Homemade Christmas • A Gift Idea!

This Christmas is a bit of a weird one for us! We just got married, moved an entire province, and to top it off, all of my sewing supplies are in storage! It makes it a little difficult to sew gifts again this year, so I compromised with myself and decided to find a different way of making gifts for friends and family.

Oh my gosh, it smelled heavenly when I was making it! I wanted to make cookies afterwards, but I need to go get some gluten free flour first. We had all the ingredients in the kitchen already, so it didn't cost that much to make! I even linked my friend the recipe and she's going to make some, too. She isn't doing so well in the money department this year, so I was glad to help her find something affordable and sweet to make. 

I got the recipe from HERE! She also has a peppermint sugar scrub recipe which looks suuuuper easy to make! I wanted to make that one, too but I don't have any essential oils handy, nor in walking distance to buy. It did require almond and coconut oils, which I found at Save-On foods in the natural skin care section and the natural foods aisle!

This recipe didn't require any essential oils, just ingredients you probably already have in your pantry! It's also conveniently Gluten Free! My husband can't eat gluten in any way, shape, or form and neither can his sister. I'm not sure what putting gluten on their skin does right now, so I didn't want to take my chances. So if you know someone who has Celiac Disease or is sensitive to gluten, this gift will be a good one :)

The recipe says that it makes enough for 2 1/2 cups, which is true! I made 3 batches and it filled 4 mason jars and 4 smaller jars.

Happy gifting!

xo. Nicole

Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas

This holiday season I have completely lost track of time. Last year I started all the gifts in October and I haven't started this year. Christmas is coming way too soon! It's nice this year, though because a lot of our family are just drawing names instead of buying/making gifts for everyone. This way, we only have about 5 or 6 people to make/buy for! It helps our budget and relieves some of the pressure of everyone expecting something. 

I was so proud of the gifts I made last year, that I wanted to share my favorites with you again! 

For my Aunt and Uncle, I made some fun Christmas coasters! The coasters are Santa hats, elf hats, a reindeer, and then a circle with a Santa hat and some snowflakes on it. For Rob's dad and his girlfriend, I made them some passport holders because they're always travelling (they're on their way to Cuba as we speak)!

I made my friend a headphone case for her little iPod headphones. I added a mustache on to the case, and she loved it! I posted a tutorial that you can see HERE!

I'm not too sure what I'm going to make this year, as all my sewing stuff is in storage, but when I figure it out I'll be sure to post how I made them!

Are you making your gifts this year or supporting handmade? Please share in the comments! I'd love to check it out and see your ideas!

xo. Nicole

Craft It Forward || What I Received!

A while ago, Sam from My Latest Obsession put up a blog post about Crafting It Forward. The idea is that you send 5 people a homemade gift and from there, those 5 people send a homemade gift to 5 more people, and so on. Well, I commented on Sam's post and I received my package yesterday! I've been following Sam for a while and have been watching her shop get better and better! They're also in the process of building a Tiny Home! 

Sam sent me a pack of 3 bracelets, 2 lip balms, an upcycled magnet, and a bath soak! The soak and the balms smell heavenly and I looovvee that she is using essential oils!

Would you like to be a part of Craft It Forward? The first 5 people to comment on this post will receive something special from me with the hope that you will do the same! Please leave your email address so that I can contact you :)

In the meantime, please check out Sam's Etsy shop, Sam Wish! She upcycles and makes a lot of cool things that make great gifts for the holidays coming up.
xo. Nicole

Feelin' Crafty

Lately I've been feeling pretty crafty! That's good because there's going to be a TON of crafts coming up for the wedding. So, I decided to put my 'crafty-feelings' to good use and I made a pillow!

I thought it would be pretty simple until my sewing machine wouldn't work how I wanted it to, so everything was hand-sewn. Here's hoping it stays together and that the cat doesn't think the bunting is a toy...

I also finished our Save The Dates! I'll share them with you on Tuesday when they've been mailed out :)

Have you done anything crafty lately?

xo. Nicole

Headphone Case DIY

For Christmas this year, I made almost every gift that I gave. From making all of the gifts, I learned so much about sewing and realized that my favorite fabric is felt. This particular felt is "eco-fi" meaning it's ALL made from recycled products. It was a good choice for making things out of.

