Day Six - 2011 (Lisa,Nasrene, Misty)

Candy Canes: Lisa

I chose magnets because I don't consider myself very crafty.  Also,I thought that these would be an easy craft for a procrastinator like me.  I really wanted magnets for myself too.  :) I hope that everyone likes them.

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Snowflakes : Nasrene


                                      Un-holiday cards!

I chose this crafty because I knew it was something I could do with my limited crafty skill level (ha!) but would still be appreciated by the crafty mavens of OLW.  What initially drew me to this subgroup in the first place (back in the old days of OBBC) were Emily’s beautiful photographs on her blog of her every day life with Noah and Joe.  I loved how she made the seemingly “ordinary days” appear so extraordinary through her lens and her blog posts.

I soon found that so many of you ladies shared this very same talent…making the most of each day, savoring the “ordinary” days, and making the little moments in life special with your families.   Last year Sarah-of-the-Avy-Quinn posted a brilliant, quick and easy gift idea, which served as my inspiration for this gift.  Enclosed is a week’s worth of blank notecards, pre-stamped ‘cause I love ya.  ;-)  I made them using photographs I took around my house and around my city.  Simple little snapshots of the ordinary things in my life that make my ordinary days extraordinary.   I hope you share these little bits of pretty with your friends and family for absolutely no reason or holiday.  They are ordinary, any day, un-holiday cards.   Use them to say thank you, I love you, I was just thinking of you, hope you had a great day, or really anything at all.  

We don’t need to wait for Christmas to give, New Years to resolve, Thanksgiving to be grateful, or Valentine’s Day to love.  It’s the ordinary, “un-holiday” days that make life extraordinary after all.

I hope the recipients enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them for you.  

♥

Nasrene

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Mistletoes: Misty
This year I made you girls reversible half aprons.  Pinterest was my inspiration.  I thought the aprons would be a fairly simple "first" sewing project.  I learned a lot in the process of making these, and had so much fun doing so! I hope you girls all enjoy them, and that they make you smile when you wear them.  I love each and every one of you!! -Misty

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Day Five - 2011 (Allison, Kristina, Beth)

Candy Canes: Allison

I decided to try counted cross stitch for the first time. My mom makes cross stitch Christmas Stockings for family members and I always wanted to try, but on a much smaller scale. Ornaments were perfect for a first timer. I had a lot of fun making them. I know we were aiming for a half point to 1 point, but these were well worth the extra time. I am so proud of how they turned out. I hope Team 1 likes them as much as I do. I did my best to pick out who got what since they are all different.

Here is a close up Collage of Allison's Ornaments:

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Snowflakes: Kristina

These bird ornaments are sort of a family tradition.  It's a pattern my mom made when I was little and she's made them for years.  When she started making them this year, it came to me that this should be my crafty!  I've never made them before, just received them.  :)  I hope you all enjoy!  It's been awhile since I busted out my sewing machine!  lol

 Also, please forgive me for not including any sort of card, but Day #5 is from ME! 

Love, Kristina

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Mistletoes: Beth

When I saw THIS I just knew I had to make it.  Reading through the directions seemed easy enough, so I evaluated my supplies...and to utter surprise, I had EVERYTHING I needed to make this for everyone. 

When I was looking, I wanted to make something cute and purposeful.  I personally have always wanted to have something to hold my keys when I walk in the door.  I just never have seen anything that really caught my eye until then.  It met my useful and cute criteria and was something that I myself would have liked to have had. 

I hope you enjoy the key holder!  I surly enjoyed making them for everyone! 

Merry Christmas-

Beth

Day Four - 2011 (Sharron, Sarah, Melanie )

Candy Canes : Sharron

 I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do because the thing I had my heart most set on was something that some of my swap partners said they would never use, so I scoured the internet. I mentioned it to my media clerk the next day, see if she had any ideas and she told me about this scarf she saw at a college football game (they charged $25 for one of these). I thought they were cute, so I looked for a picture, and really went off that, I didn't use a tutorial :) It is a plus that they are nice and warm and cozy!!!

