Now that's just so cool!

I love to make or bake gifts for people for Christmas and while I seem to be in good company with many bloggers who are similarly like minded, I insist that my gifts be cool, inexpensive and fabulously made. In the spirit of giving, I want to give to lots of people so I have to be very creative in what I give as gifts so I don't go broke. For instance, my 17 y/o niece is going to receive Cashmere mittens I'll be making from a sweater I picked up at a garage sale for $1. Someone else made the mistake of drying the sweater. They thought it was ruined and therefore of no value. I snapped it up knowing full well I could make felted mittens out of it. Seriously, wouldn't you love a pair of Cashmere mittens to slip your hands into?

If you're into hand made Christmas presents and projects, you simply have to start at the November posts from Sew Mama Sew. The good folks over there do all the searching and scouring of blogs and then post the coolest ideas for the rest of us peruse. I found this link and look what I made my nephew for Christmas.


I didn't buy the wooden blocks for mine. I have a friend who gave me a bunch of Formica sample chips that are obsolete and they worked wonderfully. I only made 16 because my nephew is 2 and I didn't want the game to be too difficult for him. I sanded the chips lightly to knock off some of the sheen on the front and to smooth out the back. Then I used Liquitex Matte Gel Medium to adhere left over scrap paper to the front and back. Once dry I lightly sanded the edges and put a slight curve on the corners. I added stickers to a couple pieces that I thought were a bit bland and now I have the coolest Memory Game for my nephew, and it didn't cost me any extra money. I'll make a little drawstring bag to hold his game with some of the left over thrifted pillow case material. You can not beat gifts like this when you have lots of people you want to give to.