For my friend Rachel, I made her an iPod cozy and a little case for her headphones. We all know how tangled those can get, so at least this way, the headphones aren't all over her purse!

The pictures are pretty straightforward. I'm slowly learning how to make a tutorial, but I hope you find use out of this one! :)

1/ I cut a rectangle shape that I thought would come out long enough for half of it to be folded. I didn't measure the exact dimensions (sorry!)

2/ I used a blanket stitch around the 3 edges. It would also be a good idea to sew the button on, just under where the pin is, during this step (I didn't and it was hard to sew it on after I sewed the 3 edges).

3/ I cut another piece of felt to match the inside of the flip cover. I made sure to cut out a little mustache and sewed it on the outside of the blue before sewing (with a blanket stitch) the brown piece on.

4/ After the brown piece is sewed on to the inside of the front cover, make sure you cut a small slit so that you have somewhere for the button to push through and stay so that your case will stay closed.

Congratulations! You made a headphone case! She loved her gift and I've considered making bigger versions as clutches or cases for other items, like a laptop. My mind races with random ideas all the time and then I realize I don't have quite enough fabric or patience...

If you have any questions about how to make this, let me know! My tutorial skills will improve over time so be on the lookout for new and improved DIY's :) 

Did you make any gifts this year?

xo. Nicole

Christmas Crafts!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! It was a crazy time for us, trying to finish gifts and working through the craziness. Excuse my lack of posts! Some serious blog love is coming up in the new year. Now that December is almost over, there's only 5 and a half months until the wedding! That's crazy! Starting in January, it's all wedding. It kinda started today with the lovely chat I had with Allison about how the invitations will look.

Since all the December crazy is over and everyone has received their gifts, I feel like showing off my hard work ;) I made a bunch of coasters for people, some passport holders (my in-laws are always travelling), and then a holiday light headband I made for myself.

Through the process of sewing everything by hand, I seriously improved my skills. I learned how to untie a bunch of knots in the thread and I slowly figured out which stitch goes best when you're stuffing ornaments with cotton filling. I wish I had taken pictures of all the cute ornaments I made, too. I attempted those river rock place mats and they turned out pretty good. As far as I know, everyone was pretty pleased with their gifts :)

I've got a quick tutorial coming up on how to make a headphone case! I made one for my friend for her gift and she loved it.

xo. Nicole

What I've Been Up To...

Christmas is coming so fast this year! Time just flies by every year that I get older and I'm not sure if I like it or not. The past couple days have been pretty busy. I've received lots of paper work from my 2nd job and I've been getting forms and documents together for my 3rd one (and they all have deadlines!) I've been busy doing that and working but I had an afternoon free to volunteer at the local Food Bank (through Starbucks) and make gingerbread houses with my friend.

Volunteering at the food bank is not an experience I will soon forget. We scooped rice, sugar, and oats in to separate bags for the staff to hand out to their clients and then boxed a ton of flour. Volunteering with my fellow Starbucks partners was what made the process fun. We joked and laughed for the whole 3 hours and got so much done. We formed an assembly line to scoop, bag, sticker, and pack the goods and our barista skills came in handy. The Food Bank supplied us with pizza as a thank you!

We were told that the government only supplies the Food Bank with $55,000 a YEAR, but they give out $30,000 worth of food every month. How does that even make sense?

Have you or will you volunteer this holiday season?

Today I hopped out of bed at 8am to be in downtown Vancouver for 9am. I woke up to SNOOOWWW!! I was beyond excited and it makes me feel like Christmas really is here this year. I made my way on the highway to downtown through the snow and checked out the Great Canadian Craft Fair! There were so many cool vendors and a lot of vegan baked goods that I can show my mom (who's vegan). It's really hard to find a lot of things that have no dairy and no eggs in them. I also found some cute handmade baby stuff for my friend who is expecting :)

Yesterday Rob and I laid on the couch all day and watched Grey's Anatomy. Holy cow. I think I was pretty tired because every episode made me want to cry. We're just finishing up Season 3 and I can't wait to see what happens in Season 4. So many little cliffhangers and weird traumas that happen in that show...

What have you been up to?

xo. Nicole