A couple years ago, we went through a rough patch financially…..a really rough patch that lasted a couple of years.  (That’s such an easy thing to say.  It was not easy.)  During that time, Christmas was a challenge.  At first, I dreaded it….knowing we wouldn’t be able to buy gifts.  Then I started doing some research and found lovely (and inexpensive) homemade gifts.  We worked really hard both of those Christmases and I think that Christmas became even more lovely and we grew to love our family and friends even more because of all the time and thought we put into their gifts.  Here are some of the things I made that we gave to our families in those 2 years:

For my niece-to-be, I used this pattern to make a couple pairs of booties.  I think these are soooooo adorable.

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Heather Bailey Designs

For my 3-year-old niece, I made a homemade memory game.  I used funny pictures of members of our family to make her memory cards.

Here are a few different ways to make homemade memory:

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart.com

CLICK HERE for tutorial from My Everyday Chaos

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Muffin Tin Mom

 For my 4-year-old nephew, I made a superman cape out of flannel receiving blankets I had lying around.
I think this homemade superhero costume is darling….

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Chiot’s Run
(worth the click even if you just go there to see the adorable little guy who received this superhero get up)

For my 5 and 7-year-old nieces, I made little purses out of placemats…here are a couple of tutorials on those:

CLICK HERE for the tutorial from Kristikoo Handmade

I think these little bags are darling, too….

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Kleas

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

This bag would be darling for a child OR an adult.
Plus, I don’t know about you, but we have LOTS of old jeans lying around that are just begging for a new life.

CLICK HERE For tutorial from Martha Stewart

For my son, my husband, Jeff, made blocks out of wood by cutting them into different shapes and sanding them.
I don’t have a tutorial for this, my only advice is don’t try to sand these by hand.  You’ll quit. : )

BLOCKS HERE

For my sister-in-law and her husband (who LOVE Thai food), we put a basket together of ingredients they would use in curry, which they make all the time.
You can put baskets together for lots of things…here’s a movie one:

CLICK HERE for a couple other ideas from For the Mommas 

For my mom, mother-in-law, sisters and sisters-in-law, I made bath soaps and sugar scrubs.
I was just at Michael’s this week and saw a bunch of pretty little jars you could put something like this in….they were each only $1!
Here are a couple of tutorials for homemade bath stuff:

Salt or Sugar Scrub

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

And what about these bath fizzies?  Use an ice tray for the mold!

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Who wouldn’t love a pretty (and yummy smelling) bar of soap in one of these adorable little wraps?

CLICK HERE for tutorial from  live. laugh. rowe.

My brothers all got their favorite treats in ridiculous quantities.

Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels for Tucker:

These look WAY better than anything I’ve ever made. : )  CLICK HERE for the tutorial from Andicakes

 No-bake cookies for Jake:

CLICK HERE for this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

And Brownies for Luke

These aren’t the brownies that I made for Luke, but don’t they look YUMMY?!
CLICK HERE for the recipe from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen 

Here are some other food gift ideas:

Who wouldn’t love a tin of this delicious caramel corn??

CLICK HERE for the recipe from Brave Girls Club (that’s us) : )

And these are adorable gifts that could be used right away or saved for a while…

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Sunset.com

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Bakerella

Thinking about making all those gifts and all the time I spent making them and thinking about my loved ones makes me want to put more effort (and less money) into my gifts again.  Christmas is absolutely delightful when you give gifts that mean something…something that takes thought and effort and time…..I just might do it again this year!

Here are some other ideas I found that I am in LOVE with:

FOR KIDS

Paper Dolls

CLICK HERE for the tutorial from Handmade Charlotte

Bubble Wand

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Kleas

 Baby Blocks

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Wash Cloth Puppets – if these aren’t the most adorable things on the planet, please tell me what is…

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Crochet Ball & Blanket – I think these are sooo sweet….

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

SHIRT POCKET QUILT
I know 2 toddlers who would spend ALL DAY putting stuff in these pockets and taking it out again, then putting it in and taking it out, and over and over and over again.  It’s the little things. : )

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Roll-up Crayon Holder
Perfect for the car!  Well…in theory it’s perfect.

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Skip To My Lou

Bibs
I love the shape of these…..so cute!

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Bath Apron
And what about this for new parents…can’t tell you how many times I’ve ended up changing my clothes after giving my kids baths.  Plus this would be super fast and easy to make.  Ten minutes tops (and that includes a snack break). : )

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

FOR WOMEN

Teatowels with Handwritten Recipes
How tender is this?  I love it.

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Spoonflower

Bookmarks
Don’t these bookmarks make you happy?

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Country Living 

A Handmade Apron
This first pattern is the only one in this entire blog post that isn’t free, but isn’t it lovely??  I’d pay for the pattern!

CLICK HERE for pattern from Sew Liberated

CLICK HERE for tutorial from You Can Make This

And if you have a little girl who needs an apron, this one is soooo cute!

CLICK HERE for tutorial from raechelmyers.com

Apple-Cinnamon Ornaments

We have made these ornaments several times – they smell soooo yummy!!

