Handmade Holidays 2009!

We had so much fun with Handmade Halloween, I thought it would be super fun to have a Handmade Holidays Blog Carnival.

What do your blog friends want to see? Anything handmade for Thanksgiving (because this short holiday often gets overshadowed by anything that comes in December), Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or National Anything Covered in Chocolate Day!

We'd love to see handmade decorations, gifts, learning games and activities for kids, holiday unit studies, family traditions, crafts for kids, and holidays around the world. Basically anything you want to share that is handmade for the holidays!

How do you participate? Just add your post to McLinky. It is best that you add the direct permalink to the list so that we don't have to find your post. If you need to know how to do this, please see directions by clicking here. If your link does not link to an appropriate post, I will delete the link. Sorry about this, but we don't like spam.

You can also add the Handmade Holidays Blog Badge to your blog post or blog. The code is in the sidebar to the left. If you need help using the code, just send me an email. I might add your picture of item to this post (with a link back to you with a citation, of course!). I will send you an email with a request if I do this.

Here are some things I have made in the past:

Little Snail's Christmas Dress '08

This was my first time not using a pattern...(my mom said, "Yeah. You can tell.").

I am proud of my applique and hand embroidery...I designed it to match the fabric.

Little Snail's Thanksgiving Outfit '08

I made this outfit for my sister's bridal shower and Thanksgiving dinner. The pants are from a 70's pattern that my Grandmother used for my handmade clothes. I *heart* this fabric. Here is a secret: the brown solid fabric is a bedsheet. I use $3 bedsheets from WalMart for making clothes! It's soft, durable, and cheap! The top, I think, is a McCall's pattern..I need to hunt it down. This was my first collar and I can't believe it came out right! Now all I need to tackle is zippers....

 

Handprint & Footprint Tiles

When the Snails were born, the nurses at the hospital told me that they would put the kids hand and foot prints on whatever I wanted. Silk ties, fabric, pillowcases, mugs, whatever. I sent Daddy Snail off to Lowe's and told him to get as many plain white tiles as he could. I preserved the prints with clear lacquer spray paint. For Christmas the year Big Snail was born, Grandparents and Aunt Snail got a footprint tile. I saved mine with visions of retiling the backsplash in the kitchen with handpainted tiles from the kids, including these tiles. My tiles haven't made it to the kitchen, instead they are on plate stands and sit on my mantel.

If your kids aren't newborns, you can get ceramic paint from the craft store and let them paint the tiles. 

Personalized Ceramic Ice Bucket

I got the ceramic ice bucket on clearance at Target and cut the vinyl letters with my Cricut. I have the Sure Cuts A Lot software and I used a font that is on my computer. I won't share how much this cost me because the recipient (my BFF) is a reader...but, if I told you, your mouth would drop because of how cheap this gift is! Now that I have a Cricut, I keep my eye out for anything that can be personalized.

As I pull out my Christmas decorations, I will share with you handmade Christmas decorations and crafts from years past.











And here are some of my favorite places to find inspiration for Handmade Holidays:

Sew Momma Sew


One Pretty Thing 

Skip to My Lou Handmade Holiday Gift Guide   and

Handmade Holidays at Flikr

Roots & Wings 8 Weeks of Heartfelt and Handmade Holidays

Christmas Around the World Unit Study and Lapbook

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