Tuesday, December 28, 2010

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. 

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

#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!