Handcrafted Christmas

Merry Christmas (after the fact) and Happy New Year!

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with all ten children – and our grandchild! – at our home this year. There are no guarantees that we will all be together next year (or any year) so I treasure these times.

I used several Christmas ideas from my Pinterest boards. And now that it won’t ruin any surprises, I wanted to share with you the best and worst of my Pinterest projects.

from Pinterest – Placecard

My biggest disappointment was the candy cane place holders. I wanted to use these for place cards at Christmas dinner. The link  didn’t include instructions, just a cute picture, but a previous pinner noted: “just glue mini canes together.” I am sure there is a way to make these, but gluing them was a failure. I waited hours for the glue to dry and set up……. I kept rubber bands around them…….. I tried to make them stand……. and when they fell, the canes broke.  I didn’t even take a picture of this failure.

from Pinterest

I didn’t realize this was so blurry – sorry

Another pin was a decorating idea for the banister. This would have worked very nicely if I was hosting a big event and wanted an exceptional look for just one day.

I made my spray with fresh greenery. I was trying to decide if I would put some white paint on the pinecones I gathered or if I would use some mini Christmas bulbs along with the greenery. I am glad I wasn’t ready to put it all together, because when I was going to finish the project about 30 hours later, the fresh greenery was dried out and brittle.  I tried soaking my branches and that helped. but it would never last a month when used inside a home.  But it did inspire me to do something different with our banister this year. I had to use what items I had left over, but I liked it.

Big plans for next year…

This idea is only disappointing because I didn’t get around to making the slippers. I purchased the wool and this is exactly how far I got.  If you are family, please be surprised next year when I get them done.

from Pinterest

 

Love this!

This was a simple and great idea. I didn’t do it in my kitchen, but in the dining room on the china hutch. I love it!

from Pinterest

Another fine stocking stuffer was the lotion bar that I made for each girl. I got the “recipe” from nurseryofthenation.blogspot.com and scented them with jasmine. I have been using them on my old, dry, cracked feet for the last two weeks and now my feet are just old.  They really do work.

from PInterest

My favorite pin this year was the rice bag/hand-warmers. I chose to use sweatshirt material, but you could also use fleece or a flannel. (If you use flannel, you will probably need to finish the edges.) I started out with roughly a 4-inch square and cut my shape from it. I used hearts for the girls and house shapes for the guys.  Using a decorative stitch I stitched around the shape leaving about an inch so I could fit my funnel into the hole. Then I filled them with 3-4 tablespoons of rice and closed up the hole.

My stocking stuffer hand-warmers!

 Warm for 30 seconds in a microwave and you have re-useable hand warmers. We have already tried them out when shoveling snow and they would be perfect for taking the dog for a walk. I am wondering if placing  them in a soup thermos for a trip to the mountains for skiing or ice-fishing  would keep them warm. Maybe placing them over the defrost vent in the car for the last 30 minutes of the ride could  heat them up too. I will have to update this post after I figure it out.

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