Since I have been on mat leave I have found myself watching some daytime TV. I saw this idea on Steven & Chris, and thought how smart. So for the gift card receivers on my list, dig through the candy for the real treat. I bought the little paint cans, inserted the giftcard, and filled up the can with candy. Not exactly crafting but a creative way to wrap a giftcard.
DIY
On the sixth day of Christmas…my true love covered me in chocolate
Sounds yummy, but really I meant peanut butter balls and sugar cookies. For my birthday this year I got a KitchenAid stand mixer (I know what a lucky girl) and I decided what better time of year than Christmas to give it a good workout. I whipped up at least 15 dozen treats, sugar cookies, peanut butter balls, and mints. I signed up for a cookie exchange with some other moms and traded my treats with others for a little more variety, YUMMY. My go to shop for just about everything, Michael’s had these cute little boxes on sale for $1.00. With my son’s help we made little tags with card stock and Christmas stickers. As far as the recipes go, I always just google a type of treat, read the reviews and take it from there, I may or may not remember to bookmark it so it’s always a surprise. Hope you are hungry.
On the fifth day of Christmas…some lady made me Tea Towels.
I whipped up a bunch of tea towels while I was making the Ho Ho Ho shirts for the kiddies. These are my go to teacher/host/hostess gift this year. I don’t want to tell you how little these cost to make just in case you are getting some over the holiday season, but lets just say less than one dollar each plus my elbow grease. But really it’s the thought that counts right.
On the fourth day of Christmas…my mom made me a stocking.
When I was a kid my mom made us all matching stockings. Last year she gave them to all of us. I think that was her not so subtle way of telling us we were all cut off.
Last year I decided to further the tradition of hand made stocking with my family, and with the addition of another little person to our family this year we were short one stocking, and what better excuse to get out the sewing kit. Last year I bought kits to make stockings and knowing at the time that we would be a larger family at Christmas this year I bought one extra. As I was hanging the stockings I was reminded that I had to whip up one more. Even though I had a pattern for these they would be easy enough to create from scratch with two ingredients. They are made from felt, and hand stitched together with embroidery floss. We don’t have a fireplace, so the stocking are hung on the banister with care.
On the third day of Christmas…my mom was at it again and made me a HO HO HO shirt.
When I was on maternity leave with my first son I opened an Etsy shop selling printed T-Shirts http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlockParent. Mainly I just made number one T-Shirts and gave them away for kiddies first birthday presents. When I returned to work I forgot about the Etsy site and stopped making things altogether. Frustrated this year with the Christmas clothing options available for little boys I raided their drawers and found a couple of plain white shirts (thank you Petie and EP) and got out the paints. Tada here are my little guys in their Ho Ho Ho shirts looking super festive.
On the second day of Christmas…my mommy made me a stocking cap.
Very recently I decided that it was time to re-learn to knit. Years ago I made a scarf (I know…how original), but I figure with 2 little boys it is the perfect time to pick up the needles again. I planned to knit both kids a hat and mitts for Christmas, but there was two little problems with my plan.
Problem one: I am not exactly an expert at making things the right size so I needed to test the hats on the kids and that is where the dilemma lies. If I test the hats on the kids heads they will know that I am making them hats for Christmas. While chatting with my sister she mentioned that she is also knitting hats for her boys for Christmas, and she tries the hats on the kids while they are sleeping. Her husband thinks it’s child abuse, I think that it is genius. Unfortunately I didn’t talk with her until after I had already started knitting so my hats will not be a surprise. If I am still knitting next year maybe I will try the sleeping trick.
Problem two: Mittens are HARD, at least for someone with a couple of weeks of knitting experience. So the solution is a hat and scarf, maybe mittens will happen a little later on.
On the first day of Christmas…my true love made me a Veggie Tree
This year I am crafting my way through the holidays. I will be posting a new project each day for the 12 days of Christmas that I have created for the holidays this year. I have the luxury this year to be on maternity leave over the holidays and I am finding that I have a little more time this year than I have in the past to make some hand made gifts. I hope that I inspire at least one person to make a little holiday cheer this year. Enjoy.
On the first day of Christmas my true love made me a Veggie Tree.
This tree is the perfect way to serve veggies at a holiday party. It is constructed with broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, radishes, and star fruit. I started with a Styrofoam cone (purchased from Michael’s) and wrapped it in aluminum foil. After washing and cutting up the veggies, I attached them using tooth picks. A couple of quick tips, make a hole using a toothpick first, then put the tooth pick into the veggie of choice, this way you won’t have to push as hard and will be less likely to split the veg. Second tip use the radishes and tomatoes to fill the holes left between the broccoli and cauliflower. To make the star, slice off a chunk of star fruit and attach to the top of the tree with a tooth pick and Volia a veggie tree. Your friends and family will be amazed at your creativity.
Making A Life 