Handmade Holidays - Day 1

This year N. (Hubby) and I are making a fully committed attempt at creating a simple and joyful handmade holiday season. Throughout December each day I will post one or more of our ideas and projects in the hopes to eliminate some of the stress that seems to come during the season. Each year I always try to go bigger and better than the last...and the end result is always disappointment, stress and fights! Last year was the first year we decided to cut back and slow down and we had a much nicer holiday and really enjoyed each other and so this year we're going even further.

A simple holiday to us means no new ornaments except for the single yearly ornament we pick to commemorate a special memory from the past year, a major cutback in budget, a lower carbon footprint, less waste e.g. reusable wrapping and no paper gift tags (I'll share my ideas for that later).  And especially using what we already have I have so many stashed craft supplies and yarn that there is no reason why I need to buy more.

So that's our plan use less, buy less, slow down a lot, enjoy the season more, simplify and above all else appreciate the blessings of our home and families.

In preparation of this year's change I began very early to plan our budget, gifting and donation lists and decorating ideas. Which brings me to one part of our handmade gifts. This summer I made in addition to my regular batch of strawberry jam an extra batch to be stored and used as gifts for the holiday season.

These little jars will be topped with scraps of Christmas fabric and tied with ribbon as part of family gifts and unexpected guests and hostess gifts. And because I spent the preparation time in the summer, in less than an hour these will be fully ready to be gifted!  And really who doesn't love homemade jam?


Wishing you all a simple Holiday season!

New Pillows!

 Soo... it's been awhile and my throw pillows definitely needed some refreshing. I've had them for awhile and they just didn't match our home anymore. I think I'm happier with these new ones...the dogs sure seem to like them anyways lol.  A bit more relaxed and cozy thats for sure, our old ribbon and satin ones were stuffy and itchy and not so cozy.

I have to admit I used a thrifted bed sheet for the base of the blocks and it's sooo soft and worn in perfect for a cuddly pillow and even better for a sunny spring nap ;) I used raw edge circles for the quarters cut from scraps out of my bin and just made a basic envelope back to slide the pillow form in...easy right? 

Japanese Craft Books and Local Craft Stores

Last night I made my first foray into the much talked about www.yesasia.com from which I am now excitedly awaiting my first shipment of craft books. Bring on the end of March!

Today I also took a little trip to my local craft shop with my Grams and my mom, came home with a few treasures of which I am now eagerly plotting their futures. Although my fave is a single fat quarter of the Grinch, I just happened to look over as I was ringing out and HAD to have it I love the Grinch! Unfortunately there was only the one so I am now faced with the daunting task of finding the perfect project that doesn't involve a lot of cutting I want to keep as much of the pattern in play as possible. Any Ideas? Me either.

Later this evening I think I will start a set of quilted coasters for my living room. The other day the idea just came to me that I wanted fabric coasters and so that was the inspiration for my fruitful search today. Along with the unexpected Grinch find I also came across a lovely piece of cotton that I plan to make a new softy out of. So good luck to me on that. Anyways I'm off to get crafty.