Homemade Christmas

I was so excited to get to make some of the gifts this year for Christmas. It really felt like I was giving more from the heart instead of just spending money because of tradition. Now that all the gifts are handed out I want to share what I made with everyone.

First for Caitlin and Noah (my 6 yr old niece and nephew) I made them indoor fishing sets with two fishing rods and drawstring bag. The tutorial is found here and here. Now the applique fish idea was all mom! I loved the idea and with the fish I stuffed them with batting and then handstitched the hole closed. So cute:

For my niece Alaina (1 yr old) I made a bean bag alphabet set with homemade drawstring bag. Tutorials found here and here. Now the tutorial for the bean bag letters was a number tutorial. I just printed out letters to the size I wanted and used that as my template.

I also did the bean bag letter set for my nephews Eli (2 yrs old) and Carter (1 yr old)

I loved this tutorial as soon as I saw it and thought it was simple yet classic. I guess I like that kind of thing. I made a temple block for my sister in laws Kara and Ashley and Mother in law Marilyn. Tutorial found here. Now I altered mine from saying (I'm going there some day) to For Time and All Eternity with their temple sealing dates.

Alli and I also received some wonderful homemade gifts for Christmas as well. Aunt Brittney made Alli some homemade bean bags. One for each letter of her name. Brittney hand stitched the letters onto the fabric casing of the bean bag. She also stitched some decorative details beside the letters. She also gave Ben and I a nice framed 4 generation family tree. We drew names and although Aunt Ashley didn't have our family, while making cousin Michael's gift, Ashley also made Alli a set of magnetic Animal cards to go on the fridge for Alli to learn her animals. We have to keep our fridge clutter free due to the house being on the market so I wanted to come up with a way for Alli to still play with her animals. So this will be my next project: Fabric Magnet Board. This will be put in her room where she can play to her hearts content while keeping the house clutter free.

We enjoyed seeing all the family for Christmas and love all the wonderful gifts that were received. Ben and I hope that 2011 brings many wonderful opportunities and blessings to all our family and friends!