Normally, I'm not thinking about Christmas until much later, but a couple of accidental gift finds have got me thinking. (I've also been knitting for months.) There are some cute finds that I thought I'd share.

Firstly, something I spotted months ago for honorary niece M.
Ice Princess (Wand (straw) with star ice cube attached (plus some extras to toss into a drink)).


Perhaps something similar for her brother?
Skull & Crossbone ice Cube tray

Last year, I decided to continue a tradition my grandmother started - which my mother continued - and give my brother's kids, K & J, a paper/book-themed gift. I honestly consider myself lucky that both kids enjoy reading, but if they didn't, I'd focus more on paper. I downloaded and printed a few sheets of these adorable bookplates for K, and plan to do some of my own design for J. (I used full sheet labels, which I hope will peel easily while keeping glue away from the books!)

For K, I'm continuing to supply her with Trixie Belden books -- this time, in the form of "vintage" copies from my personal collection (I got some even older copies for myself). I also want to find and frame a reading-themed print, perhaps one like this (please don't order this one! I need to buy it when payday comes):



I haven't worked out what I'm going to do for J. I try to keep their gifts even when it comes to quantity, but don't try to make them identical. Things like bookplates (above) and reading lights (last year), yes; every single detail, no.

Christmas Knitting
I did very little Christmas knitting last year, so it seems that this is the year for it. Jen's kids (3 boys and 1 girl) and Heather's kids (1 of each) are all getting hats, which are complete except for a crochet border on 3 of them. Niece K is getting a (fabulous if I do say so myself) stripey ribbed scarf. My SIL's parents are getting scarves (yarn purchased, but not on the needles yet). I settled on 3 colors each of Woolease held together, for colorful and thick results (and machine-washable, which is, I think, a requirement).

This is mostly for my own benefit. I don't think many people are reading this right now. If you are, as long as you aren't someone I regularly exchange gifts with this summer, you're fine (just click the link below to open the rest of the post). If you are someone I regularly exchange gifts with, and your birthday is between now and September, GO AWAY. ;-)

At the moment, every 5- & 6-year-old male in my life is just fascinated with superheroes. I wish I'd found the following before I went on my robot kick!

I just picked up Klutz's Superhero Starter Kit (click on pic for link) yesterday, while shopping for a very belated birthday gift for my honorary nephew, C (He turned 6 in February (bad auntie!)). I was hunting for something else I knew he wanted, but couldn't get any help from the staff. I finally found myself in the Klutz section and spotted this little book/kit and knew I had a winner!

It's an exceptional book for the age group, and if my 2 younger nephews are still in the super hero phase at Christmas - and their parents haven't bought the book yet - I'll get it for them, too. Use a coupon if you can (it's $14.95), but it's worth it even if you can't. It comes with a cape (velco closure), masks, wrist-bands and 3-4 sheets of stickers to make emblems, plus a guide to creating your super hero name and dos and don'ts for super heros (do brush your teeth, don't blow your nose on your cape).

Also going along with the book is this excellent pencil from The Paper Princess.

Other things I've done for the young super heros in my life:
• Cape, using Spiderman fabric for nephew N. (I also made a pillowcase and a couple of "silkies" with the same fabric (and have oodles left).)
• Messenger Bag and Emblem Shirt for Flame Boy (C). His mom got into the action and made a mask and decorated a pair of pants and gloves with patches made from the same flame fabric (here)

Now, nephew J is into the super hero thing too, so I'm sure this list will be growing! Personally, I like these options better than just handing over pre-made costumes of an already established character. Letting the kids define their own character is infinitely better (in my opinion, anyway).

In my first post about the robots, I cited Lynne's great idea. She combined robots & space (which kind of naturally go together), but I kept finding robot things and ended up with too much and needed to split the ideas.

So far, this idea is a little sweet-heavy, but it's just at the planning stages. I have a year to go before the first one even gets close. But maybe you're looking for an idea. If not, I need a place to keep all my ideas.

• Space- and Robot-themed Embroidery
  
• Space-themed books. I have one so far, that I just stumbled on. It's a book of puzzles - reading on the left and a jigsaw puzzle on the right.
  
