An AWESOME DIY Homemade Christmas

Well, Black Friday has come and gone and now onto the the non-stop deals on whatever crap people are compelled to buy in the hustle to get Christmas shopping done.

I have a different plan.  Nothing speaks to my heart more than a nice homemade gift. I love receiving them and getting them!  While there are lots of great diy gift ideas on Pinterest, I am going to share some of my plans for diy Christmas gifts this year.  Most of our Christmas shopping this year is going to be for supplies to make these.  I even did take advantage of Black Friday shopping by getting a great deal on blizzard fleece on Joann's website so I never even left the house!

These are not just cheesy homemade gifts that you make and then at the last minute feel like you should still buy something anyways to go with it...These are AWESOME stand alone great gifts that can replace whatever else you may have purchased otherwise!

MERMAID AND SHARK TAIL SNUGGLE BLANKETS

For all the girls and boys in my life I am making either fleece mermaid tail blankets or shark eating me blankets.  I got the fleece on Joanns Black Friday cyber deal for $2.50/yard so these are a super fun gift to make and keep your budget down!  

You can get a tutorial here and here


but it looks pretty easy to figure out and just wing both without a pattern.

Howeverfor those who like to SEE examples and various ways to do it, shark blanket tutorials can be found such as this 

Or HERE

or get a pattern to make both on etsy here 

ANTI-AGING AND HEALTHY HAIR SILK PILLOWCASES

For the women in my family, I will be making up some hair and beauty silk pillowcases.  There is a great tutorial on HowDoesShe that you can follow.  I may do mine a little different and try to embed some lavendar...we shall see.  I ordered the real silk on dharmatrading.com as recommended from the tutorial. I will make a cute litle printout of all the benefits of silk pillowcases to go with.With 1 yard per pillowcase this gift rings in at just under $10 each.

WOODEN MINECRAFT BLOCKS AND PLAY PARTS

For my son who likes Minecraft and loves building with blocks, I ordered a set of 50 1.5 inch unfinished wood blocks from craftparts.com.  He's 5 and I LOVE Grimm style wood toys, but instead of rainbow blocks, I am going  to dip dye the blocks in food coloring in the main minecraft colors and may get a little creative to make a few special blocks.  My son has a good imagination, and dying them with minecraft theme colors, he can enjoy building his own minecraft stuff but his imagination wont be limited to minecraft play.  If you want a more specific minecraft look check out this diy post on wooden Minecraft Blocks.  It's more involved with printing the skins, cuting, modgepodging etc but looks cool.
 

My daughter is making other minecraft things to go with the block set as her gift to her brother with perler beads.  She is just making them up based on how she knows minecraft looks but here is some inspiration...Check it out HERE

GYMNASTICS BALANCE BEAM

For any gymnastics loving girls, there a tons of tutorials online for constructing your own balance beam.  I plan on using a fun color combo with fun faux suede and paint on the wood frame.  There are LOTS of different tutorials to make them but it doesn't have to be complicated! Here's a simple tutorial here

For awesome balance beam color combo ideas, check out this pinterest board.

DIY DOLL GYMNASTICS SET

For our little gymnasts and doll loving girl, my husband is going to "help" our son make a gymnastics set for his sister for his Christmas gift to her.  He'll make a set of bars from pvc pipe and using a tutorial like this and we'll make some velcro grips so she can swing around.  

For a mat you could just layer some craft foam or get a small piece of thin foam padding and wrap it in cute duct tape.

Doll Beam (we'll make one that matches her beam)

CANDY POPCORN

For other great people in your life like friends, neighbors, teachers, etc...ne of my favorite things to make is my mom's carmel popcorn recipe and then drizzle melted chocolate over top, package in cellophane bags and pair with a Christmas card.

and for the men....that's where I am still deciding!  Maybe homemade BBQ rub and custom aprons? i don't know but here are some great lists of ideas for the men here and here and here.

