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Christmas Ornaments

 Each year I make all of the kids personalized ornaments. This year I was unwell and did not have a chance to accomplish this tradition. Although it is sad, Zoe made ornaments for everyone. She spent so much time on them and they turned out wonderfully.
Shawna got a felt onesie with pink on one side and blue on the other. For Stephen she made a yarn beard with little pieces of dry food glued into it. She came up with it on her own and it is seriously so hilarious!
She also made Liam a wooden robot and Lydia a felt and glitter crown (not pictured).

 Grandpa Sam got a snowman. Grandma Sam got a lovely beaded bracelet. Aunt Laura got a bow for her hair. Aunt Buzz got some handmade earrings. Uncle Richard got an felt ornament in the shape of a gallon of milk, white on one side, chocolate on the other.

 I got a Santa hat with a little description about how I was like Santa. She said that it seems impossible that he can visit every house in one night and fly around the world. Then it went on to say that I did impossible things everyday: taking care of 4 kids, keeping the house clean and feeding everyone. It was the sweetest card EVER! Especially because I was feeling the opposite of what she described. What an angel!

Yarn mustache for Dad, who also got a nice card.

infant circle skirt

Okay, so I am modeling this skirt on my leg. I wish I had a picture of it on my little niece, for whom it was made. I used this tutorial. Super easy, super cute!

striped knit cowl

Okay, so I am a little obsessed about cowls and scarves. I love keeping my neck warm! I decided I wanted a super soft knit one. Actually, my inspiration is a funny story, so I will share it. Last year my husband sent me to Hawaii for ten days because I was so miserable to live with he knew I needed a break. It was the most perfect, inpiring, life-changing, soul searching, rejuvinating trip ever! On the way home (it is February, by the way) I was freezing. I hadn't packed many warm clothes, but all the ones I had packed were on my body. I needed a scarf! During a layover I grabbed my pajama pants out of my suitcase and I tied them around my neck for a super comfy scarf!
So, inspired by how comfy my PJ pants were as a scarf, I went to go get some soft fabric to make one. I made 3 in a matter of 10 min (there is really nothing to it...one straight stitch). The other two I gave as gifts to ladies I HOPE enjoy them as much as I do. Also, when I bought the fabric the lady that sold it to me said that she had never seen uglier fabric in the 6 years she had been working there. I consider that a success!

"Y"

I LOVED this project!

I have a friend who recently had a baby and for her shower she assigned everyone a letter of the alphabet, so that she could display the alphabet on the nursery wall. The idea that each letter would be different and representative on the person who made/brought it.

I got "Y". I thought of lots of different ways I could make a "Y", this is what I settled on.

I went through my paper scraps (I save almost all scraps) and cut tiny lengths of all the favorites. It was so fun to go through. I found paper that Liam's baby book was made from (actually, this is for my friends baby whom they named, Liam!), paper given to my by my father, SIL, husband, sister, paper I have had since I was ten, paper printed by my father on his press, and lots more. So fun to acknowledge the significance of each piece.

 I overlapped them over a "Y" shape that I had traced.

 Then put a white piece of paper over the top to make a crisp edge.

Then put it in a frame made by my brother. I hope that she loves it and that it goes good with the other letters of the alphabet in little Liam's nursery.

The Lydia skirt...for Kai'a

When I was in Hawaii I promised Kai'a I would make her a skirt. So, I made her one based on this skirt I made for Lydia. I am so glad that it fit...perfectly! Miracle!
I did take pictures along the way, hoping to do a tutorial, but there are still so many kinks that I don't know if the tutorial would be helpful.

reversable baby skirt

Made big sister a skirt, so wanted a matching one for baby sister. Decided to make it reversable. Not my best work, but it looks adorable on Finley, so I am happy.

Handmade gifts: from Texas Sams

These Harry Potter inspired potions were a gift from my brother's family in Texas. They all collaborated on the names and looks of the potions. They are beautifully done and I hope to be able to fashion some great display for them.
Each was filled with candy, some of which corresponded to the name of the potion. The Ingenious Elixir had smarties in it. The Exploding Olio had pop rocks. I guess they must have been eating a lot of that Elixir because this gift WAS ingenious!
This picture on their blog might give a better view.

Handmade gifts: Felix

 Felix is totally on a Toy Story kick so the kids decided to draw him some pictures. Liam drew one with all the Toy Story crew. Felix pointed to each one and knew exactly who they were. He was very excited about it.

Zoe drew a picture of, as you can see, Felix the Cowboy. His hat and little belt buckle says, "Felix" and he is holding a sippy cup. Felix loves this one as well.
We framed them both and put them up in his room. I really like these pictures!

