Friday, October 30

HoHoHo! Christmas Gifts for Dummies...

This post is about Christmas gifts, so if you're even remotely related to me, you can stop reading right here. If you don't, do me a favor and act all surprised at Christmas, k?

I LOVE the Ballard Designs catalog. Talk about a source of inspiration! I 'bout flipped out when I saw these adorable monogrammed mugs. Would these not be the greatest Christmas gifts?!
Oh...but wait...they're 25.00....EACH. So much for that thought.
You'll never know how thrilled I was to find some similar "design-a-mugs" at the Dollar Tree! Yep, you heard me - the dollar tree. I pretty much cleaned 'em out.

Then I had figure out how to make them Ballardish. I STILL don't have an embroidery machine (did ya hear that, Santa?) so I couldn't monogram them that way. So here's what I did...
Wrap the template with fabric.
Print out a letter on the computer.
Cut it out to make a stencil.
Lay the stencil on the fabric, paint with fabric paint.
Voila. Monogramming for dummies.

And here's what they look like.
Since I used fabric remnants I already had, I made these for less than 2 bucks per mug. I'm feeling pretty smug about that. I've got this Christmas thing whipped.

I'm also drooling over these Ballard stockings. But to buy 4 of them... yikes. The checkbook just called. It said "don't even think about it."

I wonder if I could make some of these the redneck way...

So have you finished any projects lately? Be sure to check out Chari's Finished Object Friday for more ideas!

11 comments:

Melissa said...

Love the mugs! I have been looking at some like that for awhile but way too much $. And to think I passed up a Dollar Tree today.

Melissa said...

Brilliant my friend, simply brilliant! I'm suddenly hearing my name being called from the Dollar Tree....

Many Blessings,
M.

Unknown said...

Brittany, get out your trusty sewing machine - I think those stockings would be pretty simple! Just get you a scrap of paper and draw you a funny looking sock, cut out a couple of 'em, sew 'em together and embellish to your heart's content! :-)
You could even spray paint the polka-dots on!!!!!!!!!! How's THAT for innovative?

Charity said...

Very, Very cute!! Makes me want to make a run to Dollar Tree myself! And I'm with Gillian. Those stockings don't look too hard... hmmm maybe I should think about making us some stockings sometime. :)

Andrea said...

They look great! The Ballard mag arrived in my mailbox this week too. I'm going to try to duplicate one of the items as a Christmas present!

Empty Nest Full Life said...

Those look great! The recipients are going to be delighted! Jackie

Leanne Helums said...

Love it! I got the same mugs last week to make some for my friends for Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Great IDEAS, Miss Fogleman, thanks do much, I need them more than you know. Now if only we had Dollar Tree in Canada, but I am going to be on the lookout for that type of mug now. Thanks again, btw, I love your sense of humor. I think I could make those stockings, too. Hugs, Cindy S.

Ronda said...

You are SO creative! Beautiful blog and decorating style! :)

Brittany said...

Thanks y'all! I think I will make a stab at those stockings! I'm pretty sure about the sewing part, just not so sure how I want to do the names. Hmmm...spray painted polka dots, now there's a great idea! Y'all rock.

Shirley said...

Sure hope I'm a "Mug Recipient". Remember me? I'm your mother-in-law? Ha!