Feedback on presents

On or around Christmas I started getting feedback on the presents I made for people. Well, most people were absolutely tickled with them.

My mother and brother enjoyed their Kindle Sleeves. My brothers exact text said, "Thanks for the Kindle Cover. Its awesome. Fits perfectly." My mother was thrilled to see the ManUtd patch on hers and was only a little bummed when the Velcro was not staying put. She said she would add a stitch or two and put it to use.

The coffee cozies I made for various sibling in laws went over well. My sibling in laws to be on the East Coast were thrilled about their cozies and even sent me picture messages of them in use.

Probably the best reactions to DIY presents were from children or parents of children.

Anyone remember those tutus I made? The first one that I saw opened was a pink tutu for a 15 month old. She wasn't all that interested in it because she didn't know what it was. Her parents were excited though because it was so girly and would encourage her to dance. They were even more excited when I said I would do another one exactly like it for their girl due in March. The grandmother of the girls was in the room was so excited at that because of the pictures that would ensue.

The other tutu I made was blue and for my six year old niece (or soon to be). Due to technology, I was able to watch her open it and other presents on video chat at my in-law's house. She ripped it open so fast! As soon as she realized it was a skirt she yelled,

"CAN I WEAR IT TO SCHOOL?!?!?!?!?!"

Her mother was beyond thrilled with it because it was very girly and in her daughter's favorite color. I think she said she might allow her to wear it to school.

Tutu girl's sister was the one who received the play make up kit I made. When she opened her gift on video chat she was really excited about the silver zipper bag I put everything in. She was super excited when she opened it and find the Lip Smackers I put in there. Additionally, she was thrilled to find the make up compacts in there until she realized/was told it was play make-up. Its easy to see when a kid becomes slightly disappointed in a gift. Since her mom wears make up and she is almost ten, she was hoping for real stuff. Especially since, as I found out later, she had also gotten a big make up kit and wanted more of it.

The parents of the girls were pleasantly surprised by their gifts too. My future brother in law enjoyed the coasters I sent. My sister in law to be was very thankful for the body scrub I made. She thought it was bath salts until she saw the tag.

As you might be able to guess, most gifts are met with big smiles, lots of thank you's and many, "YOU MADE THIS?"

How did your DIY gifts go over? What about your store bought gifts?

DIY Invitations Part Dos

I said the other day that my MOH was going to come up and help with part of the invitations. We had fun having a two hour jam session with putting the invitations together.

I promise, she was caught of guard in this picture. But you can tell from the one below that she was very focused on the task at hand. Which is why she was one of, if not the best, people to ask to help with this particular task. It helps too when you bribe people with snack-age while doing these tasks.

 

So we used photo mounting squares on the back of each invitation. We put one in each corner of the main invitation piece and then "mounted" to the pocketfold.

 These were great tools because it made the task go faster, smoother and allowed for us to readjust them easier if they weren't in the center of the pocketfold

 We cranked out all 140 pocketfolds in about two and half hours and then had some lunch. She offered to stay and stamp the outside of the pocketfolds but since I only had one stamp, I told her she was off the hook. I mentioned that I was still waiting for the RSVP envelopes to dry after a whole day. She is a smart lady and thought they might not dry due to the metallic coating. Her suggestion - aerosol hair spray  because it acts as a sealant but won't add a weird shiny coating like other things might..

So that afternoon I went to town and bought two cans of travel size hair spray from the dollar bins. I went through about 1 1/3 cans of spray but at last all the envelopes are dry. It just might be a little hard on people's tongues when they go to seal the envelopes. :(

Boom! RSVP envelopes were finally dry. When putting a seal like the spray on, make sure to do it in a well ventilated area or in your garage with the door slightly open. Additionally, do not panic when drops appear on the envelopes. I figured out that this was just the spray in a more concentrated area and it dried perfectly fine. My drying time in my freezing cold garage was about 15 minutes per invitation. I did them about 16 at a time on a table with a black garbage bag underneath them so I wasn't also coating the table in hair spray.

The next task was to stamp the front flap of the pocketfold. As you can see, the front is a bit dull to say the least. I jazzed it up a little bit with a stamp I found at my local Michael's or Joann's. I bought the stamp a long time ago and can't remember which one it came from but I believe both of them carry this one.

 

 I don't have any pictures of the actual stamping but this is what it looked like about 2/3rds of the way through.

When I was half way through stamping with the blue ink, I stopped. I contemplating changing to colored ink to the green that I had bought. I thought it might be nice to have some variance in the invitations with something so basic and non-essential.

