It has been a while since I've made a cake. I had some help with this one, and it didn't quite turn out like I'm used to. Obviously, she's happy with it!

My dear knitter friends and I enjoy a special Christmas party each year where we exchange the best gifts. This year, I included a few personalized, purchased gifts along with these handmade, hand stamped project bags.. I love this large size, cotton, drawstring bag because it holds a regular sized pattern sheet.

Our dear sweet ten-year-old colored each of the tags beautifully.

The words on this fabric are perfect for my auntie.

Pattern:

Swoon Patterns Alice Shopper Tote

The Noodlehead Super Tote. The front with the green stripe is a large pocket. There are also pockets on the inside. I love the zipper flap. I'm finding that I like using bags with zips more often lately.

 

Pattern:

Noodlehead Super Tote Pattern

Yellow Explorer Hat

This is the Little Explorer Hat pattern. It seemed to go quickly enough even though it turned out so massive!
I used smaller than asked for needles and this is supposedly the 1-3 years old size. More like 1-3 decades old.
Yarn is yellow cotton.
You can find the pattern on Etsy, Craftsy, Ravelry.

http://www.craftsy.com/user/542836/pattern-store?_ct=fqjjuhd-ijehu&_ctp=103631,542836

Sharpie Mug

If you see Pinterest, I'm sure you've seen the myriad Sharpie crafts for the holidays. I tried
to use stencils for these first. Turns out, my stencils were not flexible enough to lie flat around the curvature of the mug. I may try this again at some point because it was a fun cheap gift, if I can get them to look better. I've seen thin, sticky, flexible stencils. I'm sure I could get some great detail with these shiny markers that way.

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Obviously, I'm still working on photography. These are machine embroidered, then cut out, then embellishments hand sewn on, then sewn, then serged. A dear knitting friend and I worked for about three hours. The red was prequilted. I am so very pleased!