This year I decided to make gifts for both my mum and my boyfriend’s mum. I was running out of time when an unfortunate miracle happened (oxymoron…yay!): I got a migraine. I had a crippling Wednesday night and a drugged up and painful Thursday morning. Around lunch time Thursday though I was able to do some tentative sewing with lots of breaks. Don’t get me wrong, I honestly would have preferred to be at work for the day, migraine free and forced to rush the sewing job on Saturday, but nevertheless between my sickie and Saturday morning I got the pressies finished in a relaxed time frame 
In future years when I get better at all this I want my handmade gifts to be made specifically for the giftee, tailored to their needs, tastes, decor etc. However as I am learning and also have yet to plan in advance for these things, this year was alot more basic and the colour scheme was definitely more based on my stash. Neither mum is partial to much pink in their choice of decor and household items, that’s for sure!
So for these gift packs I went with a simple tea theme:
- a mug rug
- a mug cozy
- and a tea wallet
These were all little nik naks I have bookmarked along the way from blog posts. I am SO pleased with how the bundles turned out, so lets take a look!
These are the tea wallets, as per a tutorial found on Handmade Therapy:
These were the simplest item to make, they came out the most perfect, and they were the biggest hit!
I was also pleased with my first attempt at fabric covered buttons and my choice to use white patterned fabric on the outside and feature fabric on the inside…it worked well!
These are the mug rugs, as per a tutorial found on Knitty Bitties:
They aren’t perfect (don’t look at the underside stitching please Mum’s!) but I really love how they turned out. They are like a longer coaster for side tables, coffee table, desk etc with plenty of room for a mug and a cookie. You can also lay it over your leg to rest your mug on on the couch, or use it to nurse hot soup in your hand
These are the mug cozies, and the mugs on rugs:
The mug cozy is also very simple, I slightly adapted this tutorial from Whipup, to make them better fit the curved mugs I bought. You can see in the first picture that the button is pulling the thin fabric of the flowered one abit. It has been fixed since this photo and looks much better, two goes later! I just had to reposition the button but the second try made the cozy too loose. Third time lucky! Again with the fabric covered buttons…I’m already in love with them
Finally, here is the bundles, complete with cards:
And of course, complete with cute gift bags:
I am SO pleased with these and they were received so well. The tea wallets especially were a real hit and I’ve been told I should be selling them, but for now I am just happy to make much loved gifts, for myself as well as everyone I can think of 
In fact a new mini project for me is to gather a list of all birthdays and special events for all the special people in my life. The key to these gifts being truly meaningful and made to fit the person will be planning ahead!
How did everyone else treat their Mum’s?
