So I guess I am not doing this in chronological order, because technically we started doing Christmas projects as soon as we came home from Thanksgiving weekend. We did a lot of projects, most of them came from ideas on Pinterest. Some of the projects were gifts for people, some were Christmas decorations, and some were just things to do with Thad to keep him entertained. I really love making gifts for people whenever I can, but I always want it to be something they will actually LIKE and USE, not just something cute but non-functional. And I try to make sure that I am not making it for them because I think it is awesome, but because THEY will think it is awesome. I will try and include the link that I used whenever a project idea came from the internet:
I am making this picture huge so you can appreciate the awesomeness. I found this idea here, and followed the instructions pretty closely. They were for my 3 year old niece, who is in love with all things princess. They actually took me quite a while to make because I had to do a couple of coats of paint to make the colors really bold. Also, careful painting is not really an activity you can do with the help of a baby and a two year old. (Thad, STOP BUMPING ME!) But, it was really fun, especially because I liked the end product. And really, I probably won’t have many opportunities to do princess projects with my own children (cross fingers!), so I have to get out any girly projects through my niece.
I adapted this idea from here, but I kind of did the ghetto version. They used pretty white paper for their birds and baby’s breath garland, and I used last year’s cut up Christmas cards and twine. Classy lady. I like their version better, at least the pretty garland part. I think the birds are cool using the Christmas cards, it gets some use out of them, but my “garland” and presentation is a bit lacking. One thing that you will notice throughout all my projects is that I try to do things that require little to no money, or trips to the store for materials. The more that I can do on the spot, with what I have on hand, the better. Anyway, the birds may have a new location next year rather than my kitchen box window where they really weren’t too noticeable.
These pics really represent 3 ideas. The first was found here, making your own wrapping paper. This one was fun! Did you know that you can get rolls of brown paper (pretty sizable rolls actually) at the Dollar Tree? Nice to have on hand for package sending, but also nice to have for lots of toddler projects! So technically this project cost me 2 bucks, for the roll of paper, and also for a pack of sponges, although we only used 1 of the 6 sponges. (I’m sure they will come in handy for something else). I covered the kitchen table with an old sheet and let Thad go to town. I did have to encourage him to NOT put every one of his trees in a straight line. Perhaps you have a less anal child. It certainly doesn’t look perfect, some of the trees came out a bit mushy, but I think the idea is cool, and come on, you know the grandparents got a kick out of their presents being wrapped in this. The second idea was here, getting your kids a “Christmas Eve” gift every year of Christmas PJ’s, a Christmas book, and a Christmas movie. I am all about Christmas traditions, and since the boys are so young, this is the perfect time to start. As kids we always got to open one present on Christmas Eve too, so I thought it was a cool idea. The last idea was just this; stamping the recipient’s name on the gift instead of using tags. (Again, ghetto version….I used Thad’s stamps). But I think it looks cute in combo with the brown paper. Wouldn’t really work on standard, glossy and printed wrapping paper. Next year I am thinking we will make the paper again, but then I will go back and use a pencil eraser to stamp some red ornaments on the trees, and maybe a star on top. (Where does Thad get his anal retentiveness from? No idea).
Thad and I also made some salt-dough ornaments. I’m not including a link because I can’t remember which salt dough recipe we ended up using. They are all pretty much the same. He had a good time stamping things out, and ultimately just playing with the dough. The pic on the right is his “porcupine”, made by sticking uncooked noodles into a lump of dough. I did bake the shapes that he made and let him paint them, but really, they turned out mo ugly. Sorry son, not keepers. Most of his painting projects turn into piles of brown paint from all the paint being smooshed together.
This is what I used the salt dough for. I traced they boys’ hands onto a piece of paper, cut it out, and then used it to cut their hand from rolled out dough. Some LUCKY relatives got these gems in their stockings. Unfortunately, before the tree came down, Thatcher managed to knock Santa onto the floor and break off Thad’s middle finger. Justin repaired him, but he is still a little worse for wear.
Some other ornaments that we made, the snowman handprint of Thatcher that I did last year with Thad, and a reindeer fingerprint one with Thad. Not super exciting.