Shopping for the perfect gifts can be super stressful and time consuming and making a bunch of gifts can seem completely overwhelming.  But if you can consolidate projects by making all kids the same thin, all women the same thing, all men the same thing and all neighbors etc the same thing...then you just take a couple session focused on that one project.  The key to enjoying the season and meking homemade gifts is to be intentional about how you spend your time.  Less running around and more resting and making.  Less Christmas activities for more relaxed Christmas season savoring at home!  Don't feel like your kids are going to miss out if they don't attend every Christmas party and activity there is to do.  The kids will remember making a homemade gift while smelling cookies in the oven more than they will the blur of events and errands that sometimes englufs the entire season.  Order as much as you can online, even fabric if possible and only do the running around that is absolutely necessary!  That way we can be productive, give great gifts while still feeling the joy of the season and create lasting memories with our children.  

As for us as homeschoolers, I also posted about this on instagram under the picture of my daughter making a minecraft diamond with her perler beads...that since we HAVE the flexibilty, we are going to take the month off of regular school and learn through living and all the productive hands-on Christmas time things we do. It is just too much to maintain a regular homeschool schedule and then pile on top of that all the other things we want to do.  So we are making the season fun and learning through all our fun seasonal activities and gift making!

My Christmas Present

I know this is a little late and after the fact, but I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I'd fill ya'll in!

For Christmas this year my husband wanted to get me a new sewing machine so I could be done with (and possible smash to bits with a hammer) my old brother sewing machine that I got on BlackFriday at Walmart for $50 a couple years ago. I am surprised at how much I actually did make with that machine but I swear everything took2-3 times longer because of the constant problems....anyways....so by the time Christmas came we hadn't purchased a new sewing machine yet because I'm still trying to figure out what I want.  

So for the sake of having something wrapped up and under the tree for me on Christmas, my husband has this tradition of going to the Dollar Store with his dad and brother on Christmas Eve and picking up some random things.  As a joke, he bought my mom a home drug test since she lives in WA and marijuana was just legalized there along with the fact that my mom usually has her essential oil diffuser running in the kitchen and the guys always tease her that it looks like a bong.  So that was funny to watch my LDS mom open on Christmas morning as a gag.  While she opened it and was laughing, I was handed a small gift from Tyler that said on the tag "Don't say I didn't give you anything for Christmas!"  and as I opened it up, it was a pregnancy test from the dollar store!  It was a total joke. I my have said something along the lines of "TYLER!" and quickly stashed it away in embarassment. I had forgotten about it until a day or two later he was about to go out to a shooting range with his Dad and Brother and before he left made a comment "Wouldn't that be awesome if you used that test and you actually WERE pregnant?!?"  I laughed like it was impossible and made some comment like "I'm pretty sure I'm not!" and didn't think much of it...until an hour or two after he left his comment came back to my mind and curiosity got the best of me, even though I really didn't think I was.  I took the Dollar Store Pregnancy test and this is what it read

Two lines....that means positive!  I was super excited and surprised but at the same time realized it was a DOLLAR STORE TEST so it doesn't count.  So later on I picked up another test from Walgreens and this time did it when Tyler was with me since I've just told him I was preggers the last 2 times and he'd never seen a test before.  The next one seemed to be a dud....nothing was happening. I started to get frustrated and shaking it up and down to get that pee to run down towards the results box since it wasn't doing it on it's own...we were about the give up and throw it in the trash...when finally the plus sign started to appear!  

So, even though I still haven't picked out my new sewing machine, I can't say that Tyler "didn't get me anything for Christmas" that's for sure!

A little back story-We originally wanted to start trying towards the end of spring 2012 but then we found out we would be moving to a new state and decided to wait until after we were moved and settled...which we thought would take like 2 months to sell our house and buy our next but obviously things haven't gone that way.  As the months passed we both still had it strongly on our hearts and finally not long ago, decided...you know what? it could be a year or more by the time we sell our house move and are settled and it could take up to a year to get pregnant after that!  It took 8-9 months to get pregnant with our 2nd. So we decided to place it in God's hands as his timing has proven time and time again to be much better than our own timing.  So we weren't TRYING, but we were just not worrying about it and trusting the Lord.  I was so surprised and didn't think it was possible because we had barely made that decision to put it in God's hands so that is why we were surprised to have a + result so soon!  And I am very thankful because I know what it's like to get frustrated when it's not happening right when you want and I know plenty of people wait a lot longer than I did with my 2nd so I am NOT taking this for granted at all.  

