Christmas Present Ideas for the Crafty

Last year we had Landon paint mats and gave frames with pictures to each of his grandmothers and great grandmothers. I don't have a picture of these on this computer, but I chose 2 or 3 coordinating color paints and used his hand like a sponge to sponge paint the mats. (If you received one of these and we told you he painted them, then he totally painted them, I'm just kidding about using his hand like a sponge.)

It took a long time to think of the project for this year and I sat on it for a long time, thinking it might not be as big a hit as I wanted it to be. But it was, so here's my secret, feel free to use it and if you have something crafty for me to do this year, let me know, I'm totally out of ideas for now.

If you have even the minimal amount of skills on a sewing machine, you can totally make these:

That's a handprint wreath appliqued on an apron. This particular one has the handprints of all my mother's grandchildren. That's several prints per child, it's not like I'm hiding extra children or my sisters are bunnies or anything. Big hands in the back, little hands up front. It tried to do it with just 2 fabrics and there wasn't enough contrast, so you do need 3 fabrics minimum.



And had I not fallen in love with buttons that cost $4 for 2, I might have added some berry buttons. But once I fell in love with those and realized that 2 bunches of buttons that would eventually fall off would cost more than the total of each project I decided that no, I wouldn't do that. And then, I couldn't allow myself to even consider a lesser button and therefore opted for no buttons/berries.



I'm not sure who liked it more. My mom, who I gave it to and then promptly took it back because I hadn't gotten it embroidered yet. Or my mother-in-law who opened it and then I demanded that she not only embroider her own, but also her mother's and my mother's. I suppose Mema may have liked it best, since she not only got to keep it, she didn't have to do any work on it. And yes, I did price getting it embroidered by a non-reciever, it wasn't a bad deal, but do you think I finished them in a timely manner so that I could have that done? Of course not. And do you really think I could have had it done before I did the wreath? No, because then they'd all be getting these in 2012 and they'd still say 2008. Just ask all the fabric I bought in 2006 to make fabric bowls that's still in my sewing closet.

If you're lacking in the sewing department, I think you could totally paint this and it would still be cute. You may need to drug your child so that you have control of his hand, but it could work. Not that I advocate that or anything...maybe your child is more compliant than mine.

I'm still thinking about what we'll be doing for 2009, but part of me thinks it should involve something like this:

For the record, this is my favorite art work that Landon has brought home. It's the first one that I really feel like he had done on his own for the most part. And yes, it took me about 3 minutes to realize what it is.