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Snowflakes : Sarah

The craft that I chose was a travel sewing kit. Originally I wanted to make something with felt because I love felt but I made my first one it looked like a 4 year old did it (!) so I decided to stick with what I am better at which is sewing! I found a few on pinterest which I did not pin just in case you saw it ;) The one that I saw and loved was a little too detailed for making 8 of them so I came up with my own design. I know that not everyone sews but I am hoping that some day you need to sew a button or just pin something. And I got my felt in by making the felt flowers on the front which all are different! Hopefully you find it useful! Merry Christmas :)

Here is the link to the one I saw on pinterest: http://lotsofpinkhere.blogspot.com/2011/09/travel-sewing-kit-tutorial.html

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Mistletoes : Melanie

I have this great reusable shopping bag that I got at the GAP recently.  It's so convenient to stick in the glove box or purse for shopping...  or to stick in the weekend bag and use for a dirty clothes bag. (realistically, I use mine for this the most. )

I have used ripstop nylon in the past for other projects, and it's pretty fun to sew... so I thought I would create some bags for you ladies to use as well.  I pondered lots of different designs, but as I use and like one just like this, I thought I'd go with what I know.

Merry Christmas! 

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Day Three - 2011 (Jen, Jess, Keri)

Candy Canes: Jen

Thanks to Pinterest, I had no shortage of ideas for this swap.  Tank tops turned into totes, rings, ornaments - then I came across a tutoral for these little keychains, and I knew I had a winner.

http://www.scrapscene.com/2007/05/mini-layouts-on-a-keychain.html

I looked all over for tags (you know, cause I only half read the tutorial and didn't see the suggestion to use laminate chip samples) but couldn't find the,  Luckily - we have an Archivers near by.  :)  Then covered them with scrapbook paper, and used pictures lovingly lifted from Facebook. A couple layers of Mod Podge, and they were ready.

Merry Christmas, everyone - can't wait to see the rest of the gifties!!

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Snowflakes: Jess

My craft is a wreath ornament. I had a tough time deciding if I should do something Christmas-y or something that could be used all year long. I went to everyone's go-to source for crafty inspiration--pinterest--and saw these mini wreaths (http://christopherandtia.blogspot.com/2010/12/handmade-yarn-wreath-ornaments-2010.html). They looked cute, could be somewhat personalized with colors and didn't seem too time consuming. I decided to give it a go. I ordered the mini wreath forms from the site the the tutorial listed, but you could also use shower rings. I bought a couple skeins of yarn and everything else came from my craft stash.

After I finished the wreaths, I thought they looked bare so I decided to add a bow and a charm to hang down to add some extra "flair." I used this site for the charm (http://www.sarahortega.com/2011/05/diy-bird-nest-necklace.html?m=1). 

Each wreath has its own color scheme, picked specifically for its recipient. I hope you all like them and know how much fun I had making these for you all!

Mistletoes: Keri

For the swap I decided to do the glass pendants #1) because Melody made these for our FIRST swap and I get so many compliments when I wear it, I wanted to make more. So I made more, and more, and more. I used scrapbook paper I had on hand and I love the way they turned out! I bought the necklace part at JoAnns, and it's important that you know you PUSH TOGETHER, THEN TWIST APART. I wanted to make sure you had a necklace that you could slide the pendant on and off, in case you had another one you'd rather use. 

For the second part of the gift I did a version of these

 http://rubies-pearls.blogspot.com/2011/ ... celet.html

Super quick, super easy and cute! 

And then, of course, who doesn't need one.more.scrappy.flower! 

Hope you like!

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Day Two - 2011 (Valerie, Anna, Stef)

Candy Canes: Valerie

I am crazy about felt. I also love ornaments and traditions and wanted to make something that was meaningful and looked antique / vintage. I made several different variations and picked each set for each person.

Here is my inspiration but I was way too chicken to use paper, so felt won!

I chose to make 2 turtledoves because I felt that they were the ultimate symbol of Christmas Spirit : Friendship, Kindness, Companionship, Devotion and Love - all things that bring a smile to me and my family.  We strive as a family to support and provide those characteristics to others and I wanted to share that with you and your family. 

