My Favorite Gifts To Give

Well after a very enjoyable 20th Anniversary vacation with Mr. Crafty Camper I am back to being creative again. (Also my sewing/embroidery machine has been broken but now is fixed!!)
I thought I would share with you 3 of my favorite gifts to give. I have received many compliments when I give these gifts on how much the recipients love them and use them! (Hum, maybe I shouldn't share this........ just kidding) All of these gifts are under $10!!!!

First, on the left, laundry bags. These make great gifts for high school graduates, college students, and missionaries. I purchase the laundry bag a my local big box store for around $8 or $9. The one I love to get is made of a canvas material with a polyester bottom and pocket with a strap. It has a zipper pouch attached to the pocket to hold your quarters. I embroider the recipients name on the bag, roll it up, and tie it with tulle. It is so simple but all of the young adults I have given them to have absolutely loved them! (the pic below is not exactly what I purchase but you get the general idea)

Next, the hooded towel on the right. I actually make two different versions of this towel. One with the hood and one with out the hood.
The hooded towels are great baby shower gifts. (If you know the name of the baby you can embroider it on the towel for a sweet personalization).  For this gift, again I got to my local big box store and find a towel that has a single wide band at both ends like the picture below.

This gives you plenty of room to embroider the baby's name on it, or if you don't have an embroidery machine, you can add a super cute ribbon.
I purchase two towels and one hand towel. I can get two "hoods" from the hand towel. Sew it together and add the embroidery along with a ribbon on the band of the hood and presto you have a great gift for under $5 to $10 depending on how expensive of a towel you purchased. All the moms and kids have loved them!

Towels with no hoods are great gifts for baptisms. It is probably the number one thing forgotten on the child's baptism day. Also the kiddos love to be able to choose the color they want the CTR (Choose the Right) embroidered on the towel.

I know that these gifts are not new and trendy, but sometimes the classics are the best! I always love to give a gift with love, not just something off a registry if I can.
Enjoy your day!
CCG

Summer Fun with an Epic Fail

I know it has been a really long time since my last post. I have been an EMT for the past 5 years and decided it was time to continue my education and become an RN. Finishing off the pre-req's for the program has been very time consuming (along with working) and I really haven't done much in the way crafty fun. But that is going to change as I am now waiting for an opening in the program.

So............

My sweet daughter had her BFF over for a play date and wanted to make BFF shirts.

I found two shirts at Wal-Mart for $1 each in the clearance bin earlier this year and stashed it for just such and occasion. She had the general idea of what she wanted so I got online and chose some free coloring pages and used them as a template.

 

 I grabbed my stash of Sharpie markers, my light box and some cardboard and went to work tracing the outline of the shirt for the girls to color. They had so much fun coloring, giggling and adding their own personal touches to the design. They were so proud of themselves!!! (I thought they did a great job, I giggled as I saw them use a yellow Sharpie for the skin. It instantly made me think "jaundice," I so have too much medical terminology on the brain!)

We set them out in the sun to dry, I ironed them with a hot iron, and later they wore them for the rest of the play date. My little voice in the back of my head said, "you better hand wash that shirt just in case!" So glad I did, as the shirt did not hold the ink as well as I thought is would. I was able to get most of the bleeding out and decided to soak it in vinegar to see if that would help set the ink. Nope! It bled even more! My sweet daughter was heart broken and so was I. (I called the BFF's mom to warn her and to have her tell the BFF I was soooo sorry!!!)

The Epic Fail started when I used regular Sharpies when I should have used fabric Sharpies, and then continued when I soaked the shirts in vinegar. Note to self.......Sharpies are for paper!

So the next time I see a great deal on a t-shirt I am going to grab a set of Sharpies for fabric too!