CLICK HERE for the tutorial from McCormick.com

Fabric Journal Cover

CLICK HERE for tutorial from OneSheTwoShe

Shrinky-Dink Jewelry

Who knew Shrinky Dinks could turn out so beautiful!?  I loooove these pieces!!

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Just Something I Made

Tiny Sewing Kit with Pincushion

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Momtastic

Embellished hotpads from the $1 Store!

I love these by themselves…..add a loaf of bread and you’ve got a new best friend!

CLICK HERE for tutorial from The 36th Avenue

Stamped Rocks

So beautiful and simple.  I think it would be lovely to be on the giving OR receiving end of these….I also think it would be amazing to stamp messages onto the rocks.

CLICK HERE for tutorial from craftandcreativity

Pretty Monogrammed Pincushion

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Lou Loves This

Knit Glasses Pouch – so cute!

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart 

Handpainted Tea Towels

If you’re like me, you always think that acrylic paint will wash right out of projects…..but you know it won’t come out of your clothes.  The truth is, you can paint something with acrylic paint, let it dry (you can put it in the dryer if you want to feel really good about setting the color), and wha-la!

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Etched Glass

One of my very favorite wedding gifts was a glass casserole dish with our new last name etched into the bottom….I love all of these personalized gifts that look so hard, but are really quite simple.

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Handpainted China

If it were me, I’d use a stencil, since I’m not really comfortable handpainting anything.  I love this.

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Handmade Coasters

We found several different tutorials we love!

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Hostess with the Mostess

CLICK HERE for tutorial from The Purl Bee

Monogrammed Slippers

I love the ones at the bottom of the picture…looks like the letters are formed with a whole bunch of french knots.  Love it.

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Beautiful Wire Nest Necklaces

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Sarah Ortega

FOR MEN

Maybe I’m late to the game, but I didn’t know there were special pens for writing on/painting ceramic!  The possibilities are endless….but they obviously begin here with the mustache mug….

CLICK HERE for tutorial from geekxnerd

Here’s another spin on the mug…

CLICK HERE for tutorial from designmom

While we’re putting initials on things, how about a towel?  I think this would be especially awesome for a coach.  Only don’t make his towel say Greta.  Initials would be cool, as would a mustache.   And now we’ve gone full circle.

CLICK HERE for tutorial from What Rachel Made Today 

Remote Caddy

CLICK HERE for tutorial from sew4home

Knitted Golf Club Head Covers

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Jana Ford Knits

Golf Accessory Bag

CLICK HERE for tutorial from JoAnn Fabrics

BBQ Apron

CLICK HERE for tutorial from I {heart} naptime

BBQ Spice Rubs

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Kojo Designs

FOR PETS

Shrinky Dink Dog Tags

Do you ever see something and think, “why didn’t I think of that!?”  I love these cute little tags.

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Leather Kitty Toy

So cute!

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

Homemade Dog Biscuits

CLICK HERE for tutorial from Martha Stewart

If you’re like us, then you love pretty jewelry…AND if you’re like us you struggle to know how to store it.  We want to show you how we store ours…some of us are more organized than others, some of us are more artsy than others, but we all get the job done.  Hope you enjoy it!

Malary keeps necklaces that she doesn’t wear very often on this pretty lamp….

Of all of us at Brave Girls Club, Malary is by FAR the most organized….as you can see from the way she keeps her earrings, rings and bracelets so nicely laid out….

 

I love this miniature dress form that Malary uses for her bracelets…

And this one is more of a decoration than a way to store jewelry, but I think it’s just LOVELY.

Kathy is next….she uses trouser hangers to keep her necklaces nice and organized….the awesome thing about these is that the rods are rubber coated, so everything stays nice and tidy in its place….

Kathy says she’s taken these entire things on road trips….she just throws the whole thing in the car on her clothes rod….how perfect!

Chelsea stores her earrings on this awesome frame….she bought the frame at Goodwill, painted it and stapled chicken wire to the back – perfect for earrings!

I’m not as neat as others….most of the time my jewelry is here and there…..I made this little stand out of 2 icecream cups and 3 plates that I found at a thrift store.  I just used e-6000 (which is glue) to glue them together.  It works well for my lazy self.

Here are my earrings which have been organized so that I could feel good about showing it to you.  I love storing my earrings like this….my only problem with it is that my kids can reach the bottom and think it’s fun to get my earrings…. : )

I LOOOOOOVE the way Melody stores her necklaces….she has 2 vintage headboards that she hangs them on…..I love the way it looks…..

And I literally gasped when I saw this picture that Malary took…..isn’t it pretty?  Just an old lamp with cool little hooks….just right for bracelets!

Hope you enjoyed our little tour…..here are some of the things we showed you (and some others)…these items are on Amazon.com, so you can check them out!!

*Brave Girls Club is an affiliate of Amazon.com

My sister, Chelsea, is awesome at celebrations.  She really knows how to make someone feel special by doing special things for them.

