Round up of Christmas presents

Here is a little look at some homemade Christmas presents. Both the ones I made and gave away and the ones I got. For more inspiration check out my Pinterest board "Making Christmas Gifts 2011" and my blog Eddie's room.




A bag I made for my husband with embrohdered (not by me) birds (he is a big bird fan)



A tray my husband and I decoupaged with maps for my little brother who is studying geography.



I made a couple of these porcupine pin cushions for my mother and sister using this wonderful tutorial from Prudent Baby



I made these Christmas stockings for my husband and myself using this free tutorial.



My sister made this vinyl record bowl for my husband. There is a free tutorial for this here.



She also made him this fab pencil case for his art pencils.



For me she made this pretty shawl which I can't wait to use.

Round up of Christmas presents

Here is a little look at some homemade Christmas presents. Both the ones I made and gave away and the ones I got. For more inspiration check out my Pinterest board "Making Christmas Gifts 2011" and my blog Eddie's room.




A bag I made for my husband with embroidered (not by me) birds (he is a big bird fan)



A tray my husband and I decoupaged with maps for my little brother who is studying geography.



I made a couple of these porcupine pin cushions for my mother and sister using this wonderful tutorial from Prudent Baby



I made these Christmas stockings for my husband and myself using this free tutorial.



My sister made this vinyl record bowl for my husband. There is a free tutorial for this here.



She also made him this fab pencil case for his art pencils.



For me she made this pretty shawl which I can't wait to use.

Inspiration and tutorials

I am so excited to be a part of the Crafty Christmas Club again this year. I have already begun making the presents for my family and I just wanted to show you some of the great tutorials I have been inspired by.
First I want to share with you the new Pinterest board that I have setup for this purpose: "Making Christmas Gifts 2011". I am a great fan of Pinterest especially if you can link through and find amazing tutorials.
One of my favorite is the Porcupine Pin Cushion  from Prudent Baby. It was so easy to make and look real nice - just something for the people in my life who love sewing.
Another of my favorites is the 3-way laundry bag by // Between the lines //. Its so easy to make and I have already made 3 for myself (check them out here on Grey Duckling) and 2 for family gifts.
Last year I made decoupaged a bowl with stamps for my husband and this year I have also been decoupaging a couple of gifts for the family (more later).
Finally I want to show you a picture of a couple of decoupaged Christmas decorations I made this year (see last years decorations here).  





During the summer I decided to move more of my personal projects over to my own blog "Eddie's Room". Since I am now 8 months pregnant the latest posts have been about making baby stuff so if you are in need of inspiration for baby gifts you are welcome to have a look over there or on my other new Pinterest board "Creating for baby".

Unless I give birth before then I will be back soon with some pictures of the gifts I have made so far.

Eddie

Inspiration and tutorials

I am so excited to be a part of the Crafty Christmas Club again this year. I have already begun making the presents for my family and I just wanted to show you some of the great tutorials I have been inspired by.
First I want to share with you the new Pinterest board that I have setup for this purpose: "Making Christmas Gifts 2011". I am a great fan of Pinterest especially if you can link through and find amazing tutorials.
One of my favorite is the Porcupine Pin Cushion  from Prudent Baby. It was so easy to make and look real nice - just something for the people in my life who love sewing.
Another of my favorites is the 3-way laundry bag by // Between the lines //. Its so easy to make and I have already made 3 for myself (check them out here on Grey Duckling) and 2 for family gifts.
Last year I made decoupaged a bowl with stamps for my husband and this year I have also been decoupaging a couple of gifts for the family (more later).
Finally I want to show you a picture of a couple of decoupaged Christmas decorations I made this year (see last years decorations here).  





During the summer I decided to move more of my personal projects over to my own blog "Eddie's Room". Since I am now 8 months pregnant the latest posts have been about making baby stuff so if you are in need of inspiration for baby gifts you are welcome to have a look over there or on my other new Pinterest board "Creating for baby".

Unless I give birth before then I will be back soon with some pictures of the gifts I have made so far.

Eddie

Upcycling a Wall Calendar into a Monthly Planner

Hey everyone - I'm Karen from Renegade Homestead, checking in again.  In my first post, I listed all the presents I'm planning for my friends and family this Christmas.  Amongst my ideas were several books and journals that I'd like to make instead of buy.  Just one minor set-back:  I've never made a book before.  I decided to do a test run by converting one of the million 2012 calendars that charities send out at this time of year into a hardcover monthly planner.  Here's how I did it:  

Materials:
Wall calendar
Scissors
Glue stick
Corrugated cardboard
Water activated paper packaging tape
Clear packaging tape

1) Start by cutting up a wall calendar into individual pages.

2) Fold each page in half so that the calendar part is on the inside and the picture is on the outside.  Stack them in chronological order.  

3) Glue the back right side of each page to the back left side of the next one.  When you're done you should have something that looks like this:

4) Now it's time to start the cover.  Cut three pieces of cardboard: one for the spine that is 0.5" x 8.75" and two for the covers (each 5.5" x 8.75").  Fold paper packaging tape over the edges to finish them as shown below.

5) Put the three pieces of the cover together to form a triangle (see photo below).  While they're in this position, use a strip of clear packaging tape to connect them.  I centered the strip on the spine and pressed it down on either side.  It's important to do this step in this position to make sure the book opens and closes properly.   

6) Open the covers so that the side with the clear packaging tape is facing down.  Put a strip of paper packaging tape down the center of the spine to connect it again to the covers.  Before activating it with water, I made two creases in the tape where the covers would bend.  You can see the creases on either side of the spine in the photo below.

7) Time to add the pages that were put together earlier.  Glue the back left side of the January page to the front cover.  Open and close the book a few times to see where the back page should sit.  Once you've found a good spot, glue the back right side of the December page to the back cover.

8) I used an extra page that was left over from the wall calendar to pretty up the cover a bit.  Just make sure you glue it on while the book is closed.  

And done!  I'm glad I got this practice run in because I definitely see some room for improvement before I start on the real gifts - especially when it comes to tidying up the cover and improving the spine.  But for now, I'm happy to have saved another wall calendar from the recycling bin!

thoughts explode!