An ornament a day: Day 5

This is a special ornament of the (hopefully) 7 ornaments I am working on this week. It is kind of my equivalent of a Hallmark keepsake ornament.

The felt balls were salvaged from this wreath. The initial idea was to make either a worm or a caterpillar ornament. Both creatures play into Hank's bedtime. The nights I take the time to lay with him a bit when he is getting settled into bed after reading books (need to make time for more of those nights in 2012!) we play several games that Hank made up. One game is to be caterpillars that go into our "raccoons" (no matter how many times I say cocoon, it comes out this way) to turn into butterflies. Then we flap around and go places like Venus, Hollywood, and other exciting destinations. Another game is to play "Sherman Wormin," which involves similar adventures to those of the caterpillars/butterflies only using our pointer fingers as Baby Sherman Wormin and Mama Sherman Wormin. Actually, come to think of it, Baby and Mama Sherman Wormin usually stick with boring activities like going to the grocery store, driving, etc.

I made a caterpillar using the felt balls, but it was pretty lackluster, and seemed lame to just rest it on a branch of the Christmas tree. So, as I was making it on the way to AZ, I decided to make it into the Very Hungry Caterpillar coming out of a strawberry! So happy with how it turned out, and really want to try and make a significant keepsake ornament* every year.

Fingers crossed that the other two ornaments come together -- I am planning lots of baking and cleaning this weekend!

* There really is a Very Hungry Caterpillar keepsake ornament. A little out of my price range...

**********

Favorite of the day: We sent my dad a "pupcake" for his birthday :) My parents have graciously agreed to adopt poor old Chuy (now almost 14) who has a chronic skin condition that appears to be caused by the stress of having a human baby come into the house, and just recently began biting any one besides me and BT -- including (and especially) said human baby. My dad never liked dogs until he met our little white puppy.

Working on: Chocolate peppermint thumbprints

An ornament a day: Day 4

This guy made the blog circuit this year.

In preparing for our trip to Arizona for Christmas, I had sooo many things to remember -- mundane things, like clothes and hygiene items, as well as all our presents, stockings and stuffers for BT's family, etc. In a last minute dash, I threw together a bag of things I thought I would need for these ornaments. Alas, I forgot a pipe cleaner to make a loop for Santa's head, but suppose a felt loop works just as well.  I surprisingly did not forget any other components, although tomorrow's ornament was modified during production, and needed a bit of green felt.

**********

Favorite of the day: I thought I had something, but I lost it

Working on: I suppose I should go to bed at a decent time for once

An ornament a day: Day 3

Today's ornament was inspired by this one and our trip to the cabin. I randomly picked up 15 or so acorn caps outside our cabin. That was before I saw the linked ornament, so I didn't grab quite enough.

So I made a flat version of the ornament, but still used glitter on the edges and a sparkly ribbon. It kind of looks like honeycomb, no? I had enough to make one for my parents as well, and included the details about our cabin trip on the back.

Speaking of ornaments, here are the swap ornaments I received

They are so cute! I love the snowman face.

One more nature based ornament on the list, but not sure how long it will take to finish...

**********

Favorite of the day: Too busy -- I am enjoying my new laptop, though :)

Working on: Deciding on a NYE cookie

An ornament a day: Day 2

Using the tape roll pictured yesterday, I made a star like shape using folded paper.

I believe Patricia made something similar this year. This was the easiest ornament of the bunch :)

**********

Favorite of the day: Need to make about 3 dozen of these (via Craft:)

Working on: Taking down our fire hazard of a tree

An ornament a day: Day 1

So wouldn't it be great to work on filling our traditional tree with ornaments by working on an ornament a day during the week after Christmas?

Would love to make this an annual tradition, but I suppose it depends what the schedule is like to see if this project will extend to future years.

First up: a trash to treasure ornament. I found this plastic piece in the work parking lot. It is the top of a air freshener jar, I believe. I wove different yarns from this blanket around the center -- sorta like a God's Eye. The other plastic piece shown is also a recovered item from a tape dispenser -- more on that project tomorrow!

**********

Favorite of the day: Gastropub hopping with the honey (if there is any hope of the "brewery with good food" trend lasting for awhile, they are going to need to come up with a different name to describe this type of establishment...)

Working on: Daily ornaments

5 new socks

Posts about my husband's family stocking, or "sock," tradition are smattered throughout the ol' blog. Here is an old post about them, and here is the tutorial I wrote describing how to make them.

