Christmas present review part 2

The picture is not one of the presents, but some home made decorations. I noticed that the blog land was awash with "paper jewels" and everybody seemed to have their own version of them. I downloaded some patterns here and used white card with different coloured and patterned papers clued to it. (The site is total bliss for someone wanting to do paper crafts...)When I started I thought that I would not be able to make them and if I could, I would not really take to it. It just looked too fiddly. Well...the ones in the picture are by no means the only ones I made. I just could not stop making them. It was truly addictive and I had to try all sorts of combinations of red and white. They were hung in our tree and are now carefully packed away for the next Christmas.

I also made mini bunting for our tree. It was really easy. I cut the flags as diamond shapes and just folded them and sewed them on the hemp line with zig-zag. In this way the bunting works from both sides. I cut the fabric with pinking scissors to avoid hemming. It also makes the little flags look rather decorative.

 

Here it is on the wall behind our bed before the tree went up. I almost left it there, because  it looked so festive and cheerful. When the tree came down I was debating whether to keep it for decorating all year round, but decided not to.  There is something very special about things which come up only once a year. I might though produce something similar in other colours...

 

So now to the presents. The bags galore were made. Two more wash bags were made for twin nieces R&L. They have started to have and go to sleep overs and I thought a wash bag might be a nice thing to have. The inside was made out of same polka dot wax cloth as the bigger wash bag's in the previous post.

They were nice to make until I for no reason hit a wall of "cannot do" with the second of them. I think I spent as long getting one seam right in that as all the other seams put together. Few swear words were uttered...I made a zip tag to ease opening and closing of the bags. I thought the button looked cute on it, do not know how nice it is to use though. The girls can always take the buttons away, if they are too much of a hassle.

I made more bags for others. My sister-in-law got this one. It started as a simple shopping tote, but then I lined it and decided that it needed a rigid bottom. So now she can either just use it as a shopping tote or a BIG handbag.

 

For our teenage niece the bag was made from a wilder fabric. Luckily she liked it, as it admittedly was a gamble. I thought she might, but was also prepared for the "what on earth does she think of me" -reaction.

I made it big and strong enough to use as a school bag for the college and this is what she is using it for. I am relieved.....

Did you take a chance making surprise presents? Link in comments, I would love to see!