Christmas 2010

I have to say this years Christmas was great !

For once I didn’t feel pressured by taking on so much this year and I actually enjoyed the season with my family.

We did our usual baking gifts for friends and neighbors.The Little’s decorated the sacks for all our goodies.I was really surprised and happy how this years gift exchange turned out. There was so many people thinking outside the box for a change.

One of our neighbors is still unemployed and he is a genius when it comes to construction (seriously, him not finding a job scares me a bit). We are in the process of fixing up our home and his generous gift of time is a HUGE blessing to our family.

Others have come to respect the path we have chosen and not one gift this year needed batteries. In fact most gifts needed to be constructed.Miss Sky has already made one of her gifts (all by herself) and as you can see its been getting lots of use .

As for ourselves ,besides everything that I had already posted which was a big hit (okay Christmas is over its time to get dressed), we decided to go a different way (no me change plans) and  help out local independent businesses. I was SO happy to see how many others had the same idea.

A friend informed me of a local  toy store ran by two homeschooling mothers that we just had to check out.

But Christmas wouldn’t be the same without a handmade gift from Mama and Papa (okay more from Papa) so this years shared gift was a stroller to help add to the “housekeeping” play.(Which there has been a lot of if you couldn’t tell by the background mess.)

Even though much of the snow from Christmas has melted and the new year swiftly approaches I hope the magic that was shared this year in blog land will continue as more people find what the reason for the season really means to them.

Wishing everyone peace , happiness, and joy for 2011.

Handmade Christmas 2010

I thought I would do an update post and give kudos(link love) to those that have helped with my handmade Christmas so far this year.

I have already made a post of how our family celebrates Christmas with The Little’s each getting 3 gifts and one shared gift (thinking some new beeswax ) to open from Papa and I. I also want to say that this is “our” families choice . I completely understand that this may not be for everyone , and that’s okay  this is not a “judgment” or a “guilt trip” on my part just an alternative .

I thought I would share one of the gifts that has become a tradition for The Little’s come Christmas morning. They each receive new matching pajamas ,matching knitted slippers, and new matching pajamas for their dolls (they should receive a present too). I wish I could say these were handmade items from myself but I am not quite there yet in my sewing skills(I hope to be though). Until then I use the wonderful talents of others to help pull my tradition together.

I am sure you have seen the beautiful works of art Renee at heirloomseasons makes for her children to wear. Well I asked if she would mind sharing some of her talent with us and she agreed. Sorry no pictures as of yet (I have managed to still keep them a secret) but they are everything I was hoping for (truly an heirloom). Thanks so much Renee.

Allyn over at Knitwit4ever makes my girls their slippers. I send her my request of colors and sizes and she sends me just what I ordered. Her pictures do not do justice to her wonderful talent. These slippers are made to last. The Little’s wear them all winter and even use them as ice skates across our floor. Thanks So much Allyn, it’s a pleasure to do business with you.

Need doll clothes to fit your 16 inch Waldorf doll and custom-made to match your children’ s pjs Blissality is the place to go. Thanks Elizabeth for making my girls Christmas extra special this year.

I also would like to plug King’s Little Blessings . She custom-made The Little’s dolls nightgowns pictured up above 2 Christmases ago (man time sure does fly) thanks again Marlina.

Doll beds pictured in background are custom-made right here in Papa’s (aka our Santa) workshop.

I  just wanted to say how much I love esty. To actually know the people who are bringing the smiles to my girls come Christmas morning to me is priceless and something I am very grateful for.

Wishing everyone a happy holiday.

Ps If you have a esty store you would like to plug for the holidays, feel free to leave your link in the comments .

Handmade Christmas 2010

Well it has been a while since I have posted about Christmas plans. I have been so busy with school plans and birthdays (Little Sis’s is coming very fast) that my brain hasn’t had time to think about Christmas. Yeah but Christmas is swiftly approaching I mean it was July when I first started posting about handmade plans. I have been enjoying all the wonderful ideas.This will be a list I keep updating so I can have all my ideas in one place.

