Handmade Holidays {Pinterest in pintastic!}

I think 99% of the planet has discovered the awesomeness that is Pinterest. There is such a huge plethora of information from recipes, to health and beauty, to LOL memes, and everything in between.

In keeping with our Handmade Christmas series, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite Pinterest projects. Some of these I plan to use myself, some I only wish I could complete! Enjoy!

Teacup Candles My mom collects teacups, and so this one immediately caught my attention. Every year the adults in my family throw names into a hat and everyone draws their Secret Santa. I knew if I got my mom's name I would be making this, but alas, I might have to wait until Mother's Day. You could find beautiful cups at a thirft store or garage sales, and even with the cost of the wax, you are spending mere pennies for a beautiful handmade gift!

Fuzzy Slippers These are just yummy! Whatever fabric your {recipient's} heart desires, coupled with soft, sumptuous insides.. anyone would be delighted to receive these!

Pajama Pants If you're like me, you buy your kids Christmas PJs every year. This year I'm going to make them myself, save a few $$, and have WAY more cherished memories because of it!

Cute Bags Have a teen, young adult, or grown woman on your list? Make them a bag. You simply can't go wrong! And my favorite thing about this is you can personalize the style and functionality for the person in mind.

Trendy Pillows Everyone loves when their home is warm, inviting, and beautiful. Giving your friend or loved one a beautiful handmade pillow that compliments their home is so thoughtful!

Handmade Bracelets This is a lovely collection of easy to make bracelets. Woman - Jewelry = WIN!

Fun Fleece Hats Little ones will have so much fun with these easy peasy to make fleece hats! Even if you don't live in a super cold climate, they'll don them and have FUN!

Coffee Cozy FINALLY! A gift you can give a man! Or woman. Well, maybe some men would dig the fleece hats as much as kids, but this one can go to a may-un. Macho it up with buttons, boy colors, and he can wrap his decaf mocha latte with nonfat whip in testosterone infused style.

Earbud Case Say you have a Sister. I do. Say she is connected with her ipod like it's her umbilical cord and it's still attached. Mine does. Say she doesn't always keep up with her headphones so well. Mind doesn't. Or that, perhaps, when she comes to visit your kids take her earbuds and rip them, chew them, or jump on them. Mine don't... but yours probably do. This nifty little gift is a way to help your sister keep up with her earbuds, and away from your kids. Yours. Not mine. Because mine don't do that kind of thing.

There are so many fantastic ideas on Pinterest, and I hope you garner some inspiration from my ideas! Follow me on Pinterest through any of the above links, and keep up with my new pins!

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Handmade Holidays Tutorial {Cloth Baby Wipes}

During the holidays we might be tempted to dig ourselves deeply into debt. Buying Furbies and Barbies, Power-wheels and Ipods. Buying any and every hot item to satisfy the whims of our children, spouses, and loved ones.

But what if... 

Our gifts were born of love, instead of luxury.

Our hands contributed more to our giving than our gas tanks.

Inspiration, rather than lists, lead the way to finding that perfect something for that perfect someone.

We put more time and effort into handcrafting heartfelt gifts for those we love, rather than filling up the space under our trees with miscellaneous store-bought goodies just to fill up that space.

I would LOVE to help you make that happen! I plan to have a series of tutorials, aiding you in finding inspiration, and instruction, to make some lovely gifts for your loved ones this holiday season. Here is the first of those tutorials!

{HANDMADE BABY WIPES/WASHCLOTHS TUTORIAL}

What you're going to need

• 2 colors of contrasting fabrics (I used flannel for both sides, but you can also use terrycloth, velour, or any soft, yummy, absorbant material)
• thread (I used contrasting colors for my thread as well, purple on the top spool, and blue on the bottom. It added a really cool effect, and gave different color to each side of the cloths)
• wipe box lid (to use as a pattern for your cloths)
• fabric sheers or rotary cutter
• fabric marker
• Complimenting color bias tape (not pictured here)

Step 1 Start with laying your fabric pieces right side together. Fold this over so you end up with wrong sides of the same fabric touching. This will double your cutting efforts!

Step 2 Trace your wipe lid across your folded fabric, getting the pieces as close together as possible. Mine were actually touching so that in making 1 cut I was actually shaping the left side of 1 wipe, and the right side of the other.

Step 3 Cut the sides and tops of your traced wipes. When you have these cut, your bottom will be connected. slide your sheers in between this fold and cut across. Like so.

Step 4 Your fabric is already in the right position, so now it's time to sew! Check that your machine is threaded properly and start halfway down one of the long sides of the wipe sewing the 2 fabric pieces together. Leave a 1 inch section unsewn, so you can turn the wipe rightside out.

Step 5 This is what it will look like. Be sure to trim any excess fabric from the edges.

Step 6 Turn the wipe rightside out by poking your finger into one of the corners and working it through the hole that your left on the side. Continue this with all the corners, tugging gently to get all the fabric out.

Step 7 You will be left with a small hole in the side. Simply tuck this in on itself to line up with the rest of the edge and begin stitching at this location.

Step 8 Now stitch around the entire edge, as close to the edge as you can get. you can use a more decorative stitch if you so desire. And voila, you're done! Lather, rinse, repeat, and you'll have a handmade set of baby wipes/washcloths in minutes!

Step 9 To add an extra handmade touch and really make your gift pop get a piece of complimenting bias tape. Measure and cut to go around the wipes with about an inch overlapping. Stitch the ends together with a contrasting thread and a decorative stitch and you have a BEAUTIFUL, thoughtful, well put together gift that you can be proud to give to any parent!

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