Circuit Sheet Wallet and CNA Painting

  I decided to make birthday gifts for everyone again this year! I'm doing a mix of crafting and sewing this year, just for the sake of variety, and here are two of the gifts I crafted in January. 

 I came across this interesting wallet tutorial a while back, and decided to make one for my father-in-law's birthday- it suits his line of work. 

  I mostly followed the tutorial, but added a couple more pockets on the inside:

  I also added extra tape wherever I felt some reinforcement would be helpful.

  It was pretty fun, but my taping skills could use some work! I think I would leave a slightly wider gap on the exterior pieces than on the interior pieces when taping the middle 'hinge' next time, to allow for the thickness of the pieces when folding. 

  The wallet itself seemed like a pretty small gift, so I added in this card-sized multi-tool, bought from Pick Your Plum last year.

  My brother's fiance also had a birthday in January. I was originally planning to make her a skirt, but she never got back to me with her measurements. She became a CNA around the same time, so I ended up writing a quote in calligraphy with a bit of watercolor painting near the top. I'm not sure how readable this is.... it says, 'It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing'

  I added bits of gold watercolor to a bunch of the letters and the stamens of the flowers for an interesting sparkle effect.

  But, as usual, the sparkle didn't show up well in photos! I've really enjoyed learning a little bit of painting and calligraphy this past year... I think this is the first time it's showed up here, but I share a lot more of it on Instagram. 

  I've got at least 5 other gifts photographed and waiting to be posted here, so hopefully I'll be back soon!

Thanks for stopping by,