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I have entered the world of blogging! My purpose? To stay connected to friends and family and invite you into my world. A world filled with fun, tears, laughter, excitement, elation, disappointment and all the blessings of being a mother and wife.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Handmade Gift Ideas and Matchboxes #10 and #11

All this week is Holly Bloggy Christmas! Each day is a fun blog party on a Christmas related topic. I participated last year and it was SO much fun! You can visit Simple Sweet Home for the list of bloggy parties.


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Today's party is about handmade gifts, hosted by Tater Tots and Jello. I wanted to share a couple gifts I made for friends this year. Monogrammed lavender scented sachet pillows and a lavender scented eye pillow. They were very simple AND fun to make.





To make the sachet pillows I used my friend Heidi's Big Shot and punched out six squares with a scallop edge out of muslin. I then hand stamped the flowers and initials using Staz On Jet Black Ink (it works well on many different surfaces). Once the ink was dry (just a few minutes) I machine stitched two squares together leaving a small opening to stuff the pillow and add the lavender. Once the pillow was full, I machine stitched the opening closed. And there you have it! Only took about 30 minutes to complete.

For the lavender eye below, I cut two pieces of material approx. 4" x 8". I stamped my images the same way as the sachet pillows and machine stitched the rectangle closed leaving a small opening. I then filled the pillow approx. half full with rice and added the lavender. I finished off the pillow by machine stitching it closed. The pillow can be put in the microwave to heat, about 20 seconds. If you wanted a finished edge, you can sew the the rectangles together (with the stamp images on the inside), turn right side out, fill and then hand or machine stitch the opening closed.

I made these little chocolate kissed filled jars for the girls' ballet teachers. I wanted to give them a little something but more than a plastic bag filled with chocolate. Then I remembered that I have some empty baby food jars (great things to keep, I have all my little embellishments in them). Using my scallop punch, I punched out three scallops (one for each jar) out of Christmas paper, added a circle Christmas sticker, some glitter around the edges and then used a glue dot to adhere it to the lid. I added a piece of thin red ribbon around the rim of the lid. *Use a small glue dot to hold the ribbon in place while you tie it because the ribbon likes to slip! Lastly I filled the jar with red, green and silver chocolate kisses. A simple, affordable gift.


Matchbox #10 comes from Amy at Paper Trails Leaver. Amy covered the matchbox in paper and embellished it with fun Christmas stickers. I love the RED bling she added to the Christmas tree! Hidden inside was a tag/ornament with a scrabble piece that reads "JOY". A reminder I often need! :-)


Matchbox #11 was created by Angela from Down to the Darling Details. Angela used a vintage image and then outlined it in silver glitter (ohh!!). Inside was a bottle cap magnet. I just love them and want to make them now!

2 comments:

Angela said...

Hi! Just happened to stop by to visit and see that you received one of my matchboxes! Glad you liked it and the bottlecap magnet. Have a blessed Christmas! :)

Angela said...

P.S. It's great we got eachothers matchboxes, too!