Wellness Gift Bags 3

Generally speaking, when tasked with making a number of the same items, I follow the directions on the first one then improvise a bit more with each take. Let's face it  - you have way more fun this way and who doesn't love a challenge? Going into bag number three of six and I've thrown all caution to the wind.


 This is about mid-way through the creation of the smaller pouch. I pieced together three 2" x 12" patterned strips and three 3" x 12" linen pieces. Why those sizes? Just because that was what I happened to have on hand. After piecing, I cut them into six strips and arranged in a random order.

I then pieced those six strips together.

At this point I realized the size was too big for one bag and too small for two. See - this is where it gets fun. To remedy, I grabbed two red strips that were hanging around and tacked one onto each end.

Tada! I now have a square big enough to make two bags!

 This is the view from the back.

 Press top and bottom edges down 1/4" then 1".

 Sew on hook and loop velcro.

Stitch around the sides and across the top. And here is my smaller bag!

Wellness Gift Bags 2

I'm just getting around to posting pics of the Rice Heat Therapy Bags. Being lazy at heart and not wanting to break out the 'nice' camera and all it involves, I decided to see what quality pics I could get using a combination of the Droid, Picasa, and Picnik. I have to say I am totally happy with the results! Enjoy the pics - I'm loving being able to use up all of these scraps! 

 

Wellness Gift Bags I

What? Early November and I'm already falling behind on all of my Christmas projects! To date, I've identified gifts for all six of the critter and critter-ettes teachers, two SIL's, and the MIL. Actually, the MIL gift is just something she asked me to do that I've let fall through the cracks - does that still count? Thank goodness for SMS's Handmade Holiday Guide! You must check it out - I challenge you to not find the perfect gift.

I've decided to go with a Wellness/Relaxation theme for the teachers (god knows they deserve it), using the "Rice Heat Therapy Bag" tutorial. Not only is it super cute, its a great way to use up all of your leftover scraps. The printable tags are a really nice extra touch!

So far, I've made two of the larger, hot packs and two of the smaller, cold packs. For the filling, I lugged home a 25lb bag of rice but am still on the hunt for bulk quantities of flax or buckwheat and essential oils. If I can't find any I'll just substitute rice. The tutorial is for the hot pack only so I've been winging the pattern on the cold pack. So far, mine look more like pencil cases - but I still love them! I'm up in the air about the mask. Not sure if I'm willing to make the time investment to fashion removable buckwheat inserts (did I really just type that). We'll see where I am time- and scrap-wise once the packs are completed. The plan is to put everything into really cute bags with maybe a few froo-froo things (candle, loofah, etc) from Aveda.