Pins For My Mom

What do you get someone who has everything?? The answer is simple, make it at home!

My mom's birthday was this past week and since she is an amazing quilter I thought that these would be a perfect gift.

You can never have too many pins when you quilt.

I found the tutorial here and followed the excellent instructions.

 The seed beads are glass, so they survived the heat gun just fine.

I used regular fine-tipped Sharpies to draw the designs and added my own touch by threading size 8 seed beads on about half of the pins before adding the shrink art discs. They reminded me of old fashioned glass head pins and added a nice variation to the design. Then I fired up my heat gun and shrunk 'em! (That part was so, SO fun!)

 They are posing in my pin cushion.

I thought they needed a nice container for traveling to their new home. I found a cute little plastic jar at my local craft store and got out my trusty stamping supplies.

This is the blank I used.

I stamped the blank with the adage "may your bobbin always be full" and highlighted the letters using colored Sharpie markers. I wrapped the jar with a length of yarn and tied one of my jewelry tags to the front. (Always sign your art, kids. You don't want it to end up in a museum next to a sign that reads "Artist Unknown")

I wrapped them up along with a couple of other goodies and popped it in the post. (Along with a gift certificate from Mr. Make It for homemade ice cream of choice and a signed picture of our famous bear.)

When I chatted with my mom yesterday she exclaimed over how much she loved the gift. I am so glad that homemade was the way to go. This is my new go-to gift for all of my sewist friends.

Do you have a favorite homemade gift that you like to make? Share it in the comments. I'd love to hear about it!