Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Handmade Christmas 2012

So I managed to pull off some handmade stuff this year, despite beginning the first weekend in December. I think I did strike the right balance and I even finished the day before Christmas Eve. Each of the kids got three gifts from us and some stocking stuff (which was really clever items if I do say so myself). For the three gifts I tried to stick to a Gift of Wonder - something they asked for, a Gift of Meaning - something handmade that I thought they would like, a Gift of Purpose - something they needed (clothes, shoes, school stuff).

Cordelia asked for an American Girl doll, which I reluctantly decided to get, for her gift of meaning I made a camping set for her doll. The set included a tent, a sleeping bag & pillow, campfire (that lights up), a working lantern, smore's and all the fix in's, plates & little beverages.

 the colored pencils are made from bamboo skewers and markers and I cut down a small notebook a little smaller.
 I made the plates from canning lids and all the food is made out of clay.
 The lantern is a tea light, medicine cup and a lid to a prescription bottle.
I am going to make a tutorial on how to make the different beverages, they are my favorite.
 The campfire turned out so awesome it is made from a CD, tealight, sand, sticks & rocks.

 And of course a new American Heritage Girls uniform for Cordelia's newest friend.
Cordelia also got a punch of handmade clothes which I will post later.

Trenton got his Avenger Legos, new sneakers and I made him a Lego tray with handles and a Lego mat he can play with his Legos on and store them in when he is done.

This is the state of the tray right now (Trenton and Daddy are building some Avenger thing), but it has base plates on it that he can stick his creations too. 
The mat draws up into a little sack that can be hung up
 
 And then when he wants to play he spreads it out on the floor, there is even a little clear pocket for him to put his favorite pieces in.



Isabelle got a a few handmade items,  first up was a tire swing painted sunshine yellow for little Miss Hollywood.
 She had this crazy list of stuff which deserves its own post, but in it she asked for a fairy riding a unicorn. Well I found the Schliech Bayala series that had fairies riding pretty horses and unicorns doing their own thing, I decided that would suffice. But really the gift just wasn't complete without a place to play with the fairies. Troy and I built this awesome Fairy Tree House, I had a hay day in the floral section of Jo-ann's getting moss and fungus and bird's nests to complete it.




Piper was fun to make things for, because really she loves everything. She got her Accountable Kids board like the other kids have (she was very excited). She also got another baby doll, this one uses the potty (which we hoped would encourage her) I made her a little diaper bag and filled it with preemie diapers. She also got a little tent to play in and a pretend campfire to roast her pretend marshmallows.


And if you are wondering why I have a astro turf rug, that was on Isabelle's list. I figured I would get some use out of it using it for my pictures.

For their stockings I picked a book for each kid and then filled it with items that tied into the story. Cordelia got Little House on the Prairie, I added cookie mix, old fashioned candies & a jump rope. Trenton got The Adventure's of Robin Hood, a bow and arrow (minus the big foam arrow heads), and chocolate gold coins. Isabelle got a Pinkalicious book that had stuff to do with a lemonade stand and gumballs. Her stocking included pink lemonade mix, gumballs and I added a jump rope.

I really loved how everything turned out this year. I am especially pleased that I stuck to the three things and the kids didn't have any false expectations.  And the stocking book thing is definitely a new tradition.