One of the things she does on her kids’ birthdays is takes pictures from throughout their lives and makes a simple little garland to hang in the dining room.  She leaves it there all week, along with their birthday chair cover.  Every kid gets remembered and feels super special for a whole week during their birthday time.

This month, we celebrated our little Lydia’s second birthday, and since I LOVE Chelsea’s traditions so much, I thought I’d give them a go…..on video even!  (Unless you’re not IN to video and you want to get the written tutorial….in which case it can be found below.)

I was surprised by this first project…..the photo garland.  At first I thought I would do it because it wouldn’t take long, but I wasn’t sure how much mileage it would get, or how interested Lydia would be in it.  What surprised me was how special it was to me and how tender it was to make.  I think we take more pictures these days than ever in history, but we (or at least I) hardly ever look at them.

I LOVED looking through all my pictures for photos of Lydia and remembering what she was like as a newborn, then first walking, and how she’s grown in the last 2 years.  I even got teary-eyed looking at all the photos…SOOO if you don’t do this for your kids, do it for you.  It was totally worth it.

Start by getting about 35 4×6 photos printed….the photos I got ranged all through her 2 years of life so far.

Then punch holes in the top 2 corners of each photo…

Next rip strips of fabric and cut them into 6 or 7 inch strips…

Use the strips to tie the photos together into a garland.  When you get to the ends, just tie an extra strip of fabric into each end hole, so you can hang it.

Then hang it up!

I was surprised by how into this project all the kids were.  They LOVED looking at it and finding each other and themselves….

Make one of these….it’s easy, it’s fast, and you will LOVE it!!!

The next project I worked on was a chair cover to make Lydia’s birthday chair…..

For this project you’ll need a couple different kinds of fabric, some trim, scissors a sewing machine, (and if you plan to make a flower like mine, you’ll need a small plate and a glass for tracing)…

Start by folding your chair cover fabric in half…right sides together….

Then lay your chair on the folded piece of fabric with the fold at the top and roughly trace around it.  And I do mean roughly…you’ll want to leave room for the thickness of the chair as well as the width of the chair AND some seam allowance.

As you can tell, I’m pretty particular and precise about this kind of thing.  (What I actually mean is the opposite of that.)  It will work out.  Trust me.

Cut your chair cover out…..ONLY cut on 3 sides….leaving the top folded will make things easier for you.

Set that piece of fabric aside.

Since I made this chair cover for my two-year-old daughter, I used a flower and the number 2…if it were a little boy, I would have done a spaceship or a star or something.

Here’s how I made that flower:

Turn the second kind of fabric over and trace a small plate…..

Then trace half a glass over and over around the edges of the plate outline to make flower petals.  As you can see, the first time I tried to make petals, I put them too close together, and they didn’t fit right, so I had to move the glass closer in toward the middle.

Then cut a 2 out of the third kind of fabric.  I sort of drew a 2 backwards and the wrong side of the fabric, then cut it out.  If you want something that looks REALLY good, you could print it out and then trace that.

When my sister saw my finished chair cover, she was surprised that I used Lydia’s age on it.  She just makes 1 Birthday Chair for each of their kids on their first birthdays and uses the same one every year.  I will be doing that.

Before I get to sewing I have to tell you…..my mother always tells me I should have paid attention when she tried to teach me to sew as a young adolescent.  Like most things, she’s right.  I wish I would have.  But I didn’t.  And even if I had, I might still have turned out to be a lazy sewer…..haha….sewer is obviously not the word for “one who sews”.  Steamstress seems WAY too advanced.

Whatever the word is, I am lazy at it.  I rarely pin, I sometimes iron.  If it really counts, I do.

What I’m saying is this is lazy sewing.  Just fair warning.  I hope it makes you feel good about yourself if you are also inexperienced and I hope it makes you feel REALLY good if you are better at sewing than I am.

Okay, so start by sewing the 2 to the middle of the flower.  I used a zig zag stitch that turned out so bad the first time that I went around it again…

Look, I used pins.  There’s hope for me yet.

Next sew the flower with the 2 to the RIGHT side of the chair cover.  Again I used a zig zag stitch.

This was tricky because it was nearly impossible to keep the flower in the same spot – even with pins.  It bunched up at the end and I had to remove some stitches to straighten it out.  Even then, there was a little bit of a crease when I got finished, but I was satisfied enough with it.

Next fold your chair cover in half…..right sides together….and sew down both sides.  One thing I do remember my mother teaching me is that when you are sewing something like this, don’t sew down one side and up the other….there’s a good chance it will end up crooked if you do.  Sew from the top down on both sides.

Then cut the edges with pinking shears.  It just seems like the right thing to do.

While your chair cover is still inside out, sew a hem.  What I always do on hems is fold, then iron, then sew the hem….keeps things nice and straight without pins…

I had this pretty eyelet trim for the bottom….I just pinned that and sewed it on right over the hem….

Wha-La……

Here’s what it looks like all done….not bad, even with my lazy sewing!  I actually REALLY like how it turned out….

Even better when the birthday girl sits on it to eat her birthday cupcake!