holiday hand warmers

for the past couple of years (at least), alex has made her own holiday gifts for family and teachers and friends. last year, she made those cute wood peg snowman ornaments. i think before that she made some ladybug clothespin magnets. and this year, she made hand warmers. we waited a little last minute on this project, but somehow got them done in time to gift for the holidays. i just told alex to draw some holiday art and she came up with this cute little elf baking gingerbread men. she drew a front and back view. i then scanned in her art, made a background using the elf stockings she drew, and set it up to be printed on fabric. i used spoonflower.com to print the fabric; i printed these on kona cotton. once we received the fabric, i washed them, ironed them, cut them out, and sewed them. alex helped me fill each one using a funnel. we filled the hand warmers with rice scented with cinnamon and cloves (so when heated up you get a hint of those gingerbread cookies the elf just baked.) and then i designed and printed labels instructing how long to warm them in the microwave. i think these were such a cute gift and i love using my set. the winter has been so cold and i used fingerless gloves all season, so it was really nice to reach into my pockets and warm up my fingertips. alex was really proud to gift these to people: her teacher told her that was her favorite present because alex made it herself.