Christmas Projects

Here are the projects I had going for Christmas. Some of the things took more time to complete than expected and so my list became shorter and shorter as the days passed and Christmas approached. Maybe next year. ( I have to give a special shout out to Jared who supported me while I was so busy... he helped me out so much, he's way more artistically minded than I am. I couldn't have done it without him!)

These cute dolls I made for Kate, my nieces Tessa, Arianna, and Annie (below)!  The pattern came from here.

Kate's Christmas morning outfit.  I wanted to wear matching outfits (see here) and I found the pj bottoms I'm wearing at Old Navy for $3.  I bought another pair and cut them up to make Kate's pants and the candy cane applique (Jared's idea, I was going to do flowers).  The bottoms were actually pink when I bought them.  I was going to leave them that way, but decided they needed to be more festive.  SO I bought red dye and dyed them.  Twice in the washer, and then once on the stove until they became the shade I wanted.  If any of you have dyed clothing before, then you know what a process it is... doing it 3X was pain and took WAY to long. (If you want your clothes a rich dark color, do it on the stove NOT the washer).  Anyway, this black t-shirt was Jacks.  We used it for his Halloween costume one year.  It didn't look feminine enough, so I rolled the sleeves and put little bows on them.  It still didn't look girly enough so I decided to cut the color off and put elastic on the neck (she has a few shirts like this and it looked simple enough so I tried it and it WAS simple... and cute!)

I had this great party mix given to me by a lady in my ward called "White Chocolate Party Mix".  I decided to make some and give to all the families that were with us on Christmas morning along with the recipe.  It's really good!  If anyone is interested in the recipe let me know.

Hooded towels for Jack and Kate.   Really simple and a great size.  I love hooded towels for little ones cause I feel they keep them nice and warm until I can dress them! (Pattern found here... thanks to my friend Liv who found the pattern.  I was going to use a different one but think this one is much better.)

And now on to the blocks... these took the most time of all.  They turned out great and so it was well worth it.  Anyway, I found this blog that talked about 10 things to do with a block.  I decide to do 3 of them.

The first are these Christmas countdown calendars.  The original instructions say to use 2x2 inch blocks but we (Jared and I) thought these would be better as 3x3 inch blocks.  The blocks were all cut and sanded by Jared from 4x4 lumber.  If you have the tools to do this, this is the most economical way.  Buying the 2x2 blocks is way too pricey (I think).

After the you have the blocks, pick your scrap book paper, cut to fit, and mod podge onto the blocks.  Then... (this is another place where Jared saved the day),  Jared drew the numbers on the blocks with a sharpie.  The pattern say to use vinyl lettering but I don't have access to a machine and I couldn't find the numbers ANYWHERE! (Very stressful).  The letters came from a pack of stickers.  The whole idea is that the blocks can be arranged in different ways from 24 to 1 until at the end they say "Merry Christmas" - all wrapped in a pretty bow.  These were given to my sister Kristy and Jared's sister Jen.

Next are the mod podge puzzle blocks.  You find 6 pictures, crop them into a square and then print them out to a 6x6 inch size.  Cut the pictures up and modge podge them on to the 9 puzzle pieces.  You end up with 6 different puzzles.  I did one for Jack and my nephew Francis.  These may be a little hard for them right now, but it's something they can grow into.

Out of the left over pj bottom fabric, I made drawstring bags to put the blocks in.  I attached a small key ring with a copy of the pictures so they new how each puzzle should look. (I never made a drawstring bag and this was really easy! I just typed in how to make a drawstring bag in my google search and found a short tutorial.  I'm sorry but I didn't save the website.)

The last thing I made (and probably my favorite) were these Christmas ornament/display.  I got pictures of all the grandkids on both Jared's and my side (some we took ourselves, some we were given) and cropped them to 2x2 inch size, cut and mod podged on the blocks.  The 5 remaining sides were mod podged with scrapbook paper.  Jared drilled a hole on top and screwed in the rings, and then tied little bows and loops on all of them.  Even though they took so much time, I just think they're adorable!  When I gave them to our moms, I wrapped them up each individually and numbered them so they would open them in the order the grandchildren were born.  It made my mom cry... (score!!!)

It was fun to learn how to make new things, but like I said before... I'm doing it earlier this year!