The new wrapping paper

Well ok I may as well go ahead and fix my place as a nutcase ( Definition: Going against the mainstream ways of doing things. : Going back to more simplistic, practical way. : Abandoning the newer, bigger, better for the rustic, charming and old.)

Now that we're done with that we can move on to the fun stuff. I found a blog last year from an Australian woman (sorry I can't remember the name of your blog to give you credit)  who had made individual "Santa Sacks" for her children. She said that it is an Ausi tradition, they used to use pillow cases because (if I remember correctly) they were too poor to be able to afford wrapping individual gifts. I loved the idea for so many reasons, namely: 1. No way to com pair sizes. 2. No wasted paper. 3. No commercial bling. 4. Simple, straight forward and adorable.

Well this year we have decided to go with a "back to our roots" look. I know it is getting late to still be doing these things but we had so many people sick that Thanksgiving was delayed so.....    Any how,  I made all "new" stockings (they actually started this whole cottage/simple movement) from old sweaters from a charity shoppe. I'll post on those coming up, I still have one or two more to make. Then there were the trees decor we made in my last post.   Needless to say we're having fun but I am moving too slow. Oh well! lol

Now back to the reason for my post, I have been wanting to make my own version of the Santa sacks since I first saw them but I have not had the time or .....well mostly time. Today I was sick so I decided that now was a good time for some serious sitting/sewing. First I found some rustic looking fabric from my stash and cut out 7 rectangle "bags" @ 16 1.5 in. wide by the width of the fabric folded in half, probably 24 in. Then I found an image of a Christmas tree that I liked online and of course modified it to my liking and painted it onto the bags with basic acrylic craft paint. Then I sewed them together on my new (used) serger that my sweetheart bought me this summer for $50 on Craigslist (woohoo). Next I decide that instead of name tags that would be easily recognizable by my children, (thus making peeking a terrible temptation) I would just do these fun number tags ( made out of frozen juice caps that I hammered flat and tossed into the fireplace for a minute or two patina them ( hehehe yeah it's piro but it's fun too) and then painted them with no.1, no.2, no.3, no.4, no.5 . I tied them on with jute and stuffed them with little pillows for now. I don't know what you think (hahaha this is the worst I've ever talked to myself before) but I like them.