Also, the other concern we had and why we originally held off on baby #3 was because my past 2 pregnancies were HORRIBLE!  I was so sick I always lost weight, could barely function for more than half the pregnancy because the sickness was so terrible...and when I wasn't puking all day then I had debilitating migraines.  Our concern was how am I going to take care of 2 kids, homeschool one of them and keep the house clean for showings when I am that incapacitated!  But we gave it all up to the Lord and amazingly I have only been sick 2-3 times...both times revolved around a migraine but I have been to a chiro a couple times and that also seems to be helping.  And rather than puking my guts out non stop like I did the last 2 pregnancies....I actually have to eat like every 1.5-2 hours or else I start to feel crappy. I am not used to having a real appetite like this, especially eating while pregnant and not puking right after every time.  

I'm a little over 10 weeks right now and the only major complaints I have is being really really tired....oh and as my 5 year old informed the nurse at my prenatal visit with my midwife as we went over my medical history and symptoms she piped in "AND she has a lot of tutti frutti!" the nurse was confused and I was turning red. She asked her what Tutti Frutti meant and J plugs her nose and says "you know, pee-eww! like the baby has a poopy diaper or something!" then the nurse looked at me confused as I was laughing and I said "She's trying to tell you I have more gas than I used to!"  

And on that note....I figured I'd share our Christmas Family Portrait.  My two younger brothers in the back not standing next to any females are available :)  

Felt and Pom Ice Cream Cone

Felt and Pom Pom Ice Cream Cone

Up until today we have been enjoying lots of time at home “not going ANYWHERE!!!” as my daughter surprisingly exclaimed with glee each morning of Christmas break.  We enjoyed lots of little activities aside from the kids just enjoying their Christmas gifts, and in Jordan’s case, some of her new craft supplies….such as these jumbo pom poms.  She got a big bag of these pom poms and wanted to make something, and being that the plush cake and strawberries I made are one of her favorite playthings, we decided to make more play treats and whipped up this triple scoop ice cream cone using felt, pom poms and a glue gun.

 Yummy Triple Scoop Rainbow Ice Cream..."mmmmm..my favorite mom!"

And although Christmas is truly over, she suddenly gasped one day and exclaimed to me “MOM!!! We didn’t make gingerbread cookies!!!” Which I had no idea she even knew about them because it’s not  anything we have done before, so we just made these paper gingerbread men and J enjoyed using her new glue (who would of thought glue in a stocking was so exciting!) googly eyes and craft scissors.

Like the Christmas Clothespin Magnet holding the paper gingerbread man?


And since I haven't been keeping up with the things I've wanted to post, here is another after the fact picture from Christmas...makes me laugh

And a few more from the day while I'm at it...

Leftover Turkey?

Have any Leftover Turkey from the holidays?  We got a free turkey from my husband's office that was like 25 pounds and between the two of us and 2 little ones (one who won't even touch it), and being that our turkey was pretty well cooked (if you saw my last post, we slacked on Christmas, took naps all afternoon and got a dry turkey).  Anyways, so what to do with those rather dry turkey leftovers?

Yesterday I made Turkey Tetrazinni for my husband.  I found some recipes on AllRecipes and ended up doing a mix of the Turkey Tetrazzini II and Chicken or Turkey Tetrazzini.


For my daughter and I, I needed something gluten free and dairy free (I doubt she would have eaten the tetrazinni even if it was gluten free anyways) so we made turkey noodle soup with gluten free animal noodles.  It's Super simple, just poured gluten free chicken broth in the pot, added some mixed frozen vegetables, a bunch of turkey chopped up small and lastly, the gluten free farm animal noodles.

These noodles are great by the way, it's not always easy to find good gluten free noodles that the kids will enjoy and these are good, made with vegetables, are fun and my daughter always is excited to have them.  My 20 month old on the other hand....I have YET to get a noodle in his mouth of any kind!  No matter how we try it, he is determined to never touch one....He is a picky eater visually AND he refuses to eat anything we give him...we have to put food we think he might eat somewhere in his line of sight, casually without actually giving it to him or saying anything about it and wait for him to notice it, then we can say "Oh you want this? you sure?' then we can give it to him without him freaking out and acting like we are trying to force it down his throat! lol!  (they say payback is a b!@#$...I was a super picky eater the same way growing up and drove my parents crazy).

