i made a fortune last night!

two, actually. so of course i had to make fortune cookies in which to put them. see?

stef sent me a link to this tutorial a couple of weeks ago, and i thought it was AWESOME! (also the blogger, lady harvatine, is hilarious!) it was not particularly difficult, either, even for someone with limited sewing skills. (which is pretty much ME in a nutshell, eh?!!) i did make a very small variation to the instructions which saves two steps, that i'll put down at the end of this post; along with instructions to make this 99% a no-sew project. (so if you have no interest in ever making one of these, just skip that bit, k?)

i know what you're thinking. you're thinking, "hey lauren! could these *BE* any cuter??!" well, yes, actually. yes, they could:

as soon as i saw the tutorial i thought of the cute "chinese takeaway" containers they sell at michaels, and how adorable it would be to put some shredded paper "noodles" in one to pad the cookies, which now look a bit more like a gift, don't they? (this pair were made for my in-laws' wedding anniversary, so the "fortunes" are love-based, and i used coordinating fabrics.) oriental trading sell smaller boxes made of semi-sheer plastic which are the perfect size for ONE cookie padded with a few "noodles"!

of course i had to decorate the outside of the box a little bit, too...hey...it's what i *DO*!!! :)

♥♥♥♥♥

the slight variation to the instructions which saves two steps...and incidentally makes it easier for newbies to stitch a neat circle: instead of tracing and cutting out the 4.5" circles, just lightly trace a 4" circle onto your 5" square of felt with a pencil, pin it to your 5" square of cotton and machine stitch all the way around the circle ON THE LINE. then cut out the circles close to the stitching w/pinking shears as directed, and keep going from there!

how to make this a 99% no-sew project with no sewing machine necessary: use fusible web (aka "wonder-under" available at most craft stores) to attach the felt and cotton fabric layers before tracing and cutting your circles; then sew the center seam by hand. woohoo! you've got COOKIES!!! :)