(The name Lauren refers to the Laurel tree, and Lauren's mama requested a stocking reflecting her name. Hmmm...this was the best I could come up with -- a Santa Lucia girl with a crown that could possibly be made from laurel leaves...?)

This was one doozy of a year in the sock making department. I had five socks to make! A new niece, a new nephew, and a cousin's daughter, her husband, and her stepson. All told, we had to prep stockings for 31 people this year. No homemade stocking stuffers this year -- just cheap China crap.

(Cooper's mama didn't have a preference, so he received an owl motif. If I hadn't received any requests, all of this year's stockings would have had a woodland theme.)

This past week was allocated to making socks. If I had had one.more.day. I would have felt on top of things, but as it was I had to pull nearly an all-nighter to get them done. Pardon me if this post gets a bit rambly...

(Gia's mama said baby Gia likes butterflies and purple. Okey dokey.)

In addition, the laptop is getting ready to take a dive. I have been trying to minimize my use of it, but that is easier said than done. Too much good stuff out there!

(Martin loves the Cars movie and stickers. Isn't Lightening McQueen's nickname Stickers? I didn't work on this one in front of my kid, as he would undoubtedly think it was for him, which could cause issues during delivery of the stockings)

A new laptop is on its way courtesy of my live in Santa. So excited!

(Nick is a bike rider. Idea to include mittens hung over the handlebars lifted from this etsy card. Just realized I forgot a fender.)

With this project out of the way, I am officially DONE with Christmas preparations! We didn't get to do all of activities this month that we would have liked, but that was more due to cold weather and sickness than my crazy crafting schedule. Maybe we can catch a few things after the big day.

Wishing you a relaxing and enjoyable holiday week with your families!

**********

Recent fave: I am dying over this gift. Little pink cans of bubbly with pink straws attached promptly were acquired for my gals.

Working on: Just packing

Christmas Crack

What?

That's what everybody ends up calling it after they eat it.

**********

Favorite of the day: Cool recycled gift wrapping ideas (via Crafty Crow)

Working on: Starting embroidery on the socks

Homemade for Hank

I have three -- count them THREE - homemade gifts ready for Hank this year!!

The key to a successful crafting season this month was to break out all the tasks into week long increments. I didn't assign which days I would be working on individual projects, but knew I had to get the three items shown here, for example, done by this past Sunday in order to stay on track.

The hat pattern was found here. I went with orange and brown to seem less seasonal. I figure I only have a year or two left that I can get away with goofy looking hats before I need to stick with plain old beanies. He's growing up so fast! The library book bag pattern was found here. I have had this cut out for some time, so relatively simple to get it sewed up.

The activity book -- the ACTIVITY BOOK -- omg, this is a major weight lifted. There has been some debate as to how long the book has taken. I think I started in Christmas 2009. The pattern came from my pal Barb as part of this package.

The pattern is from the 90s, but has some sweet designs nonetheless, like the horse

The pattern is written so nonchalantly, assuming you know exactly what they are asking you to do despite not having any detail pictures. Every Easter and Christmas since the time I started this project, I sat down to finish the book only to find that page 6 was going to take several hours just on its own.

Well, I wasn't going to be thwarted this time around. I sat down and just did it. The last two pages were finished, I made a cover out of some vintage fabric (I added a button closure), and put all the little doodads and doohickies onto the pages. It's wonky and some parts are down right hideous, but it is done and sitting under the tree with a "mama made" tag hanging off of it, thankyouverymuch.

This week's agenda -- 5 socks. Lord have mercy.

**********

Favorite of the day: The party Heidi went to and won a Major Award

Working on: Cutting out socks

Something to...

For the past couple years, we have been following the adage of giving 4 Christmas gifts to Hank: something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read



This seems to work well for minimizing the "stuff" overload associated with Christmas. In addition, I have been making Hank a hat every year, and in theory there should be a mama made item every year (though that could be one of the aforementioned items). Annnnd, this year we are adding in one gift from Santa. So, the kid could get up to 7 gifts, which may seem excessive to some, but is less than the Christmas either BT (one of 5 kids) or me (an only child) had growing up, so we feel it is conservative.



I made reusable gift tags to represent the different types of gifts. I'm not sure if these will always be useful, as I would suppose as Hank grows older the only gift he would care about is the "something you want." Also, I have made an executive decision that if I can't have a theme tree every year, I will at least have themed gift wrap. The tags go with this year's gifts, but may not always match my paper choice.

