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#26 - hand-make at least two presents

This was one of my favorite goals so far.  I love crafting, but I hate tracking down all the supplies and setting everything up and other responsible organized things, so I never muster up the desire to actually do anything.  It's a shame, I know, especially since everyone and their dog has an Etsy shop nowadays and I feel like I should get a piece of the action.

Anyway, my woes of laziness aside, I was presented with two awesome opportunities for creativity--a wedding and a baby.  (Not mine.)  

Gift #1: Back in October, Alaina (one of my best friends and fellow English major) got married, and I knew she absolutely needed something literary for her home.

On one of my thrifting excursions, I found a copy of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (a literary staple!) from the early 1940's, and it was crafting love at first sight.  (Luckily, Rebecca isn't one of my favorites, or else there's no way I could've taken it apart for the project.)  I bought four small canvases and got to work!

I don't have pictures of the progress, unfortunately, but here's the final product:

Yes, I'm working on the floor.  I hate sitting at a table.  Also, I didn't realize how blurry these pictures are--sorry!

One of the first movies Lainy and I bonded over was "Moulin Rouge," so I used magazine letters to write "The greatest thing" along the corners of the canvases.

The wedding date!

After I finished them, I was almost too in love to let them go.  It's a good thing I love Lainy more.

I'll definitely be making some of these later on--I just have to find an old book that I don't mind making into a collage, which is a challenge by itself.



Gift #2: Ricky and I go to church with a wonderful family who just had a baby girl!  She's about the cutest thing that ever was.  Before she was born, we had a baby shower for her mom, Edith.  I've been itching to make tiny baby accessories, so I was practically giddy that this baby was a girl.

I should also mention that I hate sewing machines.  For small projects, I really prefer hand-stitching, which is exactly what I did for these super cozy headbands!

Aren't they cute?!  I know, I'm boasting, but they turned out WAY more adorable than I imagined they would.

Would you like a tutorial?  Here you go:

1. Cut approx. 12 inches off the leg of a pair of tights and another 1 inch strip across the leg.
2. Tuck one end of the 12 in. strip inside the other; stitch closed with slight ruching.
3. Sew the 1 inch strip around the ruching line (make it a little tight).
3. Make a fabric flower; attach to butterfly clip.
4. Clip flower to 1 inch strip.  Interchange as matching requires.

So easy!  Now I expect all of you to make these for any baby girl you happen to know.  They're soft and stretchy and I would totally wear one if I was a baby with very little hair.

#26, done and done!

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