mystics + mint: DIY home made birthday gift

One of my favorite things to do is to give gifts!! No matter what the occasion, making something special for someone you love is the best feeling on earth. I am so blessed to have an amazing group of friends in my life and this past weekend I delivered a very special birthday gift to my friend Katie. She has a beautiful family and our dear friend Kelly of wild {whim} photography took this gorgeous picture of them. I had an idea! Off to Michaels I went to buy a sliver of wood to transfer the picture onto! I hammered a little picture hanger to the back for easy installation, and there you have it! A unique, one of a kind gift made from the heart. For the full tutorial, check out our post here.

I have told you before it is all in the packaging for me, it's like icing on a cake. Every gift needs the perfect topping. For the family portrait I knew that I wanted to make a sweet little bag to wrap it in, so I got out my sewing machine and got to stitching. The end result was exactly what I wanted. . . gift wrap as well as an extra little gift that can be reused again and again! It's easy as pie. . .

Supplies: your gift, fun fabric, scissors, silk ribbon, sewing machine

STEP 1: cut your fabric to size. I like to keep the fold at the bottom to eliminate a seam!

STEP 2: Lay your fabric with the right side on the table. Fold over each of the 2 long ends to about 1 or 1-1/2 inches and make a crease. You can pin these if you’d like and remove the pins as you sew, or you can simply watch the line and keep it folded on the crease as you sew. Sew on the cut edge of the fabric, creating a pocket for where your string will go. Sew both sides.

STEP 3: Once both sides are sew with their folds, fold the fabric in half with the right side in. You’ll now want to sew up the 2 sides of the fabric in just one straight line. But DON’T sew over the holes of the folded edge part you just sewed. STOP before you get across these. You need these both open to get your string through.

STEP 4: Turn your bag to the right side out. You should have 4 sewn lines –

2 folded over sewn lines for the string and 2 sewn lines to make the bag.

STEP 5: Cut your ribbon, about 2-3 feet, depending on how large your bag is,

and attach a safety pin to it.

STEP 6: With your safety pin as a guide, thread your string through the holes in the bag. Go through one side and continue on to the other side. Take off the safety pin and tie the two ends together.