Handmade Holiday Ideas

In the spirit of handmade holidays, I thought I'd share some of the things we have made for our kids over the past few years. Most of them are super easy and quick to make:

Rubber Band Board. It doesn't get an easier—nails, a piece of wood, and a bunch of rubber bands. May I suggest getting a bit more creative than we did, and painting the wood before banging in the nails? Your kids will get all kinds of artsy with this.

The ubiquitous puppet show theater. I made this about four years ago and the girls still play with it. I totally winged this, as I have no sewing abilities whatsoever, and it has still not fallen apart. A tension rod, a couple of dowels, and bunch of fabric. Voila!

Amigurumi Star Wars figures—an easy home run. The crocheted characters went pretty quickly, but this project has the added tasks of sewing the hair and clothes for them. Well worth it.

We have given personalized plate/mug sets to many kids for many occasions. I found a box of plain white plates/mug sets at a thrift store and painted them to the child's preference, but the picture above shows the ones the girls painted themselves. You could gift a set that you have painted especially for someone, or give them some plain tableware and a set of special paint to go with it, as a u-paint-it kit. (note: the paint is non-toxic, permanent, and dishwasher safe.)

How about home-made snuggies for all your kids' favorite stuffed animals? I made these for a birthday gift last year and they were a hit. As an added bonus, you will crack up every time you see them.

Hope you can take a few ideas away from this post. Happy making!

I'll gladly answer any questions you have about any of these projects. Just leave it in the comments. 

Rag Tag

Our small change for March is not groundbreaking. It is not original or progressive in any way. In fact, families have been doing this for centuries. I hope you're not too disappointed.

My family is going to make a greater effort to use rags (I know, last month I wrote about trash, this month...rags. Can I bore you any more? But for the sake of the One Small Change challenge, bear with me). We have already cut out paper goods for the most part—we use cloth napkins, dishrags and the like, but I have a confession to make. We almost always have a roll of paper towels in the house. Yes, we buy the 100% recycled kind and use them sparingly, but still. I suppose we keep them on hand because there are some messes that I just can't bear the thought of having to do any more with than just get rid of, and fast. Like cat puke, or a dead mouse dragged in by said cat.

Part of me has been wanting to do away with paper towels for a while now, so I decided that if we just have enough rags, an over-abundance of them, then it would be no big deal if a few needed to get tossed every now and then. So we went through the drawers and found the clothes that were too stained or otherwise destroyed to go in the donate pile. Then we cut them up, making our already-impressive stash of rags even more plentiful.

Now all our cat-related messes and beyond, that I just can't bear the thought of throwing in the wash, can be wiped up with a rag and immediately disposed of. And the rag bucket under the sink will still be overflowing. (Now? I just need to come up with a clever way to store those rags, that would make them more easily accessible. Suggestions welcome.)

Bonus! The girls had fun saving the 'good parts' of the clothes we cut up. The embroidery, buttons, ruffles, and appliques were carefully cut off and gathered up for some future crafty fun.

Six

She's six now. Her special day comes so close after the holidays, our projects just keep on keepin' on as we put together special things for the baby of the family, Ruby Jane (aka Janie-wa, the rubster...).

Her recent fascination with a certain dog breed called for a pug-themed celebration, complete with a, uh, frog pinata. (what to do when there is no pug pinata and it's the day before the party?) And so, in what has become a post-holiday tradition, out table top tree is transformed into a birthday tree. This year it was decorated with those adorable "smiling" dogs. (That's the attraction—pugs look like they are smiling)

But it's not just pugs on her mind these days. There's a new love. She has always gone in waves of obsession, mostly from one dog or cat breed to the next but she has recently broadened her animal-loving horizons to include reptiles. Clearly, a knit lizard was in order.

And after receiving a Snuggie from her auntie for Christmas, she was dying for a doggie Snuggie (I saw it at the pharmacy, Meems, I know exactly where they are. I'll spend my own money!). Curses to the strategically-placed items and hard-to-resist packaging. She was right to want a snuggie for her special dogs—who can resist being wrapped in cozy fleece?

My solution was homemade "snuggies" that would actually fit all her favorite friends. Bring on the cold weather. We have one cozy little six year old, and four cozy little friends.

