Handmade Birthdays

Fall is a busy time for birthdays for us, starting with 1 nephew in September, a father, sister and niece in November, and 2 daughters in December.  Makes for a busy lead up to Christmas!  In my continuing effort to simplfy and focus on handmade gifts, I tried to come up with some simple projects that would come together quickly.

For my sister, who is in the process of relocating to a new job and city (one that will involve more travel), I decided to go with a simple cowl with some yarn I had been saving, and a shoe bag using Betz White's great tutorial - how I love tutorials, especially the well written ones.

My little models

For the shoe bag I used some of Kate Spain's Central Park fabric, which I love.

Next up was a little niece turning 4, one who love to colour and happens to enjoy princesses.  I put together a little package including some stickers, these gel pastels (which I love), and a handmade colouring book.

For the colouring book I used this tutorial, and then downloaded some colouring pages off the internet.  I didn't have any book tape on hand, so I just used some electrical tape I had.

I hope the gifts are well received and enjoyed as much as I enjoyed making them!