DIY Christmas Gifts- Part 2

My YUDU screen printing machine got some real action during the month of December. I printed on 9 shirts, on 2 drawstring backpacks, and 4 tea towels. Wayne drew up 4 designs for me based on characters in a Sioux legend I read when looking up how to spell "owl" in Lakota. I had already asked him to draw the buffalo because I had seen him draw it before, then an owl. So 2 characters were done. Once I read the story of  how humans had disrupted the balance in nature, and mother earth called all of her children to come inside of her so she could cleanse the surface and restore the balance. Once cleansed all of the animal kingdom became angry that the humans had done this to them. They wanted to destroy all "2 leggeds". An owl spoke up and said without 2 leggeds we would not have the bear, and without the bear we would not have wisdom. So they decided on a great race between all species. The buffalo took the lead with all of his strength, but a magpie gets tired and perches on his back till just before the finish line and wins. The magpie saved wisdom, and the humans were grateful. It was a reminder of their responsibility to the earth, and the animal kingdom. See that full legend here. It is a beautiful story. Instantly I knew the project needed the bear, and the magpie!

In Lakota language "Halhata" means Magpie, "Tatanka Oyate" means Buffalo Nation, "Mato" means Bear, and "Hinhan" means Owl.

An ideas for a future print is the "grand race" with all of the characters on one design.

 Once all of the shirts were completed. I used the same owl design to print on tea towels. I wrote "Owl always love you!" to make them more of a personal gift for my aunt, and grandma. : )

DIY Christmas Gifts- part 1

Here we go with my DIY Christmas gifts I have been talking about.. My inspiration for these handmade gifts is an obvious one. Alot of you might have seen Sukan's work on Etsy. Well I "super sized" mine. Her pillows run at a smaller size of 12" x 20", mine were 16" x 28". One thing I did was made sure there was a clear difference between the boy and girl owls. She is very consistent with the shapes, every single owl is exactly the same. She just adds different colors and details- Which I learned very quickly how smart it is to be consistent so you can keep using one owl as a template for all the others. Also instead of making the pillow cover myself(which would have beeen easier/cheaper) I found the down cusion and pillow cover at Ikea for $19.99 each(see ektorp cushions here). I ran to Joann's and bought a stack of felt sheets in all different colors. Then I brought them home and layed out the colors on the pillows to decide what color combinations I was going to go with, and for 8 hours split in 2 days I cut and sewed all of the felt on by hand. It would have been way easier to sew them with my sewing machine on upholstery fabric and then make the pillow cases, But I liked the look, feel and colors of the Ikea pillows.
See Sukan's owl designs here. You can see how much money I saved myself too. Her pillow covers run at $52.95-95.00. That is just for the pillow cover, and I made 2 of them for the price of.. I'd say $23.00 each including the pillow. There are definitely cheaper ways to go too. Hopefully that is some DIY crafting inspiration for you!

Happy crafting!

Wit and Whistle Does It Again- Another DIY Mug!

DIY Christmas gifts are so fun! Amanda at Wit & Whistle posted this DIY Chalkboard Mug on Pinterest yesterday. I instantly fell in love. I want to make one! Such a great DIY project for Christmas! Just think writing "#1 Mom" or making two and writing "Besties". I could think of a million things to write to personalise it as a gift. Fill it with yummy goodies.. You could even write "Yummy Goodies" on it. This is just getting too clever. It is a much easier version of the hand painted mug she did that I blogged about in October- See that post here.

See the complete DIY Instruction and full post for this mug here.

DIY Painted Glass Ornaments by Sugar and Charm

I am going to keep going with this DIY Christmas. It is so much fun! I am staying busy.. All of my projects are in the works. So no photos yet. But I do have some inspiration for your garlands or tree- check out Sugar and Charms glass painted ornaments. She decided to make her own set this year. Full post here for more details and photos. 

Inspired? It is craft time!

Eat Drink Chic Freebies for your DIY Christmas

Amy Moss at Eat Drink Chic does it again.. Another amazing freebie! Peace, Love and Reindeer Hugs(sounds like it would hurt) downloadable gift tags for your holiday gifting. She printed her tags on white card stock. Check out the post here to download the pdf file.

As noted on her blog. It is for personal use only.

Personalised Gifts This Christmas

I got this idea from Pinterest. Have you seen it(click here)?

Personalised Kids Fort Kits! My version is a screenprinted drawstring backpack, instead of a iron-on flocked vinyl laundry bag. I am going to fill it with a dark flat sheet, clamps, rope, grommets on the ends, flashlight/small lantern. I might even screenprint glow in the dark stars on the sheets if I find the time. I completed a second bag for my other nephew. Those photos I will have to post up in a few days. I just rememeber making forts out of anything! Stack up books, blankets over the back of chairs, make a tunnel by draping a blanket from the back of the couch across the front, and just think there will be two kits full of supplies to tear apart my sisters house(hehehe). It is going to be a great Christmas. I want to try to make and personalise every gift this year. I just hope I started early enough! I will post more photos soon!

If you have any suggestions on what I could add to the fort kit. Do tell me!