After texting with my amazing MOH (who said no one would notice or really care) I changed the ink coloring. Before I knew it, the pocketfolds were done.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Some good friends of our were asking the other day about our budget for the wedding. So I sent them an email going through our expenses, justifying why we went the money we did and what we cutting corners on. When I started talking about the invitation piece, I looked at Mr. Fiance and asked,

"How much time do you think I spent on the invitations? Including time designing them, ordering and this whole assembly process?"

"Hmmm.. Probably 20-40 hours. I'd tell them 30 but its likely 40. That's just the time I know about. It could easily be more because you are so detail oriented about it."

So, here's the debate we had originally about 3 months ago when we started talking invitations. Looking at websites online that allow you to put in your own information, change colors, etc. we found not too much we liked. Nothing really suited us and what we wanted. Additionally, with all the things we wanted to include it was going to run about $600 just to produce them and then postage. If you can't tell already we don't do cookie cutter or mass production very well.

When I found out who cheap it was to buy the things piece by piece, I took the information to my parents who are paying the majority of the wedding cost. To them it wasn't even a coin toss. DIY wedding invitations it was!

I've spent probably 40-50 hours on the invitations from start to finish. You can tell mine includes a lot of detail things that guests aren't likely to notice or care about, there are also lots of pieces to the invitation, and that time also includes the time to go pick out the pieces in the invite, and some of the travel time. If you do your own invitations, clearly you don't have to follow in my footsteps.

When you got married, what did you do for your invitations? Would you change anything? If you are in the process of planning your wedding, what are you thinking now?

There are a few other projects we have been working on. We? Yes, Mr. Fiance has been helping on projects too on his days off from work.  Posts to follow.

Wedding DIY - Invitations

So I mentioned in my initial post of this blog that there would also be some items occasional mentioning of DIY for my upcoming wedding. The last few months have been focused on a culminating project - our wedding invitations.

Here is why my fiance and I (and my parents) decided to DIY the invitations: other people charge an obscene amount for invitations printing. Some websites charge approximately $600 (or more) for the number of invitations we required and the additional inserts.

During college, my friend who runs the blog Knit One, Bake Two screen printed all 140 of her invitations as her senior project. She purchased all the paper and then used the school screen press to ink the invitations. It took her several weeks but because she was the laborer, the only cost to her was the ink and the invitations. I knew I would not have the access to the screen printing machine that she had, nor did I have the skill set or means to operate one.

Here's the point of my side story - when we got engaged and it came time to start the DIY wedding invitations, I consulted my friend. She suggested going to the local Paper Source store in our area and find the invitation envelopes, RSVP envelopes, stacks of paper to buy and print on our own, etc. I was amazed at the amount of variety in different size envelopes, thickness of paper, etc. Lucky for me, my friend had essentially given me a how to guide for the store.

So, my mother, my maid of honor and I went to the store and found exactly what we were looking for. We picked up 140 A7 envelopes in "Lake" blue, 140 of the "Emerald" A2 envelopes, and then picked up a stack of 250 sheets of Luxe paper. It took a lot of sorting to figure out what we really wanted and we spent approximately 2 hours in the store.

Another detail we added when we were at Paper Source came from the Clearance section. We picked up several stacks of these great business size cards that say, "You are seated at:" and leaving enough room to write on and the back side is blank. There is already a plan in the works on how to use this.

The last detail I needed for the paper side of the invitation was a paper pocketfold which I found when searching online. Cards and Pockets is a great online tool for people who want to design their own invitation. I admit, I could have had them do the invitation from start to finish but I wasn't sure on the paper yet and I had already purchased the paper I wanted to use. So, I elected to simply order some of their sample pocketfolds in different colors and shapes so we could figure out what we wanted. When we actually did order them, we picked up 140 of the Harvest Vertigo Pocketfolds. The people at Cards and Pockets were great and even provided the inside measurements for the best inserts and main invitation piece.

With all the main pieces assembled, I probably designed about 15 drafts of the wedding invitation main piece. Nothing was quiet what Mr. Fiance and I were looking for. We found the type face we liked and made the proper sizing arrangements BUT we could not get the image background to be what we wanted. I emailed draft number 15 to my graphic design friend and she came back with the suggestion - try the Library of Congress and search the archives for the image we wanted. BINGO! We found exactly what we were looking for.

