Handmade Xmas

We had our "Xmas lunch" with Pete's family yesterday, so now I can share the presents I made for the nieces and nephews. I'm still not confident enough with my crafting abilities to just go handmade, so I added a couple of little bought things with each present.

For 8 year old Nephew E I made a drawstring bag for him to take stuff to sport etc. I printed out the logo of his favourite football (soccer) team onto printable iron-on transfer paper and ironed it on to personalise it. I included a couple of small pool toys in the bag.



Nephew L (no prizes for guessing his name lol) starts school next year so I made him a drawstring book bag out of pirate material, cut his name out of felt and sewed it on. Included an art pad & textas.


Their youngest brother (Nephew I) I made a set of counting beanbags from calico - I grabbed the idea from One Inch World. Again I used the iron-on transfer paper, printed out a suitable clipart and put 1 - 5 pictures on each.


The really cool thing about this pattern is that each bean bag is slightly bigger than the next, so they stack in order as well. I was pretty stoked with how these came out - but boy it took a while to make!


Niece C likes butterflies (or at least her Mum does as she's only 1 year old lol) so I turned this gorgeous fabric into a butterfly shaped cushion / pillow for her. It should hopefully be the right size to take in the pram etc.


For Nephews X and L and Niece M (2 year old triplets) I made up a dress-up box to share. I made a cape (could be super-hero, princess etc etc etc), apron (chef, builder etc) and a head scarf (pirate, sling etc). I also picked up a handbag, neck scarf and tie from the op shop, and Billy donated a builder's hat from his toy cupboard (yes he was aware that he did!)




So all presents for my nieces & nephews were handmade. To be honest, it would've been much quicker to go and buy something, but I really enjoyed making them and giving them, and its 7 less pieces of plastic junk in the world.. (Plus my sewing skills really got a work-out!)

I think they went over well - everyone opens their presents together in one big flurry of ripped paper so it's a bit hard to tell. Oh well, I'm please with them anyway..