simple christmas: handmade gifts: 8

hey there!
tiny stuffies are a really sweet gift... they can look like anything, they're completely adorable, they're tiny for tiny (and not so tiny) hands to love on, and they can be as easy or as hard as you like! 
i know i (and julia and jane too) have made a pretty large assortment of tiny friends over the years... here's a little sampling to perhaps help jog some inspiration...
the above are some amigurumi i have made. amigurumi is japenese for little crocheted/knitted toy. after several years of not crocheting at all, i decided to reteach myself how to do it using free ravelry patterns. it worked! within a couple hours i had made a little octopus. honestly, if you just follow the pattern and a youtube tutorial or two, you can't go wrong... they're surprisingly easy, very fast, and incredibly cute!

fabric toys are even easier. it's helpful to draw what you want to make on a piece of paper. then you can just cut out the shape and use that as a pattern! felt is great, because it's soft and doesn't fray. with other fabrics, sew the right sides together, leaving an inch or so unsewn, and turn it right side out. don't forget to add your limbs! the stuffie on the right was probably the easiest. i made it when i was about nine. i drew the owl onto white fabric with permanent markers. i cut it out in a rectangle shape and sewed it to some colorful fabric for the back... 
these are super great projects for beginners or not! someone in your life will be sure to love your tiny creation!
xxx jo