Crafts & Creations Archives

Grandma’s Crafty-Christmas Giving | Homemade Gifts

January 11, 2010 By Laura 5 Comments

I already shared the beautiful Advent Calendar Michael’s mother gave us for Christmas, and mentioned in that thread there were a couple of other homemade gifts she sent us as well.

One is this apron she made for {A}. When {A} talked to Grandma on the phone on Christmas Day, {A} said, that Grandma said, that she was inspired by our gifts to them last year, including their aprons. She rather enjoyed making gifts too! We rather enjoyed receiving them, and they mean a lot to us.

She took an already made apron, and ‘made it her own’. (And then gave it away. lol). She added the cute wavy trim, a 2-section pocket on the front with the ADORABLE cupcake pattern, and her and Grandpa’s hand-prints!

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I really love the pocket…..because I LOVE cupcakes. Everything about them – not just eating them.

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Besides loving the whole apron, that was made just for her with love, Grandpa’s hand-print means the most to her. Reason being, ever since she was a little-bitty thing, she has been fascinated by the size of her Grandfather’s hands. Even still. And her own hands are not that small anymore, nor are her feet!! But she gets a giggle, to see that hand-print on her apron, every time. Of course, she loves Grandma’s too.
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The boys got some customized t-shirts, that they are CrAzY about. It looks like Grandma picked up some cool stencils, and got to painting with fabric paint! Can I tell you how many days in a row the boys would wear their t-shirts? I’ll let them go 2, before I want them to throw the shirts down to the laundry. MUST we wait until they get something on them, or worse yet, SMELL, before we call them dirty?

{O} got an adorable stenciled shirt too, that is a long-sleeve shirt with a collar. I can’t locate a photo of it right now, but I’ll be on the look-out for it, or catch her in it, and take a photo.

Knowing the time, effort, thought and love that is put into homemade gifts, we appreciate them from others more than ever. They truly are some of the most meaningful kind of gifts. For Christmas, or for any reason at all.

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Christmas Gift Jars and Baked Good Ideas

January 1, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

For those who have been visiting our blog long enough, you’d probably know that we usually get very crafty for Christmas gifts for loved ones. But unfortunately, some years we were low on both time and money, to really craft as much as we would like to for gifts. Still, we prefer to show our love to our loved ones at Christmas, with more homemade sort of gifts, if we can. So we had the idea this year of sending some Christmas gift jars and baked goods. It would be simple, inexpensive, yet appreciated we were sure. Who doesn’t love food…right?

You should know, this post is not sharing the actual recipes we used. We are just sharing with you the idea of gift jars, and some presentation ideas, as inspiration, for your own gift giving. Gift jar recipes are very easy to find though! You can just do a web search, or….check Pinterest for a wealth of jar recipe ideas! Here though, we just want to show you what we came up with.

So some jars we made up with most of the ingredients to make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
All they needed to add was the butter, egg and vanilla!

Most of our gift recipients got a jar just like this, with the measured dry ingredients and directions. But we knew my 2 bachelor brothers, and my Dad, were not going to be baking anything. lol. So…..we baked theirs for them, and filled up the jar with the cookies. Cookies in a jar! So there is another idea for you!

We also gave some people the dry ingredients for this Curried Lentil Soup. What a big project THIS turned out to be. Because the recipe calls for red and yellow lentils. After visiting 6 stores all over town, over the course of a week, we settled for red and green. Maybe you know better where to get them? If not, don’t toss the idea all together, if you like the idea of soups. Again, search for recipes, and you’ll find more than you can shake a . . . . . . a . . . . . . spoon at. 🙂

Initially, we could only find tan, and made some soup ourselves to test the recipe. Not being lentil experts, we thought only the color was different. But ummm….not so much. We HOPE the red & green works out alright for everyone.

We also made loaves of fresh homemade bread (not pictured) , and included those in most packages.

