Christmas Gifts, and an EVENTFUL 2012!

How was everyone's Christmas and New Year's?  I hope Santa was good to you all! :)  We had a wonderful Christmas!  My children were all HAPPY with what they received!  And of course, that made ME happy!  While I was working on the school's ART Symposium, our girls really started getting into art themselves, so they were excited when Santa brought them LOADS of art supplies, easels, and even a fancy drafting desk with a cool ratcheting effect that makes the desktop raise up into an easel!

Our New Year's, on the other hand....well it was EVENTFUL!!  While I was at my folks with our little ones, my Awesome Man and our two BIG boys decided to go to a nearby Daiquiri place to shoot some pool...they should have just stayed HOME!!  While walking back to the house, our oldest was "clipped" by a car...YIKES!!  Well, his arm was fractured beyond a simple cast, so he had surgery yesterday to put a plate and TEN pins in his arm!!  He is recovering now, and will be back in the family fold soon...which means my house has been FULL and turned UPSIDE down!!  I am thankful that it wasn't much worse than that...but will be soooo happy when we get back to our normal UNeventful routine!! :)  Let's HOPE that is not a preview of how the rest of 2012 will be!!

So back to Christmas...I was able to finish all of the gifts for our extended family!  Of course, there are ALWAYS I.O.U.s, but for the most part everyone was happy with the gifts I made them.

For my three nephews, I followed this tutorial from Noodlehead!  It was so easy, and came out GREAT!

I used some scraps from my discarded Jeans stash!

And of course, it had to be LSU inspired!!  GEAUX Tigers!!

I didn't use any type of interfacing, so they are not bulky or stiff!  Just as a little extra, they also got an iTunes gift card to start the year off right! :)


For my baby sister, a nice little wristlet to hold her GC!  I've been wanting to make one, and would LOVE to have one for myself for the times I am just "running in" places and just need my keys and cell phone!  I found this really great tutorial...and it sewed up really quick, so I will be making myself one soon! :)

I lined it with  simple navy Kona cotton.

And just for fun...I used some of those Crown Royal bags she gave me a couple of years ago when I made her lap quilt.

The other one is for my cousin, but I found out that he was in the hospital with pancreatitis(sp?)  and decided it best NOT to encourage bad habits!! ;)

For my sweet niece, an art apron!

I've been wanting to try the iron-on vinyl FOREVER!!  It works really well!!   For the pocket, I ironed on the vinyl then folded it so the outside AND inside would be protected.  The backing is just a simple flannel for softness.

Now I owe ALL three of my children one!!

My cousin requested a simple A line with ribbon ties for her daughter to wear as a cover up over her gymnastic suit.

Of course, I couldn't just leave it simple! :)  I made it reversible, so she could use it TWICE as much!!

I even sewed two ribbons back-to-back to complete the look!!

For one of my other cousin's grand kids, I went with something old and tried something new!!  For the NEW, a ruffled drawstring bag!

I used the simple cotton bags that I embellished for our Disney trip as a template.  I decided to shorten the straps though because they were just a little too long when the kids wore them.

For the bag I used a cotton flannel and the ruffles were some cotton scraps.  For the boy cousin, my old standby...a cape!!

Well, that's it!!  Now that Christmas gift sewing is over I can finish up some orders, and start sewing for upcoming events!!  I kinda started already...for two of my nieces I did some quick bows!!

Laissez les bon temps rouler!!!  Mardi Gras is February 21st!!  We missed last year because we were at Disney World...NOT that I'm complaining!! :)  So this year I am super excited for the FUN to begin!!

And speaking of FUN!!  How much fun was the SMS Giveaway day this year??!!!  I LOVED how organized it was!  They did such an AWESOME job!  And I WON something!!

Isn't it soooo cute??   Check out Jenn's blog, Make Mine Blue.  She has a much better picture than mine!!  Thanks Jenn, I LOVE it!!

Well, that's the wrap up!  Now I have to take down all of my Christmas stuff, and get to work on those orders...and a couple of birthday gifts!!  Have a great weekend!!  Until later...