I'm back...And holiday gifts

As far as my crafting skills are concerned, I think I've come a long way in the past few months. To celebrate, I'm going to keep up with my blog.

First things first, I've starting machine sewing. And I think my items are good enough to sell. And lucky enough, other people agree. I even started a etsy site at www.brooklynbelinda.etsy.com. I make a bunch of totes and bags, recycling and reusing material whenever I can. I find that placemats and non-terry kitchen towels make awesome bags. The colors and graphics are great too.

I've also started getting in to jewelry making. I've been on the lookout for recycle/reuse material that I can remake in to jewelry too.

As I feel pretty comfortable sewing, I was able to make my mom a

purse as a holiday gift. She wanted something out of this brown corduroy fabric. That's the only guidance I had. The rest was a surprise. I think it came out really nice, and almost wish I kept this one for myself...

I appliqued the flowers onto the corduroy, and used buttons as the center of the flowers.

Here are a few more shots:

Closeup of a flower on the outside.

Inside of the bag...I used a magnetic closure and there is an internal pocket.

And speaking of gifts, I made this necklace for another family member.

It's layered Mother of Pearl on a simple silver chain.