Free Christmas & I love my S.I.L.

My sister-in-law and I have nothing in common.  Really, if we hadn't married into the same family, we never ever ever would have met.  She's from Los Angeles.  I grew up in Southeast Texas.  She went to college in NYC.  I went to college in podunk East Texas.  She's a dancer.  I'm a runner.  (I used to be a runner anyway.)  She is several years younger than me.  I am several years older than her.  Just seeing if you're paying attention.  We're different.  On a lot of things we are very different.  And yet, we get each other.  And we disagree with each other.  And we tell each other the truth and there is no judgement.  I love my sister-in-law!  

So when Christmas was approaching and we were very honestly discussing the struggles and frustration that come with Christmas she said in exasperation "I think we should only get each other gifts that are free!".  I laughed.  I mean, come on?  Free?!?!  For Christmas?!?  Then I remembered all the free things I've gotten over the past year or so:  Yarn.  Lipstick.  Eye shadow.  Candles.  Cough Drops.  Sample sizes of anything and everything.  And then I did the unthinkable:  "OK!  Let's do it!!".  And I have to say Free Christmas has been a ton of fun!!!  I had to think outside the box and be creative.  And the stress level was minimal because I could focus on the gifts she might love rather than on spending enough to equate my love.  Because I don't have enough money for that!!  So here's what she got....

Pink Purse:  This summer there was a $5 off Merona Handbag coupon to Target.  And Target just happened to have on clearance for $4.99.  FREE!

I wrapped this before I took a picture.  I just couldn't bring myself to unwrap it for a picture.  It's a journal.  You''ll just have to take my word for it.  It was $4.95 at Hallmark.  And Hallmark had a $5 off coupon.  FREE!

Remember when I made handwarmers?  This is a bigger rice bag made from some of those leftovers.  I didn't buy any of this solely for her so...FREE!

Chinese food box, melted snowman ornament, fortune cookies and a flower bobby pin.  Ok, so obviously I got the chinese food box and fortune cookies after dinner one night.  The box is clean!  I showed you the snowman ornament already.  And the bobby pin gets it's own comment next.  I was going to make hair sticks out of the chop sticks that I got, but they weren't looking good, so I scrapped 'em.

Believe it or not, this is a bobby pin.  I have a bunch of bobby pins still hooked to the cardboard sheet they came on.  To make this, I made a squished circle flower (directions), glued felt to the back.  Then I put another circle of felt inside the bobby pin.  I glued the two felt circles together with the top of the bobby pin sandwiched in between.  I had the pins, the felt and the wool that made the flower.  FREE!  

Sadly, these didn't make it into the box.  They're too big.  You can't tell from the picture, but they are huge pinecones from Louisiana.  My S.I.L. lived there for a brief time and has...um...memories of it!  I thought these would be funny.  I put them in ziplock bags with spices for several weeks to make them smell pretty too.  But, alas, they had to stay here.  :(  But FREE!

Ok, I cheated.  My S.I.L has a little obsession with the Gosselins.  Don't we all?  It's kind of like watching a train wreck.  I saw this book and the other Gosselin book at the Dollar Tree for a dollar.  I called the S.I.L. to discuss cheating with her.  She didn't give me carte blanche to spend money, but she did say she would love the Gosselin books!!  So I hightailed it back to the Dollar Tree (several days later) and they only had one left.  So sad.  FREE! $1.

I also added some bath salts that I bought for another project and chocolate that I took from The Medium One's advent calendar to her gift box too.  There were many options for free music and printables, but I didn't have a CD to burn to (and would have to spend money to buy some) and my printer has been out of ink for months now.

People looked at me like I was crazy when I excitedly told them about our Free Christmas.  But honestly, this has been the most fun gift-giving experience ever.  For me, the fun of coming up with this stuff has been priceless.

Love ya, Lyd!!  Merry Christmas!!

Scarf and Flower--EASY!

A friend of mine showed me the gift she'd made for her son's teacher.  It was a fleece scarf as seen here.  Short version:  Buy fleece.  Cut two pieces to the width you want your scarf.  Sew the two together at the ends to make one REALLY long scarf.  Then, sew straight down the middle scrunching it up as you go.  Sara also made some really cute flower pins to put on her's too.  (Maybe if we all ask really nicely, she'll post a picture in the comments.  I don't even know if that's possible....)

