My DIY Christmas Plans

I have decided to massively simplify gift giving this year. The adults will be getting a magnetic frame/plaque, and coasters and maybe one other gift. I'm not sure what the "other" will be yet. Maybe a small decoupaged notebook for the ladies and ??????? for the guys. I was thinking maybe cakes in a jar for my Dad, but no clue for the other 3 males.
Baby R will be getting handmade blocks with animals, a set of puzzle blocks (from thrift store books), DIY bath crayons, foam shapes for the tub, DIY hooded towel, maybe some lacing shapes from foam, more felt food (not sure what yet), purchased dish set, a pillow pet, and a Baby All Gone.
If things go as planned, our Christmas will be spent in the beautiful surroundings of my ideal place. There are a lot of things that have to fall into place to make it happen but I am praying it does.

Ideas from:
http://twelvecraftstillchristmas.blogspot.com/2010/09/stuff-your-stockings-saturday-puzzle.html

http://www.filthwizardry.com/2010/09/craft-foam-bath-murals.html

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/09/homemade-childrens-lacing-cards.html

http://www.kidskreate.com/article_1061.html

Head wreath/fairy crown

I made little R a fairy crown last night in a little over an hour-including MANY interruptions. I wasn't completely pleased with the results but it wasn't bad for my first try. I used white floral wire, white floral tape, various tiny flowers and 4 bead picks. I still need to add ribbons to the back-possibly with a few beads kept on with knots.
I think it will add a nice touch to her fairy wand and tutu I am working on for Christmas.
I've made these before for costumnes but always used ivy type greenery for a base-never just wire. For a little girl, I think I like these are much better. A big greenery based one might look a bit out of place on a toddler. Pictures to come.

Handmade/homemade/crafted Christmas

As tradition goes at my house, most everyone will be getting at least 1 homemade gift. I always have a hard time coming up with ideas for the guys-you can't give a guy a ribboned, jeweled and glittered I think a homemade gifts says "I care" more than many(or even most) standard retail purchased items. This year my plans are to make:

For the girls- both big and small:
*Fairy wands-dowels with ribbons, stars, glitter
*Appliqued onesies or tees
*Flower pins/clips-dollar store and clearance artificial flowers stacked and jewels or buttons added for the center on pins or hair clips
*Notebook purses-   tutorial from Cuegly
*Altered clipboards-basic wooden clipboards with added scrapbook paper and embellishments
*Bow holder- made with picture frame and ribbons


For the guys:
*Flavored vodka-pomegranite, cranberry, maybe mango?, with martini glasses and drink recipes. I need a cute design for the recipe cards. I was thinking notecards connected by binder rings
*personalized notepads  tutorial  from Chica and Jo Maybe using recycled paper?? Definitely w/ a custom stamp and maybe color copies-don't want to stamp a 100 pieces of paper
*cookies- not sure what kinds yet
*cake in a jar- I've seen lots of how to's for these. Hoping I can find one with instructions for frosting too

I will also most likely do a few mixes in a jar for my parents. Dad doesn't do alot of cooking nowdays and Mom isn't able to. I have a cookbook from a church with lots of ideas for mixes you add to ground beef to make a meal-pasta or rice +spices and canned sauce.

I'm starting now so hopefully all will be done by Christmas. Originally, our plans were to spend Christmas in Western NC, specifically Maggie Valley. However, with my Mom not doing well, and finances being INCREDIBLY tight, that is a no go. Right now, our plans are up in the air. I'm guessing we will go to Alabama and spend Christmas with my parents. I'm hoping my brother will do the same thing and we can all be together on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As much as I don't want it to be, I am pretty sure this will be my last Christmas with my Mom. I get tears just thinking about it but I have to be realistic and seize the moment.

Happy crafting-----

Homemade playdough

R and I had a fun time making playdough this past week. We used a recipe from a craft book we have but there are TONS of recipes out there.

