Handmade Christmas . . .

Okay, so I've gotten myself in a crazy dilemma - I want to do a handmade Christmas this year - not homemade, but handmade (okay, it just sounds nicer - hehehe!) I've been lurking on some pretty incredible blogs and came across this idea over and over - and soooo many ideas are out there. It's hard to find something for the person who has everything, and well, that's pretty much all of us now a days. So, what better than to create something personal that might be appreciated by the one that we love a bit more than socks (sorry moms!).

I'm turning into someone that I've never been before - yikes!!! The other day, just on a whim, I created a cute little sign for the laundry room. I just used left over black bedroom paint (Kaleb's) and painted a scrap of wood black. I then painted, in cream acrylic paint (which as a mom there is a lot in the house), in big letters "Laundry" and underneath in small letters "gathers here". Navia and I then went down into the basement and had a blast as we found anything and everything we could to beat it up - so fun to do with a 2 year old! Then I took it back upstairs and did a bit of quick sanding and then stained it (and wiped it off quickly) with some dark walnut stain. I love it! Now I just need to hang it up - the part that just might take forever! For a first I think it is pretty good. I'm thinking of doing one saying in big letters "Bailey" and underneath "Est. 1998" for the house.


Anyways, I'm now just rambling. All this is to say that I'm finding way too many ideas for Christmas gifts and I want to do them all!!! So for the next couple months the kids and I (I might even blackmail Braden too) will hopefully be creating some handmade gifts that I'm pretty sure I'm going to want to keep here because these ideas . . . I'm telling you . . . they are soooo great! Now to only try and pull it off like we see it being done in cyberworld! (although I'm starting to already think that purchasing gifts might, okay, would be easier - oh well - where's the fun in that!)

Oh, and I challenge you too - what could you do for a handmade Christmas gift? It's always nice to get a gift that someone hasn't just ran out to the store to find quickly before the gift was due. If you can't think of anything to make you should check out this website of handmade items - www.etsy.com . There are some great things there and some great ideas too!



So, here's to a Handmade Christmas 2009 - and that reminds me - we need to pick names if we're going to do this otherwise we're just going to get you socks!