See!  Cute.  And I can't even sew.

So, I made some scarves too.  And they are really really cute.  And as easy as that tutorial promises.  Plus, I made The Big One and The Medium One scarves out of the leftovers.  There was about a two inch strip left that I cut in half.  The Big  One let me scrunch hers.  Woohoo!  More scrunching!

 Then, I decided I needed more flowers.  But I would need their scarves back for that....hm......Ok, a bribe:  I promised I would take them to the fabric store and let them pick their own colors if I could have their scarves back.  Yep, it worked.

So when I started messing around trying to make a rolled rose I came across something that worked beautifully.  Remember that I scrunched The Big One's scarf??  Well, here's what I did....It was roughly two inches wide.  I folded it in half along the seam and glued it together.  Then, I rolled and glued until it was as fat as I wanted.  I cut off the excess and glued a portion to the bottom to secure it.  Viola!  Ruffley Rose!

Folded in half and glued the end together to make it easier to roll.

As you roll and glue try to keep the bottom even.  

Cut off the excess leaving a tail long enough to cover the spiral.  Glue the tail over the back of the flower.

Ruffley Rose!  I added a pin too.

I tried doing a regular rose with a straight piece of fleece, but it came out really flat and squished looking.  I did take a narrow strip and roll it straight with no rolling.  It came out cute, but would take a very long length to make a very big flower.

To add the pins I simply hand sewed hot glued a pin to the back.  I put glue along the top and bottom to make sure it was secure.  Then I glued a piece of felt over the center to hold it together a bit more.  I found that tracing the bottom of a fabric paint lid worked for this little circle of felt.  You'd be surprised how big most "little" bottles are!  I had a time finding something the right size for this pin.  Also, I placed the pin near the "top" of the flower.  That way, when it's pinned on, the top won't droop.

So there we are.  Easy fleece scarves and flowers from the great state of Texas where it was 80 degrees earlier this week!!

For the boy....

I convinced my little girls to trade me their scrap scarves in exchange for a trip to pick out their own fleece for scarves.  We made sure to get enough for the three of them and their cousin.  But there's a boy cousin too.  And at 3.5 years old he's plenty big enough to know when he's being left out.  He needed a scarf too.  But not ruffled.  Boys don't do ruffles (right?).   Here's my solution:  Pocket Scarf!

I used The Big Ones hand to check for size.

We picked out a bright green fleece for The Boy.  I bought 1/8 yard.  The edges are choppy, but I didn't want to try to trim it straight.  I didn't really want it any narrower, so it's choppy.  I folded up a five inch piece on each end and stitched up the two sides.  Industrious persons could top stitch along the bottom as well.  Really industrious persons could cut off the pocket square and sew it higher up and fringe the part underneath.  I don't like fringe.  Never have.  It's a personal choice and I'm ok with it.

That's a slit.

I also added a slit to hold the scarf in place around his neck.  We're in Texas.  We are not experienced scarf wearers!!

Sewn up pocket with The Big Ones hand.

Full scarf, slit and all.

I can't wait to see The Boy running around with cars and dirt stuffed in those pockets!!!

Teacher Gifts

Christmas gifts for teachers are always a challenge.  I don't like to get them things they already have.  Another mug.  Another ornament.  And this year money IS an object.  But I have time and random objects from around the house so here's what I came up with...

Teeny tiny rice bag hand warmers!  Maybe it's because my hands are always cold.  Or maybe it's because, when I was a teacher, I was outside all the time.  Even in the cold.  Popping these little boogers in my mittens or in my pockets.....ahhhhhhh..........

So here's what I did...
I cut fleece into 3.5 inch by 6.5 inch rectangles (I'll be honest.....none of these are that size.  But that's the size I was going for!).  Then I folded them in half and stitched up two sides and most of the way across the third side.  I added regular rice and top stitched across the top.  Viola!

I found that the funnel made adding the rice a lot less messy.

I'll add instructions on a cute little notecard (at least, in my head right now it's going to be cute.  My printer is out of ink so I'm not sure how cute I can get freehand).  I haven't tested them yet, but I imagine they'll be good microwaved 45 seconds to 1 minute.

I only made four sets, but I think I will end up making at least two more.  One of them for me!