But, they work for now. I have a couple more gifts to finish up today, and then moving on to stocking production for the rest of the week.

**********

Favorite of the day: {yawn}

Working on: A book bag and a rice-filled heating pad

Indoor snowball fight

I *think* I had posted a link to this gift idea previously -- an indoor snowball fight, which includes fluffy snowballs in a painted bucket.


I totally fell in love with this concept as a gift for nieces and nephews this year for Christmas. But, I was a little concerned that the snowball novelty would wear off quickly (not to mention possible breakage of home decor).

So, I decided to make the snowballs be rolled up socks instead! They may be tossed around a few times, but then end up being something useful for the kids (also a good way to make a practical gift fun!) I included at least 2 pairs of white socks per kid in the buckets. For the two larger families (5 kids), there are two buckets for boys versus girls. The "small" family with 3 kids (one of whom is a small fry less than a year) received a single bucket. I put smiley face stickers on the rolled up socks to reflect the version I saw online, and decorated dollar store buckets with paint pens. The hardest part was figuring out the different shoes sizes kids aged 8 months to 11 years old would wear, and how many packs I needed of each size.

Let the games begin!
**********
Favorite of the day: No pics, but went to a totally adorable Peter Pan party today. Folded green paper hats with red feathers, crocodile cookies, and packets of pixie dust (sanding sugar) to sprinkle on cupcakes. Everything was so cute!

Working on: Holiday party (bonus time!)

Hi-fi holiday greetings

This year's Christmas card "gift" was a little pricey, but fortunately the cost was spread out a bit.

You see, I had originally intended to make the blog gals a CD for their New Year's gift (see previous gifts here, here, and here) in 2010 after purchasing our record player. I never got around to that project (so sorry, ladies!), and feel new pangs of regret for not acknowledging my bloggy friends for two years now...

In any case, Past Jen (circa 2010) had purchased CDs that look like records, CD sleeves, and CD shipping envelopes. Present Jen found a cute CD cover printable that looked sorta like a record cover. BT added our faces and a holiday message to make it look more personalized. One of the delays in preparing the New Year's gifts was that I wanted to copy songs from our record collection to capture all the pops and hisses from the record version of the songs that I had selected. The record player is set up to record songs digitally, but they ended up sounding really terrible. This time around, we just copied the playlist from a CD we bought years ago at Old Navy. The only immediate cost was shipping -- $1.71 each. Will be aiming for a little lower price point next year in terms of a Christmas card that serves as a gift ideas...

Previous Christmas card "gifts"

2007: Recipe card

2008: Framed picture

2009: Ornament

2010: Fridge calendar

**********

Favorite of the day: Great stocking stuffer for somebody you know really well (versus somebody who may think you are giving them a hint about bad breath) via Family Style

Working on: Snowballs

The ornaments I've been blabbing about

You were probably expecting something super terrific, but instead this is the result of all my ornament making the last few weeks

They are similar to the ornaments I made for the swap, which used vintage curtain rings and cross stitch on Aida cloth. But since I knew the recipients this time around, I decided to make 14 different families an initial ornament.

Packaged as before with the collar stay "skewer"

This project is filled with shoulda coulda wouldas. I shoulda worked harder to find a lime green ribbon to use to modernize the color scheme a bit. I coulda used a "hip" font like Helvetica to modernize them even more. Finally, I woulda made just a couple more to cover everyone on my list, but I am done-zo with these things.

Moving forward with projects I have no regrets over.

**********

Favorite of the day: Totally cute cut and sew projects

Working on: Christmas cards

Cookie Exchange

I participated in my first cookie exchange party this year. We needed to bring 6 dozen (!!) cookies, but it was so worth it to get so many different yummy cookies in return.

(only about 5 dozen to go at this point!)

I made chocolate covered Oreos with crushed candy canes on top. I won best decorated :)

We received one fancy box at the party to use for our cookies

I put the rest in plastic buckets from Target

It was also an ugly sweater party. I found your standard grandma snowman vest at the thrift store. Hank won with this little number

(t-shirt version of an ugly Christmas sweater)

Being the only small fry at the party, I think he had an unfair advantage :)

**********

Favorite of the day: Grinch "pills"

Working on: Soft book

Who's stressed?

A few of the non-ornament related gifts I put together this past weekend.

(Cookie hostess gift made from re-gifted items. Tin contains package of sugar cookie mix)

I have really over-extended myself this year, but so far I am enjoying it. My hubby, on the other hand, told me (jokingly) that I am making him hate Christmas.

