Handmade Christmas 2010

Continuing the annual tradition, I made most of our Christmas gifts again this year and wanted to showcase them here.
First up, my baby boy. I decided to make a quilt for each of our kids for their first Christmas. I tried quilting my son's but it didn't turn out the way I would have liked, so I'm ripping out the quilting and starting over. Here is the top, though.
Our 2 1/2-year-old daughter is very into mommy-ing. We saw the doll bed that I posted about here, and had to make it for her. My husband and I made the bed, and I made a bedding to complete it for her.
For my nieces, one in college and one in high school, I made ruched scarves.

For my sister-in-law and her family, a "Table Talk" jar filled with dinner time conversation starters. For my 4 1/2-year-old nephew, a drawstring bag with a tic-tac-toe quilt and bean bags to use in place of the x's and o's.For my almost 2-year-old nephew, a bucket filled with magnetic fish and a fishing pole.For my oldest nephew (9-years-old), I made a magnetic bag and pencil/pen holder with a composition notebook and a fun daily writing prompt book inside.

For my 7-year-old nephew, we made a spy kit with all of the necessities for spying.There is a caution tape and twine dispenser:

A notebook for collecting clues and a secret envelope with papers to create secret spy codes:
A couple of bags with fingerprinting tools and evidence collecting necessities (tweezers, tape measure, etc.):

As always, it was a ton of fun to put everything together and to gather ideas for all of the kids. Each year I start earlier and earlier, and I'm already putting together some ideas for next Christmas. =)

S'Mores Brownies

I brought these brownies to our Bible study Friday night, and they were a hit. I just baked a pan of brownies according to the directions. After they were finished, I topped them with mini marshmallows, broken up Hershey milk chocolate bars, and broken graham crackers. Then I stuck it under the broiler for 2-3 minutes (until the marshmallow melted and browned slightly). We served it with vanilla ice cream for a delicious dessert.

White Elephant Gift Idea

(Photo courtesy of Caffeine, Kids, and Knitting)

One couple at our Bible study's Christmas party last night brought the cutest white elephant gift idea, and I thought I'd share. It was a gift box with a silk mistletoe, a pack of breath mints, and Chapstick. So fun and creative. Why not knit your own mistletoe to include with it?

One of the cutest things I've ever seen...

I can hardly wait to make this Santa Party Mix this week! Absolutely precious.

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

Our family has started a tradition in the past few years of taking a family picture just before Thanksgiving to use in a photo card for Christmas. It has been such a fun tradition, and we look forward to looking back on each year's photo to see how we've changed and grown. To go from two dogs in 2007 to two kids in 2010 is crazy fun. =)

The only difficulty each year is actually choosing a card. Generic cards are easy to find. Cards that share our faith - that we're wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas" and not "Seasons' Greetings" - are much more sparse. Typically the choices are few, and most are boring. So, when I clicked on a sidebar ad the other day to peruse Shutterfly's selection, I was shocked to find so many choices bearing the details we desire in a card. Look at how cute some of these are!


I love these!

Plus, they have a ton of other options that I was unaware of like personalized gift tags,
Christmas party invitations,

Photo calendars,

Photo mugs,
and even Address labels that coordinate with the Christmas cards.

Then, several days later, I saw a blog post of a friend talking about earning 50 free cards by blogging about her favorite Shutterfly products. Perfect! And, if you're interested, make sure you visit their site to find out how you can earn 50 free cards too!

Here's the thing - good luck sticking to just the 50 cards! Once you start looking around the site, you may stumble upon many more things to fill your cart.

I'm seeing a version of this under our tree for sure!

I can't wait to get started on this! What a precious gift for a little girl. Do you know anyone who would love this as much as my sweet daughter?

Chocolate-covered Marshmallows

We made some gift buckets for our neighbors for Halloween, and I had to share the only handmade element - chocolate-covered marshmallows. I've seen this idea floating around the Internet, and it was the easiest and probably most versatile thing I've ever made. You just put a jumbo marshmallow on the end of a lollipop stick, dip the top in melted chocolate, then decorate with sprinkles. This could be so fun with white chocolate and crushed candy canes, dark chocolate and crumbled graham crackers, or milk chocolate and mini M&Ms. The possibilities are endless, and it's the perfect quick and easy favor!