Handmade gifts

I love to give a handmade gift! To me, it says that I really have thought about what to give. I have always had intentions of doing handmade gifts but then let time get away from me and end up just giving a brought one. Now that B is around the number of gifts I need to give has increased. I am really making a conscious effort to be a bit more intentional and thoughtful with gift giving. Also, with handmade gifts I already have a lot of the necessary supplies already on hand so it is also a way to save money.

For the people who work with him regularly (child care staff, swimming teacher, etc) I have over the last few years made either gingerbread or shortbread and packaged them on a plate or in a cup as a small token at Christmas.

This was the gingerbread we made last Christmas

Valentine's Day heart shortbread for his friends.

 We have had a few birthday parties for B's friends lately. As they were for girls whose mother's are a bit crafty I thought that they could get their own sewing kit so that they could learn to sew like B (see this post). I made some bags to keep all their things together. Inside the bags I put some hessian, needles and a selection of wool. They have been very well received with one of the girls getting so into it that her parents had a hard time getting her to stop and go to bed!!

He loves using my stamps to make cards for his friends at Christmas and on their birthdays. However, with my creating of gifts this year B also got into the spirit of it too and made a car for one of his friends!

In addition to home made gifts I have also started to give "experiences" for presents. I got the inspiration from friends who have done that for my Christmas gift in previous years. This included a day at Werribee Zoo this year. So for one of my friend's son who turned 10 B and I took him to the National Sports Museum for the day. Being one of 3 boys they have plenty of toys (including a huge amount of Lego!) and really don't need any more "stuff". So instead I thought we could do something he would enjoy. It was a great day and was really appreciated. For his brother's birthday next month I am taking him to Geelong for a football game. He (and B) both barrack for Geelong so it should be a good day.

I'd love to hear of any suggestions that you have for handmade gifts that you have given to give me extra ideas!

Craft for kids

I have mentioned before that I love my craft. I haven't done as much as I would like since B has come along. I do make arm and leg wraps for children with disabilities so that has been a large part of the sewing/crafting over the last couple of years.

I am very keen to pass on my love of craft to B. He absolutely adores the messy stuff. We don't do much painting in winter as he makes so much mess that in summer I just put him outside with an easel and let him go for it. I then use the paintings as wrapping paper. We both think the messier the better!!

Recently we have started some sewing. He loves to "help" when I use the sewing machine but I thought some hand sewing would be a good skill for him to learn. So over the last few weeks we have been working on this:

The process is quite simple. I cut a piece of hessian with and drew a simple picture on it - of course B had to have a car! He uses a knitting needle and tapestry wool and has done quite well. It has taken a number of sessions as his attention span for this is quite short and he makes mistakes which are okay or easily rectified. I have had quite a bit of input to help him complete it but I would expect that this will decrease as his skills improve.

So this is our finished product.

I had the ends of the wool on the side with the drawing so that when you turn it over you get a clear picture without the original drawing.

This is a perfect way to craft together during cold and wet winter days like today. Another activity I will try soon is finger knitting.

I would love to hear of your favourite craft activities with your kids.

More Free Stuff

Well, I must be doing something right at the moment. Today I have scored 2 lots of free stuff so I'm feeling pretty good. My friend over at Winging it Mum calls them Thrifty Thursdays and I certainly had one today.

I had to go to Spotlight today as I needed to get a some sewing supplies and pick up a few things for B's birthday party next month. They are having a special at the moment where if you spend $100 you get $40 off your purchase. By the time my things were totalled up it was over $100 so I scored my $40 off. This was all stuff I needed so I didn't buy any more things than I would have without the special. Win!

This afternoon I got a visit from Aussie Farmers doing a door knock to check if I was happy with their service. I have been getting my fruit and vegetables and other products from them for about 3 years now and I love the convenience of having it delivered to my door. I answered her questions in less than 5 minutes and at the end she gave me a $40 gift voucher for Quickflix! Another win!

So on my Thrifty Thursday I have scored $80 of free stuff and I'm must admit it's making me pretty happy.

Upcycling

In my quest to live a simple life and trying to reduce waste I am looking to recycle and upcycle wherever I can.

I have always been a sewer but have not sewn as much for B as I thought I would. When I can go to Target or K-Mart and buy him a pair of tracksuit pants or shorts for $5 it is simply not economical for me to make any for him. However, I have this week upcycled a few items of clothing for him.

Firstly he had these jeans that were a hand-me-down so had already been well used. You can just see in the photo that there is extensive wearing in the knees - more than it's worth patching. So I decided to make a pair of shorts out of them to extend their life.

Jeans with worn knees

All ready to become shorts

All finished and ready for summer!

I also picked up this old men's shirt to make a new pair of pants. I found the instructions on how to do this here so I won't bore you with step-by-step instructions and photos. Suffice to say this shirt:

Became these pants:

I took a photo of the back as I used the pockets in the original shirt for back pockets of the pants (don't think the photo shows them clearly though). Unfortunately, B has a real aversion to buttons (not sure why) so I had to cut them off otherwise he won't wear the pants.

The shirt cost me $6 at the op shop, I already had the elastic and it only took me about half an hour to make. For a pair of "dressier" pants I think that it not bad. I only just had enough fabric lengthwise to make the pants so may have to make shorts in future. Of course I don't have a home supply of men's shirts so if anyone wants to send their partners my way when they are finished with it would be much appreciated. Hehe!

Any other tips for upcycling clothes would be much appreciated. I have a few other projects to try so I am a bit excited about the old and unwanted becoming new again!