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:

Sewing With My 8 Year Old

I'm usually glad that my boys have inherited my love of creating things. It often means I do most of the work. :) They are getting so they can do more on their own, though.

My 8 year old wanted to sew a blanket and found this fabric in my stash.

We just did a simple stitch around the edges to sew the two layers together. He did do most of the sewing around the edges.

Now it has a special spot on his bed

Stuffed Animals

My kids love to make stuffed animals. Our latest ones are a #tsumtsum or #teenyty style #stuffedanimal.

So far we have a couple penguins, a bee, a turtle, and an eagle. 

Sewing for Preschoolers

A while back I had made my son some lacing cards, just out of cereal boxes covered with pictures from magazines. He still loves playing with his "sewing thing." When he's not lacing the card, he will go fishing with it. :)

One day while I was sewing, he told me that when he was bigger he could get his own sewing machine. He really enjoys trying to help me while I sew, although it is hard to find things that he can actually do to help.

I saw recently a few different ideas for sewing projects for kids. Sew, Mama, Sew has a bunch of ideas for different age groups.

We did our own version. I had on hand a bit of toule that I put in my embroidery hoop. I threaded a dull needle (I think it is a cross stitching needle), and let him stitch away! The holes it the toule make it really easy for him to get through the fabric. He enjoys the chance to use a real needle to sew. When he is done, I will cut the knot off the end of the thread, pull out all the stitches, and let him go again!