Homemade Teen Girl Christmas Gifts

DIY Christmas Gifts

I dusted off my sewing machine in November and made several Christmas projects for my friends, teens, extended family members, and toddler.  They are all simple beginner sewing projects that turned out awesome. I mainly used my leftover scrap material or quarter yard fabrics or bought material from a thrift shop.

 Lavender Rice Packs

I made these for my teenage daughters, friends, and some extended family. I got the rice pack pattern and tutorial from A Gentle Strength.  I also printed out some cute gift labels from Tori Grant Designs.  Supplies: material, lavender oil, and rice.
 

Eye Masks
I made these for my teenage daughters since they love their beauty sleep and don't like to see light. I got the eye mask pattern and tutorial from Making Things Is Awesome. Supplies: material, elastic, and felt or quilt batting. 

iPhone and Headphones Pouch

I made my teenagers and myself one of these cute pouches. I got the iPhone pouch tutorial from Penny Dog. This was pretty easy tutorial. I think the pocket is perfect for storing a driver's license, debit card, or headphones while on the go. Supplies: a couple different pieces of material and quilt batting.

Headband Warmers

I made these ear headband warmers for the whole family! I got the ear warmers headband tutorial from Crazy Little Projects. Supplies: soft fleece material.

Gumball Magnets
I made these for my teenage daughters. I was inspired by Imagine Our Life's gumball machine ornament, but I wanted something smaller so I printed out the pattern and tutorial from her advent snow globe Christmas ornament. I bought some really strong magnets from a local craft store that were stitched between the layers. Supplies: felt, embroidery thread, needle, colorful beads, strong magnets, and sequins.

Pillows for Decorations
I made these for my teenage daughters.  As a bonus, I found the blue soft fleece fabric from a thrift store. I did a simple quilt block layout for the pillows.

Merry and Bright 2016 Family Photos

Our Christmas Card 2016

Merry and Bright Family Photos 2016

We had our nephew Manoel Silva take our family photos. We decided to take them at the beautiful rocky amphitheater in American Fork across the street from the Mount Timpanogos Temple. For our color pallet, we tried to match little brother's long sleeve shirt. I think they turned out cute! Thanks Manoel! 

DYI Christmas Ornaments

   Homemade Christmas Ornaments
We were in need of some new Christmas ornaments and didn't want to spend too much money on them. So I made a bunch of cute ones this year.  Now our tree is absolutely beautiful with our handmade ornaments.

Felt Advent Christmas Ornaments
I found the adorable felt ornaments patterns and tutorials from Imagine Our Life. My favorites are the snow globe and angel! I gave some of these away as Christmas gifts to family or friends.
Ugly Sweater Ornaments
The ugly sweater ornament pattern and tutorial came from American Felt and Crafts. I gave many of these sweaters away to my close family and friends. 

Wooden Sled Ornaments
I got the wooden sled ornament idea from Fireflies and Mudpies. Supplies: painted Popsicle sticks, wood glue, rope/twine.

November 2016 A Harvest of Memories Scraps

November is a very difficult month to endure due to painful memories. We honor my Mother in-law's birthday on November 11th and will never forget the loss of her on that dreadful day of November 19th, 2013. We watched my husband's mother slowly deteriorate from cancer, she died from a tragic fall, and a month later we nearly lost little brother from horrible health issues. November was when little brother became very sick and had to hospitalized weeks later. I am truly grateful for my testimony that families are forever. We will be reunited again with our loved ones who passed on someday. I am also truly thankful to God for answering our pleas in healing my son from his many difficult medical issues he encountered the first few years of his life. He is absolutely amazing and brings us so much joy in our lives! I'm counting my blessings! We have so much to be grateful for! 

In Loving Memory, 2013

Our Family: Life is Beautiful, 2013 

Credits: I used a huge collaboration kit (papers and elements) called"That's Life" from many popular scrapbook artists. "That's Life" was a Digi Scrap Parade freebie.  The templates are by Cindy Schneider from Sweet Shoppe Designs. I used the following fonts: FO-giggles, Lucida Handwriting, and print clearly. 