(I put two holes in Grace's ceiling by not pulling the sticky hooks off right after the root beer themed baby shower. I made her a touch up paint kit similar to mine, but added a roll of masking tape, a Sharpie to label the paint containers, and a tube of spackle.)

That is SO unfair, because I have maintained good emotional control thus far. He says I exude anxiety, and he doesn't like that I am always doing something versus being a lazy lump on the couch.

(Hank's teacher is getting a gift card. I put together these little bags for the aides and support staff at the school using items from Target)

We'll see if he changes his tune come Christmas Day and he is enjoying all the compliments he receives as a by-product of all MY preparations.

(One of the cute boxes from Target dollar section -- the ones I want to buy in bulk even if I don't have plans for them -- filled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar purchased at deep discount. This gift only cost about $7!)

hrmpf. I am busy, but in control.

**********

Favorite of the day: This gal is rockin' the tutorials this month -- love them all!

Working on: The ornaments are done!! Moving on to gifts for the little guy.

A winner!

The winner of the nostalgic stocking stuffed to the brim with handmade and carefully selected items representing the late 60s/70s is...

lorraine said...

ah! the stocking is lovely..i love the quilty nature of it..and the owl tubey gifty thingy is so cute...i think ill make a few and use them for my xmas gifts!

Congratulations, Lorraine! Hopefully I can get this to you in time to play Santa to a special someone.

Thank you all! And thanks again to my blog pals for putting together the Christmas Sock Hop -- jek, Tara, and Megan.

Invitation ornaments

Last chance to win stocking giveaway! Go here to enter -- winner will be chosen at 6:00 tonight :)

During a 10-month span, we were part of the preparations for three special events (1, 2, 3)

I spent a lot of energy in preparing for the events. I also put together special gifts for the bridal showers. When it came to the day of the events, I was pretty tapped out in terms of ideas and - well - cash. I wished I had checked out Pinterest earlier -- that way I would have seen the awesome idea to make a glass ornament using each couple's wedding invitation.

The best part about this gift was that I had exactly 3 glass ornaments to use that were taking up valuable space in my Christmas gift wrap bin. I am surprised they have lasted all this time without getting broken, to be honest. Each couple's wedding invitations were cut into strips, and then rolled around a pencil. For this couple, I added a stencil letter hang tag. It reflected the style of their engagement pictures.

(Topper spray painted silver after this pic was taken)

For this couple, I included some moss in the bottom of the ball (recalling the moss covered letters we made for the garden themed event) and a large bow.

Since initials were also key to this event, I purchased a little letter charm representing their last name for the ornament.

Finally, a butterfly themed ornament was developed for this couple.

I also added a little glass glitter to the bottom of the ornament, and attached a pretty saying that was part of their invitation as a hang tag.

Such a simple, inexpensive, and thoughtful idea! This will be my go to gift for similar events in the future. No matter how weary I am by the time we get to the big day...

P.S. My fellow Pinterest lover party planner friend Grace also did some invitation ornaments for Lena's baby shower -- can you find them?

**********

Last call to win a nostalgic Holly Hobby stocking filled and ready to give to a friend or family member born in the late 60s/70s! Go here to enter -- winner will be chosen at 6:00 tonight :)

**********

Favorite of the day: (past Jen is posting this -- shhh)

Working on: Neverending ornament project, nanana nanana nanana

Gifts for the littles

Here are a few things I put together for kidlets this Christmas.

This is actually a birthday gift for a friend from Hank's school, Finn. We picked out a couple items for Finn at our recent visit to Rainforest Cafe, including a snake slap bracelet and a zebra figure.

The memory set we had on hand. It came in the box shown below, which was modified to become Finn's Adventure Box.

We received this game a year or so ago as a gift. I separated the pieces from the box, and stored both to be used as gift ideas (We already had a few memory games, so able to pass this one on. The box was stored as part of the container collection.) I didn't think about how well the game and its previous holder would go together! I made a fabric bag to store the game, and added a few rubber animals, a piece of a geode, and a few stickers to the box. The only thing we needed to buy to complete the adventure box was a dollar store bug catching kit, which contained a pair of tweezers and a net.

For a co-worker's son, a Purl Bee frog to go with a left over Charley Harper shirt we still had on hand in the gift box (it was a duplicate sent by mistake) from when they were sold several years ago at Old Navy.