Anyways, next on the menu that we can all eat will be Turkey and Rice Soup.  Other years I have made Turkey Enchiladas with a cream sauce.  Another option to use up small amounts of leftover turkey or taco meat is to make quesadillas.  I like to put a little oil in the frying pan then use corn tortillas, add shredded cheese, leftover meat and top with another corn tortilla, fry about 2 minutes on both sides, then place on a paper towel and serve with franks hot sauce.  

After the Turkey and Rice soup, if there is anything else left...too bad....we will be turkey-ed out and I have sliders and fries on the menu!!!

PS- Thanks everyone who voted for my embarrassing stories over at Wanna Be Balanced!  Crystal just told me I won the personal microderm system!!!! YAY I AM SOOO EXCITED! THANK YOU!!!  I'll be sure to let you all know how it works and if it helps!  I've recently started getting the worst acne of my life!  I didn't break out this much in high school! UGH!  Crystal, I really appreciate you doing this awesome contest/giveaway!  I love your blog it's always so fun, interesting, inspiring and educational!!! :)

Hand Painted Family Last Name Signs

Now that they have been recieved...I can show and tell these gifts I made!

Hand painted family last name signs with the date each family established on 12 x 12 inch canvas.   I found a really fine tip paint brush and some Japanese Sumi Ink in my stash that worked out really well for doing all the lettering.  I used the same technique as I did in the Restoration Hardware Inspired Pillows Tutorial.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  We missed being with family but it was still special having our first Christmas here in our new house and of course....Christmas is special wherever you are because no matter where you are and who you are with, it's all about Christ! And we have been blessed to have met so many wonderful friends since we moved here in May so we have yet to be lonely on the holidays and had a amazing Christmas Eve Dinner with Friends and attended an awesome service, everything was wonderful. On Christmas Day, I meant to make a yummy gluten free chocolate layered cake, but we all ended up taking a long nap on Christmas day which resulted with an overcooked Turkey and some last minute mashed potatoes and steamed peas! lol...and Luckily we already had an awesome meal the night before  also lucky I had this one cupcake in the freezer that the kids could share!





PS- Thanks everyone who has been voting for my embarrassing moments stories over at Wanna Be Balanced!  My skin has been SO terrible lately so I am really hoping to win the microdermabrasion kit!  If you haven't seen the post yet with all the funny stories and voted yet, check it out HERE.  Scroll down to the post titled "Vote for Your Favorite" and I'm number 10.  You may have already read about this on my facebook or twitter but I didn't want to miss anyone knowing about it :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!  We had a WONDERFUL Christmas Eve with friends who had us over for a delicious dinner followed by a great Christmas Eve Service at church. Santa just finished his work for the night and now that he's gone I thought I'd share some of the Christmasy things we have had going on around here and with our friends.

Also, I am honored to have been a guest blogger over at Dear Creatives yesterday which you can check out here!  I shared a tutorial for making Giant 3-D Snowflakes! that we did with our friends.

 Finger paint Christmas Tree

 Hand print and Footprint Reindeer

Fingerpaint thumbprint reindeer with googley eyes

(thanks Kelsie for helping the girls!)

I'm a snowman!

Nativity

Mini Nativity Tree on our mantle

Christmas gift J made at Preschool for us

Teaching my 4 year old how to wrap presents and practice her writing

Magic Reindeer Food

Flannel stockings made by Gram, Snowman Christmas Counter Downer from My parents.

Christmas village my parents sent us this year, I always loved setting that up each year and I'm so excited my mom gave it to me.  

 Tyler reads them a christmas story every night this month

Made some festive dishtowels as gifts

Our other mantel in the kitchen, kids made the garland at a friends house and our christmas card collection has started

my 20 month old decorating Christmas trees with dot art

Feeling a bit festive, got some bows and bells in my hair! (thanks Whitney you wrap everything so cute!) Um, yes this has been my main outfit the past week while at home..good ol' college sweats never get old! :P

One of the Christmas headbands I've made 

Setting up the ol' train tracks with Dad! They used to be Grandpa's!

Christmas eve dinner with great friends, and "santa paws" made an appearance!  Well he's really Santa Bonz...we love you Bonzo Bean!!!

Caramel Popcorn drizzled with Ghiridelli Chocolate

One of our first Christmas tree ornaments that I made for our first Christmas 5 years ago when we couldn't afford to buy a bunch of new stuff.