Handmade Christmas--Part 1

I LOVE to make gifts for people at Christmas. Hopefully they love receiving these gifts as well! :0) I wanted to share what I made to give my sons' teachers this year. We also gave one of these to our daycare provider.

First, I chose 4 photos I've taken around our home this past year. These were nature photos, not kid photos. I uploaded them to Shutterfly and had them made into greeting cards. I was very impressed with the quality of the cards when I received them in the mail. The photo below shows the 4 cards I had made up.

I had planned to sew them each a Gratitude Wrap using Amanda Soule's free pattern. However, I guess my sewing skills weren't up to par because I couldn't get it to come out looking very good. So I scrapped it and made up my own pattern using the pieces I had already pre-cut for the Gratitude Wraps.

Basically I just came up with a little pouch lined with cream colored linen with ribbons to tie it closed. In the above photo you can see the inside of the pouch.

Here is what the pouches look like when they are tied closed. Into each pouch I placed the four greeting cards tied with a cream ribbon along with a card my son hand-drew for each of his teachers and a personal note from me. I was pleased with how these turned out and I wish I had bought more of the outer fabric. I got it on discount at Wal-Mart this summer.