And homemade donuts! : D

We got calls and messages from everyone, and they all seemed to really enjoy our tasty gifts! We think they probably ‘tasted the love‘. But one did tell us the bread and donuts were kind of hardish, or heavy, when they arrived. Now….the bread crust is. You can knock on the loaf, but it’s soft on the inside. It makes excellent toast, it’s great for sandwiches, and it goes well with soup, too!

But the donuts, being fried, we really weren’t sure HOW they would fair in shipping. So I guess they arrived….a little dense. Now, we take these things very seriously. So, we asked ourselves what we may have learned from that outcome, and this is what we came up with:

Don’t share our donuts anymore!!
No, seriously, we’ll be working on our recipe, to make them a little lighter. 😀 For the rare occasion we make them again, because they aren’t the healthiest regular food to eat. But they are a real treat, and that’s in part what make the holidays so special.

Some pretty ribbon on your jars, with an attached tag that shares the recipe or directions, is a very warm and thoughtful gift, for anyone who eats!
Your tag can be hand-written as well. It actually makes it all the more handmade-appeal.

We hope these ideas make your Christmas gift-giving season fun, delicious, and budget-friendly.

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A Christmas Heirloom in the Making | Hand-Sewn Advent Calendar

December 30, 2009 By Laura 3 Comments

My mother-in-law/Michael’s mother/(the kid’s grandmother, if you are not catching on to who I am referring to yet..lol), seemingly got quite crafty this year, and we surely benefited from her doing so, in the way of wonderful gifts this Christmas!

A package full of goods arrived from Florida in early December, but there was one that we were instructed to open right away. So we did, and I literally gasped, and naturally, because I am becoming more of a sap with each passing day in my older years here, teared up. I guess I kept saying, “Oh my gosh….I LOVE that!”….because Michael said, “We KNOW Honey. We HEARD you. You LOVE it!” lol. He loves it too. We immediately started discussing where we could hang it.

It’s an Advent Calendar she sewed and quilted herself.

I love the art of the scene, there at the manger in Bethlehem, that starry, blessed night.

I love the royal colors!

Every numbered day is a little pocket too, to be able to put little notes or treats in for the kids, I would imagine. And they need to search for the day on the calendar.

{O}, who didn’t yet understand the purpose of the numbers being mixed up, said “Grandma did a really nice job making this, but I just can’t believe she doesn’t know her numbers yet!” lol.

I love the little details.

Do you see the light coming down from the star on the right there? It’s twinkle dust that she applied.

This angel has a flower-sequin in her hair.

We decided to put it right next to the front door, where every one who comes and goes, can enjoy it as much as we do through-out this Christmas season.

Honestly, this is a gift to our family, that I will truly treasure, every year for the rest of my life. I’m sure we all will! It’s one of those truly meaningful things I’ll be anxious to find first, and dig out of the boxes of Christmas ‘stuff’, every year when we bring out the decorations. In time, it’ll become a family heirloom. Everyone knows what our faith means to us, and how much we soley focus on the true meaning of Christmas. So that in itself makes it a wonderful gift for us. But what makes it a TREASURE, is that it was made with love, by someone we love, for us. It matters none to us, if she made more, or who else got one too. This one is ours, and it came from a loved one 2 generations back (to our kids.) I know I’ve talked much about how much I love ‘family pieces’ in our home, so I guess I’ve made my point well enough now.

Suffice it to say, it will bring us joy, every family Christmas to come, that we ever blessed to embrace and celebrate.

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A Christmas Fan Pull | Crafts

December 15, 2009 By Laura 6 Comments

The other day, I found myself gazing at this tiny, intricate, beautiful little ceramic egg, that I spontaneously hung from our fan pull in our sun room one day, quite awhile ago.

I wondered why it never struck me as a little Easter decoration until then, and how it really didn’t look quite right hanging there, the way it was.

