Inspired to create!

Now that I've committed to going handmade for the holidays, I am getting so excited/scared/overwhelmed all at the same time. I'm planning to do a mix of buying hand-made and doing the making myself, but I still think I'm going to need to pace myself!

I've been discovering some great projects out there, so naturally had to share a couple with my blog friends :-)

First up: Ali has posted a while back about her embroidered coasters. I love that she included her son's art, and used a pattern from one of my favorite books 'Bend the Rules Sewing'. How sad is it that the part I'm most looking forward to is using a a heat set embroidery transfer pencil for the first time? (I see many a visit to Michael's craft store in my future!)

Next up: My Mom sent me a box full of craft books and magazines from France (I know, I'm the luckiest, it's true!). One of them is called Marianne Maison, and has a project to make tiles using casting resin and fabric. I wasn't able to find molds to make tiles, but did get small ones that will work for pendants. Can't wait to try it out! I have vivid memories of making paper weights with the stuff when I was around Maggie's age -- I think this will be a cool one to do when our littlest is out from underfoot. I've found good instructions in English on the Environmental Technologies site.

Have you seen any relatively-easy-but-high-impact projects out there that I should check out?