For my bestie's daughter, I made an art apron. During my Portland visit, Joy and I saw an apron like this, and I promised one in time for Christmas.

I was made using a combo of this pattern plus that one, and a traced apron body from a kid-sized apron Hank received last year.

Don't forget to sign up to win my nostalgia filled stocking on yesterday's post!

Sign ups will be open 6 PM tomorrow :)

**********

Favorite of the day: Nina's reindeer party

Working on: After the crazy cookie makin' gift creatin' weekend I had, I am actually thankful to get back to my boring ornament project.

Nostalgic stocking & Christmas Sock Hop!

I am thrilled to be part of a stocking related blog hop, a sock hop, if you will, with three uber talented ladies! In addition to my stocking, I encourage you to check out Tara, Megan, and jek to see the lovely stockings that they put together! Alternate, DIY, and crafty ideas aplenty for your viewing pleasure. Plus, we are all giving the stockings away, so look for instructions on each blog to win a filled stocking that will get to you in time for Christmas! Leave a comment on this post to win a nostalgic stocking representing the late 1960s/1970s!

The inspiration for my stocking came from a deck of cards that I found in a random thrift store "grab bag." The image is a big eyed girl that was probably produced in the late 60s/early 70s. I loved playing card games when I was young, and started thinking about things that I enjoyed as a little girl growing up in the mid to late 70s.

(Stocking includes everything shown here! A lot of items on hand or free. Used $10 off $10 purchase coupon for toe socks. Bulk candy, lip gloss, Kermit pin, and coin purse purchased for $1-$2 each.)

For some reason we tend to generalize past decades down to a single theme. The 50s = poodle skirts. The 60s = peace signs. The 70s = disco. Now, perhaps you or your parents were getting down and funky on the dance floor in the 70s, but by and large people I know that were in their teens and twenties in the 70s visited a disco once or twice, but it wasn't an ongoing interest.

I started thinking about things that were popular with little girls in the 70s. The Muppet Show. Vending machine toys. Candy lipstick.

Puffy stickers. Candy. Toe socks. Plastic barrettes with animals on them. Coin purses (more like this, but I didn't have time to track one down!). Lip gloss (I'm including a natural version versus the yucky paraben filled version of our youth).

I also remember some fun crafts from my youth. Making pot holders on looms. Toilet paper tube crafts (owl seen here via Modern Kiddo). And making ornaments (idea via a vintage McCall's image posted by Cathy).

(Were you a horse girl?)

In putting together a nostalgic stocking for a friend or family member, first identify the year they were born. What was popular during that time? Here are a few resources:

Fads by decade

Candy by decade

Toys by decade

A fad I mistakenly thought was from the 1960s was actually started in my birth year: the pet rock. This guy was laughing all the way to the bank. Can you believe that pet rocks in 1975 cost $3.95? With inflation, that would be nearly $16 in current dollars. Umm -- hello!! It was a ROCK, people. I made my version using a pilfered rock from the neighbor's yard and googly eyes I had on hand. Cost = free.

You can purchase a vintage stocking from the time period on Ebay or etsy. Another option is to use a dishtowel calendar to make your nostalgic stocking. I considered doing this, but didn't want those signing up for the giveaway to be limited to folks born in 1975 :) If you use a dishtowel calendar to make a stocking, don't forget to mark the recipient's birth date on the calendar using a fabric pen!

I decided instead to make this stocking highlighting the star of my first half decade, Holly Hobby. There were probably some pretty elaborate appliques of Holly Hobby done during time for stockings and other fabric crafts, but I decided to modernize the design a bit (and - er - save hours of frustration) by just including a silhouette of my pal Holly on a piece of vintage pre-quilted fabric. The fabric that comprises the back, lining, and cuff of this stocking is also vintage. Here is the excellent tutorial I followed to create a lined stocking (never knew about making the seam allowances for the lining part bigger to ensure the lining fits in the finished product!)

So how would you like a nostalgic stocking representing the late 60s/ 70s? Leave a comment here and the winner of the stocking and all the contents shown here will be chosen on Monday evening, 6:oo PM PST. Don't forget to visit my blog pals for more great ideas and three more chances to win more great stockings!

Tara

Handmade gift wrapping supplies stocking

Megan

Yarn craft stocking

jek

Cup o' cheer

A special thanks to my idea think tank who helped remind me what the 70s were really all about: Barb, Shanna, and Mary Ann!

**********

Favorite of the day: {yawn} too early

Working on: 2 parties in one day!