A Handmade Holiday

In our quest to simplify life and Christmas, my household has agreed to a plan for this coming Christmas, to have a Handmade Holiday. We are pledging to make rather than buy all the gifts that we exchange with each other this year.***

This is going to be easier for me than it will be for the rest of the family, but I've got a few ideas already:

My husband could make something like this treehouse, with our jigsaw and materials we already own or have out in the yard. I just have to help him remember to take the time when he has a chance between now and december. Hypatia would love this!

I don't know about our woodworking skills, but if we could build one I think Carbon would like a wooden castle, kind of like this.

I have a few decorative plates hanging in my kitchen, and my husband could take Carbon to the Painted Plate place in town and Carbon could paint a plate for my collection. (Is that stretching the definition of handmade? I'm not sure.)

My husband likes to keep his tshirt drawer smelling nice, and the kids can work on their handwork to make decorative sachets for the lavender I have hanging to dry right now.

The kids could also make a new handprint Tshirt for their dad, or a handprint bag or pillowcase for me.

Projects I could do: embroidered pillowcases, quilts, doll clothing, knit hats and scarves, stuffed animals, pillows, personalized bags.




*** Santa will still be coming to our house. But we've never had Santa do more than stuff the stockings, so the kids will just be getting store bought stocking stuffers.