Christmas Crafting and Gift ideas!

O

oooh are we ever having fun planning what to make this year as Christmas nears!

I thought I'd take a minute and share some of the links that have inspired me lately. Hope you'll enjoy these.

• Check out this tutorial for some absolutely adorable sewing lace up cards for the little guys and girls in your life. Timmy will be getting a set of these this Christmas from an older sibling. (shhhh..... don't tell!)
• How about a toddler-sized backpack? Our little Timmy is *so* proud to be able to carry his own bag when we go somewhere in the car. This will be a perfect size for him. It'll be ideal as a "quiet bag" for church too! (I found some super cute truck fabric for his bag on sale at JoAnns recently that I'll use.)
• Check out these lovely PDFs which include tutorials to make the best little books of vintage paper crafts or paper dolls.
• I am totally in love with these little birds! Check out Edie's picture-filled tutorial here. The children and I plan to make a tree full of these this December. I think they'll be hanging around here even after the tree is taken down. I have really taken to decorating with birds~ they're so, well, happy!
• Is this not a beautiful Christmasy apron? I usually use full aprons (I'm a really messy cook!), but this one is so cute that I want to make an exception!
• How about a tassel tutorial? Here's a great free one from Mandi who wrote a fabulous tutorial as a guest at Life in Grace. If you are really a bonified tassel-maniac, you will definitely want to spend $10 to learn from The Nester herself exactly how to go about the fine art of tassel making.
• This tutorial for simple but beautiful bookmarks by Miss Jen would be so easy for even young girls to make as gifts. They are not only pretty, but can mark two places in a book at once! I think I need some of these for my Bible!

Hope that inspires you! Have fun blessing your friends and family with homemade goodness!
susan