!8: Comparison Www Crossstitch: October 2011

!±8± 5 Easy Homemade Gift Ideas

These five easy-to-make gifts will be used again and again. They take less than an hour each and can be fancy or simple. Ideas for free patterns for embroidery or cross stitch can be easily found on the internet.
For someone that likes to read, a bookmark is always a good idea. You will need a piece of cross stitch fabric approximately 7 inches by 3 inches, several colors of embroidery threads, a blunt needle, squared paper and a pencil. Use the paper and pencil to sketch the design. Try a border of alternating cross stitches and a small design featuring a something you know they like such as a favorite flower, food or bird. You can search the internet for free patterns. Mark the center of the design and the center of the fabric and start stitching! Tuck the finished bookmark inside a book by their favorite author. Personalized scarf or hat. Buy a ready-made scarf or hat and embroider initials on it. Check out the fonts available on your word processor and pick a nice fancy one to use as the basis for your design. Print it out at least 72 points high and transfer it to squared paper to give you an idea of how to stitch it. Gift-card pouch to make the gift-card truly special. Take a small piece of felt, a few beads and sequins or fancy ribbon and some embroidery thread. Make a small envelope to fit the gift card by cutting out a strip of felt half an inch wider than the card and long enough to wrap around the card with an inch-and-a-half overlap. Sew beads and sequins around one narrow edge. Fold up the bottom edge to be just a bit shorter than the depth of the gift card. Sew the two side edges together to make a small pocket to put the card in. Sew a small button in the middle of the bottom front of the pocket and sew a loop of embroidery thread on the top flap. Put the loop over the button to keep the pocket closed. Jigsaw puzzle. Use a beautiful picture from a calendar or an enlarged favorite photograph to make a jigsaw puzzle. Glue the picture to light cardboard. On the back of the cardboard, draw the jigsaw puzzle piece shapes. You can use any shape you like, regular jigsaw type pieces or geometric or circular shapes depending on how complicated you want the puzzle to be. Cut the puzzle pieces out. Put them in a small cardboard box and gift-wrap. Special card. Find a copy of a favorite poem or quotation. Type it into your word processor and use a fancy font such as Vivaldi or French Script to print it out. Use a colored paper and glue it inside a folded piece of cardboard. Add embellishments like beads or stickers. The recipient will appreciate having a very special version of one of their favorite things!