Minding the Unruly: the trouble with homemade Christmas gifts

I have a fantasy each Christmas of my children taking time to carefully consider each other's likes and craft sweet, thoughtful presents for one another.

This has unfortunately never quite played itself out well. Probably because I have been a smidge too hands-off in my role as adult over-seer. For instance, last Christmas my then-7 year old made a personalized sash (yes, that's what it is. see above photo) for her 4 year old sister. I'm so sorry to say that it was not received with delight.

This year, I'm going to try ONE MORE TIME to salvage this fantasy but I'm taking the bull by the horns: each child will choose something they can make in a batch for their siblings and that thing will be a cool thing they can choose off of a list of projects that I will assemble.

My ideas so far have mostly come from careful perusal of Design Mom's trove of DIY sibling christmas projects. I'm thinking especially of the bleach shirts, pocket hand-warmers, decoupage sketchbooks, and bubble bath. Also great could be jewelry boxes, jewelry, or frankly, cookies.

Ideas? Once more pinterest is a valuable tool for such research... I'd love to hear things that have worked well for you!

hooray for teachers!

I know I've mentioned this before, but I always struggle with finding perfect gifts for our beloved teachers at the end of the year. I seem to come back to flowers or gift cards to the bookstore, along with a sincere letter of appreciation. Nice but not fabulously wonderful.

What do you do? Any brilliant ideas I can file away for next year?

baby sweater

I think every newborn needs a hand-knit, imperfect sweater, don't you?

(I used the baby sweater pattern in More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts - and it was simple to follow, which was lovely. Dare I say easier to make than Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket? (for me, at least) )

presents for school friends

Ah, finally, finally Christmas break is here! On our schedule now is a whole lot of nothing. And treat making and eating. And Christmas movie watching, and some present wrapping.

The seven year old is in chipmunk world right now. I think most of the time on the school playground is spent screaming, "chipmunk!" followed by lots of scurrying. I could go into more detail here but I'd rather not disturb you with the extent of her imaginary world, so I'll just leave it with this little necklace that she made for her friends. Papier Valise is a great source for tiny and interesting charms, and we like to string them on long pieces of embroidery floss that can be put over small heads without having to worry about being tied or untied, or latched or unlatched. (She is only seven, after all. :) )

hand-made doll for a four year old

Since watching the magical slideshow of Kiki and Coco in Paris this summer I have been obsessed with making a doll for my three-now-four year old's birthday.

Now we too can have idyllic adventures, charming doll in hand as she does adorable things like jump on the couch, get her haircut, and (I'm most excited about this one -) sleep.

I must concede that it might not totally be the same, seeing that we are not in Paris but rather suburban California, nor am I a professional photographer with a fabulous eye for adorableness (although I do have a very adorable 4 year old subject. :) )

Also, I need to convince the child that this doll is better than the hand-me-down Barbie (with a chewed-off hand thank you very much family dog) she currently favors.

I guess you just can't force love.

Good luck, Daisy.

(To see where Coco's gorgeous doll was made - shown in the link at the beginning of the post - look at Jess Brown's beautiful blog. Unbelievable.)

Holiday Fair, and sad realization

In classic Lynne-style, I volunteered (along with many others) to make a bunch of little crafts for the school to sell at their Holiday Shop this year. No problem, I thought. You'd like 20 from each crafter? Why, it will be a pleasure to plan on bringing 40! I like making things, and the right kind of craft can sometimes, if you happen to find yourself completely alone, take mere moments to assemble. That was back in August, when I had all the time in the world - a baby who took looong naps, and school days which hadn't filled themselves up. Now however December is almost upon me, with a myriad of other really big projects also on my plate - and so I found myself wandering the aisles of Michael's, panic surging through my veins.

I happened upon a little packet of blank bookmarks right next to the pretty Martha Stewart stickers, and the quick-craft lightbulb clicked on in my head. Bookmarks + stickers= easy and perfect!

It was only as I was driving away from the store that I realized:

I have become the out-of-touch mother who thinks that kids want to buy a bookmark at a holiday gift fair.

I'll have to remember not to put my name on them. I'll tell my kids I brought the candy cane reindeers. :)

Grandparents

We are fortunate to live close(-ish) to my husband's parents, who, as grandparents do, love their grandkids. This past year I was trying to come up with birthday presents for them and decided that instead of more things, the most meaningful gift we could get them would be memories - specifically, memories of time spent talking and bonding with the grandkids. So I made a little book with 12 pages, and bought a gift card for each month of the next year with the idea that it could be used for a special outing with one of the kids. Like, for example,

June's gift card was for Jamba Juice with the three year old...

and May's was for a burger with the nine year old.

Other gift cards were for manicures at a local nail salon and Starbucks, for hot chocolate. Nothing was too expensive or complicated - just meant to provide some simple and sweet moments together; and hopefully conversations that might be treasured down the road.

