A Partially Handmade Christmas

I decided to attempt a handmade Christmas this year. It was quite a challenge, since I made this decision in October. Here are the projects I was able to finish and give as gifts. Hopefully next year will be even more crafty! Any requests?

The pirate panda. 

A Packers lap blanket, for use during the game next weekend. I also made a Bears one, but that one isn't allowed to travel.

A simple blanket for the family grab bag gift exchange.

Rice bags for the ladies at work. I also made one from scrap Packer fabric and some little ones for my daughter who always needs an ice pack at bedtime. 

Also, a peace sign pillow for my daughter. She told me she is "going through a peace sign phase" so I thought she might enjoy this. She loves it. 

#75 and what we've been doing this Christmas season

First things first. I didn't eat fast food for the entire month of November. It was very difficult, but not impossible. The roughest part was not having as many options for lunch when we were out working on our Christmas shopping. It was a great idea, and saved quite a bit of money, but I wouldn't recommend doing it in November.

Now for what we have been doing this Holiday Season. The local theatre troupe did Willy Wonka for the children's theatre production. I volunteered to make parts of Willy Wonka's costume.

We found this fun craft idea here
http://www.onepearlbutton.com/2010/11/tutorial-faux-gilded-votive-cups-with.html
Still have to finish up and see how they look, but even if they don't turn out as great as I would like, we had a great time making them.

 A school group was selling fruit as a fund raiser, so I got a bunch of apples. I turned most of them into apple butter! I found the recipe here
http://dreamhomediy.blogspot.com/2010/11/crockpot-apple-butter.html
It is delicious!!!

 Lastly, I found a Christmas stocking kit for $1 at a garage sale a couple of summers ago. I worked on the stitching this summer and finally finished it this weekend! It's fully lined and it turned out great!

21

My friends and I have started getting together once a month for a" Stitch 'N Bitch". It's been a lot of fun, but sometimes we think it should just be called a "Bitch... with some stitching."

#6 Part 6

"How would you know what's crazy or not? If that sweater of yours was any tighter it'd cut off the circulation to your chest."

#83 Part 1

The other day, I went through the drive thru at Starbucks and decided to pay for the car behind me as well as my own purchase. When I told the guy in the window my plan, he gave me a sample of delicious coffee and told me if I purchased that, I could get a free large drink. So... I bought the coffee, got my original drink for free, paid for the car behind me and spent less than I thought I would! Hooray for instant Karma!

#6 Part 5

"I said you were a jerk. I wasn't blaming you for being a jerk. I didn't say that being a jerk was your fault. Nor was I attempting to make you feel guilty for being a jerk. I made a simple observation. You're a jerk. Now just drop it."

#6 Part 4

"Love is love, Sara. Gender is merely spare parts."

#31

Today, I decided to check something off the list. I thought I'd go for the "Fun Room" since it's been mostly clean and I just needed to move stuff around. We still have WAY too much stuff in our house, but putting it up on shelves and getting it off the floor made it look a lot better. We also moved the furniture from in front of the big window to let in more light and open up the room.

#10, #25, #43, #97, #98

It's been a while since I've updated this, so let's see where we are!!!

Finally finished reading "Inkdeath"! I loved it. It was a great ending to a wonderful series.

Finally got this awesome sewing machine! It's a Bernina with a lot of fancy stitches. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far!!! Here are some things I made this weekend.

We cleared out a space for a dining room table last summer, and finally found one that works! It's a little bit messy right now since we're trying to get stuff out of the house and into the shed.

We got a new car! Lars was obsessed with the Cube so we went to look at one and I didn't hate it. It's actually a pretty cool car.

I don't have a picture for the last one, but I did get a grown up job! Yay!

#27, #30

Finally posting this part! When we had our second child, we needed a third bedroom. We took the horribly messy landing, cleaned it out, got rid of a bunch of stuff and turned it into an adorable nursery! 

#34, #41, #68, #70

#34 We decided to redo the living room. We were tired of having everything stuck in the same place. I moved quite a bit around, cleaned the carpet, and even took a shelf off the wall to clear a corner. We need to paint, but we'll get there soon. Moving stuff opened it up and now there's more room for the little ones to play. 

#41 We also got some new curtains! They're plain, but I like them a lot. 

#68 My in-laws took the whole family on a cruise over spring break. We left from San Diego and stopped in Cabo and Ensenada. It was great to get to spend time with family in such a relaxing atmosphere. 

#70 While in Ensenada we went to a private beach for a bit. It was the first time some of the kids had ever been to a beach. Even though it was far too cold, everyone had a great time.