After careful changing of the color scheme to match the shades of blue and green we are using for the wedding, the invitation was complete. All the pieces finally came together. I took my paper and the electronic file off to the local FedEx Office and was so excited to get them printed until I was told they wouldn't take the Paper Source Luxe paper. It was, "too much like construction paper" and they turned my business away. Before I left, I asked who in the area would print with this type of paper. They suggested Minuteman Press which is a less popular printing store.

Well, I took my paper over there and they said, "Really? They said they couldn't do it? That seems stupid. Its just a little thicker than normal printer paper. We can do it no problem!" Whoo! We ended up paying even less money for the invitations than if FedEx Office had done it. BONUS.

At last, we had all the pieces and prints we needed! So Mr. Fiance and I slowly went to work on pieces. Mr. Fiance helped put the return stamp on the RSVP envelope. Then I added a touch to the backside of the envelope - a stamp that looks like postage marks with Color Box Harbor ink.

 

The two big pictures are of all the RSVP envelopes stamped (x2) and stacked together as the ink dries. I am afraid it might take some time for them to dry so that's why they aren't restacked as 140.  The reason why the ink is taking so long to dry is because the envelopes have a metallic coating which means anything added might be smeared.

This piece might seem time consuming but if you just pop in your favorite TV series on DVD or find it on Netflix, you could probably finish something like this in 1.5 (42 minute) episodes. And yes, you can do the ink stamping without someone there and not feel like you have gone crazy or that it will never end.

The paper side of the invitations though is another story. My mother wanted to help with the cutting of the invitation pieces after they came back from Minuteman Press, so she made a day of it before she came up for Christmas. She and I sat and watched some of our favorite Christmas movies - sans the original b&W version of Miracle on 34th St - and went to town with our paper trimmers and the 4 different invitation pieces.

4 x140 =  560 pieces of paper

560 x 4 (cuts per piece of paper) = 2240 

2240 is the number of times we sliced that day. Low and behold, it only took us about 1.5 Christmas movies and some great conversation to be done. I would not have liked to do that part of the project by myself. If you decide to cut your own invitations, do so with at least one other person, if not your entire bridal party. 

What were the four pieces I keep talking about? 1) Main invitation piece 2) Directions and Important Information regarding the hotels for our wedding 3) Registry information 4) RSVP card. 

While I was waiting for the ink to dry on the RSVP envelopes, I decided I would be super organized and stacked all the insert type pieces (everything but the main invitation piece) together....

 

which seemed like a great idea until I realized I had forgotten I was going to try something with the RSVP cards. My brilliant mind realized after I had completed the complicated stacking pictured above that I intended to number the RSVP cards on the back with a black light pen. 

Why is she numbering the RSVP cards? Well, I have heard enough horror stories from people that when the RSVP cards come back, people have not written the names in of who is coming. Since Mr. Fiance and I are doing assigned tables (but not assigned seats) we need to know who is coming in order to accomplish just that.

Still, I left the stacks as they were but simply removed the RSVP card as I put them in the Harvest Vertigo Pocketfolds from Cards & Pockets. So, all 140 invitations are stuffed with the directions and the registries at the moment. 

At this point, Mr. Fiance and I are pretty sure that this stamp is the one we are adding to the top fold of the pocketfold. We've been flip flopping on a few different ones, including one that says, "It is not the destination, but the journey." That particular one seems to fit with our geography theme but we like the one pictured above because it seems more wedding-ish. We might pick it because its the one the parents on both sides seem to like more. We might also pick it because its a lot cleaner looking than the other one which has the letters kind of floating around and wiggly. The cleaner look matches the inside of the invitation more... oh heck, yes this is the one we are going with. Why I am trying to justify it in writing is silly.

So today, my MOH (maid of honor) is coming up to help glue/stick in the main invitation piece. Thus, this post will likely be updated later this evening with pictures of the final invitation and us in the assembly process.

Anyone think I am crazy with all this DIY stuff yet? Just wait until you see what Mr. Fiance helped out with last night...

The Unwrapping

Today was Mr. Fiance's family's Christmas extravaganza. Which means his grandmother, who I made Scrabble Scramble for, received her gift. She LOVED it - especially when she was told we had made it for her at our home.

The other grandchildren and spouses and even some of those great-grandchildren were very impressed as well. In fact, people went to go find their names on the board. One of the Uncles even noticed that people were grouped according to their families or were grouped by a particular generation they were apart of. One of the aunts, and daughters of the matriach, loved seeing the family name in a different color. There were so many compliments on it. I highly encourage you to go out and make your own for someone in your family.

