DIY Gift on a Rainy Saturday.

Creating is so much fun for me. When I came across a felt how-to book on sale at the bookstore, I snatched it up. Who can resist adorable crafts!? Plus, felt comes in such fun colors, it makes me happy.

Last year, I gave homemade candles, brownie mixes, white hot cocoa and cappuccino mixes, soup mixes, and homemade bath salts as gifts. (I recycled old jars and saved tons of money. And my family LOVED the gifts!) Plus, I got to decorate them all cute-like and that makes me happy. See?

This year, I planning to do mostly homemade gifts again, as well sew some cloth tote/shopping bags with adorable material (maybe even made from thrifted sheets? who knows how resourceful I'll get!), make some note card sets, and some felted goodness.

I'm going to show how I made an adorable bird makeup pouch! (from Felt Underground.)

Note: You can make it big or small, wide or narrow. A pencil case, makeup pouch, toiletry bag, whatever! Also, you can put whatever shape you'd like on it - maybe not birds, but flowers for a little girl, or stars. I love star shapes.

Materials:
Enough felt to make pouch
Scraps/small pieces for birds
Embroidery thread
Sewing thread
Needle
Pins
Zipper
(Sewing machine optional.)

Steps*:
1. Cut felt to size you desire - mine was about 6x3 inches. Small enough to fit a bit of makeup for the weekend. You should have two pieces the same size and shape.

2. Trace bird shapes (look for patterns online) on top paper, cut out paper and pin to extra, different colored felt. Cut a few bird shapes out from extra felt.

3. Pin birds onto one piece of the felt for the pouch and sew on with embroidery thread:

4. Lay the pieces out so the long edges line up - pin the zipper in between the pieces. Hand or machine sew each side of the zipper to the felt. Try to keep the felt as close to the zipper as possible:

My sewing was rough at first. I was a bit rusty. :)

5. Cut the any overhanging the zipper off and fold the pouch so the birds are on the inside. Make sure the zipper is open. Pin the felt together along the three edges.

6. Sew the felt sides together, staying about 1/8 inch away from edges:

Sew extra over the zipper to reinforce it:

7. Remove pins and turn right-side-out. Fill with things that make you happy and zip closed. Ta-da!

Now, please excuse me while I go buy more felt, thread, and cloth to start my Christmas gifts. Budget-style.

*I apologize for the embarrassingly shoddy photo quality. My camera isn't so great in dim light.