Homegrown Gifts: Part 3

OK, these might be a little over the top, but they were so much fun! I did little pen and ink drawings, collaged them onto jewelry boxes and bottles, and decorated them with embroidery thread, buttons, beads, etc. I also made earrings to go in the boxes.


Of course, when you make special little things like this, you always hope they get treated well in their new homes.

Homegrown Gifts: Part 2

Magnets!

Who doesn't love magnets?! And it's even more fun to make them yourself! You can use just about any junk you have laying around to make a magnet. Behold, just some of the tools of the trade:

For these particular ones (made as xmas gifts for some co-workers), I collaged magazine photos onto buttons, glued some other stuff on there, sprayed them with a gloss coating, then glued each one to a magnet!




Aside from making them as gifts, they can also be an excuse to have a party! A couple of years ago we had a party and ended up with a fridge covered in awesome magnets made by our artsy and not so artsy friends!

For these, we just used cardboard, elmers glue and duct tape, and attached magnetic strips! If you want to go down the recycling route, then, aside from cutting up old magazines, you can use those handy magnetic business cards that your local pizza joint and dentist give out - just collage right on top.

(Scott Murphy and Beth making sweet magnets!)

Fun times!

Next up: It's a SECRET!

Homegrown Gifts: Part 1

It's that time of year again. Time to buy presents. For a lot of people, potentially. But, if you're like a lot of us, you may find that you are a little short on cash, or maybe those store-bought gifts just aren't personal enough. What to do? Make gifts of course! I'll kick off this mini-series of posts with a gift that I gave to my boyfriend, Alex, last Holiday season. We are both Michael Pollan fans, and on top of that Alex had been getting interested in cooking, so what better gift than a personalized recipe book! I tapped both of our Moms for favorite recipes, and then made a cover with a tribute to Mr. Pollan himself; "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants". The result is below.



The cover was drawn and hand-lettered in india ink and white acrylic on a recycled paper bag, and then mod podged onto a 3-ring binder filled with recipes. The edging was done with cream-colored yarn (just dip it in elmer's glue and stick it on!).

Next up: Awesome and Easy Magnets!