Handmade Christmas continued

I wanted to share a bit more about our Christmas and how things went before moving on to the new year and all the wonderful things that come with it. This Christmas was a really special one for us, one that will be treasured forever. We tried our best to make most of our gifts and the rest we bought via Etsy, craft faires or small local businesses. At first this seemed like such a challenge, could we really make Christmas great on such a small budget with out going to a place like Walmart? Well the answer for us was YES! We usually spend about $50 on each of our girls and this year I think we hit the mark at right around $61, so really not to bad! Now in this I have to take into account that I already had a lot of crafty supplies on hand, like the yarn for the slippers, which leftover's from the stash. Most of the stuff used from stash was yarn, buttons, thread, and a bit of fabric, the rest was purchased for these special projects and included in the budget.

What I am really excited about sharing is the earrings that Micah and the girls made for me, so impressive! They are made from hammered out bottle caps and botany prints from the Internet. I think the most amazing part about this is that he let a 2 and a 5 year old wield a hammer! Ah, the things we do for the sake of crafting ;)

This holiday did of course include some thing that were not made by hand and with those we tried to purchase them from small local businesses. Micah totally scored good by getting me this strawberry tea kettle from our favorite hardware/kitchen store. Be still my whimsical heart!

I have to say though that as sweet as my husband was I don't think I did as well. Which I feel is OK since the husband should get a chance to out do the wife once in a while, right? While I did get him a stocking full of sweets and a box filled to the brim with local mandarins his main gift was a nice pair on UNfinished wool slippers.

This photo was actually taken after I seamed them and wove in the ends, now all we have to do is felt them. These were mostly finished way back in October, but like most crafter's I set them down and started working on something else. Oh well, I know he loves me for more then just my knitting.

Handmade Christmas

A glimpse in pictures of our (mostly) handmade Christmas:

Our Christmas was a very special one, filled with family, thankfulness and lots of handmade goodies. It was so wonderful to see the joy in my children's eyes from something handcrafted from the heart. Oh and boy was I surprised to get 4(!) handmade pairs of funky earrings from Micah and the girls! I love how he really takes on the handmade challenge just for me. Well, I'm going to get back to relaxing and enjoying my little bit of free time I have been blessed with this weekend. I hope that everyone's Christmas was a merry one. God bless.

Crafty Time

Today after we finished up some schoolwork and put some brownies in the oven, we embarked on a crafty adventure, one where we all had a great time. A sheet was laid on the table and we set off to have a great time. I made something I have been super excited about ever since I saw it on this blog. I had some vintage bulbs that had been my grandparents that I had been saving, just waiting to put them to good use. I didn't have quite enough so I thought this project just wasn't going to happen, when earlier this week I popped into my favorite thrift shop and they had DOZENS of vintage glass bulbs. I paid $2.50 for the ones I brought home. Next it was off to the craft store where I got a foam wreath and a package of mini glue stick (I use all but one of them!). So it total, this project cost $16.

Here we are working away, my project ended up taking much longer than theirs so they went into the living room to watch Sleeping Beauty. Phoebe kept coming in to check on me though. I ended up breaking only 4 bulbs and with 1 bleeding finger. After all the bulbs were glued on I broke up pieces of an old dollar store garland to fill in the cracks.

The girls glittered, jeweled and tissue papered some construction paper tree. Easy peasy when you already have a huge bag of cut up tissue paper.

Soapmaking

On Sunday I got the pleasure of going out to a friends farm to learn how to make soap. What a fun adventure that was! We made lavender soap, apple cinnamon soap with apricot seeds, and even some lotions. These are her already made soaps, that we got to see when we first got there.

Here some of are in the kitchen blending a batch.

(soap in the cylinder mold)

I was surprised with just how much I enjoyed soapmaking. I've always been kind of freaked out by the whole lye thing, but once I did it, it wasn't so scary. It took about an hour to do batch of soap and you get at least a dozen 4 oz bars out of it. The lotion was absolutely dreamy though, do harsh chemicals, just melt and blend. Very luscious and a lot of fun. I think I see much more of the is in my future, especially if I ever get to have the goats I've been dreaming of, goat milk soap sounds so heavenly!

New Chairs

Last month Micah and I stopped by a yard sale on our way home. I haven't been hunting these down to much lately, but when one is laid right in your path what can I do but stop? Immediately upon arriving I spotted two wooden dining room chairs in really sorry shape. I walked up to them and noticed how incredibly sturdy they were and how pretty the shape was. So for only $5 a piece I nabbed them.

My husband growled in annoyance as he dragged them to the car vowing that he would NOT be helping with this "project". I ignored his disgruntled behaviour already fabric shopping in my mind. The next time I was at JoAnns I looked and looked for the perfect fabric until I spotted it on my second trip into the home decor section. After a quick price check (on sale for under $7 a yard) I went beaming up the counter. Quite serendipitous don't you agree?
So here they are, with the help of my guns, staple and glue and the mighty brawn of my husband (he wields the staple gun so well).