"A" wants a homemade snuggie , too. Now that would be some good comedy.

You Talk Too Much

"Khangas" are traditional cloths from Tanzania. Often worn as skirts or head wraps, they feature bright colors and bold prints, and always bear a proverb or other educational saying. These phrases run the gamut from everyday expressions to riddles, but the khangas with attitude are my favorite.

This one, roughly translated from Swahili states, "you talk too much." My mother brought it back from Zanzibar (Tanzania) last year and she asked me to make a tablecloth and some napkins with the fabric.

The colors, amazing and the patterns, vivid. That brilliant shade of blue is complimented by the striking black and white designs. I cut the pieces for the napkins starting at the edge to showcase the fabric's best asset—the border. I made eight napkins from one half of the khanga, and made the other half into a tablecloth. My mother had forgotten all about the fabric (yes, I suppose forgetfulness does run in the family) and we used them with Christmas dinner.

I spent a good while reading Khanga phrases online today. The vastness of the sentiments are amazing and range from scorching: "The mother-in-law resorts to witchcraft to alienate her son from his wife" (ouch!), to loving: "There is no guardian like a mother." And from blunt: "I don't want empty greetings" to contemplative: "To give is something of the heart, not riches."

I'm on board with this Tanzanian tradition of wearing convictions and dispositions like this. I have already chosen a few favorites: "Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents; it was loaned to you by your children" and "This is the place you are looking for."

Which one would you choose?

Red Cabbage Wonders

Irresistible. Each and every time I cut into a red cabbage, I am amazed at the graphic beauty of it. I cannot get over that bright plum (cabbage?) purple, swirled into mazes that fold over each other in beautiful randomness.

And every time I cut into one I think to myself, "Someday, I'm going to give this cabbage the props it deserves." I dream of painting, drawing, knitting or interpreting in silver this boldly contrasting composition. I'm working up to that, but this weekend we did do a little experimenting with the color.

I boiled the cabbage for about a half hour, allowing all the pigment to leach out and boil down to a slightly thicker liquid. The result was this inky, deep purple dye.

We soaked some cotton string and fabric scraps in the dye and they dried this gorgeous amethyst color. The girls have big plans for me to knit stuffed animal hats with this string, and make clothes for their soft friends with the fabric. We shall see...

Of course, we ate the remainder of that cabbage. There is an excellent recipe for Red Cabbage with Lemon and Black Pepper, in A Homemade Life, by Molly Wizenberg (Of Orangette fame). If you haven't picked this book up yet, I highly recommend it. Our favorites from that book also include Tomato Soup with Two Fennels, and Custard-Filled Corn Bread. yum-y!

New Rhythms

In the swing of things again, and it is bittersweet. Those wide-open days of summer vacation seem so long ago already. New rhythms keep the beat while we get ready for school, do homework, go to soccer, bake lots of bread for sandwiches, and have productive sessions in the workshop.

This year, in an effort to cut down on the waste in the girls' lunchboxes, I made a bunch of snack sacks. They were so simple and quick—I made 9 of them in one sitting. I didn't have a pattern, so I decided to wing it and take my cues from a basic envelope. Once they were constructed, I added a few pieces of Velcro to keep the contents from spilling out.

They have been so great, and the girls have gotten lots of comments about them from teachers and classmates. (Maybe this will help spread the no-trash lunch idea?) Plans are in the works for sandwich wrappers next, as these are a bit small for a pb&j.

Good Neighbors

It's been a while, I know. We are back online, after a complete computer meltdown, all thanks to my sister who loaned us her old CPU. Whew! It's a crazy feeling, being shut off from the world like that (chuckle chuckle). But I have to give a shout out to my kind neighbors who, as soon as I mentioned our computer died, called and emailed to say that not only did they have an extra computer we could use, but also let me know I could go on over and use theirs whenever I need to. Seriously, neighbors don't get much better than that.

Speaking of good neighbors, I had the pleasure of being assigned the booth next to Little Garlic Press at last Sunday's Design Hive Market in Cambridge, MA.

Little Garlic Press is a Portland, ME based operation featuring clothing made from re-purposed vintage fabrics, cotton t-shirts bearing antique botanical illustrations, and beautiful paper products. The creative force behind the shop is Nikaline who, aside from her 4 (four!) other jobs, finds time to design gorgeous scarves, skirts, dresses and shirts from vintage clothing and fabric she cleverly sources.


