A very Crafty Christmas

This year for Christmas we really focused on meaningful non expensive gifts. It turned into doing lots of crafty things for as little cost as we could. It was fun because the kids were more involved this year too. We traded names in our family a few months before and everyone was to think of something to make for the other person.

Daddy had Grant and Mhari had Talmage. Jeff made Grant (and Talmage - to help Mhari out) a pillowcase with his initial on it (the other side is camo fabric). Jeff did good work cutting and sewing it all together (I only helped by sewing on the letter). The boys really liked their presents!


Talmage had me (he ended up doing something for all the girls and even made a book for Grant and a zoo map for Jeff - he was very giving this year). Jeff took him to the store so he could get the materials he needed for the gift. We all ended up with Noah's ark necklaces. This is a picture of Mhari's. He did a great job putting them together and making a pattern to follow and everything. I was very impressed.



I had Sandra and Grant had Mhari. A few weeks before Christmas Grant came up with the idea to make Mhari a doll. I thought that was a great idea and so Sandra and Mhari both got dolls. Sorry the picture isn't the greatest. Grant did a great job helping cut out all the pieces, stuffing the doll, and learning how to braid the hair. It was a fun project to do together.




Sandra had Jeff. It was tricky because she's still too young to really pick something to do for someone else. I tried one way of doing the shirt, but that didn't work so we had to do paints instead. All of the kids got to help by doing their hand prints. It says "loved by lots of little hands". They really like seeing him wear it and picking out which hands are theirs (it's his pj shirt).



I had my sister's family for our sibling exchange and so I decided to make another denim picnic blanket. I think it turned out well and this one I added a skinny boarder trim. I like the way it turned out :).

We had Jeff's brother's family for that sibling exchange. I gave them the option of crafts (since I seem to be repeating them) and they wanted their family names. We have done block letter names before, but this is the first time I've done them all matching. I tried to do a two toned color with the distressed look and I think it turned out well. I may have done things differently if I were to do it again, but I think they turned out well :)

I have been recycling clothes and making different things out of them. I get really good ideas from this one craft site and I knew what I wanted to do for my mom for Christmas. Since my dad's death 8 years ago I knew my mom had kept some things for sentimental reasons. Some of his shirts were among these items. I asked her if I could have some to redo for her to be able to wear.

Here is the before picture. These shirts were 2XLT just to give you a size to go with.

Here is the first one I did. I just wanted to show the detail around the collar. I trimmed it down to fit me (since I'm about the same size as my mom) and then added the ruffles. I really liked this idea and thought it would help the shirt be more professional so she could wear it to work.

For the other shirt I redid the whole neckline. I made it a scoop collar and then added a pleated collar. Another wonderful idea from my craft site!

Here's just to give a feel of how it fit on a person. Again this started out as a 2XLT shirt.

I think my mom was pleased and I know she is planning on sending me pictures with her in the shirts. I hope they are something nice she can wear and enjoy instead of them staying in the closet.

It was a fun Christmas and so great to be able to try do make homemade meaningful gifts. Hopefully we were able to teach more about the spirit of giving this year instead of what everybody "wants" for Christmas - a tricky thing for youngsters sometimes.