I have always been a hands-on girl.  I love to make things.  And guess what?  My 12 year old niece is the same way!  She’s almost a mini-version of myself, and so gift-giving for her is so easy and fun.  A couple months ago when I saw this book, Made By Me by Jane Bull by DK Publishing, I bought it right away, knowing it would be the perfect gift for my mini-me niece.  This book is packed with cute projects, including the darling sewing basket on the front cover.  So I thought I’d give her a little basket kit…

I found the cute little Mini Suitcase on amazon.com.  It was actually a set of three nesting cases, and I used the biggest one.  My niece is not especially into pink, so I thought the pale green was a good choice.  I bought some fabric paint and Singer sewing needles at Fred Meyer, I think.  Everything else I had on hand.  Fabric remnants, felt squares, embroidery thread and hoop, storage jars, and some snaps and hooks/loops from my Grandma Nancy’s sewing stash that I inherited.  I especially love passing Grandma’s treasures along 🙂

Look at the sweet little storage jar idea! That’s what the jar with the blue lid was for.  I have tons of those…we LOVE Litehouse Bleu Cheese dressing at our house.  They also work great for bug catching in the summer 🙂

And here we are, all assembled.  Everything fit except for the little spice jar I thought would be good for buttons or something.  Oh well.

I just wish I was there to see her open this, I know she will squeal and dig right in!

Oh, and confession:  I got an extra copy of the book for myself 😉