Finally - some creativity!!

With Christmas fast approaching, and a new house and trip to Europe next year impacting our budget, we have been making Christmas presents for our family. When I say "we", I'm using the term loosely. My husband thought it would be a great idea to make Christmas hampers filled with goodies, and last night he finally made some of the chocolates to go into the hampers. Otherwise its been just me making all of this stuff!

But more about the Christmas hampers later. Today I wanted to show ou what I have made for my two team members at work (both young women in their early twenties).

Both of them are getting a set of Luggage Tags:

I made these luggage tags using a pattern that I bought on Etsy from StudioCherie - you can click here to purchase this pattern yourself.

Then for Glentin I made a slipper heat pad - basically a little thing, lined with crushed velvet and filled with rice, that she can pop in the microwave to heat up and then put her feet in it to keep them warm.

I saw this on Pinterest, but didn't actually use a pattern. It's pretty easy to make without one.

Using a magazine as a guide for size, I cut out the fabric for your feet to go on (I used crushed velvet so it would be soft), and fabric for the base (I used denim, hoping that it will be durable). I also cut out the same size interfacing and fused this to the base.

Then I cut out the top fabric and another piece of the velvet to roughly half the size of the base - so that there is a cover for you to slip your feet into. Again I put interfacing on the top fabric to make it a little sturdier.

I sewed the two small pieces together (wrong sides together), making the top pretty and neat since you'll be putting your feet in there. Then I sewed the top pocket to the large velvet piece (velvet pieces together).

Once this was done, I put the right sides together and sewed the whole lot, leaving an opening for turning it in the right way. Then you put in the rice, and sew it all up.

And a last present for Ellen, bath salts. I actually gave her some Sugar Scrub as well - but she needed that early due to an issue with fake tan around the ankles! The bath salt recipe I got from Madame Clochette (who happens to be my sister) - you can find it on her blog here.

It's not much, but I hope the girls enjoy what I have made for them, or at least appreciate the thought that went into these gifts - since it is the thought that counts after all!!

A year without blogging!

I can't believe, looking at my blog today, that my last post was on the 27th of January!! It has been 11 months since my last post!
Yes, I should be slapped and monkeyd with!

So what has happened in this past year? Well - the 12 Week Body Transformation didn't happen, I can tell you that. While I did pay for the program, and followed it for maybe a week, I gave up very quickly.
That being said, since the wedding last year, I have dropped 5kg which is quite nice.

You can see in this photo (where I'm dressed as Maverick, with my husband Goose from Top Gun) that I have lost weight since my post in January this year. 

I bought a house with my husband, and we have been busy setting up our home. Lots of shopping and gardening, but thankfully very little renovating.

My craft has been very light on this year, unfortunately, with nothing much to show. I have contributed to a couple of quilts for new babies, cross stitched a couple of things, and started many projects. But my list of unfinished projects is very long!

Hopefully the next 12 months will see an increase in my blogging - it really is a great way to keep track of what is happening in your life.