Ruining the Surprise: Ideas for Handmade Holidays

I've decided to post holiday projects early. One of the things I love about the blogosphere is the sharing of ideas and inspiration, and so I've decided that rather than keeping these ideas to myself, I'd prefer to post in advance of the upcoming holidays, in case this sparks inspiration for others making gifts this year. What with the economy tanking, it seems more important than ever to consider how we use our incomes. Plus, there's just something about handmade, you know?

Idea #1: print a shirt for someone!

For the record, this is not a surprise present. My brother gave me a gift cert. to Utrecht for my birthday last year and I finally used it this summer to buy a screen printing kit. I'd already scanned one of my bf's matchbooks with one of his favorite architects on the front, and enlarged and printed it, but he didn't know it at the time. However, the minute I bought that kit, he asked (in September, mind you!), "Oh! Is this so you can print me a new Aalto shirt?" (His current one, purchased at a museum in Sweden, is on its last legs). The man is psychic, what can I say? So I begrudgingly said, "YES. Merry Christmas." There's just no point in keeping it from him. Besides, this way, I got to have him help me pick the T shirt colours.

So I'm using screen filler to create a negative of this pattern. If you don't have a screen printing kit or $50 to drop at Utrecht, you could create a stencil with freezer paper from the butcher and stencil a shirt instead. My screen is actually dry, so maybe we'll print these things tonight.