In other news, I finished the cheesy poem to go along with Mr. Fiance's Christmas Eve box. Its my first attempt at such a poem and I poke fun at that fact. Can you guess from the poem (and other postings) what might be in the box?

In this box you will see

A new tradition for you and me

I wanted to make our first Christmas

together full of isthmas

type things. Connecting you

and me and fun to ensue.

Each Eve from now until we are cold and blue

You will find a package just for our family and you.

Full of warm and fuzzy things, some brand new.

And one in particular made just for you.

My sewing skills were put to the test.

Hoping this gift will make you rest

In peace and comfort on this joyful night.

I love you B with all my might.

In this box you will see

A new tradition for you and me

A movie, oh gosh and oh gee

When we put lights on our house,

I hope it is very clear even to a mouse,

“Bethany: Is your house on fire, Clark?
Clark: No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights. “

Merry Christmas to my love

This definitely did not come from Above.

This poem is done and over.

You won't be arrested for indecent exposure

Remember it was my first try

This poem was done on the fly!

 
Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Pa-jam-huzzah!

I wrote the title of this one as pa-jam-as for the simple reason that at certain points during this morning's project If felt like I needed to pause, then jam right along and then went Huzzah when I finished. Think The Patriot for the pronunciation of the last one.

Essentially, I decided to actually make something for myself this morning. To be frank, it goes along with something for Mr. Fiance but since he's sitting right next to me playing Halo I'm trying not to say too much. Back to my point, I actually made something for myself. It was a first for me in the sense that I had never made clothing before and also because I have not made something for myself in many many months.

So my pajamas... well, you would be able to tell from far away that they are unique. One pant leg is shorter than the other, the waist band looks funny. However, given the fact that this was my first second attempt at making pajamas (the first being for Mr. Fiance), I feel pretty good about them. I am looking forward to putting them to use for the evening of December the 24th.

Like the Kindle Covers this tutorial is well documented with pictures. 

Supplies:
A spool of thread in your choice. I did grey because of the fabric I was using
3 yards (or more depending on your person) of 45" wide fabric.
Elastic (same size as the waist of the PJ wearer)
Another pair of PJ bottoms

I first started out by laying the current pair of PJs down on the fabric. I measured and allowed basically 4 inches at the bottom and top for hemming and other things. You will see why I did later. Also, make sure to pull the crotch all the way out to make that "J" shape. Otherwise you end up with four pieces of fabric that are super tough to sew together.

I used a tailor's pen (also called Disappearing Ink) for marking my fabric. This pen is great because it fades away in  the wash.

You can see I allowed for a large seam allowance. I did this because I know my myachine doesn't like straightening pins and I wanted my PJs a bit loose

I left a great deal of room at the top because I was planning on turning the fabric over and essentially encasing the elastic waist band later.

Now just pin away after you cut along you fancy lines.

This picture is to show you what both pant legs look like. DO NOT cut the same lay out for the current PJ bottoms twice. Make sure you flip them. What you also need to do is make sure the crotch area (where the J is) is not completely cut through. This is essentially for having an area that is much easier to sew later.

Remember how I said my legs were two different lengths? This is how that happened?

Then just go to you machine and start sewing.

Here's the crotch area I talked about earlier. I left about two inches of fabric from both sides (and both leg pieces) together. DO NOT sew this area together when doing the legs. Leave it.

Do the other part of the leg...

Make sure to double sew (or go in reverse a few times) the bottom and top sections of the fabric. These are the areas I think would come apart first.

 DO NOT SEW THE TOP SECTION THAT MAKES THE J!!! Leave the alone until both pant legs (outside and lower section) have been sewn.

Lay out both legs next to each other like I did. If you followed the instructions so far, your "J" sections will look like mine did and not be sewn together yet.

 Take your legs and point them in opposite directions. Then bring the J sections together. Undo the pins and join the pieces of fabric together, starting at what will be the back side of the pants and working you way forward.

If only my legs could do the splits like this in real life!

 Your sections should come together and that crotch area/bottom of the J shape should be connected. This will be the toughest area to deal with when using the machine. At least that was my experience.

 Go ahead and sew the pant legs together and if you can, run them through the machine twice... No one like to see holes in your crotch or on your backside. Set aside the pants for a few minutes and get your elastic.

I used about 32 inches of elastic but when I joined it together in a circle, I probably took it down to about 29 inches. I double sewed it and ran it through several times. I do not want to have to rip apart seams to fix these if I don't have to.

