THE GIFTS

Gift-giving is hard!!! Especially during the holidays and you have so many near and dear to you. It can be a hole in the wallet for me. That's why I like to make presents, it's a little time-consuming but ultimately extremely fun!

I had three friends visiting from Florida and Maryland and I wanted to make them something that was near and dear to the both of us. I wanted to get better at some DIY skills and they got presents, a win-win(win-win-win-win).

KADEN [AN EMBROIDERED HAT]

I wanted to test my embroidery skills after a long time of not using them, so I got to work!

The first gift I worked on was for my friend, Kaden. Kaden loves to wear yellow and I hear him say goober a lot(mostly referring to himself.) It's an easy start to an otherwise daunting and time-consuming task. I even tried a new stitch for the hat. Here's how it turned out!

CAITLYN [A DYED, EMBROIDERED, AND SEWED BUCKET HAT]

After Kaden's present, I set off to a more intensive hat. For my friend, Caitlyn, I had the idea of creating a hat of a shiny Pokemon named Wooper:

She was obsessed with them for about a year and I wanted to make something that she loved. I started off getting a plain white bucket hat and dying it brown. I then embroidered the eyes and smiling mouth onto the hat. This embroidery part took the longest. The next thing I did, was something I've never done before. I had to sew on the sides of the Wooper with a different fabric. This was not the longest part of the process however it was the most ANNOYING. I had never used a machine before and I borrowed one from my roommate. I spent all night trying to get this fabric to stay on and doubling over on stitches. Sadly, I don't have an image of the sides, where i actually sewed the fabric, but I do have photos of the actual embroidered smile. In the end, I was feral and hungry but it was worth it. The result was not one but two smiles on my friends head:

after all embroidered

before all embroidered

KAIA [BLEACH ART SWEATER]

Last but one billion percent not least, was Kaia's present. Luckily I felt that I did not need to embroider anymore. This decision granted me oppurtunities to hide A LOT more things that my friend enjoys and considers part of their story. Kaia enjoys American Mcgee's Alice, Scream, and Gravity Falls. To add on to that, she also worked as a bubble fairy at a ren faire. So! I grabbed some bleach and a cheap, black sweatshirt and drew up a sketch.

the sketch

After that, I went outside and got to chalk drawing:

The Chalk Drawing

After that I finally started on the journey of UH OH bleach art. It was time consuming but very worth it:

LineArt

THEN here was the final product

Beautiful isn't it?

CONCLUSION

It's fun to make your friends things! I think I'll do this even when it's not a gift giving time. I think a gift is worth way more when it's not expected of you to give.

Have a wonderful 2025 folks!

and toodle-oo,

Coop