The 7th day of Christmas is my day to give back to all the wonderful artists participating in the 12 Days of Christmas. It's just after midnight here, and I wanted to post this so that it would be up for the overseas gals.
It took me the longest time to decide what to make for this year's swap. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a serious Sewing Phobia, so I am very proud of myself. I stretched real hard, and jumped completely out of the box by making these little Tie Pockets. Each gift was created by using an old neckties from the the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s! I found some of these delightful ties at the ReUse Centre, one was my dad's, and a couple I snuck out of my husband's closet! Once I had assembled 12 ties, I tried as best I could to match everyone's colour preferences. Also whenever possible, I
added embellishments I felt each person may like. My friend Shelly, was kind enough to lend me her sewing machine, and I was off ... going where I hadn't gone since eighth grade home ec. class ... to use a scary, scary sewing machine. Argh! The first couple ties I made were pretty rough. (You'll probably know if I made yours first ... or maybe you won't *smile*) However, as I went along, I actually started to enjoy myself. I decided that straight lines weren't that important, which took a lot of pressure off, too. Each Tie Pocket has a button with Velcro fasteners to keep them securely closed. Finally, I made 3 cards to stuff into the completed Tie Pockets: Permission to Play, Permission to Make Mistakes and Artist of the Year. I had photos of some of the 12 day artists, so for those folks, I added "Photo ID" (or would that be Faux-toe ID?) to the Artist of the Year cards, just in case they have to use it at an airport or something. MOO cards seemed to be an obvious choice for one last item to stuff into the Tie Pockets for my friends ~ each MOO card features some art piece that I've done in the past. 
Finally, I wrapped the gifts in simple old-fashioned tissue paper with sparkles and added little Christmas tags featuring little children and angels (another great find from ReUse). I hope everyone likes the Tie Pockets I made them and I wish everyone a very 
Merry Christmas.Now please excuse me while I secretly open the mysterious #13 gift from Lelainia ....
By the way, I made an extra Artist of the Year card for my son Zachary because he is fast becoming an
excellent artist in his own right!
2 comments:
I think you did amazingly well with your sewing on these! I adore mine so very much, and I loved getting to find out the story behind them, too. The ReUse Centre sounds like a place I could happily spend many, many hours at. :)
Dawn, those little tie pockets are fantastic :) Well done you for facing up to the dreaded sewing machine! The cards are great too - I'll be keeping them close to my desk to remind myself that it's ok to play and make mistakes! Thank you!
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