It bothered me a tad more, when I realized Christmas was really coming very soon. I needed to do something about the egg, hanging there. I had a little more time on my hands than I have had for the past few months, so I decided I would make a Christmas fan pull, to replace the egg.

Then I thought about the year ahead, and my imagination ran wild. You all know I love holiday and seasonal themed ‘anythings’, and especially for my home decor. So, if all of the ideas in my head come to be, you all will be seeing some more themed fan pulls crafts around here, as the coming year progresses. I’ve got a whole array of a collection of fan pulls in my head, and I think it’s a lovely idea to have that collection, to change my fan pulls with the holidays and seasons as we roll through the year.

So here is my first fan pull craft, for Christmas. It’s not quite the vision I had in my head, only because I didn’t see the beads in the store, that I created in my head. (I don’t get why I can never find the stuff I make up? I mean, if “I” thought of it…..). I also sort of winged the construction of it this time around, but I am sure with experience will come…near perfection.

Here’s all I needed at the store for this craft:

Some pretty beads that said ‘Christmas’ to me. I love the ‘strands’ of beads found in the craft stores….because you can really take a good look at them, without them being in a container and such. Also needed, was some thin but strong gauged wire. I went with 26 gauge. And then…..I wanted a ‘star of Bethlehem’ of some sort. Whatever form I could find one….which was found in a back aisle in the way of a tree topper. I think. But I could fix that.

So first I cut the string and spread my beads out on the table.

Then Michael cut the star off the wire spring, leaving some wire to twist into a circle, which I covered with the small beads that came on my strand, and closed the loop more tightly.

Next I measured how long I wanted my pan full, doubled that length and added a couple more inches to that, and started stringing the beads, alternating between the larger color-faceted beads, with the clear crystal ones. Once through all of the beads, I slid the wire through the loop of the star, and back UP the whole wire of beads, until both ends were coming out of the top.

As an after-thought, I could have just hung the star on the center of the wire, grabbed both of the other ends of the wire, and fed them together through all of the beads, until they came out the top. But that would have been too easy I guess. lol

For security, I took both ends of the wire, and re-routed them again up the bottom of the top bead, so they came back out the top once again. So yes, 2 thin wires are now showing on the outside of that top bead.

With the excess wire coming out of the top of the strand of beads (with the star on the other end), I balled up the remaining wire, and just worked it into the clasp on the piece of chain hanging on the fan. Then I gave the whole thing a yank. It was nice and strong, and the fan turned on and everything. : )

I noticed a bit of wave to my hanging piece, and realized it was from the doubled wire. Perhaps I could bend it more here and there to try and straighten it a little more, but I rather like the bit of wave I think. It adds a little character and design. I decided to pass it off like I totally did that on purpose.

Fan pull chain and clasps can be found at hardware stores, etc. So in the future, if my current project involves beads with large enough holes, I may just decorate the chain itself. I already have some craft items for my plans for a new fan pull come January, as a winter theme.

But for now, I’ll enjoy my Christmas fan pull. I wondered if midnight blue beads would have been more appropriate, with the star of Bethlehem, but I still thought this looked rather pretty and Christmas-sy. It really twinkles, and displays such beautiful colors, when the room is filled with sun!

It was fun to make. I’m really going to enjoy creating this collection.

Oh, the possibilities!

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Kids’ Thankful Tree

November 30, 2009 By Laura 4 Comments

Like many of you, this past Thanksgiving, we counted our blessings.
And the kids created a little ‘Thankful Tree’.
We are blessed. So very blessed.

We don’t have a lot. Many are surprised at the things we simply do without.

Some is by choice. Much is by necessity.

But we know we are rich, by the simple things.

Because in all of the simple things….

is all of which we need to survive.

All of the things which we would hardly be able to bare to live without….

literally, or by the heart,

are the simple things, indeed.

So the simple things, are all we really need.

And it’s the simple things, that we couldn’t be more thankful for.

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