We used:

2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar

The recipe recommends slowly adding the water to just the flour and salt mixture-I just dumped everything in and stirred alot over medium low heat. I stopped cooking when the mixture was hard to stir, then let it cool for awhile in the pot. I then scooped the dough out and put it on waxed paper to finish cooling. The dough still felt sticky to me so I sprinkled some corn starch on it and kneaded it in.
From there I added a little orange essential oil for fragrance and hopefully preserving. I separated the dough into 4 parts and added food coloring. R chose which colors except for orange-that was my idea.
The results were great!! Well, except for the orange which looks kinda like pureed pumpkin- not what I was shooting for.
This could be a great lesson for ratios, measuring, color blending, and the science behind how heating a mixture of liquid and powder makes a solid mass.
Playing with our creation was even more FUN.

Fun filled days of summer

R and I have done a lot the past few days-painting with watercolors, talking about weather, lots of coloring, blowing bubbles, and checking out
the yard- especially the caterpillars.
Watercolors- R likes to paint but scrubs the brush on the paper, likes washing the brush off but not drying, and enjoys painting the sidewalk, her body parts and mine. I got the paints on sale for 1.99 at the local teacher supply store and they have more paint than most sets I have seen.
Weather-We have window clings up and talk about weather when we remember. R doesn't really get it yet but she can identify sun and rainbow.
Coloring-R breaks crayons, peels the paper off and colors on anything she can. I'm thinking chunky crayons are better for toddlers. However, I have a plethora of crayons new and old. BTW-Target had the 24 pack for 24 cents, can't pass that up. I can always used them for shaped crayons later.
Bubbles- R and I blew bubbles-well, mostly me and she chased them. The bubbles were huge...one of our neighbor's kids commented-those things are as big as balloons. I used regular bubble liquid but added dish detergent and glycerin. No measuring just poured it together and stirred. I made improvised wands from pipe cleaners and used a pie pan for the container. I didn't like the pipe cleaners, too flimsy. Next time we will try metal clothes hangers bent into different shapes.
Our yard-WOW!!!! We have caterpillars. There were some on the parsley and some on the fennel-today I only saw them on the parsley. None so far on the purple passion fruit. I plan on buying a butterfly habitat for next year so we can observe the life cycle of a butterfly.

More gifts completed

I am finally getting a few things done. I made linen spray with nothing but vodka, distilled water, and fragrance oils. I bottled them in brushed aluminum bottles I got from Brambleberry (along with the oils). I am going to use a MARTHA template for the label :) I did make sure to use bath safe products so it can also be used as a body spray. I also made candles that are HEAVY on the fragrance. I love, love, love scented candles. So far I have only made espresso scented but plan to make a run to the store today for containers so I can make at leat one more kind. Hopefully, the recipients will like them too. Hope everyone is having a good Holiday season.

Too busy

I am so behind on the stuff I am making for gifts!!!!!!! I have no time for crafts between, work, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of baby. I was hoping she would be in bed by 9:00 pm and then I could work on gifts until 11:00 pm a few nights a week. That has NOT been happening. If little one is asleep by 10:00 pm, I am lucky. On a side note- R was on TV :) We went to Calypso's to watch the Alabama vs. Florida game on Saturday. She looked especially adorable in her Bama cheerleading outfit. Channel 7/WJHG was filming and got her on camera. TOO SWEET.

Crawler covers/Leg warmers

I was in a hurry this morning and realized it was colder than I thought outside. Little one was already dressed and I really didn't have time to change her clothes. I had a few pairs of knee socks hanging aroung that I was intending on turning into leg warmers. Well, I cheated. I simply cut the feet off of a pair with pinking shears and put them on Reagan. They look super cute and I can always hem them later. Not sure where I saw this idea but just thought I would share. I know there is a tutorial somwhere out there.

Stepping stones

Today I made stepping stones for Christmas gifts. I used broken pottery, dollar store gems, plain cement, and for molds I used old pie pans. I had plans of making at least a few with little one's hand prints- no such luck. Every time I attempted to get a hand print, she grabbed a fistful of concrete..maybe next time. These turned out okay but definitely not masterpieces. Planning your designs would be best :)

These were relatively simple- 1)mix concrete according to directions, mixture is correct when it resembles cornbread batter 2) pour into molds- can use pie pans, pizza boxes, purchased molds, planter bottoms, etc (if using for a hanging-put hanger in mold before pouring) 3) wait a few minutes until the concrete starts to set a little (you don't want the stuff you add to sink) 4) add decorative items and push in until flush if using for stepping stones (safer for bare feet and no falling) 5) leave to dry 6) after at least 24 hours, pop out of mold 7)enjoy