A few quick sewn gifts for friends

In trying to come up with some sewn gifts for men and older boys, I hit upon the idea of luggage tags. Of course, they only work for the traveling types, but they were so quick and easy, I made one for thee two gals in the family as well. They don't allow for any info, but they'll make finding your bag at the airport pretty simple. Just made up my own pattern.





These ornaments were just the thing for families I was also giving sweet treats to. They looked great tied atop a tin of goodies, and they incorporated buttons and felted sweater scraps from my stash. I deviated from the great pattern provided by Disdressed by not using regular felt, which would have resulted in a cleaner finish, but then what would I do with my sweater scraps?





Happy 10th day of Christmas!

12 days of Christmas

well, yesterday was another flurry of last minute Christmas crafting. and I have managed to take photos of all but one of the gifts I made this year...

But that's not what this post is about.

we're trying to keep up with the momentum of Christ-focusing we did during Advent, and so are celebrating the 12 days of Christmas. We've been reading about the magi, La Bafana/Babushka, and continuing to listen to Christmas music.

One of my new-favorite Christmas songs is by a band I've never heard of before...Downhere



I love their sound! I want their whole album now. They have a Queen sound, as well as maybe the Killers...yay! What fun!

The song is just so full of the true meaning of Christmas. It's awesome.

Happy 4th or 5th day of Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas!

We've had an incredible winter wonderland going for the past few days. I love snow! I hate driving in it, but it's fun to be stuck at home.

My brother and his wife are staying with us to avoid being stuck at their cold little place, so it's like an extended holiday.

Maybe on Christmas I'll have time to post some crafty goodness and some Otters in the snow pics as well. We'll see.

I hope you all have a joyous Christmas, remembering what Christmas is really all about. God loves us so much!

Craft Addict Give-Away

I am usually too lazy to blog about other bloggers. (Although, please check out my ever-expanding blog roll, to the left and down, lots--and I mean lots--of great blogs on there)

Despite my laziness though, I thought this Craft Addict Give-away was such a great give-away, I had to share it. Not so much because of the stuff, although that's cool, but because the requirement for entering is to comment there about our favorite charity.

In addition to Easter European Outreach, my other favorites include The Mobility Project, Alpha Counseling--a local christian counselor that saved my marriage, but has no website--and, just this year, Advent Conspiracy.

Click on the give-away links above to enter, or even on the title of this post, or, on the graphic, kindly provided by Craft Addict herself (I'm a new reader of the blog, so it's an assumption that Craft Addict is a gal, I hope I'm not wrong! ha ha)

Happy St. Nicholas day-eve! (which we *are* celebrating--maybe over-kill since we'll still have Christmas day present-opening as well. *shrug*)

Christmas Prep

Well, I'm actually aching over not taking advantage of cyber-monday free-shipping deals. It hurts. BUT, I don't really need to buy stuff. I don't.

Plus, I don't have my own credit card anymore, so I couldn't even hide it from Tom until the bills arrived. He'd know, and then it wouldn't be a surprise, not to mention us not having the money for that sort of thing.

So. There you go.

Yesterday, Eve was bored while I painstakingly crafted an advent chain for her. I look forward to the days when she can wield the scissors safely and effectively. But, she really really LOVES the advent stuff.

So, we made green paper hand prints and "built" (aka taped to the window) a hand print tree. On this will "hang" (with tape) the little coloring project jesse tree ornaments

We made a no-staples, no glue*, paper advent chain. Half of one anyway. I ran out of time, and needed to pay bills after the kids went to bed, so the rest will have to happen tonight or tomorrow or whenever--hopefully before we run out of the chain as it currently stands.

*The chain itself uses no glue, however, for Advent, I glued the devotionals to the inside of the links. Now you see why I ran out of time before I ran out of crafting duties.

Our first day was yesterday. She colored a small picture of a stump with a shoot coming from it, while I read a bit from Isaiah (11:1-2). The devotional was about David and how God has a plan for us.

She wanted to read the "story" (the devotional) again, right away. Instead, I read to her about David from her beginners bible.

I'm really looking forward to Advent.

Now I have to decide--really quick--if we're going to do St. Nickolas day.

Crafty gifts

While I didn't get pictures of everything I made, I think there's enough here for you to enjoy, if you enjoy such things. If you check out my flickr account with any frequency, these are not new to you, so you can go back to your other activities and save yourself the time, if you wish.

This will concluded my Christmas crafting posts...and though the 12 days of Christmas have long past, it still isn't a month since Christmas, so, I'm calling that good enough. Unless I come across pictures of Christmas that are particularly exciting, I probably won't post any more about Christmas at all. Moving on, baby, moving on.

Embroidered ornaments (Less than stellar pictures. Tom took them. He's a great photographer, but he has to care about the subject. ;))



A bib for my sister's new baby, "Meelia Jane"





A satin clutch for Tanna, containing candy and some unphotographed matching hair pins.



Three clutches like the one below, all with different ribbons and buttons, and my photo shoot was a bust. The Christmas tree was in my bright corner windows...it totally messed me up.



The year-long Wee Wonderfuls girl Elf Stitchette stocking for Ellen.







A headband for Bridget.



The Heather Bailey headband was a first for me. I think I need to make Bridget another, that fits her better and in a slightly less stiff fabric, and because one can never have too many, you know?

And last but not least, another year-long embroidery project. I was thinking ahead though, and bought this skirt for Eve a size up. And still she's nearly out of this size. Also, I'm pretty slow with this posting stuff, as this was finished before Peanut arrived.