• Space-themed Lollypops - can be ordered as an assortment (shown) or by type
  
• Easy-to-find space-themed candy (from Lynne's post): Milky Way bars, Starburt, Mars Bars and Orbit gum. Also: Sky Bar and Satellite "candies".
  
• Retro Wooden Rocket Pens

More to come, promise!

Anything new on the topic will just be added to this post. I might change the date to bump it up ( not sure). There have been enough robot posts, you know?

• Space- and Robot-themed Embroidery
  
• Robot Stickers
  
• Nova Robot book & toy
  
• Robot Pillowcase for sale in my shop
  
• Robot Gift Wrap (@ Old Navy)
  
• John's Christmas Stocking
  
• Knit Robot (for John, for Christmas)
  
• Robot Coloring Books (@ CVS)
  
• Finds at Old Navy and World Market; Robot Fabric (Blanket, PJ Pants, Claw toy)
  
• Last year, Red Current posted a ton of robot links, for craft ideas, cards, etc. Not a lot of the stuff is available, but all of it would serve as inspiration. For example,this tote bag has given me an idea for appliqued t-shirts.
  
• Robot Finger Puppets at Plum Party
  
• Robot Items at Oriental Trading
  
• Circuit Board Patch step-by-step
  
• First Post - cites my inspiration*
  
• Robot Iron-ons - not always available.

*I've since decided to split the idea into robots and space. So the first gifts (robots) will not include any of the candy ideas. NEXT year, I'll do a space theme, and include the Milky Ways, etc.

I'm not joining Holiday Headstart, because joining things seems to jinx them for me. However, I think it's a fine idea to get a little advance knitting done for Christmas, or birthdays. For my part, once I get my Red Scarves shipped, I'm going to A) work on some UFOs (either finish or frog) and B) knit up some felted bowls.

Amulet Bags Something I did last Christmas ('05) that might appeal to some: Little amulet bags from the book Oddball Knitting. I thought about each person as I worked on their bag, using bits of leftover yarn (in most cases) and small needles (size US4?). I put a tiny brass bee in each, and left it up to each person to otherwise fill the bag as they chose; you could select a special good luck charm (the book has some suggestions). I did deviate a bit from the pattern and just knit a wide rectangle and sewed it up, rather than knit on DPNs. For most of the bags (3), I used yarn that I'd used for another project related to the recipient. Top right & bottom left: the fuzzy yarn is from scarves I'd made for them; top left: the top rust color is silk left from a hat I made for her son.

If there wasn't one already, I'm adding a tag for this subject. I'll be thinking about this until the gifts are delivered (last one in late May). So...

It's not too late to pick up the ROBOT GIFT WRAP at Old Navy! I went back to get another blanket and PJ pants for nephew N's* birthday. They were sadly out of the PJ pants**, but I did get a blanket, 2 little spiral books and the gift wrap. One doesn't have Christmas colors at all (I mean, not red & green - it's red & white), so I'll use that roll for the birthdays, and keep the red & green ones until next Christmas.

Good sign: when I got to my DB's house last night, nephew J was wearing robot PJs! He definitely likes robots, so whew! Of course, he's also asked for a knitted robot.

*While it's convenient to have 1 nephew on each side of the family the same age, I won't be duplicating their gifts every year. This year, they won't be identical, but similar. N's robot won't be knit, since his mom has the same pattern book. Instead, Uncle John will sketch a robot for me to sew out of felted wool. I also have an honorary nephew a year older. He'll be getting a themed package as well, but with some different "ingredients."

**It's okay! I bought plain PJ pants (the only ones they had in small) and plan to add a robot applique with the fabric I bought.

Okay! Since I'll be delivering the last gifts this afternoon, and the one "endangered" person has taken a pledge not to peek here at all, I've gone through and taken out all the cuts, except for those that help with length issues. I also changed titles so they were less vague.

Going forward, while the user name won't change, I'll be using this blog to document gift ideas for events other than Christmas. I will continue to put adult gift behind cuts until the gift is received.

