Christmas crafting

I almost didn't even recognize myself after seeing all the crafting & baking being done in my house...  I'm sure my family didn't recognize me either! haha

These are my boys' thumb prints that I turned into reindeer.  I made the mistake of buying glass ornaments and actually broke one by pushing down too hard!  oops.  But, the remaining ones turned out great - were easy to wipe clean for do-overs - and I just loved them.  Gifts for special people in the boys' lives!  and had to keep one for myself too.

So grateful for my new address stamp now that we have a permanent address to use.  Best Christmas cards yet.  Awesome house warming gift from Natassja&Mike.

Hayden wanting to push the buttons on the sewing machine.  Maybe my little helper one day?  Don't worry, unplugged & in the off position.

My trial & errors on making felt ornaments for gifts to our family.  I wanted to make family monograms & start a tradition (hopefully) of making ornaments for Christmas every year.  I definitely had lots of attempts for finalizing my choice of technique and pattern.  I actually kept one of my 'tester' pieces as our family ornament for this year.  Below, the white P on chevron.  Not a total bust, but learned a lot from creating it!

My own finished product hung on our tree.

The finished gifts for my family!  I think they were very well received.  It was fun to make something special & hopefully they know how loved they are.

 Who can do all this crafting without the proper hot chocolate & Christmas cookie?

I saw another idea for using paper snowflakes as part of your wrapping decoration.  I loved the idea & had to try it out on just a few little gifts for Matt's extended family gift exchange (which was a total of 4).  Made it fun to wrap & cut out the snowflakes.  I hadn't done them in years!

I also tried a new sugar cookie recipe this year with a butter cream icing.  Christmas cookie #2 was a big success vs. #1.  The boys got to help roll out the dough and make a tester batch, which we iced and decorated together.  They had such a good time but the dough took some a serious beating!  haha, between the two of them it was quite the effort to keep on track...

We ended up making just a few and enjoying them that evening.  Only baked about 60 cookies that day...  ! haha.  The majority went to our Bible study Christmas party for the kids to decorate, so it was time well spent.

But seriously, I had so much fun.  Crafting is beginning to win me over.  All in moderation...

oh and a homemade apple pie for Christmas dinner.  yuuumm!