Birthday Gifts for a Duck

This is my final post to catch up on all of the drafts I had floating around here! YAY! I'll feel much better about things now. Maybe I'll even be more inclined to post things timely. That would be amazing, right? Right.

Anyway. Back on track. Do you remember the fox bags I made for me and for Holly back in January? The one that I made using the techniques I learned in Deborah Moebes' book, Stitch by Stitch? Yes... those bags. I decided that the little Duck needed some cute bags for her birthday. See, ever since she was very small, she has liked to pretend that she is going to the office. To play this game, she needs to find a hat, a bag, someone's keys and someone's shoes (never her own). I actually don't know if she still plays this game, but I hope so. Maybe three year olds are too fancy to play going to work games.

ANYWAY. Geez. For her third birthday in July, I made the Duck two little skirts (I need to work on my child-size skirt skills; her mom said they fit her like pencil skirts) and two little matching bags. Here are the skirts:

And here are the matching bags. They are not the same size. I definitely made them smaller than the ones that I made for myself and for Holly, but they are also not equal in size to one another. I used the cotton webbing for the handles, rather than the fabric itself. I think they turned out pretty nicely:

I think she loved the Dora stuff the best, but she also seemed to like the cupcakes. She's pretty easy to please, though. And, adorably, she is so emphatic with her thank yous.

I'm looking forward to making her other cute bags in the future. She started dance class a few weeks ago and, if she keeps with it, I'll make her a special bag for that.

#VDAYMUGSWAP

Okay. It's no secret that I love mail. I love getting letters, I love sending letters. I love sending surprise packages, birthday packages, Christmas packages. You get the idea. Naturally, when I found out that one of my favorite bloggers, Caroline (she blogs over at Sew Caroline), was co-hosting a Valentine's Day themed swap, I jumped at the chance to participate.

I filled out the sign up form and waited really impatiently for the email in which I received my partner's information. Really. Impatiently. And finally, after ages (not really) of waiting, I received the name of my swap partner! It's Mandy! She blogs over at Chocolate and Cream Cake and we have some things in common, so I knew we'd get along just swimmingly. I got my package the other day and it. was. awesome. It was so nice to get something random and special in the mail. If you are curious about what I sent to her, you can read her entry here.

Thanks for everything, Mandy!

I bet you're wondering about all of the cool things I received. Here is my box, as I found it when I first opened the tape:

Here is some awesome candy!! I'm so excited to try out these chocolate stirrer things. Don't they look awesome (you can see them on either side of the photo, in case you're confused)?? You just stir it into some warm milk! Amazing.

Next up, we have my awesome mug. Since that was the theme of the swap this year, we all exchanged various mugs. Mandy actually painted an E on this one for me! Doesn't it look great?! I wish I were still in school so I could properly rock the pencil holder in public.

And here is one more shot of everything Mandy sent me:

I'm so glad I got to participate in this swap! It was great to make contact with someone out there in this great, wide internet. I'm looking forward to participating in another!

Christmas Craftiness

I made quite a few of the gifts for my friends and family this year and that makes me feel pretty darn good. There's something nice about creating something for those you love, I think. I'm going to have to do this more often.

I made a reversible tote bag (the full-size version of the one I made for the duck) for Tracy. It ended up being pretty large (possibly too large, if you ask me), but she was jazzed because she can use it to carry her music. She liked it a lot, which made me happy, and even said that her mom was contemplating stealing it. Haha. Anyway, here is one side of the bag:

And here is the other fabric that I used. I had ordered the floral print online at Hawthorne Threads and I took it with me when I went to Joann's to pick up something complementary. I ended up asking a couple of old ladies if they thought the two would be okay together. They said yes. I rolled with it. What do you think?

I made aprons for both my Marmee and my sister. I also gave them each a cookbook. I gave Marmee Food in Jars and I gave Holly the Joy the Baker cookbook. The fabric was a reprint of a pattern from the 1930s that I had purchased at Shabby Fabrics. I got the same print in blue, peach and red.

Originally, I had thought to make an apron for all three of us but each in a different color. After thinking about it and discussing it with my dad, I decided to make all three aprons exactly the same and use all three colors. I think it was a good idea. Now we all have the same apron! Yay! Here is one of the aprons:

And... here I am wearing said apron. Boyfriend took the picture for me. We're still working on his photography skills. Haha.

I am pretty pleased with the way the aprons turned out. I used the same tutorial I used for the apron that I made for the duck, I just made it using real measurements.

Finally, my last handcrafted project was one for Boyfriend's dad. I drew his name in the family gift exchange and decided, with Boyfriend's help, to make something that would be meaningful and also include the Duck and Regan. I decided to make a photo coaster/serving tray combo. I started by choosing a photograph. I picked a picture of the the three of them, taken at the Duck's second birthday party this past summer.

I cut it into four equal pieces so it would be one picture on four tiles and mod podged that business to the tiles.

Boyfriend constructed a little box thing:

When the tiles are inside the box, it makes a little serving tray! It's very clever, if I do say so myself.

Boyfriend's dad was very pleased with the gift. He liked it so much that he said he wanted to hang it on the wall and not use it. We told him that that was silly, of course, and that we made it to be used. Hopefully he'll follow our advice.

Did you give any handmade gifts this year?

Weekend Birthday Salsa

Our weekends are usually pretty interesting around here. We like to explore and drive and sometimes just sit on the couch. This morning has gotten the weekend off to a good start. We woke up, went for a short drive and came home so I could start making salsa. Today is Boyfriend's niece's 2nd birthday. Have I ever mentioned her before? If I refer to The Duck, that's who I mean. She dressed up like a duck for her first Halloween and we've just been calling her that since. She's adorable. Anyway... her parents decided to have a taco bar for her party and her mom asked that I make salsa. How do I make my salsa, you ask? Easy peasy:

-roma tomatoes
-white onion
-cilantro
-a wee bit of hot pepper
-lime juice

How much of each thing is pretty dependent on how much salsa I want to end up with (and it almost always looks like way less than I planned). For the party, I used ten (or was it twelve?) tomatoes, one and  half onions, one little green hot pepper (that I never knew the name of because it wasn't labeled at the store but that must be hot because I touched my face and it is now burning), a few sprigs of cilantro from my garden, and an unknown quantity of lime juice. I am very meticulous about cutting everything for the salsa. I want all of the veggies to be in little cubes, you see. I asked Boyfriend if he wanted to help cut stuff and he said he didn't have the patience for that method of cutting (he would just chop everything and throw it together very quickly) so I popped on my headphones and listened to Alec Baldwin's podcast. The episode featuring Kristen Wiig, to be specific. It was a good time.

I'm finished with the salsa now (I tried it and it seems to be delicious), but I am nervous that it won't be enough for everyone that will be there (about eleven people, maybe). I guess we'll see. I'm super excited to give The Duck her birthday present. We bought her a little kid basketball hoop! She will probably love it.

Apartment-Warming Surprise!

My friend Katie moved home to Iowa last month. I was sad to see her go, because she was one of my first and dearest friends in PA. However, I am happy for her because she was so excited to move home and everything is going well for her. She found a great apartment AND a great job! Lucky girl.

Anyway, I decided to make her a little apartment-warming gift. She finally got it in today's mail so I can finally post about it. In the box, I sent:

-a cute kitchen towel

-two little sea themed plates

-a lavender candle

-notecards

-a magnetic notepad

Nothing fancy, but just a little something fun. Plus, I decided that I should give better, more creative gifts this year and I think this fits the bill!