Thanks for reading! Having this little blog has helped me, since I really was bursting to share some ideas, but kept the recipients from finding out. I hope it's given some of you some ideas as well.

I am DONE sewing! Done. I am not going near my machine for at least 3 days. Tons of pics for you, though.

( Read more... )

I have a few days, actually, but I need to put together gifts for some of my cousins coming to visit next week. My brother & SIL are splitting the cost with me, but I'm doing all the work*. A quick trip to the dollar store, one to a craft store, and a few dives into my fabric and other supply stashes, plus a little bit of sewing, and I'll have 4 pretty cool (if I do say so myself) gift bags, plus a gift for a teen.

Ages: 15 months**, 9, 11, 13, almost-15

What I settled on:

• For all: appliqued T-shirt. Appliques are made, shirts are in the dryer. For the baby girl, it was almost impossible to find a plain toddler shirt that wasn't white. If I were willing to brave Great Lakes Crossing, I'm sure the Children's Place would have something, or maybe Old Navy, but there was nothing nearby. I finally found one at Sears, in the boy's dept., in a kind of sick pea green. It will be girlied up.
  
• For the oldest (boy): Original War of the Worlds DVD (plus his Scout-themed shirt (he can sleep in it if nothing else))
  
• For the middle 3: appliqued tote bag, stuffed with the shirt, plus some goodies like Sweet Dreams Spray, candy, bath scrubby. Plus... (I was thinking "road trip bag"):
  
  • For the knitters: 9 & 13 y.o. girls, 11 y.o boy - emergency knitter's ornament, pair of knitting needles in a ribbon sheath. Toying w/ the idea of diving into my stash for yarn.
    
  • For the 9 y.o.: Last pack of Crazy Crayons (always make extra) and a scribble pad.
    
  • For the 11 y.o.: Disney movie-themed word search puzzle & mechanical pencils
• For the baby: a board book

If money were no object, there would be so much more. But time and money are factors. It's amazing, though, how quickly this adds up. I reckon I spent about $50 on the five gifts, not counting the things I already had, and including the 50% off coupons I used at JoAnn's. If you added up what all the fabric, interfacing, etc. cost, it could be pricey. This is why having a stash is GOOD.

*It's just the way I am. I was doing gifts, they wouldn't have time, and it would be weird to only have gifts from me. So, they help finance the deal, and their names go on the tags.

**Actually the oldest's baby

My SILs are probably getting the most elaborate adult gifts this year*. I've gone on & on about SIL T's gift in other posts. That one is done, with a variety of dark chocolate goodies thrown in for good measure and tied with a bow. SIL C is a new knitter this year, so a knitting-themed gift was kind of required (and probably expected).

I started with a trio of Trendsetters needles stuck in an oh-so-pretty needle case, tucked in a box with an empty DPN case in the same material. The needles usually go for about $9 a pair, but I got them on sale for less than half that, so I could continue shopping with a clear conscience**. Once I started thinking "knitting books," I knew just which one to get: Mason Dixon Knitting. It's on the pricier end of the knitting book scale, but I love it's down-hominess and heavy use of basic cotton yarn, so it just had to be. I also grabbed a few balls of said basic cotton yarn, so she could start on a "warshrag" as soon as she wanted. I made a little pyramid of the box A (needle cases, needles, yarn), the book, and box B (emergency knitting ornament, natch).

*I figure this will switch from year-to-year, so eventually, everyone's been "featured." This wouldn't cover the niece and nephews, who get plenty of attention at any time.

**Fluctuates depending on how many gifts total were crafted. I totally kicked butt this year and made some nice gifts that I think people will like, so buying the occasional gift left me guilt-free. As long as most of the 215*** children on my list are under 13, I'll be making as many gifts as I can.

