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.

PJ Mask Birthday Party

My preschooler turned 5! He has really gotten into PJ Masks lately and wanted a PJ Mask party. 

He had already decided to be Catboy for Halloween, so I made him his costume early (more about that later).

He wanted a PJ Mask cake with all the symbols of the characters on it. 

The kids made bracelets with their favorite character: catboy, owlette, or gecko. 

We made a cardboard box HQ so they could use their super gecko strength to lift it. 

HQ had been taken by Romeo and they had to carry it back across the city.

I didn't get pictures of the other activities, but they also used their super catboy speed to run and diffuse some bombs planted by Luna Girl (they had to pop some balloons with candy inside). Then they flew like owlette to save the city from the night ninjas (they shot nerf guns at some blue balloons). 

Fall Leaves

It doesn't really look like fall here the desert, so we had to make our own fall leaves. 

What started as a project with my preschooler, was joined in by my older boys, too. It's always fun to find something they all like to do. 

We cut coffee filters into leaf shapes, colored them with markers, then lightly sprayed them with water to get the colors to blend together. 

Then I taped them on a string to make a nice little fall banner. 

We even got a couple of Jack-o-lanterns 🎃 in there.

New Shoes for Halloween

I have a few new styles of shoes in my shop just in time for Halloween.

Mickey or Minnie Mouse inspired shoes, for the Disney lover.

Animal Paws, perfect for a dog, bear, lion, cat, tiger, or your favorite animal.

BB8 inspired baby shoes, for the Star Wars fan.

And Fox shoes, because everyone loves foxes! :)

Click here for details.

What is your little one going to be for Halloween?

Turtwig halloween costume

via Instagram http://ift.tt/2f6DF1j

Turtwig halloween costume #homemadehalloweencostume #pokemon #turtwig

Sqirtle halloween costume

via Instagram http://ift.tt/2fyfziw

Sqirtle halloween costume #homemadehalloweencostume #pokemon ##squirtle

Toy Story costumes

via Instagram http://ift.tt/2f6y7UH

Toy Story costumes #homemadehalloweencostume #toystory #woody #jessie #buzzlightyear

Halloween costumes ready to go! #2

via Instagram http://ift.tt/2dWa5Kd

Halloween costumes ready to go! #homemadehalloweencostume #pokemon #squirtle #turtwig

Halloween costumes ready to go! #1

via Instagram http://ift.tt/2eC4Z5D

Halloween costumes ready to go! #homemadehalloweencostume #toystory #woody #jessie #buzzlightyear

Start Wars Halloween Costumes

Start Wars Halloween costumes last year. #princessleiacostume #captainphasmacostume #bb8costume #kylorencostume #hansolocostume #homemadehalloweencostume

via Instagram http://ift.tt/2dYwzuX

Lego Movie Halloween Costumes

Two years ago our family dressed as Lego Movie characters. Benny's helmet was made with some thin foam covered in fabric, paired with a shirt from Etsy, and blue pajama bottoms. Wyldstyle was made with a black pants and jacket with detailing made out of ribbon. I put a pink ribbon in my hair and tried to style it like the character's. Emmet's hard hat was a yard sale find, he had the jacket, and I made the orange pants. I made Vitruvius's beard, headband, and staff. The robe was another yard sale find. Batman was a bat cape I made several years ago, paired with a batman pajama shirt. #homemadehalloweencostume

via Instagram

Star Wars Halloween Costumes

With Halloween coming up I thought I would share some costumes I've made in recent years. Three years ago we did Star Wars. I made my Princess Leia dress out of an old sheet. Darth Vader's shirt was painted, and his helmet was made out of some shiny black fabric. Yoda was my favorite. I incorporated pipe cleaners inside the ears to help them stick out. The storm trooper was a thrift store find, and we just bought the emperor robes.
#homemadehalloweencostume


via Instagram

Easter Bunnies

Three little Easter bunnies for my three little ones. #6weeksofsofties