Handmade Christmas: Memories

When Emily turned one, David made a Year-in-Review DVD of her first year. We had a slideshow of photos set to music and videos all together in one place.

We loved it so much that he has made one every year since then!!! We make copies and send them out to all of our family each year. It is always fun to see the new edition and go back and watch previous years - what a treasure!

Some years I am totally boring and just hand them out, this year I was inspired to make little kraft paper envelopes out of wrapping paper and stitch up the edges on the sewing machine. Quick and easy!

Adorable clothespins are from Target Dollar Spot and cute free printable tags are from here.

Handmade Christmas: Sermon Notebook

We are keeping our gift-giving to the younger crowd in our home to a minimum this year - I will fill their stockings and re-fill their activity-calendars and maybe another small item or two.

I came across this free download via Pinterest and had fun putting this together! It was actually pretty quick/easy to do - I printed enough pages so it will last for all 52 weeks this coming year and took it to Staples to get it spiral bound. It was less than $5 to have it bound.

Sort of an accident that I forgot to print back to back, but now I like that it has built in blank pages for drawing/doodling/further note taking.

Are you doing anything handmade for Christmas? I'd love to hear about it!!!

Handmade Christmas: Dish Cloths and Cork Hot Pads

Each year around Thanksgiving, I love to gift each one of the tutors in our CC Community with something for Christmas! I'm always on the lookout for thrifty and practical ideas to give!

This year, I got some cute Chevron tablet covers on a major clearance from Dayspring and they support Mercy House in Africa! I wanted to put a couple of little things with it and found these cork rounds for 80% off at Michael's one day this summer.

I printed off each last name initial in a large font and cut it out with an x-acto knife. Then I used that as a stencil for painting in the letter. It took me about an hour to make all seven!

I've also really been enjoying crochet lately and dish cloths are my favorite because they don't take too long and everyone needs them!

What simple, thrifty, homemade gifts do you like to give?

Handmade Christmas: Notecards

After a busy day recently, we needed a bonus Slow Day on a Friday! Over breakfast I asked, "What do you want to do today?" All three wanted to craft and/or paint - so we were eager to pull out the supplies and get crafting!

My merry elves were busy painting rainbows and fancy cakes and war {guess who!?} and other festive decor. I didn't really start out knowing what I was going to make - but these note cards are what happened during that crafting session!

I'm sort of on a mission to use what I have and this project fit the bill perfectly: blank notecards, paint, a misc cork from who knows where and some snow glitter.

Super simple polka dots {made with a stray cork} and fun Christmas words - I even added some dots to the envelopes!

Homespun Craft Day

{{swoon}}

I don't know where to start! Ok, so my friend Shay and her family are in the process of adopting a little girl and we both had this idea to host a craft day as a fundraiser. It turned out super fun and we are already planning a second one in December! 

It was a fun challenge for me to try and see how thrifty we could be on supplies so it helped the adoption fund the most. And, to be honest, I've struggled to get my crafty on lately so this was a really fun happy place for me!

I wanted our guests to feel special and very welcomed and like they got their money's worth even though I was trying to be extra thrifty. These cute little name tags were made with fabric scraps, alphabet stamps and some little pin backs - all things I had on hand = free.

This little metal tray made a fun display by just taping some twine around the back and clipping name tags on with mini clothespins. Sweet! My great-grandma's ladder was a funky holder for this tray! I have used this ladder more for its easel-qualities than as a ladder!!!

So, what did we make!? We made wood slice chalkboards, chalkboard garlands and looked at various lettering techniques for chalk art. Ten sweet crafters came and got creative! Brown paper made inexpensive and easy-clean-up table coverings, the gift bags were from my stash and I put the garlands, some chalk and a cute Thanksgiving printable in each bag. Tags and yarn were also on hand so this did not add any expense! The chalkboard garlands were from the Target Dollar Spot about six weeks ago.

 

Bonus: it made a fun afternoon project for me to sit and cutesify these bags for giving!

The wood slices were bought here and there at Michael's with 40% off coupons. Chalkboard paint is from Lowe's.

For hand lettering, I found this great post and basically drew most of her ideas out on my chalkboard plus some embellishments. This post is a great source of lots of ideas and basics for successfully hand lettering on your chalkboards!

Now, let's talk food!

Our craft day was in the morning so I wanted to do breakfasty choices. Here was our menu except that I forgot to set out the cheese and crackers! Oops!

Apple Cheddar Bread
Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes
Apple Cider Cinnamon Rolls
Pumpkin Spice Lattes 
Teas were herbal tea bags that I brewed, sweetened and chilled

I'm totally loving my porch table turned this direction and those twinkle lights have just made my heart happy every time I walk by or see them shining through the doors. I shopped my house for fun stuff for the table and that awesome Arctic cooler was borrowed from a sweet friend!

Sweet time with friends, good fellowship, yummy food and fun crafting! Plus we raised right around $200 for our friend and her adoption fund. Just a big yay all around!

It was also so fun having this in the morning and then having a quiet afternoon with a clean house to enjoy and relax in!

Birthday Gift: Sewing Kit

I'm taking on a mission this year to come up with frugal handmade gifts that are still lovely and thoughtful!

Just as we came home from Christmas, we had two girls parties back to back one weekend! One asked for donations to a local children's shelter {great idea!} and we did a birthday party kit with cake mix, party plates, etc... from the Dollar Tree.

For the second one, I decided to put together a little sewing kit. I was partially inspired by a sewing kit my mom made for Emily for Christmas and partially inspired by Pinterest, plus this is what I had on hand!

First, I waded through my fabrics and chose something for each color of the rainbow - cut edges with pinking shears and folded similar sizes tied with a ribbon. I topped the stack with a simple five minutes pin cushion inspired by this.

I also included a little box of ribbon and trims plus an embroidery hoop {thrifted, I think} and a little package of cute buttons {Dollar Spot clearance fifty cents}

And, then I wanted to sew a little bag for her to put everything in. I just sort of made it up as I went along and it turned out a bit longer and skinnier than I'd envisioned - but she is a ballerina also - so maybe it will be a good ballet shoe bag when she is done with the fabric and trims!