A sampling of our handmade Christmas gifts

This year I wanted the girls to experience making a gift for each other instead of going to Target with a $5-$10 allowance/earned money and picking out a toy. Sure, that is a nice thing to do but making something is fun and very special. I tried to think of projects that were at their skill level and I could assist (without completely doing it and taking over) that would be a great addition to their bedroom and personal space. Caroline can cut and glue. A modge podge project it is! Lindsay is learning to sew...we made a pillow together. I also made a few other gifts for cousins - instructions for some of these will make it to the Tuesdays blog. I promise. :)

Caroline and I picked out a 24" tall paper mache letter "L" to decorate for Lindsay. We selected scrapbook paper that would match their room and got to work painting, cutting, gluing, and embellishing a darn cute mongo huge letter "L." I did help with the fine details like final trimming the paper but Caroline did most of it and was so proud. We are planning to make a letter "C" for herself this week.

Lindsay is really loving to sew and thought a snuggly pillow would be a fun gift. Together we picked out the silky fur, the fabric for the applique initial, and came home and got to work. Cutting the fur was an adventure, I tell ya! I did help with the applique (Lindsay did some practice appliques and it was a little tricky but she tried hard.) We have all the pieces cut out for Lindsay to make one for herself this week. We also made the same pillows for cousins in SC!

One night when Daddy was working late, and all the craft items were still all over my kitchen, we decided to make a Christmas present for Daddy to hang in his office. The girls painted a prepared canvas (from a 2-pk at Hobby Lobby) a fun tangerine orange color and each picked a color for their handprint. It was a whole bunch of messy fun. Doing the handprint of a 7 month old is not easy. Just to let you know.

This was a late night project and I didn't photograph it very well - this is a pennant/flag banner I made for our nephew Everett. He IS Mr. Baseball and his room is decorated in plaids and his grandmother had recently painted a sailboat scene for his room. I thought this would be a perfect fit. This is made from old plaid shirts - even the applique "E" is from a striped dress shirt.

I made a couple of these for the little nieces - it was a quick project. It is a 24" board with scrapbook paper modge-podged, chip letters and tiny binder clips and ribbons. It say "Look what I made" and is a place to hang their masterpieces. How stinkin' cute is this? My girls have requested ones of their very own.

Just a few of the fun projects from Christmas. I really love making gifts. Since I have been crafting for so long, I usually have a stash of supplies that makes a project inexpensive. If you have to buy all the supplies from scratch, then sure, it really adds up, but a steady supply of scrap wood, fabric remnants, a large ribbon stash, and assorted papers and you can really have some fun with personalized gifts.