So the goal for Christmas 2007 was to hand make all of the gifts I gave. I was very successful. I admit, there were a few gifts that I couldn't make for one reason or another(Men's slacks?? No way!), so I ended up buying a couple. I think I like a homemade Christmas way much better, I'm thinking that (time permitting) I'm going to make it a personal Christmas tradition to make all of my gifts. Here are photos–and a few how-to links–of some of the gifts I made this year... Jake's Lunch Bag Jake mentioned that he was wanting a new lunch bag, since the one he made in high school has been missing for almost the past year. It's a manly enough gift, if I use manly fabric. The trick was to make it look like a lunch bag and not a purse. I used a bag tutorial (found here) and did a side loop for a carabiner instead of handles. I also found this really cool material (for free, of course) that makes it look like a brown paper bag. After Christmas I was thumbing through a Pottery barn magazine and came across this picture... does anything look familiar to you? I have to admit it looks much more polished than my version. I think I like the enclosure on this bag best. Now I know what to do for next time. Mom's Sewing Kit I've noticed that my mom has been sewing a lot recently. Mostly quilting (she made the awesomest quilt for dad for Christmas). I also noticed that her pincushion was looking very sad. It may be older than me! I found a pincushion pattern by Heather Bailey (here), and also a zipper bag tutorial (here), which worked perfectly. Lindsay and Linda's Stationery I was very happy to complete this project. Since I don't have a graphic design job, I haven't been doing very many digital projects. Not as many as I would like, anyway. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to create something a little different. I found the tutorial for making the leather envelopes (here) and I stretched the pattern to fit my stationery, since the pattern was for making a business card holder. I think it may be cool to use the same pattern to make a clutch. Just an idea. Brooke's Purse Nothing too exiting here, I used the same template for this bag as I used for Jake's lunch bag. The fabric was kind of a mess to work with, since it was so thin, and didn't like the iron much. Eric's iPhone case No picture here, too bad. I couldn't get one that wasn't fuzzy. Oh well. This project was a fabulous success! I downloaded the measurements of the iPhone off the web and made a pattern for it. I used black leather and a metal magnetic snap enclosure, it looked pretty sharp and ended up fitting flawlessly! If I had used a thin fabric it wouldn't have fit as well as it did.