Handmade Christmas Gifts from Pinterest

Saturday, December 31, 2011

I was amazed by the handmade Christmas gifts our family made for each other this year. I’ve spotted many of these ideas on Pinterest so it was surreal seeing crafts from my pin-boards in real life. You may want to save some of these ideas to make for Christmas next year.

FELT OWLS
One of my favorite gifts was from my sister-in-law; felt owls hanging on a branch for my son’s nursery room.
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Aren’t they adorable? I have a whole Owl pin-board with samples of these that I wanted to make but never have time – and she made me eight of them, all hand stitched!
She also made me this custom menu board for our kitchen Diner.

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We can change the menu as needed. I’ve been eyeing these but have never gotten around to making one. Now it looks perfect in our diner. See more of our diner here.

EVEN MY MOTHER-IN-LAW USES PINTEREST
I love that my mother-in-law uses Pinterest. I get to see what she likes and in return she sees my interests.  She made me this cute ‘camera attention getter.’
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She cut up a small stuffed animal she got at a thrift store and used the extra fabric from the body to make the elastic scrunchy to fit around my camera lens. Much more fun for my kids to look at than just a black hole.

I had pinned this Elmo version from Etsy earlier in the year. It is only $10.
elmo camera etsy

She also gave me a bokeh camera filter which I just discovered on Pinterest in December.
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You can see DIY bokeh filters by The Friendly Fox (pictured on left) or on I Heart Faces. Both are on my pin boards and I plan to make more shapes. I took the picture on the right with my bokeh star filter. I can’t wait to use it more.

CROCHET and KNIT GIFTS
My 2nd sister-in-law makes amazing crochet blankets & hats.
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She created this special blanket for my in-laws who are a split-sport family. One side likes BYU (Brigham Young University), the other likes the University of Utah. So she combined them together “BYUTAH” into one blanket so they can still sit by each other while watching games.  So creative!

R2-D2 Crochet Hat
Here is the R2-D2 hat she made my son. (I did send her a picture from Pinterest a few months ago for an idea.) She created her own pattern. See the original pattern with ear flaps at Nesting Sticks.
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Matching Girl and Doll Hats and Headbands
Then she made these cute matching knit headbands and hats for my daughter and her American Girl doll.  The ribbons and pom poms are perfect accents.
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She also made the ‘J’ initial hat for my son and a “U” hat for my toddler son and matched it with a T-shirt. And made another U hat for my husband.  She has been a busy crafter this season.
My sister made me the turquoise hat last year and my daughter steals it from me all the time.
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Crochet Stuffed Animals
My 3rd sister-in-law made this adorable crochet lamb for my son. Can you believe the detail?
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BEARDED BEANIE and FINGER-STACHE’S
I pinned this bearded beanie a few months ago from Etsy and wanted one for my husband.
beard beanie knit etsy

I went to a blogger’s “White Elephant Party” hosted by Kathy @ Danish Mama earlier in December and I happened to score this bearded beanie made by Ashlee of I’m Topsy Turvy. She also made the finger-stache’s that my kids love. 

See pattern for knit Bearded Beanie and knit finger-stache’s.
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Funny Story:  I got them the first week of December and hid them to save as presents. My husband actually emailed me the 2nd week of December with the same pic as above from Etsy and asked if we knew anyone who could make these. I was laughing because I already had this hidden in the closet for him. He got it Christmas Eve and loves it.

DIY JEDI ROBE
I started pinning patterns for a Jedi Robe in November. I have a lot on my board. One of my friends commented saying “I used this one at Halloween and it turned out great.”
See pattern at Degraeve.
jedi robe pattern at degraeve
So I took her advice and whipped this one up while my kids went to a movie with Dad.
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SILVERWARE WIND CHIME
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Okay, I wanted to share this cute picture of my husband and son under the mistletoe – but look closely at the silverware wind chime in the background. My sister made that for my mom.

STOCKING SHELF
We don’t have a fireplace so I’ve never known where to hang our stockings until I saw this idea on Pinterest from Alayna’s Creations.
stocking shelf tipjunkie
I had this shelf in my laundry room and it was perfect to pull out and hang our stockings for the month.
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I got the stockings at the Downeast Home Outlet. They all had other monogrammed names on them from being returned so I covered them with ribbon, except the one I found that says “Victoria.” Just right for $1 each. We also have the matching tree skirt for $8 that is monogrammed with “The Kwans” name but we cover that with the train track and no one else knows about it (except you now).

Holiday Paperwhite Flower Planter
I also made these paperwhite planters out of food cans after seeing ideas around pinterest. See this version from Tauni at It’s a Tradition.
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I bought ribbon and the fake berries at the dollar store to dress up the cans. I attached a card that said “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” with instructions for taking care of the flower.
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MERRY PINTEREST!
It was a Pinterest filled Christmas! I am still in awe of all these wonderful homemade gifts we will forever cherish.

