Here's a small gift that I made for the teenage daughter of my uncle's girlfriend. I had never met her before making this gift. The only information that I had about her was that she fawned over the advent calendar that I had made for my mom last Christmas and that she liked blue -- as in denim blue. How's that for lots of information?
So I sorted through my paper pile and picked out some colors that I thought fit the bill and got to work. Here's the desk set that I came up with for her.
The wooden "bag" was a blank wooden piece that I picked up at the local craft store. I thought it would make a cute pencil holder. I painted it first with acrylic paint and then traced pieces of patterned paper to fit the various sides, inside and out. Then I sanded the edges a bit and embellished it up!
I kept the embellishing kind of simple. I added a metal frame from my stash and backed it with some thin cork from the MFT store. I added a "KO" in brass letters (the girl's initials) and then added a funky bow that I created.
To make the bow, I started with a fabric strips flower that I had in my stash. I added a piece of old jeans on top of it (It's actually a belt tab) and then topped that with a copper brad from Stampin' Up. When I was done, I cut out a leaf shape from a coffee-shop cup holder and rubbed ink over it to highlight the pattern. I glued some scrap pieces of twine to it for an accent and then glued it to the back of the flower.
The clipboard was really easy to make. I just covered a blank clipboard with patterned papers. I tried to make it not-too-cheesy, since she's a teenager, and I know they're picky. Once I was done covering the clipboard, I added another "KO" in wooden letters and tied on a twine bow.
In the end, I have no idea if she liked it. I was there when she opened it, and she seemed way more stoked for the $15 iTunes giftcard I popped in the top of the pencil holder. She's a teenager -- what can I really expect?