Hand Warmers & Paper Doll Fashion Design Kits

Here's a look at the last couple of gifts that I sent off to my nieces this morning. My sis requested heart shaped hand warmers for all three girls, which I made using felt and machine stitching the edges. They are filled with rice and after just a few seconds in the microwave, they'll be keeping some little girls' hands nice and toasty in the crazy winter weather.

This next gift, I made for the older two nieces, ages almost 6 and almost 11. It is a paper doll fashion design kit. Essentially, you can take the paper dolls, cut up pieces of fabric and glue them on, creating different outfits and styles. I found the free doll printouts and the tutorial here.

I didn't have any boxes that I could use, as the inspiration blog shows, nor could I find any at our local shops, so I opted for binders. My sister and her family will be taking a car trip soon and I thought this would be a great way of keeping everything in one place (and who doesn't love glitter!). Next, I found  3-ring pencil pouches to hold glue sticks, crayons, colored pencils, etc. I printed out the dolls on regular printer paper then cut some sheets of card stock in half and glued them on. These I punched and placed in the binders as well. Finally, I gathered together a bag of scraps! This is a great way to clear out pieces that are perhaps too small for anything else.

I wish that I'd had more options on hand for the paper dolls, because as it is, they are on varying sizes and colors of card stock (I was scraping the bottom of the barrel with this project). But, making do with what I had on hand, I still think it came out well and will be a great busy activity for the girls. And once they finished these dolls, they can always just print out more themselves! (And I can keep sending bags of scraps) ;).

Ok, hope you enjoyed these ideas for homemade gifts! I'm hoping to get a refashion in this afternoon and have it up for you tomorrow...we shall see :)

Peace,
Andrea