Tag Archives: Norman the Slug with a Silly Shell

Make It: 15 Homemade Christmas Present Ideas

On Saturday the boyfriend and I went to see the Christmas lights being turned on in Cirencester and it was really lovely. We all sang a couple of carols then Ben Miller (or Armstrong and Miller fame), who is apparently local pressed the button then there were fireworks on the roof of the local church. It has definitely got me feeling in the festive mood so I thought I’d share my pick of homemade presents I’ve made for various people in the past – I have no ideas of things to make this year, so if anyone has any ideas I’m definitely looking for some inspiration!

(click on the picture for the full post)

One of the most versatile and adaptable presents you could make is a tote bag – you can applique something on it to suit the person you’re making it for. I’ve made them with a car, a strawberry and BBC’s Sherlock on for various people!

For your tea-loving friend or relative, why not make them a tea-cup candle? You can flavour them with any essential oil – I used chocolate, mmmm.

Do you have a friend who loves lego? If so, you could make them a lego doorstop – there isn’t a huge amount of knitting involved, so you’ve still got time to make this in time for the big day!

You could make a genuinely one-off present in the form of a scrapbook, as I did for my dad’s 65th birthday.

For your music-loving friend or relative why not make a vinyl record clock?

For your internet-meme-loving friend or relative you’ve still got just about enough time to embroider a cushion cover 😉

For your friend or relative who loved cooking and baking you could make them a lovely apron – there are lots of free patterns out there. I used the one from the first Great British Sewing Bee.

If you have a friend or relative who loves running or exercising, you could make them a useful present in the form of a running armband to hold their phone and keys while they’re out doing their thing.

For Kids:

If you know a kid who needs entertaining while traveling (or at other times!) why not make the travel match game I made for my friend’s daughter?

If you know a kid (or have a kid) who would like to learn about growing things, why not make them a felt allotment? (p.s. this is really, honestly, one of my very favourite things I’ve ever made – I was more excited to give it away than I think the recipient was when she opened it!)

Why not make their favourite book into a cushion cover……..

or a wall-hanging?

Clothes are sometimes a good option for kiddies (though they will grow out of them in no time at all!) I’ve appliqued babygrows, made dungarees and made the cutest dresses with matching knickers!

Are you making any homemade presents this year? I’m not sure I’ll have time to be brutally honest, though my sister has asked me to make her some skirts so I think that will count….if I get them made in time?!

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Make It Yourself

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As you may have noticed (or not!) I have had a bit of a rearrange of my categories and menu. I’ve made a new category (and archive page) for posts where you could make the things yourself – like my tutorial for making a tote bag and how to make a running armband: Make It.

I thought I’d write this quick post to let you know all the ones I’ve written before, which are now in the archive. I’ll be checking through them to make sure they all have comprehensive enough instructions for you to follow. Let me know if you spot anything that needs better instructions.

I’m hoping to add new posts of crafty, and thrifty things you can make yourself. I love sharing things I’ve made, but I want to encourage other people to make things too.

You can make food shopping/ planning less painful (well, I find it less painful!) with this meal planner pinboard.

Make your very own Doc Brown costume from Back To The Future – though it might be too late now it’s not 2015 any more 😦

One of my favourite ever makes, A Beautiful Mess’s Felt Allotment, could be made for any kid in your life – and, in fact, I kinda want one myself!

Do you know a kid with a favourite show or book? Why not make them a cushion with the character on, like my Sarah and Duck cushion?

Have you set a New Year’s Resolution to take up jogging (or another kind of exercise)? Make yourself an armband to hold your phone so you can listen to chunes while you work out!

Ah, the tote bag. If you’re living in the England, then what better way to avoid the new plastic bag charge than by making up a bunch of tote bags?

I made these tea cup candles a while ago, and I plan to make more as they’re so cute!

If you know someone who recently had a baby, but don’t really know what to get them, why not applique some animals or flowers or letters or anything at all on some babygrows? Clothes are always a useful gift and this way they’re a bit more personal!

I made this Polaroid camera case for a friend of mine a while ago, and the principles could be transferred to any camera. Of course, not everyone will probably like an anatomical heart adorning it…….

This has to be one of the easiest makes ever – you just need a clock kit from ebay! And a vinyl record, of course.

For one of my many friends who likes BBC’s Sherlock I made this Kindle cover – it’s got silhouettes on one side and the purple shirt of sex and John’s cabled jumper on the other side!

If you don’t fancy making a cushion for a kiddie, you could make a wall hanging instead, like this one of Norman The Slug With A Silly Shell!

Make It: Norman the Slug with a Silly Shell Wall Hanging

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Last year I bought my friend Norman the Slug with a Silly Shell by Sue Hendra for her daughter. Little did I know then the pain I would cause my friend because her daughter loved it so much! She literally knows it off by heart! So for this Christmas I decided to carry on the pain by making a wall hanging of Norman.
This is what I bought to make Norman – felt in orange, yellow, and 3 of pink. I also got matching thread for all of this and some beads (for the hundreds and thousands on the doughnut) and some purple cotton fabric for the backing – a metre in total I think (so it could be doubled to hide all the stitching).

First I made Norman from the orange felt, adding eyes made from a bit of wadding I had lying around (but 2 layers to make it not see-through), and with embroidered pupils.

Then I sewing him onto the background…..

….and added on his slime trail.

I sewed the bead/ sequins to the pink felt, which I had cut out for the doughnut. I had to make it in 2 halves because of the size of the felt, which is a bit of a shame but didn’t show too badly.

I cut out paper patterns for all the pieces. The doughnut I cut out round, and then cut the pieces out for the irregular icing. I saved the pieces I cut out to make the bread parts of the doughnut for around the edge. I used bondaweb on them as they were so small, so I could stick them to the background and then sew them – pins would have been no good!

I cut the name out of the same pink felt.

All that was left to do was to sew it all on to the background, which was 40cm x 40cm.

I used a piece of brown wool I had in my stash for the string Norman uses to tie on the doughnut.

The last thing to do was the loops on the top to hang Norman from. I made them 9cm x 21cm. Sewed them in half lengthways, turned them inside out/ the right way round (the fabric doesn’t really have a back and front) and ironed them so that the seams were in the middle not on one edge. I them placed the loops equally spaced (allowing for the seam allowance), folded in half on top of one of the background pieces, with the raw edges of the loop lined up with the raw edge of the backing piece. I then put the other backing piece (with Norman on) on top of this, wrong sides together, with the loops in between the 2 pieces and sewed almost all the way around, leaving a gap to turn it the right way around. I then sewed this little gap closed by hand.