Gifts for the Girls!

I know, I know. I’m SUCH a tease! I wrote here and here about the guys’ gifts...but kept the girls’ gifts under lock and key. That’s because all three of them read my blog almost daily and I really wanted their gifts to be a big surprise to them. In the end, MOH knew about part of the gifts, and the others had sneaking suspicions about other parts of the gifts...but no one but me had the “bigger picture” and I loved keeping this as a surprise for them!

I knew all along that I wanted their gifts to be something special that I had made. You might have noticed that I tend to be anal-retentive and obsessive-compulsive at times about the details, but that really just makes me a better crafter. So I set my task to thinking up what I could make for these special ladies.

Here’s some pics from Maid Momma of the total package. I’ll show off the gifts first and then talk about some of the details, ok?

Didn’t she made it all look so pretty? She did a GREAT job taking those shots. The one bad thing? You almost can’t see the tote bag that I made them...hers was made in a deep, dark denim and it blends totally with her dark wooden dining room table (where I know that she took these!). So here are some pictures from Maid Britney of her bag that you can see better. Do you like them? Oh yeah...well, don’t forget to sign up at my etsy store...you just might find bags like that there, hint, hint!

So back to my post...I knew that I wanted to make them something, and I had bought this bag a long time ago that I loved. It was the perfect size – not too big, not too small and it carried everything wedding-related around for almost a year for me. It was great. Knowing my girls like I do, I know that they’re bag people. Two of them have a new bag of some type almost every time that I see them, so this was the perfect solution. I would take my favorite bag, make a pattern loosely based on it, and make them all bags.

But since I wanted their bags to compliment who they are and their own personalities, each bag was different. Maid Momma got a snazzy dark denim with a happy yellow flower lining...Maid Britney got the beautiful brown/blue/gold floral with a pop of color in the blue satin lining...and MOH got her personal favorite black and white toile with a POP of hot pink satin patterned lining. Sorry, it’s the only one that I don’t have a picture of...but here’s a shot of the fabric used to make it.

The totes have multiple pockets on the outside...and then I put in a zipper pocket on the inside of the lining. Each outer pocket is also lined with the inner lining, so there are pops of color everywhere you look. I loved each and every one of them.

But the fun didn’t stop there. I also made them personalize note cards. I asked each of them for their favorite color, and then found a Photoshop brush online and designed cards for all of them. I put them with envelopes and tied them off with pretty ribbon left over from various other projects.

Then just because I love bath stuff, I also asked them for their two favorite scents from Bath & Body Works. I got each of them some combination of bubble bath, shower gel and/or body lotion. I also gifted each of them with the earrings and necklace to wear at the wedding. Since they had each picked a different LBD to wear as their dress, we decided that matching shoes and jewelry would tie them all back in together nicely. MOH helped me pick out the jewelry the week before the wedding, so she knew about that one, but oh well. She didn’t know about the rest! LOL.

So that’s it. That was my big surprise for my Maids. I think that they were all VERY happy with my selections for each of them, and looking back, I’m thrilled that they each got something that I worked so hard on. It was the perfect gift for these girls who worked SO hard to help make our day spectacular!