Eco Friendly & Fun

I have a ton of family, and by a ton, I really do mean a ton. As fore mentioned, I like meaningful gifts. I also like to get everyone gifts, but that isn't always in the budget, so I have to get creative. For months now I have been wanting to make my family members wool dryer balls. Unfortunately life tends to get in the way of my grandiose crafty plans. This year, I am on my game. I am done with most of my immediate family (minus my children, they would just find their presents), leaving me time to make these balls. Now, if you don't know about wool dryer balls, you should. They are awesome. Just pop 2-4 of those suckers in your dryer and you have amazingly fluffy clothes, with less drying time and no yucky chemicals from dryer sheets. Yay!

Here is a semi tutorial.

First take 100% wool yarn that is not of a superwash base and wind into a ball.


Next, take wool fiber and needle felt into the balls of yarn. (I got a bag of fun colored scraps off etsy for cheap)


Place each ball into some old ripped pantyhose or tights. Wash with laundry and dry a couple times until desired felt is reached.


Some of my finished products:

Heirloom.

I try to find as many meaningful gifts for people as possible every year. I am not really into just buying a bunch of crap that will be obsolete in a couple months. This year, for my dad, I found a vintage hard hat. For those of you who don't know my dad (Tim), he is a superintendant at a construction company and has worked in construction his entire life. I figure, with all the vintage levels in his office, the hard hat will be a nice edition. In order to make this gift more memorable I am incorporating photography. Last night I took a photo shoot of Maverick wearing the hard had. I intend to have a 8x10 canvas made for him to inclose in the gift as well. Cool, right!? What a cool way to display a piece of history and present life! Throughout time, I thought it would be fun to re-photograph Maverick in the same hard hat. Here are the photo results:





Now to decide on which one. :)