I’m going to keep pinning ideas on Pinterest and maybe more dreams will come true next year. 
What homemade gifts did you give or receive this year?
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Grinch Christmas Craft Round-up

Monday, December 19, 2011

If you love the Grinch I'm giving away How the Grinch Stole Christmas app + 2 more apps today Dec. 9, 2012. Click here to enter by leaving a comment.

Merry Grinchmas!
I’ve seen a variety of great Grinch ideas online lately so I am sharing a few of my favorites today.

GRINCH PILLS
Once I saw these Grinch Pills on Pinterest I had to make them. IMG_1598
I’m not positive where the poem or idea originated. It does take some work formatting things to print your own so I found someone who sells them on Etsy if that would help you be a little less Grinchy during the holidays. 
I found the Big Pack of Tic Tacs on sale so I could make 5 of them.
Primary Ornaments1
GRINCH COOKIES
I made theseGrinch cookies and took them to a cookie exchange last week at Jen’s house (from the fabulous blog Tatertots and Jello) See recipe below.
I made this record stand for our diner to display party food. Here are a few Grinch Cookies.
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Click here for more info and pictures of Mount Crumpit Melt-a-way Grinch Cookies.

Grinch meltaway recipe ObSEUSSed

GRINCH QUOTE
I’ve been crushing this Grinch quote by Laura of Announced Design.
You can order the digital print from her site.
Trim_Up_the_Tree-Grinch1 Announced Designs 7 Dollars

GRINCH TREE
I found this Whoville Tree by Stevie over at Garden Therapy.
I love how tall it is and how the top arches over. This adds a whimsical feeling to a natural tree.
Grinch Christmas Tree whoville

GRINCH CRAFT BEADS
My kids love working with perler beads. They will sit down for 30-45 minutes filling up their boards with patterns. I have a whole stack waiting to be ironed. I’m going to show them this and see if they can duplicate it.
A Grinch out of perler beads, by April Hanna as seen on Pinterest.
grinch perler beads by April Hanna

GRINCH HAT
I also spotted this cute Grinch crochet hat on Pinterest and found out they sell the pattern on Etsy if you’d like to try to make your own.
Grinch crochet hat etsy

GRINCH WREATH
This vibrant Grinch Christmas Wreath is incredible with so many details. You can find it on Etsy as well.
grinch wreath etsy

GRINCH GINGERBREAD HOUSE
This Whoville gingerbread house village can been seen at Sweetopia.
whoville gingerbread house Grinch Christmas

GRINCH YARD
I’d love a set of these Grinch yard display “who” characters. Can you believe they were stolen last year? They put up a sign that says “Lost Child, Have you seen Cindy Lou who is no more than 2?” I hope someone returns them.
I wonder if I could get my husband to make a set for our yard?
Whoville_Stolen_Character_Candy_Cane_Lane

GRINCH SANTA BAGS
I bought these Santa Bags ($4-8) at our local DownEast Outlet (located about 3500 S. 3500 West in West Valley City, Utah) that sells Pottery Barn  returns. Some had monogrammed names on them so I bought Grinch fabric on eBay  by Kaufman and am sewing it on the bags this week.
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GRINCH VISIT
The Grinch visited my daughter’s school reading night at Barnes and Noble so I had to get my picture with him. The kids did too but they were a little scared of him. This mask is a little freaky.
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MERRY GRINCHMAS!
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Polar Express Ticket Bookmark and Bell

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg, is a Christmas classic we read each holiday.  My kids love the story book and movie.

"TICKETS PLEASE"
Everyone needs a ticket to ride on the Polar Express.  Let kids pretend to be the conductor and punch holes in these tickets to use as bookmarks.
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We just used red construction paper but laminated it at the end to make it stronger and more durable. You could also use gold paper if you have it to be more like the movie. Card stock would be best.

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I marked the word “BELIEVE” with x’s on the bookmark. Tell kids to try to punch out the x’s. I used a black permanent marker to draw a quick border and some words. Then I laminated the ticket and added one hole punch on one end so I could tie the bell on the side.
I found this 9-pack of bells for $1.00 at the Dollar Tree. I easily tied them to the bookmark.

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Make one for every child in your family so they all have a ticket and a bell to hold while reading the book. This would also be a great classroom project for schools during the holidays.


Add a link in the comments below if you want to share other activities that go with this book.
Happy Holidays! Thanks for stopping by ObSEUSSed!
Victoria Signature 11

Sharing this project here:
Thirty Hand Made DaysI Can Teach My Child

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