***Slight exaggeration. Although the list did increase from 11 to 19, with only 3 of those over the age of 13.

I'm all excited to write about a cute packaging concept, but don't have pictures yet. So here's a pretty box that I love, but may or may not be sending. Right now, it houses milady1's gift; however, if the big box I'm packing up is too cramped, the contents will come out and be wrapped so they fit. Love the plaid box with the stripey ribbon. Not even going to bother wrapping it in paper. I have another one for J Dub, which is floral with pink & brown argyle ribbon. I got several sets of these very durable gift boxes at Michael's on clearance. Worth it for full price - I just got lucky. I'm making myself use them - I have a tendency to want to keep cool boxes, ribbons, etc.

Anyway, on to my idea. My niece, K, has a slightly uncommon name. It's not unusual - no creative spellings or made-up name - just not all that common. Which means that we get excited whenever we find something in those personalized racks with her name on it. It's rare, but we have found stickers, a toothbrush, the occasional pen, and once, a rubber stamp. Most of these (except for the stamp) were found at dollar stores. Last week, I found a little "street sign" (green with white lettering) with her name on it, and had to buy one. Her brother's name, on the other hand, is so common that his name is as hard to find - the slot is usually empty. But with the street sign, I got lucky, and they had his name too. So, on one of their boxes, I'll be strapping the sign to the package instead of using a regular tag.

I also like those small wood and papier mache letters. If a person had a unique-to-the-gathering initial, one of those would make a lovely accent. If there would be others at the event with the same initial, a traditional gift tag could also be added.


Speaking of gift tags... here is a pic of mine (again). They were cut out by hand, but now that I have a big circle punch, I'm struggling with myself not to redo them all. "Rustic" will be just fine this year.


Finally, for a great (and simple) packaging idea, check out this fabric gift bag tute (pdf).

Scrub Caps
Tough to photograph without a model! My friend asked for scrub caps for Christmas (she's a radiology tech who's been working surgery lately, and has one cap to wear). I think I finally landed on a decent closure concept on hat #3.

There is really no pattern, but it's not hard - even easier if you can sew the band in a closed circle and not have to deal with the velcro. But when making it for someone else, who has a lot of hair, I had no choice. Comment here or send an email (or Flickr mail) if you would like me to write up directions.

You can see the cap in action here.

For H's girl, by request.
Pattern: My own, available here
Yarn: Lion Brand Bulky, in amethyst..

Quite a productive weekend! So far, I've made 13 cases. Just 4 to go (for adults).

A portion of the stack finished over the weekend. All the kids' cases are done! Stack on the left: Flames, Fairies and Snails. Stack on the right: girly sports print, pirates & embroidered reindeer on red & white.


With special guest, Charile. Top: butterflies. L-to-R: Fishing (2), Monster trucks (3) and the second pirate print.

I'm almost done with all the Tshirts! I have 1 T to buy, and 2 total to sew. A representative group is pictured here.

For my niece. An appliqued basketball T and a flower T.


For 4½ y.o. nephews, J & N (not related to each other). John designed the monsters and I made the appliques.


There is a third T for another honorary niece, but this set is for my friend H and her almost-3-y.o. daughter. The fronts of the shirts are plain, and the wings are on the back.


My friend H is one of the merchant directors for a Renaissance faire. Her informal title is "Vendor Goddess." (Mine is Vendor Minion... should make a shirt for myself). Mucho thanks to my SIL C for the use of her embroidery machine (and the thread, b/c I bought the wrong kind).


Can I say that I'm never doing this again? Some of the appliques were easy and even fun. Others... oy. I loved the monster idea, and think John did an awesome job of creating the images. I just didn't think about sewing around the edges of so many of them! When I'm done, I will have made 3 Fairy shirts, 1 b-ball, 1 floral and 11 monsters. Plus a monogramed one.

Emergency Knitter's Ornament
Picture-less Tute (temporarily - pics may follow (comment if you need them))

This is a great gift for the knitters on your list! In other posts, I've linked to the versions that inspired me, which are simpler, but here is how I made my ornaments.