All Family Thanksgiving, 2015

 
Credits: The layout is by Penny Miscellany, Autumn Day papers, journal card, pie, flowers, and buttons are by Elif Sahin from Sahin Designs, yellow leaf, pine cone, mushroom, pine needles are by Kristin Cronin Barrow from Sweet Shoppe Designs, and acorns are by L Grier.  I used the grumble font. 

Beach Quiet Book: Ice Cream Truck and Ice Cream Pages

Change the Button Tires on Ice Cream Truck and Build and Ice Cream

Snap Open to See Ice Cream Buttons
Supplies: Ice cream truck template, wool blend felt, embroidery floss, interfacing for window, large buttons for tires, ice cream buttons, ribbon, and snap.  I used the blanket stitch and back stitch.  Little brother loves to change the tires (learning how to button) and snap open to see the ice cream buttons.

Buttons to Change the Tires

Off Road Tires

Build an Ice Cream
Supplies: Ice cream bowl, ice cream cone, ice cream toppings, sprinkles, ice cream pocket, patterns/instructions are from Imagine Our Life. You need wool blend felt, embroidery floss tiny beads, ice cream ribbon, red sequins, and clear vinyl. I sewed the vinyl sprinkles with my sewing machine and hand stitched the rest of the pieces doing a blanket stitch. Little brother can pretend to build an ice cream sundae or cone. 

Sprinkles Topping

Beach Quiet Book: Octopus and Turtle Pages

Count the Fish Beads and Pull Turtle's Tail with Bead Maze

Count the Fish Beads and Open the Octopus Zipper
Supplies: zipper, blue, parachute chord, fish beads, white tulle, many different colorful ribbons, eyes, lilac purple felt, and embroidery floss. I made my own simple template for the body. Obviously, I sewed the zipper and ribbons with my sewing machine. I hand stitched the octopus body doing a blanket stitch. I hot glued the eyes on the felt. On this page, little brother can count the beads, become familiar with colors, and understand different sizes.

Pull The Turtle Tail
Supplies: Turtle template, maze template, black, white, and two types of green wool blend felt, black embroidery floss, green floss, green ribbon (for tail), vinyl, bead. I hand stitched the turtle with blanket stitches and French knots (eyes).  Little brother can pull the tail down and push a bead through a spiral maze. 

Turtle Bead Maze

Beach Quiet Book: Football and Build A Sandcastle Pages

Tie The Football Laces and Build a Sandcastle

Supplies: Wool blend felt, embroidery floss, shoe lace, shell buttons, pearl button, other surf board button, button for sand pail, sequins, tulle, eyes for the crab, and ribbon.  The lace foot ball template I got from Pinterest. As for Build and Sandcastle, I got the sandcastle pattern and tutorial from Imagine Our Life and  Shell is from Bugs and Fishes. Little brother learns how to tie shoe laces and building a sandcastle.

Peek a Boo Crab

Peek A Boo Pearl

Beach Quiet Book: Life Jacket and Fish Pages

 Life Jacket and Fish 

Life Jacket

For the Life Jacket, I used the tutorial and pattern from Sewing Skills Quiet Book Page 18-19.  Supplies: I bought some orange nylon material, webbing, clip, and extra batting. I sewed a sail boat button in the corner and did a blanket stitch to secure the webbing and life jacket down in the page. Little brother learns how to clip and and take off the clip on the jacket. 

Match the Fish Snaps Off and Dolphin on String Can Hide in Rock

As for the Ocean Floor, I was inspired by a shark page on Pinterest by Wonders of Felt. The fish patterns are by Purlbee, treasure chest, ocean floor are from Imagine Our Life. Supplies: blue fleece 8x8 square, wool felt, sequins, snaps, parachute cord, dolphin bead, shell buttons, gold ribbon, fake jewels, pearls, tiny beads for octopus, eyes for shark and fish, and clear vinyl for shark tummy.  Little brother learns colors, how to fasten snaps, play hide and seek with the fish on the cord, feel the different textures, and match the fish.

