fabric xmas wrap

I know I'm a freak but when I think about all the wrapping paper that gets thrown away at xmas it causes me an almost physical pain. A few years ago (3 actually) I decided that I would just make a variety of fabric gift bags in xmas prints to re-use every year. Well . . . I never did make the fabric into bags, but I use it to wrap our gifts every year anyway. The past two years I taped it in place - it holds just fine, you won't want to throw it around a lot or anything - and then I used curling ribbon in different colors to designate which family member the gift was for. This year I didn't bother with the tape (I hate spending the time pulling it off later) and just tied yarn in different colors around the packages to hold it all in place. I think it looks really nice and this year I had all the fabric re-folded and ready to put away by the time the last presents were opened.

snowballs!

I've been crocheting these snowballs in different sizes and in different yarns - packed them away with the xmas stuff now but first took this picture. Not often that you get to say, "No snowball fights in the house!" especially in GA!

This is what I've been doing the last few days-

Gifts for my husband's co-workers and sugar cookies for his students to decorate.
My kids are begging for vegetables!

furniture update-

(I need to take some pics when it isn't dark)
Holy wow were you right about the copper color Mamacatfish!
I should have bought 3 cans, oh darn, another spraypaint shopping trip.

Game boy cozy-

Wool, dyed by the boys back in my felted vegetables phase. On the way to the washing machine for felting . . .

Bath salts update-

Very happy with my packaging - found some flowery mini-muffin liners at the grocery store and popped the salts into them. Oh, and they are like rocks now, no worries about them holding together! I put 3 salts in a tiny tin can (recycled tomato sauce cans) and wrapped the whole deal in tissue paper. I made tags with more muffin tin liners and punched circles and wrote "'Florida Hippy' orange patcholi bath salts made by Helen and Hazel"

I just put a bunch of bigger cans filled with water in the freezer. I'm thinking I'll nail designs in the cans to make them lanterns and put bath salts and a candle in them - instant funky spa!

Homeschooling Hanukkah candle centerpiece

Latkes with sour cream and applesauce for dinner tonight - I wanted to do something with candles also. My trifle bowl, some epsom salts, and 8 tea lights and we had a festive centerpiece in about 30 seconds.

Crafty compulsion of the day-

I'm packing up the xmas boxes and having my usual, "NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" freak out. So I'm making some bath salts to maybe include before I seal up the boxes. I wanted to make fizzy bath bombs, but my citric acid isn't here yet, so this is roughly the bath bomb recipe without it.
I'm not sure if they'll stay in shape, so they might just be packaged up as loose salts . . . but this is what they are doing right now.

Xmas ornament cards-

This is a project that ended differently than it started. . . I was just going to make cards out of circles with pictures pasted to them to kind of look like ornaments. Then after all of the work I put in cutting everything out (and especially the 65 pictures I took trying to get a good shot of each of the kids) I realized that it would actually be easier to attach the whole thing together if they were actually ornaments.

Each circle has a loop of yarn for hanging on a tree. In the card form, the top of the loop is taped to the ornament above it. I put an extra piece of clear tape directly on the back of the cards and the loop is taped to that so the paper won't get ripped when it is taken apart.

4 done, 16 more to assemble. I was thinking about how cute these would look on my Mom's "wall(s) of cards" when I designed them.

Fashback! Sock dog

Made this about a month ago. The pattern was from the Martha Stewart Holiday Handmade Gifts Magazine, socks pilfered from Scott's sock drawer. Hazel has a new favorite toy.

Everybody must get stoned-

I made these cat toys for all of the cat owning members of the family. The dog socks and the stripey socks were the boys' when they were babies, and the pink ones were $1.00 a pair at Target. It was a great excuse to buy cute little socks . . .
They are stuffed with fiberfill and catnip and sewn shut at the top. Note - if you are making them you should keep then in a ziplock baggie so your own cats don't get into your stash.

Freaking!

Just looked at the calandar and realized that I've got to kick it into hyperdrive! I should go to the post office this week to be on the safe side, I've got some gifts to finish up fast!

Cousin Memory Game

Another present for my niece - a homemede version of the game Memory.
I punched out pictures of my kids and lots of cardstock. Each card has an orange back, a middle layer that is just there for stability and to thicken the cards, and either a photo or another piece of cardstock with a stamp on it. I used modpodge to hold everything together and stacked candles on top of them as they dried to keep them from bending and warping.

Since my niece isn't two yet I thought my sister could separate the photo cards from the stamp cards and use them separately, then re-join the decks as she gets older.

Have to figure out packaging still, I was going to put then in a parmesean cheese container but there would be a lot of empty roon in there. . .

What I would do differently next time: not much - if I was making this for an older child I would have more pictures. This time I just used what I happened to have (leftovers fron xmas cards) and I'm happy with the split deck option. I'd like to look for a rectangular punch, I think that would make the cards easier to play with.

My trigger finger is itching!

Got this furniture from a friend who is moving. Did I mention that I have a little bit of a spray paint habit? Well, I do. And this set is just begging for a coat of it!

Stole-

Knitted for my niece-
I made her some dress up clothes last year and want to continue the tradition-

Crafty compulsion of the day-

I used my new hole punch - it is a circle with about a 1.5" diameter - to make a million circles out of the freepeople catalog. I love the colors and patterns and backdrops. I'll probably use them for decoupage.

Mouse cat toy, pre-felting

This slit is so I can stuff himwith catnip afterwards.

I'm on a crafty bender right now-

So I'm going to try to keep up with what I'm doing now and then add what I've done in the last 6 months or so-
Right now I'm working on:
1. cat toys - crochet mice made of wool and/or funfur, felted and stuffed w/catnip
2. xmas cards- had an idea I 'm trying to follow through on - this might plunge me into the dreaded world of scapbooking.
3. xmas presents - knit, crochet, sewing, and more!
4. Community blanket project - 8x8 squares, knitted or crochet that well combine for a friend who is having a baby.