Handmade Christmas Gifts

My boys and I made a few handmade Christmas gifts this year.

First, my gift to my parents was a set of place cards. My mom likes to set out name cards for meals whenever she has lots of us visiting. I designed them on Photoshop, printed them out and laminated them.

Each of my siblings' families has a different design. Six of us, plus a different design for my parents. I also made two blank ones that can be written on in dry erase marker if they have any visitors. I wasn't sure how the laminated paper would work to fold, but I just scored one side lightly with my scissors and then folded them over and they worked great!

My 11 year old son has been wanting to learn how to embroider. I taught him as we made these pillow cases for his grandmas. I thought he did a really good job.

Besides a basic stem stitch, he also learned a french knot for the eyes of the penguin and the berries around the wreath, and a detached single chain for the leaves.

He was going to do the sewing too, but we ran out of time. So, I sewed up the pillow and made the pillow case an envelope back.

My 8 year old son made these ornaments for his grandmas. He did most of the sewing by hand by himself.

A Christmas tree for my mom:

A Mickey Mouse gingerbread man went to my mother-in-law who only has Disney ornaments on her tree - he wanted to make sure it would fit in!

My 5 year old also wanted to sew something for his grandmas. He's just learning, so I just taught him how to sew on buttons - to make a penguin and a snowman. I did the rest of the sewing.

The last ornament I made out of felt for a neighbor:

Turkey

Before we get too much into Christmas, I wanted to share this cute little turkey that I made. I gave it to our neighbors who had us over for Thanksgiving.

I had to make us one, too, it's just so cute! I love how the wings and legs are sewn so they can rotate, so it is somewhat pose-able. I got the pattern from Sew Mama Sew.

Halloween Costumes 2017

We had a trunk or treat at our church this week so we got to try out our costumes before Halloween.

My youngest dressed up as Catboy from PJ Masks.

I used freezer paper stencils to paint a dollar store t-shirt paired with some pajama pants he already had. (I've made several things with freezer paper stencils through the years. You can see them all here.) I painted over the light blue with glow-in-the-dark paint, which he was especially excited about.

I sewed the mask out of felt, with an elastic that goes around his head. The tail I made out of fleece and stuffed with a bit of stuffing. It is attached to his pants with a binder clip -- super fancy. :)

My second child has been obsessed with turtles for the last year since he dressed up as Turtwig (a Pokemon) last year. We made the twig on top of his hat removable so he could just be a turtle.

He makes a cute little turtle.

My oldest wanted to be Zoom, which I wasn't familiar with until he had to explain to me that it is from Flash.

His shirt was another freezer paper stencil.

The hat/mask I had to kind of make up as we went. I started with a basic beenie hat, then added another inch or so on the back and then added the mask part to the front. He wanted the mask removable, so I added a couple little snaps so he can breath every once in a while. The lightning symbols on his hat are made out of card stock and pinned onto the hat.

I like to have some sort of family theme if possible, but since the boys were all doing there own thing, my husband and I kind of went with the Flash DC Super Hero theme and dressed as super heroes. Wonder Woman and Super Man:

This was definitely the year of freezer paper stencils. I did both of our shirts that way too. Just a little paint on a Goodwill shirt. It was a little tricky with the two different colors, but I thought they turned out pretty good.

Tooth Fairy Pouch

My five year old son lost his first tooth the other night. I asked him if he wanted me to make something to put it in, and he helped me pick out this little tooth fairy bag. I found the tutorial here, from Purl Bee.

He was very excited to find a dollar coin inside in the morning!

Nativity

One of my most popular posts is the finger puppet nativity I posted last year.

I didn't get this picture posted last year, but here is the little stable I made to house all the finger puppets.

I sewed pockets and felt decorations onto the flannel base, and then covered some cardboard with the flannel. It folds on the sides to stand up, or folds all the way shut to carry around. I like to bring it as a quiet toy for church.

My finger puppets were even featured in All Free Christmas Crafts as one of the Top Religious Christmas Craft.

Seeing my kids play with this nativity made the work all worth it. I hope it will help them remember the real reason for this Christmas season!

Felt Food #2

More yummy felt food!

My favorite is the little strawberry, so cute!

I didn't follow the tutorial exactly, but had looked at this one at Bread and Buttons, and then did my own thing.

Sweet little blueberry muffin.

I used Helping Little Hands' printable pattern for the muffin.

My boys eat pears for breakfast everyday, so I had to do a pear.

I found a great pattern on this forum. Unfortunately, I made it too big, and then tried to take the seams in a little to make it smaller and it ended up a little wonky. I also forgot to put the stem and leaves on and haven't gotten around to doing that. My boys still love it, though.

Next is a ham and pineapple pizza, designed by myself.

Then a quesadilla.

Cut apart with yummy yellow cheese inside.

It seems like I saw this idea somewhere, but I'm not sure where. I just sandwiched a yellow felt circle in between two off white ones, cut in fourths, and machine sew around the edges.

Next, take a slice of bread,

slather on some peanut butter and drizzle with honey,

and top with another slice of bread, for a delicious peanut butter and honey sandwich (another favorite of my boys).

I used Helping Little Hands' printable pattern for the bread slices.

There are so many fun possibilities for the felt food. I will probably make more!

Felt Food #1

I have been wanting to make some felt food for forever! I have been drooling over all the delicious looking food all over blog land, and flickr groups. I finally got a bunch done to give to my now two year old for his birthday. As he opened his present he pretended to eat each piece-- so cute!

Some of the food I made up, some I followed patterns, or just ideas from other people. I will try to give credit where it is needed.

First up, we have a banana.

Open the peel,

And take the banana out!

I used the pattern for the banana from Helping Little Hands.

If you need some breakfast, how about a pancake, with a pat of butter, and drizzled with syrup.

Add a slice of bacon,

And a fried egg,

Yummy breakfast!

I just free handed these shapes.

Next, a little green bean.

My 4 year old actually suggested that we needed a green bean. Not sure why, he won't eat them for real! I just cut out a little strip of green and sewed and stuffed it for the bean. I have another one cut out I need to finish because one little bean looks a little lonely. :)

Need some more veggies?
How about some broccoli, (idea, though not pattern from Made)

And some carrots? (pattern from I Make Stuff)

My boys love to eat grapes. 

The idea for the grapes came from Made, although she made hers so they could come apart in little bunches. I went for a simpler method.

How about a delicious chocolate chip cookie for desert?

Come back tomorrow for more!