I will admit this year has stumped me a bit as Miss Sky has started to make her own toys and really there are only so many toys a child needs.

We have downsized and re-arranged our living room to make more space to move around in, giving The Little’s room to jump rope indoors if the mood fits . I am thinking of ideas to keep active during those winter months. Something like this, or something like this with this.

OMGoodness I also found these. Yeah I know a couple of girls that would love these.

I think I better get my sewing cap out and get busy coming up with a plan. I like that I can link to these ideas because I always have “Little” eyes sneaking about during the holidays.

Oh I forgot to add Miss Sky is working on a coloring book for Little Sis’s Christmas present.

I thought I would keep my non-handmade list here as well. We have all come to a conclusion as a family we need to do more winter hiking. SO clothing and shoes to accommodate this will be the bulk of this years gifts.

Update: How cool is this. I am thinking this could be made on wood too with a pouch to hold the pieces.

Update: I know a “little”girl that would love these for her kitchen.

Update : With all of Miss Sky’s changes I am going to make her a toiletries bag just for herself with handmade soap, homemade deodorant (1 part baking soda 3 parts cornstarch) , and shampoo to use in the shower. She is getting at that age to really start taking care of her hygiene (already ).

Happy Creating everyone!

Handmade Holiday 2010, Finding What You Are Good At.

I have to start out this post by saying  when I first started on the path of Waldorf Education I was very intimidated by the knitting, you see because I do not know how to. I have tried to teach myself and even had people lined up to teach me but they always fell through. In the end I give up and get discouraged so that nothing gets done.

I have since come to peace with what I don’t know and started focusing on what I do know. I love to be in the kitchen baking homemade goodness for my family, and I always find myself up for a challenge like mastering making bagels and now adding homemade tortillas to my can do list.  There are so many gift ideas from the kitchen alone to fill in those blanks of what to give, and do not forget about the ones you don’t eat like playdough. http://dkjsv05.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/run-run-as-fast-as-you-can/  And salt dough ornaments, http://crafts.kaboose.com/saltdoughgifttoppers.html ,or what about a kit with everything needed to make a volcano. http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/buildavolcano.htm

How about homemade finger paints , you could decorate the outside of baby food jars filled with the different colors,

http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_42.html#Cornstarch Fingerpaintor to be funny make lumps of coal and fill with money.http://coffee-break-whatever-craft-time.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-make-dinosaur-eggs-or-treasure.html

As a child my mother tought me how to hand sew. She use to run a home business selling creative circle (do they even exist anymore?) I have since taught myself more complex stitches and sewing is something I truly enjoy. This is where I have placed my focus in teaching handwork to The Little’s. http://dkjsv05.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/audio-books-and-handwork/  This post makes me think of making our own audio book ,maybe take turns as a family reading a chapter book and record it for someone special (Dad this would be a great idea for the girls ,they would love to hear you read them a story . )

 Again I myself can get lost in all the beautiful gift ideas.

I also have found a love for painting and not just on canvas.

( Above some of my first projects, I like to think I have gotten better.)

As for Papa , he has found a love for woodworking and like me in the kitchen loves a challenge.

(The very first treehouse given to Little Sis for her third birthday and still her most favorite toy to play with.)

I am one who believes we “all” were born creative (and for those of you who think  “Well not me”, I failed art class in high school.  No joke really). 

It all comes down to finding something that “you “enjoy doing and to wrap your focus around that this year for a homemade holiday. Oh and there is no shame in calling in reinforcements, http://www.etsy.com/,after all I don’t know where I would be without them.

Wishing everyone  stress free holidays this year. Peace

Handmade Holiday 2010 Working Together

We have managed to start some projects that have accumulated on “the list”. I do have to be careful though because there is family that reads my blog (Hi). Since these are not the finished project I thought it would be ok to share.

Most of our gifts are family projects that usually originate while sitting around the kitchen table eating. Something that starts off a little like this “So Daddy do you think you can …… ? And the idea is born.

