We had a great Thanksgiving. I even survived the in-laws. No small matter, that.

I also had tons of time for crafting. Here’s a sneak peak:

I’ll be posting on a few of these separatly later this week. Today I am home from work today. Big-sis has a nasty stomach bug. Go wash your hands…seriously.

And if you are interested in playing along with the Handmade Holiday Craft-Along, jump right in. Let us know what you’re making for the holidays!

I don’t know about y’all, but I am already getting a bit overwhelmed by the thought of the holidays. I generally try to give as many handmade things as possible. especially this year with toys since what you buy may be poisonous and recalled in a week anyway.

So, to keep my momentum going I decided to host a craft-along to encourage people to give handmade this year.

Handmade Holiday Craft Along

Goals

1. Encourage people to give handmade gifts for the holidays
2. Turn away from the over-commercialization of our holidays (you never really wanted to be a corporate stooge, did you?)
3. Give resources for gift ideas

As we roll throught he holiday season I’ll post gift ideas and links to cool projects. I’ll also publish a list of participating crafters. I’ve set up a Flickr group for folks to share what they are working on.

Rules

1. Make something
2. Give it to someone
3. Show it off

To join e-mail me (becca (at) handmademom.com) or leave a comment.

Here’s a button for you. (Please save to your server).

We’re finally getting some chilly weather here. Lots of hope for snow this winter. Last year, after the move back from Florida we got about 3 flakes, so my little flakes really do not remember what snow looks like.

We’re starting to work on our Christmas list. Last spring I made the girls a Family Memory game. I think we might duplicate this for their cousin in Williamsburg. The girls have love this, and it’s been a fun way to remember everyone.

We’re also starting to think about teacher gifts. This is a hard one for me personally. I teach, and the last thing I want is to saddle someone else with a bunch of “apple-crap”. I am also on a public schoolteacher’s budget, and like the idea of hand made.

So we’ve been working on a hot chocolate recipe, and think we’ve hit the final formulation. Little-sis likes to play Top Chef when we do our taste testing which is pretty funny. The plan is to put this in small cellophane bags and put this in a holiday mug.

Hot Chocolate:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Put in small jars or gift bags.

For the tag:

Mix 2 teaspoons with 1 cup of hot milk. Stir and enjoy.

The girls are still at the point where they like goofy hair accessories. This is the Santa Barrette cover made of felt.

Here are some plain red ones with light blue snowflakes.

Materials

• Felt in various colors
• Embroidery Floss
• Needle
• Clip style Barrettes

Directions

• Print out the pattern below and cut out all pieces. The top and back are flesh colored, the hat red and the beard white (duh)
• The bottom rim of Santa’s Hat was done in French Knots
• Add the face-eyes French Knots, Mouth in an outline stitch
• Use a Blanket Stitch to attach the beard to the face
• Put the back and top pieces together, wrong sides facing. Put the hat on top. Work around the back piece using the Blanket Stitch, making sure to catch the hat as you go.
• Slip the barrette in, and your set to go.

Need some help with the stitches?

That snappy gal over at Primrose Designs has an excellent stitch school with directions. Very clear directions and great pictures.

Enjoy!

 

So we can get started on:

 

The girls started their drawings for our Christmas cards last night. Our current favorite is “The wise men did not wear hats, they wore towells”. The husband thinks it is the best Christmas message ever, I am not sure how on point it is, but most of our relations will find it funny.

 

I do have to say we will especially miss:

 

 

I’ll try to scan in the Here’s the pattern I’ve been using for the barrettes. tomorrow. We’ve had a lot of fun with these felt covers.

 

 

 

The how to and stencil are here.

I have a thing for hearts. Ever since my mom taught me how to do appliques on quilts, hearts have been one of my favorite designs.

So I have been trying to think of a great surprise for the girl’s room for Valentine’s Day. I love the idea of them waking up to a room all decorated for the holiday.

Last year they got their boots. Best gift ever. We usually do not do gifts for Valentines, just mail cards, but these we had to have.

This year I have been using up a lot of their old baby clothes making these, so I think I might pull out the mini Christmas Tree and have that all set up for when they wake up. I have some old potato bread in the freezer, so maybe we’ll have heart shaped French Toast also.

We’re waiting to see if it snows…wish us luck. We still haven’t had a real snow day.