 From here, I was silly and forgot to take a picture. But recall that I left a lot of top space when I cut the material? I folded that down once across the waistband. I then inserted my elastic loop and folded the material over again. I made sure to sort of scrunch or fold the material to get the "scrunchy look" you get at the top of your store bought PJs. Pin with straightening pins before running it through your machine.

 If I had been smarter, I would have taken my own advice and scrunched the fabric. I only figured that out about half way through sewing the waist band.

I applied the same technique of the double roll from the waist band to the legs - minus the elastic. I put the pins in the middle of the hem for a reason....

 Both pant legs got the same hem length... I was not going to try and make them the same length. After all these were my PJs and its not like I was going out of the house in them.

When I sewed my pant bottoms. I made sure to do one loop a round that was to the left of my pinning. When I finished, I did a round to the right of the pins

By doing so, I created this more weighted feel to the pants and it was more aesthetically pleasing to me.

Then just turn your pants inside out after you finish the hem and BAM you have a pair of snazzy PJ bottoms.

You can tell there are some defects in mine from this picture. But as I said earlier, these are mine, I'm not leaving the house in them, and the only person who will see me in them is Mr. Fiance. Not that he will really care... his are not as snazzy as mine. :) Shhhh.. don't tell him that.

Wait, what? Yes, I did make a pair of PJ pants for Mr. Fiance. They are in fact part of his Christmas Eve box. He will be opening the box at sunset on Christmas Eve (our first Christmas together) and find himself a snazzy - but not as snazzy as mine - pj pants with beer stein fabric, a new Christmas movie, a giant tub of popcorn, cocoa, and some Christmas mugs. This is a great date night box for you and your partner to start doing. I'm hoping Mr. Fiance picks up on the idea and will enjoy our soon to be tradition. I even wrote him a terrible poem to go along with it.

I'll post pictures of the poem, his reaction, and us in our snazzy Pa-Jam-Huzzahs sometime after Christmas - if not on Christmas.

Do you and your family (or partner or spouse or pets) have any fun traditions?

Kindle Covers

One of the gifts I saw my family members get for themselves earlier this fall was in fact the newest of the Kindle Fires. My mother purchased the standard Fire because she wanted to get a book on a midnight release. My brother purchased it because he wanted a tablet to take with him on his daily bus rides. When they bought their Kindles, they made sure to also buy hard covers.

I know from experience with my Kindle (1st generation) that those hard covers are nice but occasionally, I just want to be able to slip it into an extra padded layer - especially for traveling. Earlier this year I had sewn one by hand and really loved it (and still do). So for Christmas I made both my mom and my brother their own Kindle Covers. All the materials I used are washing machine safe.

*This post is picture heavy. That does not mean this project is complicated. I was just very good about documenting the endeavor.

This particular cover is for my older brother. He loves green like Miss Piggy loves Kermit the Frog. 

I picked up two different colors fabric quarters from the fabric store. The white fabric is quilt batting that I found in the bolt fabric section

The first thing I did was to measure the fabric so it would fit the Kindle Fire HD that my brother owns. I added about a 1/2 inch seem allowance on all sides. Make the quilt batting smaller than the other two pieces on all sides. I pinned all the pieces together using straightening pins.

Please note, it is vital that you pin the quilt batting on top, then pin the wrong sides (the stuff you want on the outside) together.

On the two long sides, I sewed (by machine) the two green pieces together. On one of the short sides I sewed all three layers together. I then flipped the cover inside out.

The quilt batting should be the center layer, the two colored sides out correctly.

I then used the seem allowance on the non-sewed edge and flipped it under.

To allow for the sleeve to close, I added some cloth ribbon to act as straps. You will see how this closes in a minute.

I sewed the final edge with the ribbons, and the non-sewed edge together.

From here I measured some Velcro I also found in the handy fabric store. I used the iron on kind and made them the same width as the cloth ribbon. I did not attach it at this point but simply cut it to fit.

Fold the sleeve in half along the long sides. Sew the finished edges. If you cut the quilt batting a little slimmer, this area will not be as thick. It will turn out more like the finished edge where the ribbon is.

I ironed on the Velcro and made sure the straps were in the right place.

And there you have it! How to make your own Kindle sleeve. I made another one for my mother, as I said earlier, using different fabric. She is a huge soccer fan as one of your readers knows, and is especially a fan of Manchester United. Her Kindle sleeve is red and yellow with an iron on ManU patch added to the front side of it. If I do say so myself, they both look pretty sweet.

What crazy crafty projects are you up to in these final days before Santa stops by for the annual celebration of the birth of Jesus?