You need:
Yarn (smooth, well-defined works best (novelty yarn kind of looks like a giant bug with this application)) - I used my scrap yarn bowl & lots of pretty wool
Clear glass ornaments. I bought mine at JoAnn Fabrics (Michael's only had the opalescent kind)
A little patience and knowledge of how to make a skein (I'll try to describe)

Sit down with your yarn and make some mini skeins. I simply made a loop of yarn between my hand and elbow (similar to how you'd wind cords). How many times you wrap will depend on the thickness of the yarn (remember it will be doubled), so it may take some experimentation to settle on the right size. I believe I wrapped worsted yarn about 9-10 times.


Take the loop and twist several times until it starts to double up on itself. Fold the twist in half and insert one end insid the other and let go. It should untwist and straighten out a little, but remain plenty twisted. (Note: Until I can get home and take some step-by-step pics, see step 9 on this page for a close visual.)

Carefully remove the metal cap from the ornament and set it aside.

Take a mini skein and twist one end (pref. the one opposite the joined ends) as tightly as you can. Stick that into the opening of the ornament.

Once you have an end inside the ornament, just turn the skein like you're screwing in a light bulb, pushing a little (not too hard - you're holding a glass ball) . If the skein isn't too fat, it should work it's way in. Once it's completely inside, it will plump back up again.

Use a knitting needle or pencil to poke the skein around until it's out of the way of the neck and insert the metal cap.

Package up and give! I was going to use patterned take out containers, but found the PERFECT square boxes at Michael's. They even have little reindeer wearing sweaters and scarves as a pattern.


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Copyright 2006-2008 Melissa Shaw
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email: crazycatladymel at gmail period com
Tutorials & patterns shared on crazycatladymel’s blog are provided free for personal use. Individuals may share unlimited print copies, as long as the copyright information is included. Images, tutorials and patterns may not be duplicated in any format - e.g. electronic or print - without permission (feel free to link to the pages, but don't copy/paste). Have fun, but don't steal!

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As promised, pics of the project I was working on last night (I said I was going to work on it Friday, but it didn't happen).

I have been bursting at the seams to get these pictures taken and posted. These almost make me want a Christmas tree. I'll be giving these to all the women knitters on my list, at least the ones I can hand them to. I'm not sure how well they'll mail. I am going to package them in patterned takeout boxes on a nest of shredded paper.

Note: Look up a post for a tutorial!

Emergency Knitting Ornaments I got the idea from another blog*, but I never just copy something - I have to add my own twist. I sat down with my big bowl of scrap yarn and spotted two mini skeins that were sent as gifts with purchase, and instantly knew what I had to do. I made tiny skeins of yarn (8-12 yards) and very patiently stuffed them into the clear glass ornaments. The original blog talked about a tag that said "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass" and a person could definitely sit down and knit with the contents of these ornaments (although I wouldn't recommend it (what with the glass shards & all)). *Pic here, from this site (found via splityarn).

Close-up of Emergency Knitting Ornament A little bit of Manos.( more pics behind cut [for length] )

As promised.
Update: More pics here

	Swap Enhancement Package. For my SIL, who joins many swaps. The box.
	Swap Enhancement Package - Interior So far. A couple items aren't ready yet, but I'm very close!
	Swap Enhancement Package - Reveal Card With little ribbon "belt" that she can reuse for a package.
	Swap Enhancement Package - Ribbons and Cards The big tin contains an assortment of ribbon/button ties. The small tin contains circular folded cards made with yarn and chocolate papers.
	Swap Enhancement Package - Stationery & Tissue Paper 2 colors of tissue paper (pink). 3 kinds of stationery. Left front: "Your Secret Pal" w/ pink yarn envelopes, left back: logo with her full name & same envelopes, right: Chocolate stationery with her initials and 2 chocolate papers. All in little folios I made from solid card stock & patterned tape.
	Swap Enhancement Package - Extras Funky patterned tape, pink & black Sharpies, Fragile stickers & air mail stickers.

Also going in: Some of these postcards (finished 11/27/06), shipping labels and seals of some kind (not made yet).

In about 5 minutes, I'm going to take a box of ornaments and a bunch of leftover yarn with me to bed to make some of these, from this site (found via splityarn).

I will probably package them in patterned "Chinese takeout boxes". Not sure if I can mail them, though.