Tag Archives: child

Handmade Holiday Challenge: Customized Ukulele

customized ukuleleSome of my favorite childhood memories involve some sort of musical accompaniment. My sister, my best friend and I used to make up all kinds of songs. I distinctly remember a song about dirty clothes sang to the tune of Baby Love by The Supremes.

Back of the customized ukuleleFor Christmas I want to give the joy of music to my niece. But in my true fashion, I couldn’t just give her a plain ol’ ukulele. I had to customize it.

First I bought this relatively inexpensive ukulele from Amazon. Originally I had planned to cut out vinyl decals to add to the body of the ukulele. But George, my super talented husband, really liked the idea of customizing the ukulele and volunteered to hand letter it. He used a white paint markers for the base, then created texture with a black paint marker.

customized ukulele detailIt’s kind of adorable. Maybe my niece will be the next Dolly Parton. I’m at least going to win best aunt award this year.

How are your handmade gifts coming along?

love,
melanie

A Creative Way to Give Cash: A Mobile!

money mobile

It was my beautiful sister’s birthday last week. (Happy Birthday, Kristen!) I wanted to send her cash, but just sending bills in the mail with a card is kind of lame.

Of course, I had to do something creative. That’s how I roll. I knew you could fold dollar bills into origami, but I wanted to take it one step further. So, I used the leftover embroidery floss from my sunglasses DIY to create a mobile!

elephant money origami

Supplies

  • Embroidery floss
  • A stick!
  • Paper money

I folded the elephants using an tutorial found here. Then, I braided the embroidery floss and tied one end to the elephant. Next, I broke a stick in half, made an “x” and neatly twisted embroidery floss around the middle of the “x” until I felt that it was secure. I left a little bit of floss at the end and finished it off with a bow. Finally, I tied each elephant to one of the stick ends.

origami money mobile

Have you ever given money as a gift in an unusual way? I want to see it or hear about it in the comments!

P.S. I sent my sister more than 4 bucks. I just didn’t want to use large bills in case she didn’t want to take it apart. I’m not that cheap!

love,
melanie