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Originally posted by Shanabanana:
Most of my friends are swing dancers, and we all have a habit of carrying our dance shoes in our bags. So I took a shoebag that I've used for years and copied it for my friends. For the sushi lovers, the bag is half sushi print and half black cordoroy. For the others, it is half jazz print and half cordoroy. Then I embroidered their names (with my mom's awesome Pfaff machines) on the black part of the bag so they won't get mixed up.

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Originally posted by bird8382:
Cute, cute, katwoman. I love your shrinkydinks. Where can you get the blank shrinkable pages?

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Ok, to recap: Here are the puppets

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/crowjoy/album?.dir=/Puppets

And I also have a list of food gifts from the Parenting magazine this month:

Pretzel rods coated with melted candy chips or chocolate, then decorated with sprinkles, etc. (I've also seen oreos and other packaged cookies done this way.)
Mint hot chocolate in a jar
Snowflakes made from pie crust with cinnamon and sugar
Mmm, roasted almonds with sugary coating
Instant cookie kit with unbaked sugar dough, cutters and sprinkles

I still have a few puppets to make and I need to work on Mander's fleece blankie... as in get the fleece but we're close, realll close. I can't thank Henna enough for starting me thinking so early.

I made my mom two small quilt hangings and some fire starters. The fire starters are my herb stems from this summer dried and tied with homemade scented paper, twigs and twine. She loves her new fireplace, but just has issues starting the fire!

1 small bottle of mint-infused simple syrup
1 small bottle of lemon-infused rum (optional)
1 lime or lime syrup
bottle of club soda
2 highball glasses

...all in a tropically-decorated gift basket.

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Originally posted by emcarb:
Katwoman, your dinks turned out very cute! Did you use the opaque kind, or the clear? Did you decorate both sides?

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Hi Emcarb,

Thanks! I used the Ruff-n-Ready and only decorated the rough side. Here's a breakdown of the materials:

- Shrinky Dinks Ruff-n-Ready Paper
- Fine Line Black Sharpie
- Crayola Colored Pencils
- Cat Images I had from another project
- A Micro Hole Punch

• 7 fleece hats (1 was for me, the test one)
  
• 6 fleece scarves
  
• 3 sets of holiday wine charms using cool glass beads in Christmas shapes
  
• 3 sets regular wine charms

And yesterday I made sets of the cards we made a while back with the photos of stuff around town. So wooo! Got some stuff marked off my list finally! And I am BEAT now. Gah.

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Originally posted by BionicGirl:
Pictures here (mixed in with some other, non-Christmas gift stuff).

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For the hats, I started following the intructions that SB posted a link to (here), but I ended up adapting them slightly. Here's what I did:

1. Measure fleece to 13" for hat length, and approx. 23" (adjust to your head size) for circumference. Cut fabric. Fold fabric in half lengthwise and cut in half (so you should end up with 2 pieces that are about 11 1/2" x 13").

2. Sew along both 13" lengths.

3. Sew along one 11 1/2" length.

4. Keeping hat inside out, trim away excess seam. (Since the brim will be turned up, you don't want excess seams showing.)

5. With hat still inside out, align seams so that they are one on top of the other. The tips should form triangles at the top.

6. Stitch a single row across the top of the triangle, about 1/4-1/2" down. Trim away excess seam.

7. Turn hat right side out. Fold up seam and hem around the brim. Trim away excess seam.

8. To create a pom-pom, see instructions on Martha site above.

Floating candles in various containers
Canning jars full of pine and cranberries
Bowls of lemons and limes
Pitcher full of glass ball ornaments
Pinecones and pine boughs
Pillar candles wrapped with candy canes

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Originally posted by Henna73:
Does anyone have a unique idea for a center piece for Christmas?

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Originally posted by emcarb:
The other thing, which I'll present as a package tie on, will be a beaded monogram/initial ornament.

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http://www.thele.com/thele/wreath.jpg

Unfortunately, the holiday plateau has hit the crowjoy household. I threw everything down from the attic but there it sits. I have *mostly* everything done but with a few glaring exceptions, most of whom need to be mailed with their family's stuff and I have no ideas. What do y'all make for boys? I need crafted gifts for 3 in the immediate near term and probably 2 more before it's all over. It's hard! Only 1 of them might like bath goodies, if ya know what I mean.

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Originally posted by Heatherina:
What is this Pfaff machine you speak of that can embroider names??

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I got started with the marble magnets last night. It is fun, and while it's the hot craft now I don't think most of my friends and family will have them.

I didn't realize until I started how much the glass would magnify the images. The only thing is that I think I should go back and look for the silicon glue; the Uhu mosaic glue I got is noxious.

"Bad Things"

http://www.geocities.com/diycat/badthings/badthings.html

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Originally posted by bacontogo:
I recently jumped onto the marble magnet bandwagon, and those things aren't as easy as they look!

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When I first tried to do them, I ran into trouble, too. I found that the pictures were always ruined by the glue. I just started painting the flat side of mine with acrylic paint after that, and I find that I like this method much better. I just do little swirls, starts, dots, initials, etc... Just cover the whole back with paint, then attach your magnet right to the painted back. That was easier for me to maneuver.