Thursday, January 14, 2010

Christmas---2 weeks later

I'm one of those ones that believe many Christmas presents should be handmade. I think it just puts a little more "love" into it.

We made a lot of things this Christmas. I told our girls that gifts they gave would have to be made themselves or bought with their own money. They really came through. We made stuff for cousins, grandparents, uncles, aunts, everyone! Things like doll blankets, scarfs, tree ornaments, rice bags, and more! Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of most of it. I was kind of centered on the stuff I made, and helping them get their stuff finished and wrapped. But here's some of the things that kept us busy in the days (and hours!) leading up to Christmas.

The #1 thing on the girls' lists were beds for their Vision Forum Dolls (like American Girl). Jeff came through. He made their beds (out of cherry!) and I did the bedding. They turned out great and the girls REALLY love them.


They can even stack as bunks!


For Each of the kids, I made something for them.

Sarah got a robe. I admit I was intimidated by this project, but it was easier than I thought it would be!



Christmas morning!


I made David a cute taggie blanget. Can I just say I love the internet! I found this great tutorial
and I was able to whip this thing up. The hardest part? Deciding which ribbons to use!

David loves it. He has his favorite ribbons, of course, but he will chew and chew for a long time!

Eliza put in a request months ago for a hooded towel--a purple one. I had some super cute rick-rack I got on clearance forever ago so she got her wish!


You can see by the smile she is excited about it.


I'm finding sewing for boys is a little more tricky. Christmas comes in handy when there are "needs." New pajamas for Samuel was a need. His favorite things right now are dinosaurs and Toy Story. Great!

The mere fact I can't wash them fast enough proves to me they were a hit!

For my dad, I tried something I've never really done--framing. Jeff got me a mat cutter years ago and we've used it just a little. When the USPS came out with their Star Wars stamps a while back, I thought of my dad (he and I are big Star Wars fans) and our trips to the Old Post Office Pavilion in DC. A very cool place where we used to go and by old stamp sets that had been framed. So I thought I would give it a go.

I must admit it was a little tougher than I thought, but I think the overall project looks nice. I'm just glad Dad put it up a little higher so the flaws are hidden.


And, here's my wonderful Grandma with her husband, Bill. They were married a couple years ago and they are such an inspiration to me! I made them matching scarfs for the cold Utah winter (though they are spending the entire month of January in warmer St. George, I'm so glad!). I thought they turned out pretty cute.


So, now that Christmas is over, time to move on to other things. I've got a couple scrapbook exchanges to crank out pages for, and some cloth (yes mom, cloth) diapers to sew for curiosity's sake, thanks to my talented friend Jessica who gave me some of her half-finished ones so that I could try them out. Oh, and some New Year's resolutions to work on...one of which is to organize this mess:



I can report, that after taking these photos, it's looking a little better :)

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