Homemade Holiday Christmas Idea #3

This morning my 7 year old son bounded down the stairs and announced that today he wanted to go Christmas shopping for his buddies. "Oh!" I said, and immediately launched into my favorite "blah blah blah how about we make something for them instead since it's so much more meaningful" speech.

Kind of a foolish thing for me to suggest, for I know very well that my 7 year old son is not the kind of 7 year old boy who loves making or receiving hand-madey things. He's more the kind of 7 year old boy who loves giving or receiving Legos. Or light-sabers. Or gift cards to go and purchase Legos or light-sabers.

He listened as politely as he could but seeing the expression on his face I ended real quick and sent him back to his room to count his money. He returned with his whole entire savings - $3.94. Oh dear, not quite enough to purchase 3 activated R2-D2s, bless your generous little heart.

ANYWAY, the point of all of this is that finally we decided that he would make a CD mix for his friends. Grand total, 99 cents (for the awesome Star Wars song we downloaded to complete his carefully chosen mix of favorite tunes). This idea stemmed from our family's traditional neighbor gift, the annual Merry Music Christmas mix. What can I say, I am totally stuck in the 80's and I love making mixes. And although his little CD is not quite from the Lego catalog he is so, so proud of it and can't wait to give it to his friends.

Here's what's on our CD this year:

The Wexford Carol - Yo Yo Ma + Alison Krauss
A Poorwayfaring Man of Grief - Peter Breinholt (this isn't traditionally christmas but it's really pretty)
Jingle Bells - The Brian Setzer Orchestra
O Come All Ye Faithful - Harry Connick, Jr.
Rock of Ages - Ben Kweller
Silent Night - Zach Gill
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - Jack Johnson

What are your favorite Christmas songs?

Homemade Holiday Gift Idea #2

Remember Melissa's Woodland Cap from last winter? The pattern is now published in Stitch Magazine's first edition. Congratulations, Melissa! I am so proud of you, and I can't wait to try this. I've been dying for this to come out - they don't have it at my B&N yet so I'm going to order it online here. Along with directions for this adorable hat, there are also patterns for loads of other wonderful things (beautiful skirt patterns from Wiksten and Uniform studio are two others I know of)...

Hooray Melissa! If I was in New Jersey today I would bake you a big cake with tons of frosting flowers all over it.

Homemade Holiday Gift Idea #1

Surprise Soap Balls!

These are super easy for little hands to make and somewhat of a novelty: a ball of soap with a surprise toy in the middle (you should choose a solidly-shaped waterproof surprise - something like a bouncy ball, perhaps, and not something like a mini-whoopie cushion. Speaking from experience).

I found the idea in this great book, The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions 2, by John E. & Danita Thomas (This book is a great parent investment. Many good birthday party/rainy day ideas).

It's so simple. Grate 1 cup of soap and add 1/4 cup of water. Use your small helper hands to knead it all together and shape into balls. Make a hole in your soap ball with your finger, stuff your waterproof surprise inside, and fill in the hole. Voila!

first hat, all done

The red nightcap is done, and declared perfectly comfortable and warm enough for all those frigid California nights. And, warning to all you loved ones, we've made another trip to the yarn store. It's time to start knitting for Christmas, he says ("mom, how am I EVER going to finish all these nightcaps in time?!"). Knifty Knitter, we adore you and your circular goodness.

1st grade drawing-portrait-day

Some days I am very lucky and get to go do art with my son's first grade class. I love watching kids make things. They always deliver, don't they? Today I showed them some great portraits - one by Albrecht Durer, amazingly realistic, and one by Modigliani - abstract and expressive. After a few little tips on technique, proportion, and blah blah blah, I made my son's fabulous teacher sit in the front of the class and be our model.


Then this afternoon I stole a quick hour during the baby's nap time to put the drawings together into a book for the teacher, an idea I read about here.
(My novice book-stitching is really bad, but it's the thought that counts, right?)

homemade Christmas idea #7

This is the perfect gift if you are sans money, sans sewing skills, or sans time. I would LOVE it if my husband would give me a book of Love Coupons with 365 pages that say: "I will do the dishes for you;" or "I will not leave my dirty socks on the side of the bed." Or even one little coupon that said: "I will send you to Belgium to visit your friends and give you $1000 to buy any beautiful antique that you want!" Well actually, my husband is the most kind and generous husband imaginable, even if he doesn't do the dishes. Though I really would like that book of 365 I-will-do-the-dishes coupons! Imagine how much softer and prettier my hands would be without having to do the dishes everyday...

oh no, I'm naked!

