december rewind no. 4 {handmade holiday}

i've decided that this year i'm going to make ornaments all year long. why not? they are little, fun and there are so many that the kids can do themselves or help with. this is one of many ways in which i want to try and prepare for the holiday more in advance. so i'm not a crazy crafter for 2 weeks before. making myself all stressed. we'll see how it goes. i always have big ideas about doing things differently right after the holiday. but you never know. this could be my year!

we did 2 really fun ornament projects this year. the first one was this fabulous glittery / snowy pine cone. it's easy-peasy and my 5-year-old did this mostly himself. first we collected pine cones from the yard. then we got some white craft paint and bowls of glitter and coarse salt. we painted the pine cone's "leaves" (what do you call those?) and then sprinkled on the "snow" (coarse salt) and glitter (2 kinds -- big chunky glitter and soft, tiny glitter). and the result is really pretty! i like the snowy ones best. they really do look snowed upon.
the second ornament was a basic dough, rolled and cut w/ cutters and then we added natural design elements--any kind of nut, seed or dried fruit we could find. i like working with natural "ingredients" when crafting and the kids do, too. they get a kick out of using "food" to craft with.

my son was so proud to tell people that the pine cones came from "our real, own backyard!"

december rewind no. 2 {handmade holiday}

it's no secret that i adore that amanda soule. her blog. her books. all are so inspiring to me. since i got her book Handmade Home, i've been slowly working my way through all the projects that i marked on my first read as "must do."

after tackling the treasure bags, the letter satchel, hot pads and sweater hats (with marginal success), i decided to whip up the table runner for a holiday gift for my mom. she's a lover of thanksgiving. she's grandmother and fall colors are definitely her hues. so, i decided to ask 3 of her grandkids (the ones old enough) to draw something that made them think of fall or thanksgiving. i didn't tell them what it was for, but to just send the pictures in the mail and the rest would be a surprise for grammy.

so, here it is! i have to say, i was really proud of how it came out. it's easy for the things i make to come out "wonky" as we like to say around here. crooked or slanty or otherwise not straight.

but this one came out nicely. partly because hubby helped me with the measuring and cutting of the fabric, which is surely the hardest, most un-fun part of sewing. thanks, hubby!

my son did this little one of the apple tree and the "dude" with his pumpkin. festive!

i chose linen for the bulk of the this project, which has such a nice feel. it feels "real" you know? the project calls for printing artwork out on to fabric sheets. they were a little less real feeling than the linen, which was a not-so-great contrast, but the whole scene is so dang cute, it doesn't really matter.

here's a snowy little scene done by my niece who is 7. if there were a mistake i made in this project it was that i didn't pin the artwork in place well enough. so, when i sewed the pieces on, they ended up a bit crooked.

each time i do one of these projects, i learn something new, get a little better at certain things. and most importantly, it's fun!