Handmade gifts 4: family and ornaments

 It has been awhile since I sewed a book. I was so excited about this project. I actually had the idea for it at the beginning of the summer. It is actually one reason our summer was so fun. I kept thinking about the book, so we did super fun things and took lots of pictures all summer, because I knew it would end up in the book.
After binding the book, I put pictures in. One event/outing/vacation per page, then labled it.
The kids weren't very excited about it, but at least I can get it out and prove to them what a fun summer we had if they ever doubt :)

Also, I put all of the Christmas stuff up in the attic today, WITHOUT GETTING PICTURES OF THEIR ORNAMENTS! I also didn't get pictures of the ornaments the kids made for us.
I make them an ornament each year and now it will have to wait until next year to document it. I made Zoe and orange Converse shoe. She loves orange and Converse shoes. I made Liam a dove to signify his baptism this year. I made Lydia an apple to signify her starting Kindergarten. Felix got the alphabet embroidered on some felt because he is OBSESSED with the alphabet. He carried it around for days naming all the letters on it.

Homemade gifts 3: Zoe

 This was my favorite project this year. I was so excited about it. Zoe saw a skirt she liked on a movie and pointed it out to me. Once I saw it I really wanted to figure out how to make it. It looked nothing like this, but Zoe told me just what she wanted, picked out the fabric, and I did the best I could. Thank goodness she was really pleased, because I felt like it turned out well. I never would have put these colors together but they look so cute. Also, she got some clothes from Travis's mom that go perfectly with it!

 Liam made this chicken stuffed animal for Zoe. Okay, "made" is used a little loosely. I had him draw it out. I did most of the sewing. He did the button eyes and wings. It was, perhaps, a bit ambitious for him, but I figure it was time well spent. We were in "Santa's workshop" (what the kids call my craft room) working together for Zoe.

Lydia made this button bracelet for Zoe. I did help quite a bit, but was super impressed with what she she was able to do.

Homemade gifts 2: Liam

 I made Liam some fleece black and white checked pajama pants, which he didn't take off the entire Christmas break (maybe a slight exageration). Lydia sewed the little pockets at the ends of this scarf. We got the idea from Family Fun.

Zoe made Liam a personalized bookmark. On the back are the names of all his favorite books.

Homemade gifts 1: Lydia

 I made this dress for Lydia using MADE's tutorial here. I used a dress shirt that was Travis's.I will have to post another picture later. I think it turned out nice and it fits her perfectly, miraculously!

Liam made a little fairy wand and working together with Zoe on the fairy wings. Zoe made a felt crown with shiny beads at the top (which is probably why it isn't sticking up).
Lydia was so excited about her fairy outfit gift that she decided that she wanted a fairy themed birthday party. I thought it was so cute that they came up with this idea (and executed it{with help}).

Found some fun ideas for Christmas Teacher Gifts on Skip to my Lou. These are bookmarks. Lydia was able to help by making the flower on the right. She was really proud to give it to her teacher. Zoe made her teachers bookmarks herself out of string and beads.

Christmas gifts- another fabric necklace

We only have one sibling per year to give gifts to in my family. It was so fun to find gifts for my brother's family this year. This necklace I made for my sister in law. I don't know how I feel about it. I guess it would look cute on some people. I don't like it on me, but my SIL is super cute and could pull it off. I hope she likes it.
The other thing I made for my nephews was a tent that fits over their table, making an instant fort inside. I already wrapped and sent said item without taking a picture. I hope to get a picture when it is in it's home, in use. I made it from old sports sheets. I hope it is loved.

Christmas gifts-more booties

I actually have many more pair to make for all of the babies coming into the world. This pair I made for my neice, Leia. They have pink buttons!

Crochet Baby Boots

 I saw these on Pinterest and knew I HAD to get the pattern. What baby girl should NOT wear these? There are SO many babies being born in my life this year, specifically baby girls (not to gloss over the sweet baby boys, but for the sake of the post, I don't think they would be interested). Some dear friends adopted a sweet baby girl (Samara) this week (and has already received a pair with pink buttons, I will see if I can get a pic of her wearing them). My wonderful childhood friend had a girl this week (Finley). My dear sister-in-law could be having a baby girl at any moment!!!! Here is my question. Could a baby living in Hawaii or Texas even use boots like these?

So adorable! (Thank you for overlooking my annoying use of parenthesis and CAPS in this post).

For my "niece"

Snow Globe Soap

I found this cutest tutorial that I knew I had to try.
Each year I help my kids make gifts for each other. They get so excited about their homemade gifts! I decided that I would make this one with Lydia.

They smell like peppermint and are so cute! We found the little monkey toys in those 25 cent dispensers in the front of a grocery store that you never want your kids to buy things out of because it is crap. We also put rings in some of them, and some other little toys I found in the doll house section of the craft store.

It made a lot. It took hardly any time. It was a mess. I am so excited about them!

Beaded watch

These watches are all the rage around here. I was asked to teach a demonstration about how to make one at our church's Super Saturday. The band is attached with claw hooks (I don't know what they are really called) so that you can switch bands.
I made this one for my mother-in-law's birthday.