whipping up some handmade goodness!

In the corners of the days lately, I've been working on some crafty holiday projects...so here's a peek at the first "products" -

First, I'm so pleased with Wild Thing and this stenciled canvas bag project - I found it on the SewMamaSew! Handmade Holidays (my favorite tutorial roundup each year - check them out!). The tutorial is here if you'd like to give it a try! The idea was a bag for his teacher, who is putting in a lot of extra effort in taming Wild Thing in the classroom. We appreciate this so much because it's got to be tough handling 25 six-year olds anyway, without the rambunctious ones thrown in there to mix it up!  And one bag for his tireless day care provider who's been taking care of Wild Thing since he was very small. We love her so much.  Anyway, there's one more in a 3-pack of canvas bags from the craft store, so we have a total of 3 now. We'll need another project or two for grandparents and such, but this was a whole project off my list, done! (phew!)

This is a little crisper picture of just the bags - I think he did a great job!

 Then, we have the little zippered owl pouches (there are lots of free tutorials out there on how to make these, so take your pick!) I ordered an assortment of zippers from the best online zipper store - zipit - and she also had some pouch pre-cuts for these little owl fabrics. So cute! I forgot to take photos of the linings, oops...next time.

Lastly, a favorite from Noodlehead's crafty blog tutorials, the gathered clutch. I've been wanting to try this one, and now have the zippers and the incentive.  They are not too hard at all and after the first one I cranked out the other two in an evening (I think - but my time is so fragmented that you can't hold me to it because it was 20 minutes here and there until they were finished!  (The clutches are also linked into the Handmade Holidays)

Again, I should have photographed the insides because there are nifty little card pockets and a divider. These are a great size for a grab and go evening or trip to the grocery store without taking your whole wallet (or in my case a giant mom-sized handbag!)  But I did take a photo of Frida from the backside of the first one I made - probably I will have to keep this clutch for myself.

We have craft explosions in the kitchen and more in the basement craft corner - I've been stitching some modern designs on linen to make pillow covers, and Wild Thing has been helping me laminate some special vintage paper dolls (scanned copies) onto magnet paper with the Xyron. These were drawn by my grandma who recently passed away. My auntie will get the originals, but I wanted to reproduce them for mom and my sister, and the magnetic backing gives you the fun option of sticking them on the fridge or wherever (yeah, since my fancy stainless fridge isn't magnetic!)  Teen Wonder has some drawings in the works for the Gocco, which I can hardly wait to snap and print with her. So, more to come...