Cute scooter courtesy of Sublime Stitching!

Phew! All caught up. And despite my very ambitious to-do crafting list (which also seems to be ever expanding) the only craft I've finished in 2008 is a smallish monogram (single letter) of a throw blanket for my wonderful big sis. No pictures. In fact, I've crafted gifts for all my older siblings, and don't have a picture of a single one. One day soon I hope to complete the backpack and scarf I have in the works for Eve, and I'm working on improving my own drawing skills so the next few onesies I do will be all me. Stay tuned folks.

EC or just good hand/eye coordination?

Well, we had another not much sleep night last night, and twice now when I have not administered the meds myself (and tried to let Tom handle it) he's overmedicated himself. Luckily, nothing he's taking has any super serious consequences for taking meds a tiny bit more frequently than he should, but it just proves I can't count on a good night's sleep any time soon.

We've been blessed to have Eve with us in the evenings and morning, but family has taken her for fun and adventure during the day since her sleep over ended on Friday. We miss her when she's gone, but her current stage in life, as well as her reaction to the upheaval around here, is making me kind of crazy. I don't feel like a nice mom, and seem to have a lot more patience for her when she's here less, and not so bored.

I find myself using my moments of less demand not crafting (as I really should be if I'm going to tackle that huge list I made) or reading, but rather surfing the net. I don't have energy for much else, even with a lot of cola in me. In a moment of quiet then, I have a chance to share a very funny story with you. This took place on Christmas Eve, and I'd nearly forgotten about it. I was reminded after reading a few friend's blogs about potty training and Elimination Communication.

We spend all our time (almost) down stairs these days, as that's where the wood stove is, and our main (and often only) source of heat. (Here I'll interject that this is my least favorite chore that I've taken over from Tom. I'm simply not a fire builder.) Hence, I change Israel on a receiving blanket on the couch. Since it was Christmas Eve he was dressed in his Christmas PJs, to look charming in pictures. Peanut only poops every 3 days or so, and as luck would have it, Christmas Eve was one of those days. As I changed him, carefully pushing his outfit far up and out of the way, I realized it wasn't too big a deal and set about cleaning him up.

I'm one of those who's never learned the lesson of putting the new diaper under the baby before you take the old one off. I guess I've just not had it be that much of a problem. Well, this time, it was a problem. Just as I was unfolding the last bit of the diaper to slide it under him, his ankles in one hand, I saw the face, heard the grunt, and watched in slow-motion horror as a new kind of "golden arch" arced its way through the air, with a trajectory ending just beyond the protective blanket. Now, I don't love my couch or anything. It's really pretty shabby and not my style, but it'll do, and I certainly don't want to be cleaning baby poop out of every little loop and crevice in the fabric. And so, I re-defined the Elimination Communication idea of "catching a poop" and stood in stunned disbelief as my son defecated all over my hand.

I won't describe for you the texture. After working on it for 3 days, Peanut's poop is not the normal baby poop texture, and anything I try to compare it to will simply reduce your enjoyment of some current culinary delight or another. Trust me on this one.

So. There I am, Christmas Eve. Tom's upstairs putting Eve to bed for the umteenth time. Don't feel sorry for him. He was the genius who decided to talk up Santa coming to visit the hour before Bed. I'm holding Israel's feet in one hand, and an unspeakable mess in the other. I can't let go for several reasons: If I do, he may manage to get poop on his Christmas PJs, or he may just roll right off the couch, and then we're talking a crying, messy baby and carpets to clean. I could grab more wipes, but I don't think they could have helped me.

As I was contemplating, puzzling, reaching into the dark recesses of creativity for a solution...he did it again. I was slightly more prepared and grabbed the end of the blanket and the half-applied, recently soiled new diaper to catch with. As clever as that may sound, I was in even more trouble now, as the poop quickly began seeping through the blanket, and there was even more poop in the proximity of the PJs.

I less determined person might have conceded and given up on keeping the PJs pristine, but that's just not me. It's a tradition to have special Christmas morning PJs for special Christmas morning pictures. I'm not going to let a little baby poop get in the way of tradition.

So I stood there like that for about 5 minutes, calling to Tom, making Peanut laugh, and laughing myself at the absurdity of it all. I did clean Peanut up, but he was still surrounded by his own waste, and I still couldn't get away to wash my hands. I wasn't calling Tom very loudly, so he moseyed down when he was ready and looked at me like I was crazy.

After all was said and done, Peanut looking smashing in his clean, sparkly Christmas PJs, and I learned that though essentially water soluble, Peanut's particular brand of baby poop does not wash off easily with soap and warm water.





One last thing. Tonight, when Eve was sitting with us and calming down a few moments before I took her to bed, I kissed her and told her I loved her, she responded by holding my hair with both hands, and saying, "I love you too, my sweet darling." Be still my heart. It was so cute and sweet. I just love her!

On the third day of Christmas...

I finally have a chance to post.

I hope to someday post pictures and stories of our Advent activities and Christmas parties.

I intend to post an over-full craft post to show you all the fun things I finished just in time, and those that must be gifts for later days of Christmas.

But today, I'll simply wish you the true, deep, everlasting joy of Christmas. The coming of God to earth as a child isn't over when the Christmas trappings go on clearance. His gift is for us whenever we come to recognize it.

I read a beautiful, painful post today that I must share. So go to sweet | Salty, read, and then hold your children with a new sense of appreciation for them, even in the trials. Though I know it's not a direct correlation, I can only imagine that this is akin to the pain of Mary. How sweet to hold your child in your arms, for how ever long you're allowed.