10 Minute Drawstring Bag & Other Random Holiday Stuff

I needed a quick way to wrap up a present… a bottle of Switchback Ale, a Vermont brew that has been available in restaurants and bars for a while now but has just hit the market in bottle form. They are only sold in 22 oz bottles, either single or by the case. They are literally selling out as fast as they hit the shelves (seriously, they have a Facebook page dedicated to where people have been able to find the stuff in stock!). Anyway, I purchased a few for a couple that moved out of state a year ago to go in the Vermont basket I was sending their way and I wanted them to be packaged nice and cute.

I grabbed a couple of fat quarters and whipped these babies up on a whim. Super easy and pretty versatile, I could imagine putting in some yummy homemade treats, or small toys, etc.Here’s how to make one:

Grab a fat quarter.

Open it up flat, fold it in half, right sides together.Stitch up the side and across the top, leaving the bottom open.

Flip right side out.Flip the top down about 1″ and sew across, creating a casing for the drawstring.

Fold in half, right sides together.

Sew across the bottom and up the side to the casing seam (don’t sew the casing openings closed!).Zigzag stitch across the bottom where the unfinished seam is.

Flip right side out.Grab a length of ribbon and a safety pin and thread the ribbon through the casing.

Tie off in a knot and you are done. Fill as desired. My family and I made a gingerbread house last weekend:

We went over to my parents house along with my brother and his kids and everyone made their own houses. It was lots of fun and perfect together time! I also wanted to share this super easy notepad I made for my daughters teacher, a big Redsox Fan:

We also made this for her teacher to hold her paperclips and other little items:

My son made his teacher this card – and the idea was all his own! The mirror is Santa’s head so the person looking at the card looks like Santa. So creative, my boy!

The black lettering was from some scratch on letters Plaid sent me a while back. My son and I used one of the Mod Podge Acrylic Shapes with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, also sent to me by Plaid, to make my his teacher a keychain. This was super simple to do and he was able to do most of it himself!