All Work and No Play...

I don't know if many people would call making bags and altering kids clothes or making dresses for myself "work". I know I have fun doing it, but since it helps me keep our costs of raising three kids down, I call it work (just don't tell anyone I'm having fun doing it, okay?).

Last night, though, I played. That's to say, I didn't do any of my usual "work". I looked up stenciling with freezer paper yesterday, and found this very nice tutorial. I decided I'd try it with wax paper, since I'm not even sure where to get freezer paper here, or if it's even something that you can find in this country. I had some wax paper on hand, though, so I gave it a shot. It worked out okay, but it was far from ideal. The wax paper didn't stick to the fabric I had chosen very well when I ironed it (with a second piece of fabric between the iron and the paper, so I wouldn't get wax all over my iron). That made my painting job less than perfect, but it wasn't too bad. Luckily, since the fabric I chose was black, I could color over the mess-ups with a Sharpie pen (shhh, don't tell).

I kind of like it. It's the elephant that appears on my husband's wine labels. It's really tiny on the labels, so I drew it larger on the wax paper. I'm not sure what to do with it now that I have it, though. I don't know where you'd put such an elephant. I know it could be incorporated nicely into a bag, but he's already got a nice bag a friend of ours made. I'd love for it to become part of a birthday present for him, but his birthday is June 1st, so we may be a bit late on that one - especially if inspiration doesn't strike. I know they often wear aprons to serve wine at wine shows, and I could make one for him with the elephant front and center, but I don't know if he actually wears an apron himself. I'd like it to be a practical gift, because the one word I'd use to describe him is "practical". Romance certainly isn't his thing, but he's got practicality down to an art form.

Anyway, any ideas for inspiration?? Here's another shot for you to see that it's just a small piece of fabric that I cut out for it, so I can sew it to anything as a pocket or a panel of some kind. I've even toyed with the idea of cutting it up (like in strips) and putting other fabrics in between the strips, but I'm afraid to go ahead with that idea when I still don't know what I'd do with the whole piece when finished.