A Merry Handmade Christmas

Handmade die cut paper boxes and tags filled with candy for our neighbors and church staff.

I'm a stay at home mom and my husband's a youth minister. You can probably guess that can make for a penny pinching lifestyle on most occasions and saving a few pennies during the holidays is the only way to go. For us that means trading money for elbow grease and going handmade baby! I couldn't share all the goodies I'd made as gifts until after they'd been given so here they are!

These magnets with matching monogrammed tin were for my sister-in-law.

My absolute favorite handmade gift wasn't even made by my hands but by my baby's. Mr. Golden Curls specifically requested that he be the one to make Uncle Casey's gift. "Sure what do you want to make him?" "I want to make a thing where I cut a bunch of red paper and glue it to another paper." "A collage?" "Yep." "Alright, collage it is!" I was so excited he wanted to join in and when he was done and I had it all framed up I was tempted to keep it for myself. I know, not in the Christmas spirit! I finally decided I could just have him make me one of my own so Uncle Casey received his collage.

My husband's sis, Sarah, requested some clothespin magnets so I made her these to match her newly redone kitchen.

And special bookmarks for my oldest nephew and niece.

I also received gifts that will help me with my handmade goodies... a mega Starbucks gift card, I like to think of Starbucks less as coffee and more as my beloved muse. A Hobby Lobby gift card, always the perfect gift for me. And three really nice paper organizers from Target. (you can see the three drawer here, the 12 x 12 paper shelf here, and apparently you don't get to have a link the the third, I couldn't find it!) Thanks everyone!

A Merry Classic Christmas

Santa stuffed the boys' stockings with View Masters and Christmas Pez dispensers

Well we made the holiday rounds and managed to survive another year! The boys got a bunch of good classics for Christmas this year that I remember adoring myself as a kid.

Grammy and Grandpapa gave the boys a cute puppet stage with a box full of puppets

And they are fully stocked on super cool Play Dough toys with a Play dough Potato head set, Play dough Fun Factory and a Backyardigans Pirate Ship Play Dough toy. We cracked open the Potato head and the boys loved it, I can't wait to open the rest!

And how's this for a throw back! Santa must be feeling nostalgic this year, I love it! I remember discovering this pen when I was a kid. Four colors in one pen, I was completely in love!

Over The Mountains...

...and through the woods, to Grandmothers' houses we go!


And we're off to the Christmas races. Tonight we have our own little Christmas Eve with the boys and "Christmas" on Tomorrow morning. Then Tomorrow afternoon we drive 6 hours to the Bohemian's parents' where we'll spend actual Christmas. The day after Christmas it's 5 hours to my parents' for our third and final Christmas. And Saturday 3.5 hours home to be sure hub's back in time for church Sunday morning! Whew!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas full of family and friends and all the fantastic stuff that really matters. And after Christmas I hope those wonderful things carry on into your New Year!

The Photoshop B-I-B-L-E

What better way to spend the evening and work to grow your child's spiritual development than a bedtime story from the Bible?! Every night before bedtime we read the boys a story that they pick and then a story from their devotional Bible. It seems the Bohemian got a little confused on this night, he must've had projects on the brain! Actually Lil' Spitfire was enthralled, Mr. Golden Curls on the other hand was a little thrown off and ready to resume the routine!

You Smell Like A Monkey...

Happy Birthday to the Bohemian! I'm so glad you were born 32 years ago today or I'd be an old unwed crazy cat lady. Ok, I'd be a 32 year old unwed crazy cat lady!

Our gift to the Bohemian

Good Enough For Me To Poop On!

Raise your hand if you remember watching Triumph the insult comic dog on Conan O'Brien? I loved that skit and I love Conan. Unfortunately I'm in the land of parenting and that means that if I'm up late enough to catch Conan it's probably because I'm up working on something. I think my dogs must've caught an episode recently though because today they have both pooped on the Christmas tree skirt that the Bohemian and I made out of fabric scraps and old clothes when we were newly weds. "So, Maya, Cash, what do you think about this extremely sentimental tree skirt under our Christmas tree?" "Oh, yea mom it's lovely with the paint splattered old jeans and crazy old lady fabric, yea just great...it's good enough for me to POOP ON!" (cue obnoxious dog laughter).

Fa la la la la...

I still can't believe I'm a small group leader but alas I am. I have somehow managed to make myself partially responsible for the spiritual growth of the Jr. High girls who are in the Bohemian's youth group. Luckily I'm not going it alone and have a fantastically cool Chicky poo trudging along with me who deals with the teaching part of our meetings. Wed. night we decided it was Christmas party time so we pulled out the Christmas music, bought a white Christmas tree (only because we couldn't find pink) and pulled out the craft supplies. It was so much fun and the girls did a fantastic job making there own decorations, the tree looks great! Now we're hoping to be able to donate the tree to someone who doesn't have a Christmas tree of their own. Doing this party also made me realize I do so much better when I can interact with people while keeping my hands busy with crafting than I do with the unspent, nervous, social anxiety ridden energy that rages through me when I don't have something to occupy my hands, I need to take up knitting!