Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Homemade Christmas

Here is one of the sweet teens I often enslave invite over to help with the kiddos and hang out. We sometimes work on a few crafty sewing type projects as well.

For the record, I didn't actually make her wash all those dishes. What we did do was make this cute little apron as a Christmas gift for her momma.

Joni did an excellent job modeling it--I might have to call her in as my little model more often.




Now that Christmas is over I can share some of the projects I've been working on for the past few months. Though, being forgetful like I am I only remembered to take pictures of a few of them before giving them away.

-Sewed a car cozie for my nephew. Forgot to take a picture. It was cute.
-Sewed my own version of a changing pad turned into diaper + wipes clutch for my sister-in-law. Again, forgotten photo session.
-Spray painted stencil shirts with my sister's photography business logo for her family of four. You guessed it--no picture.

-Created lots of flower silk headbands + a few flower rings for my sisters. The only reason there are a few pics of the flowers is because my photo genius sister was the recipient of this gift.




These were thrown together last minute in a ship-shape sort of job for my adorable little niece, Larissa.


-Put together a no-sew-poncho for my sister (no pic)
-Wide-elastic skirt for Ivory's little friend, Addie with leftover fabric from her momma's circle skirt (no picture of the one I made, but it looked exactly like this one)



-I made these little circle skirts for my nieces using supplies I had on hand.



I made a few other projects, but can't remember them at the moment.  I had a very long list of other projects I was hoping to finish...but alas, time was not my friend.  So, I was forced to content myself with a few more store bought gifts then I had first anticipated.  But, that involved a little shopping, which I'm definitely not opposed to!

How was your Christmas?  Did you attempt anything crafty or homemade? 

-My sister, Debi, made some delish desserts.
-My sister, Sherri, decorated her house with tons of lights, made a huge batch of Christmas cookies, and hosted a mini Christmas party at her house to watch their local Christmas parade.
-My childhood friend, Lynne, made these sweet treats for her husband's business.
-My local friend, Melissa, made some amazing cinnamon honey butter, of which we were grateful recipients.
-My favorite sewing blogger, Dana, made some precious Christmas decorations, as well as many other things.
-Crafterhours hosted a Pottery Barn Knock-Off week of Christmas decorations.
-One of my favorite all-around bloggers, Darby, posted some great homemade gift ideas, salt dough ornaments and this precious video of her children reciting the passage in Luke about Christ's birth.
-My in-laws, as always, were extremely generous toward us, bought the perfect gifts, and made way too many delicious, fattening foods.  My jeans are definitely too tight for comfort.

What I love is the uniqueness of each individual.  The beauty of each tradition, each gift, each family.  I praise God for giving us all unique talents and abilities.  I praise God that He allows us to share these with others.  I'm grateful for those of you sharing your talents with others and with me.  Thank you for being a blessing in my life.

This past week I have been extremely reflective.  Lots of soul searching and self-examination, most of which has been pretty painful.  I know that I will come out of it a little softer, gentler, and forgiving.  But the process sure hurts.  In this time I'm grateful to be reminded of the many loving, kind, generous people I am blessed to know and call friend, even family. 

God bless each of you in a unique way this coming year as you seek to put Him first in all you do.

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