kattitudes

This is absolutely not a handmade item, nor is it an inexpensive gift, but it is an adorable gift and an oh so comfortable gift. Yes, we own them. And yes, every time they are worn and seen around our house, someone inevitably asks where they were found. As a result, I have learned to keep the information close at hand.

There is just something about recapturing the comfort of your childhood by wearing the warmth and fuzziness of a footed sleeper. It is fantastic. Yes, hot as the dickens, but wonderful nonetheless. I bought one as a Christmas present for my Mister when we lived in London. He complained nonstop about freezing to death at night. I thought it was a right hilarious joke. He thought his throat would have to be cut before he wore it. However, on nights when the thermometer dipped below freezing literally, I noticed it was pulled out of hiding to keep warm.

If you have a prankster in the family that might appreciate the return to childhood, this would make an incredible Christmas present. Yes, the price tag can get hefty, particularly when you add up the cost of multiple outfits to make an entire family match.

Around my house, I started a tradition long ago. Everyone that stays the night on Christmas Eve gets new Christmas pajamas for good looking pictures on Christmas morning. However, you have to open them Christmas Eve and wear them. I was thinking about getting everyone footed pajamas this year for those that will wake up in our house on Christmas morning. My problem is that I wonder how much I would have to pay my Mister to actually go through with it. We are still in the midst of a drought here in hot Georgia state, so I cannot exactly count on the cold weather to get him to cooperate this time around. I might have to start spiking the egg nog early. Early and strong. It could be my only hope.

via Pajama City

This handy clip, made from a clothes pin, is one of those all inclusive handy dandy household helpers. At Christmastime, there is so much that needs clipped and put up around the house that it makes sense to have some lovely ways to suspend decorations, cards and more all around the place.

This just needs a clothespin and some bells. Both can be purchased at your local crafts store or even your local grocery store as long as your local grocery store is an all inclusive type.

Another nice thing about this particular craft is that it can span the seasons. It is easy to change the ribbon and the season focus. This would also be a neat way to attach a card or what have you to a Christmas gift as a tag holder - as an embellishment to hold the to/from tag.

Lots of possibilities with this particular little clip. There is just so much you could do with it. I think that I might just find myself making a number of these Saturday night in preparation for Sunday’s party! If for nothing else, I can use them to decorate and embellish gifts.

Isn’t this lovely? And such a simple construction, but it ends looking so complex. The bracelet is just a single strand of beadalon, with the main focus of large beads of rose quartz capped with antiqued silver bead caps. These are set off with alternating garnet and moonstone rondelles. The smaller size really serves to contrast against the bulk of the rose quartz stones.

The beadalon is finished with a few silver beads to tidy up and a simple crimp bead to keep everything in place. And with the size and weight of the rose quartz stones, the heft of the bracelet is certainly enough to safely support a toggle clasp.

This would make a fantastic Christmas present (but the focus on Christmas is because we are quickly walking up to the holiday here). In reality, this bracelet would make a lovely reminder of how much you love someone for any number of occasions. Birthdays, anniversaries, christenings, really - any type of celebration. I need pretty much no excuse to make a piece of jewelry.

Having said that, I will admit that this week is wearing me thin. I am going to a Christmas party this upcoming weekend and I am trying to finish about twelve handmade gifts before Sunday. For the most part, I have a handle on them (most are jewelry, of course), but still… nothing like pressure to get things done, you know?

Oh what a wonderful and simple handmade Christmas ornament. Yes, if you wanted, you could go to the store and pay the silly amount that is being requested for this, but why? Seriously. Why on earth.

This is white paint on a plain, solid color Christmas ball ornament. There are so many zillions of snowflake shapes available online that you do not even need to worry about remembering how to paint snowflake shapes. You can just look them up online and copy what you see. How much easier can it get?

And if you absolutely hate the paint that is out there, you can get out the old whiteout that you used to use with typewriters. Man, that stuff worked like a charm! It even has a built in paint brush. I still have a couple of bottles of that stuff knocking around the house somewhere. It would make a perfect paint for these.

These hand painted ornaments are just so easy to make that you can take a few minutes and dress up some of the plain ornaments that are on your tree. And we still have Secret Santa gifts and hostess gifts throughout the season, so you might keep these in mind as a simple yet elegant gift to pass along.