The whole reason Melissa and I have this little blog is because I LOVE seeing what Melissa is up to and copying her!! (See doll clothes post from a few days ago). And often, we are oddly enough working on the same kind of thing (remember the branch paintings, Melissa?) without even realizing it. We have some kind of weird craft/art connection thing going on across the country, I think. Anyway, I got this sweet little linen mouse by Jellycat here for just $12.99 (they also have a very cute zebra, bunny and giraffe) and have been having so much fun making her (easy to pull on) spring wardrobe. I really hope my fickle four-year old likes it as much as I do on Christmas morning - if not, I might just steal it away and go play by myself!

melissa's charm idea

Look, Melissa - I tried out your charm necklace present idea. I didn't have a photo of the birthday girl, though, so I drew these little scenes. I love that bluemud.com site! Thanks for sharing.

paperwhite laboratory - homemade gift idea #5

I love growing paperwhites in December. They are one of the few plants I have in the past managed not to kill. This year I am trying to stunt their growth so they don't topple over by watering them with a solution of water (90%) and rubbing alcohol (10%). This might result in their death...or not?

I think you could count a paperwhite in a jar as a homemade gift idea, although I guess a plant isn't really homemade. More like home-assembled.

homemade Christmas idea #4

Homemade button hair clips are so easy to make. Simply glue gun a pretty button onto a barrette. You can make a sweet card to display the clips for gift giving. Simply print a picture onto heavy cardstock. Make little slits in the paper with an exacto knife and insert clips. I then sewed the cardstock onto a heavy contrasting paper to make it more substantial.

The bottom photo is a simple acorn charm hanging from orange embroidery floss. You can find an amazing selection of charms on www.bluemud.com. String ribbon or embroidery floss through the cardstock with a darning needle. Then tie clasp onto each side. Tape onto the back of the card to hold into place. Then sew around cardstock photo onto a larger contrasting piece of cardstock.

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Happy gift making! Only one month to go!

homemade christmas idea #2

I've said it before and I'll say it again: my friend Julia is so amazing. She came over a couple of weeks ago and showed me how to make these little pop-up scenes... and they have been consuming me ever since. So far my kids and I have made this kitchen, a bedroom, a castle and a city... the possibilities are endless! You just take some cardstock, fold it in half, and then experiment with different lengths of cuts (always done in sets of two) that you then reverse-fold to make the "pop".

When I say homemade christmas idea, what I have in my mind for my family (we'll see if the plan actually gets executed) is for a sibling-to-sibling gift. My 6 year old really likes this project, and I'm hoping that we can keep the enthusiasm going long enough to hammer one out for the 4 year old (who plays with her little plastic pet shop kitty everywhere). Wouldn't it be so neat to make a whole house of these little rooms?

On a different note, I read last week about letterboxing over at stephanie's blog (see stephmodo, to the right - no, I still haven't figured out how to link on my computer! the link instructions don't work on my mac). If you are looking for a free, fun outdoor thing to do with the little ones, go to www.letterboxing.org -- the site has faq's and a map with all the hidden letterbox locations (letterboxing is basically where you find a clue (via the website) and follow the directions to find a little hidden stamp which you then stamp in a blank book you bring. The idea is to collect lots of different stamps in your book - kind of a record of all your treasure-hunting adventures). We did it on Friday and then on Saturday in the town over. So fun! I thought my kids were going to throw up, they were so excited, when we found the first one on Friday. Apparently there are over 20,000 boxes hidden over the country, so chances are there are some in your area.

Okay, off to sneak some halloween candy!

homemade Christmas idea #1

Since Christmas is getting close, it might be a good time to start thinking about some homemade gifts to make. Many in blogdom have been talking about creating an all homemade Christmas this year (in part to promote earth-friendly consumption, in part to protest all the plastic clutter from China.) I'm definitely on board with this endeavor, though the one caveat would be the camera. I don't think I could manage to make one myself! And I've been waiting anxiously for the Nikon D300. In any case, here is idea #1. This was actually Lynne's brilliant idea that she made last year (I think.) She suggested it to me and now I've made a little photo necklace for my mom. You can buy the Martha Stewart kit at Michaels. All you need is two tiny photos to stick on the medallion. It's so easy to make and so, so sweet. I used a scanned print of a little painting I did of H. It gives it a more 18th century miniature look I think. You can use any photograph. (I had the baby pose as my necklace model. I got about 20 pictures of her trying to tear the darn thing off, and maybe two with her sitting nicely, keeping her hands off of it. And that was because I bribed her with lollipops and pretzels!)

thank you nice piano teacher

i have mild anxiety this time of year trying to think of nice thank-you things for the various teachers in our lives. today is the final piano day before summer break, so the pressure was on to come up with something for mrs. sanders, a very patient piano teacher for my little guy. did i stress the word patient?
I ended up making some cards and bookplates (on avery label paper). mainly because i forgot to buy (and grow - ha ha) a zucchini for a nice chocolate zucchini cake.