It was the perfect distraction for bed rest!

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Snowflakes: Anna

I made chalkboard tags a la Pinterest. Pretty simple. Wooden shapes from Michael's, primed and then painted with chalkboard paint. Drill a hole before you paint. Decorate with paint pens. Voila!!

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Mistletoes: Stef

I hemmed and hawed over what to do this year because I wanted to do something special, but I didn't want to do something too cheesy.  I am a fan of utility -- I like to make gifts that will be USED instead of just admired...

I spent a few hours scouring the interwebs and Pinterest and came across THIS TUTORIAL.  Then I saw THIS ONE.  So, I decided to combine the two into my swappie gift.

It was MUCH more time consuming than I had anticipated, but after I had the first one completed, I knew that I had to make 6 more.  I did buy additional fabric to do them, but I really liked how they turned out with the yellow/gray combo.  Remember my sneak peek (see attached photo labeled sneak_peak).  I bet you all thought you were getting something "bedroom" related.  The fabric you see on my headboard is the same fabric I used to make your swappie!!

The only thing I would do differently is actually learn how to make jewelry and have a clasp at the end -- since I couldn't figure that out, they all have chains long enough to go over your head.  Sorry if the length isn't ideal...

sneak peek (below)

 Hope you all enjoy them!  I sure enjoyed crafting them for you this year!


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Day One - 2011 (Michelle, Jennie, Lindsey)

Candy Canes : Michelle

Description: I made an Advent Calendar Kit complete with pockets, tags to put into the pockets, clothespins and string to hang the pockets on.  Each tag has an activity to do with your family on the 12 days leading up to Christmas.  The activity tags can be put into whatever pocket works best for your family's schedule.

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Snowflakes : Jennie

Okay, the real one is the small 4x4 canvas, painted with burlap and then vintage map hearts of the city.   The ribbon around the edge makes it more decorative.

The second one was just quick because I felt like the first might be inadequate!  A framed "what's for dinner" for every night of the week.  You can write on it with dry erase marker and your family should be in the know!

 (thanks Jess for the pix)

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Mistletoes : Lindz

Day number 1... oh the pressure!  I wanted to create something that could be "heirloom" as well as fun and functional.  My crafty idea spawned from a project I did for another occasion... a wedding gift for my childhood best friend.  I found this tutorial on Pinterest for a project using maps to memorialize the special events in a couple's life... where they met, or fell in love, or got married.  After creating a "memory map" for the bff's wedding present, I was left with an entire atlas of pages begging to be made into more crafties.

Keeping in mind my goal of "heirloom/fun/functional" as well as the lessons learned in past swaps concerning shipping prices, my idea was born to make miniature memory maps for Christmas 2011.  A couple of my team members recently purchased new homes in which they will celebrate Christmas this year, and what is a more traditional celebratory knick-knack than a tree ornament?  So I went to work butchering the atlas and came up with 7 pint size, framed map ornaments marking where each family will celebrate Christmas 2011.

I got them all wrapped up and felt like something was missing.  I was day 1, for goodness sake!  I wanted to really start the swap with a bang and I felt the packages were missing just a teeny smidge of jujj.  So I went flipping through the atlas again and the compass on every page marking North caught my eye... my mind went to "North pole... true north... your heart is your compass..." and ended up settling on "May your travels always bring you "home for the holidays."  The map compasses found their way onto glass marble pendants and bam!  The gifts felt complete.

May your travels always bring you "home" for the holidays! 

Much love to my Mistletoe girlies,

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The Teams for 2011

Team One: Candy Canes

Allison, EmilyD, Hollie, JenFlu, Lisa, Michelle, Sharron and Valerie

Team Two: Snowflakes

Anna, DawnR, Jennie, Jess, Kristina, Megan, Nas and Sarah

Team Three: Mistletoes

Amelia, Beth, DawnS, Keri, Lindsey, Mel, Misty and Stef

Open date: Dec 12th stay tuned!