If this is not my very favorite embroidery pillow yet, it is right up there. I love the variety of different symbols used to represent each different letter in the word Christmas.

And so that you can see the detail better, you can click on the picture to see it up close.

Honestly, this is the type of thing that I would not waste on just a simple pillow. I would put this all over lots of things, but my preference is on clothing. I would love to put this right across a favorite sweater so that I can wear it over and over through the holiday season.

I suppose I could make it on warm comfortable sweatshirts so that my friends that brave the masses during the Black Friday shopping madness would have something adorable to wear.

This is just a perfect example of something wonderful on one craft that can be expanded to a zillion other places and a million other ideas. Have fun with it. Run with it. Take it and make it yours.

Here is a great way to welcome a new addition to the family Christmas and the family Christmas tree this year. With a simple name and birthday written on a gender appropriate Christmas ball ornament, you have a wonderful memorial to the moment someone came into the family.

Of course, the store where I saw these wanted forty two dollars for the privilege of having someone else draw a stork on a Christmas ball ornament. Um. No. I can do that myself for a quarter worth of paint and a little bit of effort (and I dare say that my stork might look a wee bit better in all honesty). And if I did not feel confident in my stork ability, I would find the most adorable baby representative clip art that I could and decoupage the dickens out of the ornament instead.

Either way, making a welcome to the family and welcome to your first Christmas ornament is a great idea. Anyone can buy one of those Baby’s First Christmas ornaments, but making your own as a special gift for a new baby in the family or a new member of your circle of friends just makes it all the more special. And it makes a memory for the baby in question to have forever once he or she gets old enough to appreciate the work you put into the ornament.

I have not posted my favorite felt embroidered pillows lately, so I figured I would today. And while I am a little late posting to get this done before Hanukkah began this year, if you are a fast worker, technically it would be possible to get it finished before the end of Hanukkah.

I do love the menorah and the way the felt has been cut and sewn on to replicate the look of melting wax. It is a really nice detail. I have made the photo clickable so that you can see the detail work on the pillow. It is nicely done, and I figure if you are going to try to get one done before the end of the eight days, you are going to need to be able to see the details.

Oh I wish I knew the name of the Etsy seller that made these! Someone sent me the picture in my email and I just fell over laughing. My Mister would probably love these (well, maybe. I do not know if he geeked out that far yet, but it is possible). Personally, I found them just too precious for words.

And I figure they actually would not be too hard to make yourself if you just could not find the seller on Etsy. You can find the general outline of Darth Vader and the Imperial Stormtroopers just about everywhere. Plus, you can just look closely at the photo for the general outline of the embroidery.

If I ever find the seller, great job! These are a freaking riot.

I keep suggesting all these Christmas stockings, throw pillows and so on to make out of all types of felt fabric, which means by now you must have all manner of snips and bits of felt remnants floating around your general sewing area.

If you wanted to entertain the children (big or small), consider using a few scraps to roll together a nice little hat for a few candy canes. It gives them a nice personality and makes them look so interesting poking out of the top of a Christmas stocking.

They are not hard to put together and they do not take much fabric. You can use a needle and thread and put them together with just a few stitches or, because they are so small, you could even put them together with a drop or two of glue.

So I keep seeing these really rather cute garland looking things and I just love them … until I look at the price. Good grief. Thirty dollars and more? Are they high? Again, I go into my “just no” response. Just no. I can make them myself. Period.

I need paper. I like my garlands with a little heft, so I always use my leftover mail boxes and cardboard junk mail that comes into the house for my garlands. This way I am reusing waste paper that would ordinarily be thrown away and I am still getting a good heavy stiff cardboard to use.

I just print out my letters from my printer and tape them to the cardboard and cut them out. Then I use either glitter glue or glitter and glue to completely cover the letters.

I use my eyelet setting tools leftover from my scrapbooking days to make the good reinforced holes for hanging and a ribbon threaded through for the garland itself.

That is it. Instant garland. Last week (or earlier some time) I posted the same idea, but with snowflakes instead. These garlands are really quite easy to make, which is why it surprises me so much when I see these outrageously price tags attached. There is no reason! Save your Christmas budget and make them yourself.