She made a step by step tutorial and included links to basic knots and stitches (all of which I used).  I honestly didn’t even know what a backstitch was.  I had heard the term before but had no idea what it was.  Not only that I had none of the materials on hand, not even a pin to hold the fabric still.

You can find her GREAT tutorial on her blog here.  I didn’t have any scraps of fabric so I just picked up some from the scrap pile at the store and 1 fat quarter (which apparently has something to do with quilting).  My first one came apart on both ends and took me HOURS to finish.  My second one wasn’t stuffed enough, but it’s ok because I did not have a long plastic knitting needle to pull the yarn through and I never would have gotten the yarn to go around if I had stuffed it more.  My last one (the little one) turned out pretty well.  Although now I understand why you try to find floss the color of the fabric you’re using oops!

I’m pretty proud of my cute little fall decorations and I’ll definitely be sewing again.  Maybe someday I’ll take a class to try and learn the sewing machine.  One thing I do want to know though - how do you know how long a piece of floss/thread to cut?  Mine were either too short or waaaaay too long and took me forever to pull through.  Is there some sort of secret equation?

Anyway, here they are!

I actually sewed something this weekend!   I’m so proud of myself, I’ll share pics tomorrow.  I took pictures of some friends this morning for their Christmas cards.  It was fun to be able to do so many in such a short amount of time and I’m glad I was able to fit them in.

I don’t think little man was feeling good today.  He was really cranky and fell asleep at 9 which is early for him on a Saturday!  Hopefully tomorrow he’ll be feeling more like himself.  I think I’m planning to do our Christmas card pics next weekend if everyone is on board.  I can’t wait although they usually don’t turn out the way they are in my head.

Anyway, I wanted to share some of the boys’ picks for Christmas gifts this year.  I am so proud of them for not really getting too commercialized yet.  I had to beg them to write me a list so I had something to go off of (and something to fight for on Black Friday).

First up is the 7 year old.  He wants this remote control car that goes on walls and ceilings following the laser.  Amazon.com for $27.99 no tax and free shipping!  (I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find this in store since my Toys R Us, Target, and Walmart were already out of stock).

Rockband 2 for the Wii - I think I’m going to order this on ebay.  Last year bing.com did a 30% cashback through ebay when I got a Nintendo Ds and I can get it for $109 and get $33 back.

The Crayola Glo Dome - will be $18.99 on Thanksgiving day at Kmart plus rumor is I can sign up online to get $5 or $10 Kmart coupon

Legos!  It’s all about the Legos this year.  Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Agent it doesn’t matter.  Actually, he didn’t even know that you could buy them without one of the sets.

And for my 5 year old boy (keep in mind they are polar opposites!)

A sock monkey!  Yes, he wants a sock monkey.  He actually sat on a bored looking Santa’s lap on the mall last week and asked for a sock monkey.  I’m not sure that Santa’s ever gotten that request before.

Club Penguin stuffed animal - specifically a blue puffle - already bought for $4.79 at Toys R Us last week

Some skateboards and a ramp - from Costco (the small Tech Deck ones)

And the dreaded Zhu Zhu pets!  I’ll get one if I can without having to clobber through a bunch of other soccer moms because I know I’ll love seeing his face light up on Christmas because he got one, but if I can’t get one without waiting in line for more than oh, 10 minutes, or spending more than $10,  guess what - his face will still light up on Christmas morning ;)

And yesterday he said he was going to ask Santa for a quad but, I sadly had to tell him that Santa has been unable to get lead free parts from China and was going to be unable to fill that request this year.  He was fine with that and asked for a new skateboard instead since Dad broke his.  Fair enough.

Another thing I’m excited for is getting Melvin out again this year!  He’s the little elf that checks in on us during Christmas time.  We never know where that Melvin will show up each morning!

2.  Clock made from a computer hard drive by pixelthis

3.  Custom name Motocross Dirt Bike Vinyl by HouseHoldWords

4.  Skateboard Money Clip by COOBoriginals

5.  Personalized Golf Towel by Hudson

6.  Arizona Cardinals crystal/rhinestone shirt by karmacrystal

7.  Handstamped dog ID tag by gatorgrrl

8.  Dog Toy by BellaMiaHandmade

1.  Chocolate Brown and wood grain hand dyed burp cloth by laundrymonster

2.  Kids cape boy or girl by BayouPrincess

3.  Coloring Wallet by bitsnpiecesetc - this is a little wallet with crayons and paper for coloring on the go!

4.  Mini I Spy Bag by inspiredbylou - SO cute!  There’s little items hidden inside and a list to find on the back.

5.  Deluxe Washcloth sushi for baby by SushiforBaby

6.  Animal Tracks Matching Game by doggiepiggie

7.  Tongue Twister Coloring Poster by vol25

8.  Monster Album Quiet book ePattern by copycrafts - I want to make this so bad!

Again, trying to find unique gifts that the little one you’re buying for might not have already.  I’ll do the last one tomorrow - sort of a mishmash of items.  More pictures this weekend, update on the puppy with her new collar and a couple from a family shoot.

Head on over to The Long Thread she just posted links to some older tutorials with some PERFECT homemade gifts for the little artist!

1.  Double Initial Silver Plated Letterpress Necklace by EricaWeinerJewelry

2.  Block Printed Linen Zip Pouch by 1girl1boy

3.  Alphabet Soup by ModernPop

4.  Helvetica typography acrylic necklace by plastique

5.  Friends don’t let friends use Comic Sans - square pinback button or magnet by BarrelOfMonkeys

6.  Epershand Necklace by Isette

7.  Perpetual Calendar by orangebeautiful

8.  Silicon Gallies Next Generation Glass Tile Pendant Ctrl Z Necklace by capitolagirl

A funny story about helvetica (have you seen the documentary by the way?  Very interesting).  I took the boys to see “Shorts” a nickelodeon film at the theater.  The theater was pretty full and the movie was pretty cute.  The main girl charachter’s name was Helvetica.  Towards the end of the movie she made fun of one of the boys calling him a list of names something like snot face.  He said “Well, you’re a typeface”.  I laughed so. hard. and absolutely no one else in the theater was laughing which of course made me laugh even harder.  The boys had no clue what I was laughing about but the little one started laughing with me. 

Tomorrow I’ll do gift ideas for kids!  I’m having a little too much fun with this ;)