This meant that gifts, decorations, and even food all had a little more heart and color in them.
Let me confide something: I am addicted to Pintrest.
When I was nursing my second little man at 2am for months on end, it was Nanny 911 and Pintrest that kept me awake.
So I am indebted.
This year we faced our usual "what to get for everyone on our list" and "we don't seem to have any extra money" conversations. Am I speaking your language?
I have begun to realize that this is the norm for plenty.
So we decided to get creative.
We are very blessed with a bonus room in our home which we have made into a classroom and back-up Hobby Lobby. LOTS and LOTS of craft supplies.
With a mission in front of me, I scoured Pintrest from the beginning of November and decided just what snacks, gifts, decorations, and even Christmas card photos we would have this year.
This is no small feat.
Once the plan was in place, the lists began.
What items we readily had.
What items we needed to purchase.
Who gets what?
Where to get the best bargins.
On and on the lists continued.
Eventually, we hit our plateau. One box filled with goodies was shipped up north to family and some others remained here for our holiday visitors.
Here are the goodies I remembered to catch on film:
Letters are FABULOUS for crafting and these are the two initials of B.S.M.'s and
my god-children! Too cool!
For Little man, we did his nickname and the boys picked-out this adorable Sock
Monkey add-on. We added ribbon with a glue gun and happen to think the results
are adorbs!
For the L, we added a strip of lace and the boys helped me to pick-out this gorgeous
metal flower as an accent. We also added the hooks to the bottom so that jewelry can
be hung from it. Add the ribbon and wa-la!
Each was painted with acrylic paint (our Wal*Mart sells these for about $.50
each), and then the glam was added.
These letters were an amazing score at just $.68 each at a thrift store.
Total for these two gifts together: est. $8
 |
These are boys/girl wall hangings.
At this point, you can see I had them wrapped, but underneath,
the boy sign reads:
BOY
noun:
Noise with Dirt on It
---
the girl sign reads:
GIRL
noun:
A Giggle with Glitter on It
---
The boy sign was painted blue and had green paint splattered on it.
The girl sign was purple and had a clear coat of Mod-Podge mixed with glitter on top of it.
I used dollar store stickers to get the letters and painted over them. Once dried, I peeled them off.
These cost somewhere in the ballpark of $15 each at Hobby Lobby,
Est d.i.y. price for both: $3
It is a good 6.5-8 hour drive from where I live to where I grew up.
I am now a Southerner but my family still braves the blizzards of Northern life :)
Because of this, I thought these would make great gifts.:
An insulated mug with a special gift inside.
For these, I measured the paper that was inside and cut the blue contact paper to match.
Next, I did my best at reshaping PA, NC, and hearts onto some additional paper and
glued everything in place.
I drew a dotted line from one heart to another and wrote a little something to the
beneficiaries.
Next, I laminated the entire paper and placed it into the mug. This is an important
step, as anything not laminated will eventually be ruined.
With this project, the most expensive item is the laminator. We purchased one
last year and think it is *almost* as nifty as the glue gun.
The mugs are just $1 each at any Dollar Tree!
Est. price for three: $3.25
This is a rice warmer.
I have participated in a few vendor and craft shows and always end-up buying these
as gifts. This year, I decided it was time to make my own.
My two Little men helped me to pick the pattern for this material (cotton) at Hobby Lobby.
The material there is always discounted!
I was a little nervous about the next step because it involved sewing.
I have a great sewing machine but very little knowledge about it.
Thankfully, after playing around with it for about two hours, I not
only figured it out, but I busted out three of these gems.
Beautifully, evenly-stitched neck warmers!
The concept with this is that, once it is sewn (leave a corner open
to fill), you add the rice (generic white rice or deer corn as another option).
Rice should fill roughly 3/4 of the warmer.
Complete sewing the opened corner.
The last step here is to test your microwave.
We started ours at 1min30secs. and kept increasing it slightly until we knew
the perfect time for a nice, hot warmer.
These are great for necks, but really, laps, sore legs, anywhere will work. Also,
we have found that they work well ON TOP of a sheet or sweater and do not
need to be placed directly on the skin.
**
USE CAUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These can get VERY hot.
**
Est. price for 3: $15
----------
Ornaments make WONDERFUL gifts!!
This is what this year's homemade ornaments looked like.
They are both reindeer and I placed one backwards and the other forwards so you can see each side.
The one on the left is backwards.
The boys and I chose Christmas cards friends and family sent last year and used them as cardstock.
The reindeer on the right is the front.
You can see, we glued a googly eye to it and added antlers made from pipe cleaners.
Each boy used red paint for the thumbprint nose, and then we all colored in the feet together.
So simple.
I added their names and the year.
These were last year's ornaments.
There are some great recipes for Salt Dough ornaments online.
We made the heart and letters with cookie cutters, each boy pressed his thumb into the heart, and we added the year.
MAKE SURE TO POKE HOLES IN THEM BEFORE HEATING THEM IF YOU ARE MAKING ORNAMENTS!
Once baked and cooled, I attached each piece with string, added some jingle bells, and we were set!
This is what the boy's ornaments looked like for Demitri's first Christmas- see how small and perfect his foot was???
For these, we used cardboard and had each boy do a green footprint for the face and then two red hands for the antlers.
Once dried, I cut the reindeer out of the cardboard and added the faces.
The back of these includes each boy's name and the year.
-------
Wall Art:
This was our entryway this year.
I LOVE the idea of having these empty, open frames on the wall and changing the art within for the season.
For Christmas, we had a homemade ornament wreath, a canvas, and jingle bells.
This is our December canvas.
It was so fun to see this come together- especially the added star and the boy's thumbprint on the left.
This wreath was made by hot gluing some cheap ornaments together.
The secret for a good circle is to use something circular to glue around.
I placed a circular basket down and built this wreath around the basket's bottom.
I added the festive, contrasting bow and like the results!
Do you remember making chain links in elementary school? The boys and I made a small chain
and B.S.M. decided he liked it so much that he requested we do our entire kitchen/dining room area in them.
To do: cut strips of paper into even lengths. Tape them together placing one inside the other (forming a link).
Alternate colors for a real fun look.
------
Last Year
Here are some of my favorite d.i.y. projects/crafts from last year.
The snow in the front window is purely delightful. It was so simple and looks really magical.
I simply thread some cotton balls through a piece of string.
(You can also hot glue them for a much quicker snowfall.)
These are the card holders we made last year.
We took two metal signs we already owned and hot glued ribbon to their bottoms.
Hobby Lobby has uber cute mini clothes hangers and we use those to hold each card in place.
I saw someone do something similar to this snowman family only she used chunks of wood.
I decided to be creative and utilize the masses of cylinder containers we had in our pantry.
Baby Thatcher was a new addition this year.
I simply took wrapping paper and Modge Podge and prepared each cylinder.
Once dried, I added the faces with a Sharpie and the noses and scarfs with felt.
The two hats are actual baby hats.
(The one on baby Thatcher was a homemade gift from my god-mother to my firstborn!)
These look fun and tuck easily into one another for convenient storage.
Alright, your turn!
I hope you enjoy d.i.y.ing!!!
-yours, gomommy
No comments:
Post a Comment