We each play our part in the production line beginning of course with Papa then most likely it is time for the Little’s to add their personal touch.

Next up it’s my turn to finish the project and to make sure it passes “my” standards (sometimes this is where Papa gets a bit upset with me ).

Then of course before any gift leaves our home it must pass a series of very serious tests (just ask Harvey, our dog, about the dogs treats last year).Once approved our idea then gets the ok to be presented as a gift.

It is fun to work together as a family and it has taught the Little’s how much time one puts into making something ,so when handmade items come their way they are always very well treasured.

Wishing everyone a happy Monday and many blessings to the start of your week.

Handmade Holiday 2010 Alternatives To Gift Buying

One way Papa and I have managed to save money over the years is by not buying each other gifts. No Christmas gifts, no birthday gifts. Now I know this may not work for some of you but for us we have just found other ways to spend our money. Why buy a gift if you don’t need one? Like on birthdays a tradition that started since we first were married (we started out with no money) was to give each other the day off. Off from cooking , cleaning, diaper changing, yes I actually look forward to my birthday . We pick out what we want for each meal, and get the computer, radio, or television just for ourself. That means Papa sometimes has to sit through a “chick” flick he would NEVER watch otherwise. This has gone over so well in our household that The Little’s have asked for the same on their birthdays too. Instead of gifts maybe one might want to go skating as a family or to the zoo.

But back to Christmas this day really is not about us, so how does our family save money over Christmas? For starters we do not celebrate commercial Santa, (this is our personal choice) so there are no “stocking stuffers” to buy. Instead we count down to Christmas doing little activities each day , like making Christmas cards, or cookies, or ornaments for the tree, visit with our neighbors, read a new Christmas story,drive and see Christmas lights, and even sing Christmas songs together as a family.

As far as gifts, The Little’s receive 3 gifts each and 1 shared gift that is usually a craft we make together. This years shared gift was The book A Donsy of Gnomes by Sieglinde De Francesca along with everything needed to make their own gnomes out of  tree branches.

For our oldest (20) we usually pick a gift to make together as a family (I will share this years in another post) and give her money. That’s what she asks for.

For Papa and I we sit down at the start of every year and make a list of goals we would like to see accomplished. For instance one of our goals was to run our house without any electricity in case of an emergency. So we wrote down what we needed to see that goal happen. We would much rather see our goals accomplished then to receive gifts.

This year we have a few goals, one being get rid of all our carpet through out our whole house and to buy used first then support small business second. We have SO much talent right here in our country without needing to support sweatshops.

I do have a point to this post . So far we have managed to rid our front room of carpet and in honor of our new re arrangement enlist the help of our unemployed neighbor who is trying to start his own business.

“If you can describe it ,I can build it” is his logo and he can. We needed two end tables to fit in a very small space. We went to several thrift shops to find the end tables were all to big. So we went to our neighbor with our measurements and idea and this is what he came up with.

Real wood (not that partical board) something that will  probably last longer than us. Like the furniture my grandmother had.I love the natural character of wood, how no two pieces are ever alike and it feels SO good to stick to our goals.

He is open for business and untill he gets his webpage up and running can be reached at dizzyb24@yahoo.com .

 I am really looking forward to sharing this years handmade holiday with you. I know with so many great minds working together we CAN be the change we want to see.

Peace

Christmas In July

I know I myself can not believe I am even posting this, but Tonya http://plainandjoyfulliving.blogspot.com/2010/07/handmade-holiday.html put together a pledge for a handmade holiday this year and I signed up. This is not new to our family, we started giving handmade gifts for a couple of years now.

I for one have grown tired of all the consumerism we have created in our country. What Americans few as poverty is nothing compared to other countries.

(Anyway)  Last week was about getting organized, I made a Main lesson book for myself and wrote the names of all those receiving gifts inside giving each Little (and one young lady) 3 pages each. Plenty of room to write down ideas , websites, or even sketches we (Papa and I ) might come up with.

I am really excited to be a part of this and can’t wait to see how everyone’s holidays play out this year.