The Perfect Handmade Gift!

As the holidays are approaching, I'm sure we're all thinking about what we are going to give to the important people in our lives as gifts. I, personally, always find it difficult finding the perfect little gift to give to those people who are not quite family but still special to me. This easy handmade gift is the answer!

I'm a huge believer in handmade gifts. I think they really show people that you care to take the time to make them something special. There's a reason we gave our parents drawings and clay sculptures when we were kids. Those gifts meant something we put part of ourselves into it. They mean so much more.



I made these heart-shaped hand warmers two Christmases ago for my friends and a few of my instructors. They are super simple to make, don't take too long, and are budget friendly. Plus, they help you get rid of all the craft scraps laying around your house. All you need is two scraps of fabric (6-inch by 6-inch squares are plenty), a needle and thread, and some rice. I like to add little embellishments to mine as well.

Here's what you do:

* First, decide how big you want your hand warmer to be, and trim down the fabric if you need. Then, with the two pieces back to back, cut out your heart. The cute part about these is the lack of uniformity, so don't be nervous!
* Next, double thread your needle and knot the end. Pick a matching thread, and enjoy the fact that it shows through. If you want to get really creative, try using ribbon or twine to sew your two pieces together. With the two pieces still back to back (pattern sides facing out), stitch all the way around the heart, leaving a small opening somewhere so that you can still fill it. Again, don't be scared! TIP: I found that I can just leave the needle dangling while I fill the heart so that I don't have to worry about so many knots and loose threads at the end.
* The next step is to fill your heart with rice. This is the part that heats up and serves as a mini heating pad. I would recommend using a funnel for this part. Fill it so that it's full, but the grains still have room to move.
* Finish sewing up the gap. Tie off the thread and trim the ends.
* If you wish, add an embellishment! I'm a fan of using ribbons to make bows and attaching buttons, but get creative!
* To use it, put it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to warm the rice. Then it can be used as a hand warmer or a mini heating pad.



There you have it! The easiest handmade gift that shows you took enough time to show that person how much they mean to you. Of course, if you really don't feel like taking that time, they are available on my Etsy shop!

Crafty Sunday

Maybe that should be a thing here on Classy Emma... Crafty Sundays. Of course, the one that I'm going to share today didn't necessarily happen on a Sunday, but that's really splitting hairs. Anyways...

My sister and I went to Artist For A Day last week on a whim. We hadn't been there since we were little kids and I was so excited to get creative again and have some fun! Artist For A Day is this really charming little place where you can go to paint pottery pieces and then they fire them for you in their kiln and you go back to pick them up about a week later. Olivia and I decided to use the opportunity to make some dishes for our future apartment!

I think I have mentioned it before, but Olivia and I are planning on getting an apartment together sometime in the near future. We don't really have any plans set in stone yet, but we like to fantasize about the fun decor opportunities. Even though we have some different tastes in style, especially when it comes to the home, we managed to come up with a pretty good idea of where we want to go with the hypothetical apartment.

She tends to like bold colors and more geometric patterns, a much more modern approach, while I'm attracted to more vintage-inspired patterns and softer colors. However, I still like my statement pieces and bright colors sometimes and she can appreciate the feminine prettiness of my style. Together, we do a pretty good job coming up with ideas for our future space.

We decided to go with all mismatched dishes in the new place because it would be a lot of fun to thrift our dish sets by picking up a random piece every now and then. And then to make a few of our pieces ourselves makes it even more special! This time, we each made two small plates that could be salad plates or even just lunch plates. We pulled inspiration from other dishes I had found on Pinterest. I will admit, I absolutely LOVE the things I see at Anthropologie, so I pulled some ideas from there as well. We plan on going back to Artist For A Day one more time to make four dinner plates to add to our set.

The painting process is so much fun! First we wiped our pieces down to get rid of all the dust, then we brainstormed for ideas of what to paint. We started by picking out our paint colors so that even though they would each have different designs, they would be pulled together by having the same color palette. We had already decided a while ago that we wanted to use turquoise and red in the kitchen and dining area, so we started there. Then we added some other colors and went to work creating our masterpieces! We helped each other and ended up with four really pretty, super cute plates!

I can't wait to keep working on our apartment! I love interior decorating and home decor and it's so exciting to actually be planning the decor for a (semi) real space! What would you have painted on your plates?