Gifts

I meant to post more often during the holidays, but time got away from me. I did manage to squeak out a few projects, both small and large, which I'll post about over the next few days. We had lots of fun time with family and friends, and we're still looking forward to a few more events this weekend to round out 2011.

The first project, a small one, is a draw string bag with a window. The tutorial is in the link. It's my go to draw string bag at the moment, perfect for kids, since they can see what it in the bag.

Last year I decided to try not to wrap presents with wrapping paper. This decision came about partly because of the cost, but also because of the environmental impact. Plus, who doesn't like another bag to be able to store things in. So, the bag has become part of the gift.

This year, I managed to make two bags (we don't give a lot of gifts in our family). Both the bags were for kids and intended to help "store" their present. Liam also got a bag, but I finished it several weeks prior to the holiday and birthday. Liam's favorite thing right now are cars. We'll be in a parking lot walking into the grocery store and he'll point and say "car, car, car." Yes, we're in a parking lot. There are lots of cars.

Two of the bags were for Liam's second cousins, one for a birthday, the other for Christmas. I tried to find fabric that matched the theme of the gift. If you can't tell, it's doll clothes and trains.

Add a little tissue paper and the "gift" is kept a secret until opening. We've made several bags for Liam to keep his mega blocks and cars. They're perfect for clean up and storage.

The rest of our gifts were wrapped with paper, but seeing as how I still had a lot of paper left over from previous years, I'm not feeling too guilty.

Hope you all had a happy holiday and are looking forward to the new year!

Now that the birthday party has passed, I can show you the rest of the gift. It was all Dr. Seuss themed.

I've made a commitment to not using wrapping paper or paper bags. I saw a post from Soulemama at Christmas one year about wrapping presents in fabric and I've now decided to do the same.

We don't give a lot of gifts in our family, at least not tangible gifts. They're mainly reserved for the little kids. Instead, for the adults, we've made a commitment to engaging and spending time with each other as our gift. We decide on an activity and go and do it as a family.

As for the fabric bag, I used a tutorial I got from Make It Perfect. The tutorial is for a see-though bag, but I just omitted the see-though plastic and followed the rest of the directions. It came together in about 30 minutes. Admittedly, it was the second bag I made, so I did have some prior experience making one.