She has gotten her hands on so much vintage fabric over the years that she sells that, too. I couldn't resist this piece of mushroom print polyester fabric she was selling, so I scooped it up before anyone else could buy it. I can only imagine what was originally done with this fabric in the 70's ( think: women's pantsuits and men's shirts a la Travolta). What will I do with it? I have no idea. I just know needed it. Polyester mushroom print fabric doesn't come along every day, folks.

You can find Little Garlic Press at Material Objects in Portland, at Design Hive during the holidays, or at her Etsy shop (her shop is currently empty, but check back soon as she'll be adding new items).

If Your Children Play with Legos...

I think we can officially name this school vacation the "Summer of Legos" at our home. The girls start off each day by dumping the Lego bin onto the floor and building the day away. A parent couldn't be happier about that, right? Right. But the challenge lies in the fact that they leave and come back to them throughout the day (the reason I don't make them clean up right away). This means way too many opportunities to step on them (ouch!), or kick them under the bookshelf, or send them sliding into the next room. We have been finding those minuscule pieces everywhere, and it is a major project getting them all cleaned up at the end of the day.


Enter "A", who recalled his little-boy Lego storage—a "parachute" bag, he called it. He described it in detail, and it sounded like the perfect solution. I got to work, with my adviser close at hand for some grommet work.


The idea is simple—a circle of nylon (though any fabric would do), grommets around the edge, and a cord. It lies completely flat, so the girls can work from the pile of pieces in the center, eliminating the likelihood of having them scattered about the house. When it's clean-up time, they simply pull the strings and they're done!

The girls are thrilled to have their new bag, "A" is happy to have re-created this bit of his childhood, and the soles of my feet are thanking me.

Not a Dull Moment

The Peruvian wool I splurged on a few weeks back is starting to take shape. As you can see, I am running out of room on the pattern to make note of my sets and rows. What am I knitting? I'll bet most anyone who is a fan of knitty.com could guess. I do believe it is, by far, their most downloaded pattern...

Our pick-your-own blueberry excursion today yielded 5 pounds (five POUNDS!) of berries, for exactly $10. I call that a bargain, if there ever was one. But wait, speaking of bargains...

I scored all this booty at a local church yard sale this evening. Fabric, ribbon, rick rack, bias tape, string, a bread pan, and a pair of knitting needles of every size from 1 to 7 (!!!), and more (read: various random animal statues the girls chose, beads, a mug, leather gloves, felt squares...) for, once again, exactly $10.

So here I am—with an interesting knitting pattern to concentrate on, more blueberries than I know what to do with, and crafting supplies to last me far into the future. I don't imagine a dull moment any time soon.

That Stack of Fabric

Remember that gorgeous stack of fabric I was making plans for? Well, I made it into, uh, a gorgeous stack of fabric...

I got one of Anna Maria Horner's "palette piles," excited for a project worthy of such stunning material. I thought of making napkins, but quickly shelved the idea, thinking napkins we not a good enough end product for these pretty prints. They would just get stained and otherwise defaced. Then it dawned on me—what better thing to make with the fabric? They are out on our table, in plain sight all day, every day. They get used at three meals a day, plus whenever snacking requires them. And, as an added bonus, they are an attractive addition to the the kaleidoscope of colors hanging on the clothesline.

Buckets o' Fun

I spent some time last week making these MayaMade Buckets—one for each of my girls, and one as a little-girl gift. I had come across rave reviews of this bucket pattern on more than one blog, and I knew we could find so many great uses for them. I imagined them as toy storage, as a caddie for random items, or as my current-knitting-project basket. My girls, however, came up with a few uses I hadn't considered—like MacGyvering them onto a zip line, or as hats with funny ear straps.

They were originally designed to be made with repurposed burlap coffee sacks, but lacking those, I used what I had. I do have a few planned for myself soon, and hope to get my hands on some old burlap sacks first.

I'll most likely share pictures of the grown-up versions of the buckets once they are finished. But something tells me they will be reinvented into thingamajigs and whoseywhatseys by a certain five- and seven-year-old before I can claim them as my own.