Shark Eating the Fish

Beach Quiet Book: Monkey and Beach Bag Pages

Monkeys Teasing Alligator and Mom's Beach Bag

Supplies: sun button, shell button, wool blend felt, embroidery floss, eyes, white ribbon, white tulle, and 8x8 water like fleece material. I got the monkey pattern from Imagine Our Life,  alligator tutorial (I drew my own template for the alligator) but got inspiration from 365 Days of Crafts, snake, tree, and sun is from Bugs and Fishes. I came up with the patterns for the beach, water, rock, bananas, birds, and clouds.  Little brother learns how to snap on and off the monkeys and play peek a boo to find animals under objects. I have taught him the song"Two Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree" when he plays with this page.

Peek a Boo Bird

Peek a Boo Snake

I sing the song "Two Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree".

Mom's Beach Bag- Keys, iPhone, and Wallet 

Supplies: wool felt blend, the brown flower felt I found at a local craft store (it's thick), embroidery floss, ribbons, button, rubber band, vinyl plastic for license and card. For the beach bag, I used Imagine our Life's purse and iPhone and found keys patterns off Pinterest. Then I used the tutorial and pattern for the wallet from Lola Nova. The driver license and Chase card came from Smile Like You Mean It. Little brother learns how to fasten and unfasten a button on the wallet. He can pretend to use a phone and keys. He may become familiar with numbers 0-9 and learn my phone number.  

Inside of Wallet Mom's Fake Driver's License and Chase Card

Beach Quiet Book:Treasure Map Shapes and Sun Pages

Treasure Map Velcro Shapes and Weave the Sun

These are the first and last pages from the Beach Theme Quiet Book 

Blue Pocket and Velcro Shapes Treasure Map

As you can see, I sewed a blue pocket for the first page to put the shapes in. Little brother loves to match the shapes and place them in the pocket.  He also learns colors and shapes.

Velcro Off the Shapes
Supplies: Wool blend felt, Velcro squares, shapes pattern, embroidery floss, needle, and Fusible Interfacing (iron) between the felt shape pieces to help secure the Velcro in place. I hand stitched the shapes and map by doing the blanket stitch or basic stitch. The treasure map  and shapes pattern came from Imagine Our Life.

Weave the Sun

Supplies: Wool blend felt, embroidery floss, and ribbons. Again, I used the blanket stitch on the sun border and weaves pieces. I used the following patterns circle from Busy Bug Life and weave from Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows. Little brother learns how to weave.

Little Brother's Beach Theme Quiet Book

Little Brother's Beach Theme Quiet Book
When Little Brother turned two years old in May of 2015, he finally unwrapped his homemade Beach Theme Quiet Book for a birthday present. The quiet book has been great to take with us to doctor appointments and during church! He also likes playing with it during the daytime occasionally too. 

Front of Quiet Book
First, I made a Quite Book Board on Pinterest and collected many pins for inspiration and ideas. I read the pro and cons of the different types of Quite Books. I choose a simple book style instead of the rings. Next, I researched how to hand sew by watching the following You Tube Videos: the blanket stitch, back stitch, and French knots. Beware I am a beginner sewer with my Brother sewing machine. The stitches are not straight as you will see in the handle and on some of the pages! I spent hundreds of hours making his quiet book stitching by hand many tiny pieces.  It is a beautiful keepsake for years to come and I plan to make more quiet books for my grandchildren in the future.

Supplies: 
The book was made from many colorful wool blend felt sheets, which I bought from an Etsy Shop called Benzie Design. I also bought Velcro, interfacing, cream muslin material, navy fleece material, and a fleece under water ocean scene material for the book cover from Walmart. I followed the instructions on how to sew my book by using the following tutorials: Sewing Skills Quiet Book and Sewing with Nancy to assemble the Quiet book together. Each square was 9X9 (I made a template from card stock). I added a blue pocket inside the front page of the book and sewed on the Velcro as a closure. I also liked the idea of little brother carrying his Beach Quiet Book with handles.
Blue Pocket and Velcro Shapes Treasure Map

Monkeys Teasing Alligator and Mom's Beach Bag

Life Jacket and Fish 
Football Laces and Build a Sandcastle

 Octopus and Turtle
 Ice Cream Truck and Ice Cream

Weave The Sun

Stay tuned! I will post more photographs of each page. I will break down what supplies I used for each page, what skills little brother learns from each page, and where I found the patterns, inspiration, templates, etc in other blog posts.