I kept eyeing Christmas throw pillows, and ended up deciding just to make some new cases for our normal throw pillows. (Free!!) I have a bunch of fabric left over from various projects, so I just looked through one of my quilting books to find some 12x12 blocks that I thought would look Christmasy with the right fabric.
I can’t get the link to work on this one, but It’s pretty self explanatory. First, I hung some ball ornaments around our dining room light using fishing line, then used floral wire to tie braches that Justin to saved me from trimming the lower branches off the Christmas tree. Free!
Next up, a stocking for Thatcher. I used the same pattern that I used for Thad’s and found some cute moose and bear fabric that seemed like Thatcher’s style. I only have 3 stocking hangers, and we are up to 5 stockings with ours and Amber’s, so I hung a curtain rod on the stocking hangers, and then put the stockings on the curtain rod. It worked fine, but seemed a little on the precarious side.
I discovered the fun of free printables, and filled some already hanging frames with Christmas prints. The “subway” prints seem to be the new hotness, but my personal favorite is the one on the left. The possibilities here are endless, and obviously you could opt to do your own, but I prefer to benefit from the work of others. The three shown can be found here and here.
Some more fun Thad projects requiring nothing more than construction paper and some paint. Here, here, and here. Again, pretty simple and self-explanatory, but I can’t say how much I have appreciated Pinterest. It is so useful to find endless projects that are a great way to keep Thad entertained and occupied. It’s a good way for us to spend time together doing something that keeps him engaged and interested.
Another fun one. Well, fun idea. Thad actually pouted and complained through this whole one for some reason. But it still turned out cute. Painters tape that you paint over then peel off.
I did a lot of baking this year, but I also made some food items that were done specifically as gifts. My mom loves orange marmalade, so I attempted that for the first time. We just got a canner this summer, so we have tried a lot of things, some coming out better than others. I made some homemade vanilla extract using vodka infused with a sliced open vanilla bean. I put the bean in the vodka back in September, it was supposed to sit for 3 months, but I still feel like it wasn’t ready by Christmas. It either needs to sit longer, or I may add a second bean. Theoretically, you can gradually add more vodka as you use up the vanilla and keep it going for years. For some friends we put together packages of various canned goods we made this year. I printed labels for the jars and just double-side-taped them onto the jar lids.
Another project that needs to be relocated next year; Thad and I hot-glued and painted popsicle sticks into snowflakes. These are big, about 2 1/2 feet wide, so they need a big area to be displayed, but they are too hard to see on my barn door.
This project was probably my favorite for some reason. I really like nativity scenes, but I wanted one that wasn’t fragile so Thad could play with it. I saw this idea a couple places, here and here. Most of them used stickers on wood and then modge podged over, but I didn’t find a nativity sticker set that I loved. So, I ended up googling “nativity printable”, and finding tons of options. Again, one of those things that you can make a bunch of different ways. I told Justin the dimensions that I wanted, and he cut up a piece of oak that he had left from some other project. I am keeping this one in mind for a possible gift idea for nieces and nephews next year. Found another printable that is pretty cute. When I searched for that one, it linked me up to someone’s whole “nativity” board on Pinterest. GOLD MINE! Fun.
Well I think that just about wraps it up. We did a few more ornaments here and there, but nothing too exciting. I also made some new recipes that were really good, including egg nog bread and sugared pecans in the crockpot. Justin and I also made some bomb chex mix, a paremsan/dill/ranch batch in addition to the classic chex mix. Nothing like some good munchies.
We had lots of fun with our Christmas projects this year. I really tried not to get too wrapped up in gift buying (more on Christmas gifts later) and really try to focus on spending quality time together. And of course, I have more projects to come; I bought some Christmas fabric the week after Christmas on clearance to make this zig-zag quilt. Should be a fun non-Christmastime project. I also want to make a master cookbook of all my go-to recipes in one spot, and have it printed. Possibly using createmycookbook.com (thanks, Shana!). Plus many more projects in there too…I do have 2 boys’ birthdays coming up, after all. Thad will probably get this toy bag for playing with his animals or cars. So many possibilities…..
