craftgrrl | fabric envelope gift wrap and a housewarming gift

so i had to put together some gifts for my cousin's kids, and i wanted to do something cute to present them. at first, i wanted to make purses for the girls, but i was too lazy and didn't feel like i could put in enough time to make them turn out as cute as i'd want them too. i had no idea what to put the boys' presents in. i was thinking lunch bags... but then it hit me. i drew inspiration from those inter-office envelopes and created these cute yet super easy to make packages:

to make:
- cut out a rectangle of cute fabric
- iron on interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric
- fold wrong sides together almost in half, leaving a few inches for a flap, sew up the sides
- trim the edges with pinking shears
- iron the flap down
- sew a button on the flap and another below it on the body... make sure to leave about a foot of thread (i used embroidery floss) on the top button to use as the closure

i have a bunch of friends who just moved in together so i thought this would be an excellent way for me to get rid of some aloe babies that my plant has been propogating like mad.

snakes and lizards and frogs, oh my!

an aerial view:

this was super easy to make, and the only thing i had to buy were the bugs (from a dollar store).

to make:
- i used some old beer glasses from my cupboard that i've been wanting to get rid of for years.
- filled the bottom with decorative stones for drainage. now i look at it, i should have put some more bugs down there.
- layered soil with the bugs, trying to get them to press up against the glass.
- after putting the aloe plant in, i put another bug on top.
- made flags out of scrap paper and bamboo skewers. they are personalized with stamps and include care instructions on the reverse side =)