peasy, right?!

If you missed out on this one, go over and sign up to get a reminder for the Winter exchange; which starts November 1st. Go ahead and check out the photo's of all the fun gifts made this time around over in the Flickr group and at Linda's link party. I'm beyond positive you'll find some great inspiration from other craft lovers! Plus, it's never too early to start thinking about those Christmas presents ;)

My giftee turned out to be Courtney, a SAHM of two, who lives 2,500 miles away in the beautiful state of Washington. After stalking her Elfster likes and Pinterest account, I knew what I wanted to make her. An apron; she had a few pinned and liked, and I figured an Anthropologie Tea & Crumpets apron knock-off would be perfect!

Tutorial for apron by Kelly @ Sewing in No Mans Land

Of course I wanted something to go with the apron, and what better item to accompany an apron than a recipe book?

burlap, lace, tweed OH MY | packaging bows | a tutorial

Why buy store-bought bows when you can make the prettiest ones ever? It adds such a nice handmade touch to even store bought presents. AND they are reusable! I seen this post by Jessica and had a light bulb moment!

Material:

• Any fabric, ribbon, or even paper
  • I used Burlap, ribbon lace and tweed.
• Stapler
• Needle/Thread
• Wall mounting tape.

First you want to cut your strips. You will have 3 Large, 3 Medium, 2 Small and 1 xSmall. Just decrease the length of each size by one inch and the last one by 2 inches.

For example,

• Large = 10”
• Medium = 9 “
• Small = 8”.
• xSmall = 6”

I didn’t measure the width, just eyeballed it, but I’d say to keep it around 1/2” to 3/4”

You are basically making a figure eight and securing in the center. Try to make them “skinny” eights rather than “fat” eights. That probably makes NO sense, but as you make them, you’ll see. The “skinny” eights are more pointy on the ends, therefore, looking more like the store-bought bows. (unlike the round ones pictured)

Once you have your 9 strips looped and secured, start stacking one ontop of the other. Start with the Large, ending with the circle in the center. To secure, just throw a couple stitches in the center. You could use hot glue, but I promise… the stitches will hold better, and seems more intimidating than it is.

Take the wall mounting tape (I used 3M), peel one off, hot glue the sticky part and press onto the center bottom.
Note: You can just hot glue them onto your package, I used the tape because I gave a dozen of these as a gift.

 

That’s it. See, super fast and easy, too!

I’m in love with them. ESPECIALLY the lace! Lace bows = Happy heart!

I made these ones out of fabric and they are just as pretty:

And Adelyn HAD to have one for her hair, so I put one on an alligator clip:

Have fun! Play with different patterns and textures. Group different textures together on one present to make it extra special.

(If you notice the gift receiver tossing the bow into the wrapping paper trash, don’t hesitate, or feel bad, asking for it back. They are too pretty to throw away! hah)

Happy Holidays!!!

# kristanlynn
xoxo  

This post was sponsored by Heather @ JustLove.lyThings.

DIY Bath Salts | Gift in a Jar

So, I was at Michael's last week, and happened upon a huge jar of mineral/sea salt, it was cheap so I had to buy it. I knew it would come in handy at some point. It did.  I decided to make a homemade bath soak. Super easy. Super Yummy! Perfect for handmade gift giving!

What you need:

• jar (I used the Ball jelly/jam jars measuring 250ml)
• mineral and sea salt
• essential oil (or in my case extract)
• food coloring
• small piece of fabric

How to make it:

1. Pour enough salt to fill a jar, or two. (Honestly, I didn’t measure) and add a few drops of essential oil to fabric.
   If you’d like your salt to have color, just add a few drops of food coloring to the fabric before stirring.
2. Stir the fabric into the salt for a few minutes, making sure to get the salt well coated.

That’s it! Just make sure that the fabric is in dripping wet, you don’t want it to dissolve your salt.

You can use any scent you prefer. I used peppermint, with it being the holiday season, peppermint just seems fitting. Remember though, peppermint is an energizing scent. Have fun with it, add a drop or two of a few different scents to make your own custom scent. Add some burlap, twine and lace. A tag would be nice, but I think most of us now know how to use bath salts, so it’s not a MUST but would add a nice décor element.

 

# kristanlynn
xoxo  

This post was sponsored my Little Miss Momma.

DIY Family Halloween Costumes

Adelyn was so excited. We went to two Trunk or Treats, then hit up a neighborhood for the real deal. We should have just went to the neighborhood. She loved going to the houses. She’d walk up by herself, say “trick or treat” “thank you” then run to me and say “ok, lets go to the next house”.  I was so excited for her to experience Halloween like we did growing up!

Everyone commented on how we were the cutest family they’ve seen. They loved Adelyn’s Princess Cowgirl costume, and Stone w/ a cowboy hat… oh, let the hearts melt.

How was your Halloween??

# kristanlynn
xoxo