The 2012 Homemade Christmas Gift

Receiving personalized thoughtful gifts is so special - even if you aren't a gift person, a gift that is specifically for YOU means so much more than one that is not. In my opinion homemade gifts that are well made with the gift recipient in mind are the absolute best. :) I love making gifts for people and try to make at least one home-made gift each Christmas - maybe one of these years I'll go all out and start in January so that EVERYONE can receive a home-made gift. But not last year... and probably not this year ether... haha. :) 

My sister-in-law Amy showed me this adorable runner on PierOne's website and mentioned liking it - and that the only push I needed. :) My mind started spinning....

I asked Amy if she would be okay with receiving a runner that was in the same style but a bit more customized to her and to my excitement she said, "I was hoping you'd ask that." :) (Or something along those lines haha) 

We gave a set of these cloth napkins to Amy last year - they are from World Market and match her amazing Fiesta-ware dishes perfectly.

 After a few informative text messages with my fabulous mother-in-law and coconspirator I had a list of Fiesta-ware colors and dimensions for Amy's table - Fabric Shopping was next! 

My first stop was World Market to see if they had anymore cloth napkins in the print we had bought last year - I hoped to incorporate it into the runner. I was sad to see that they had discontinued the print but as as I was perusing the clearance section my eye spied it! A cloth napkin, in the right print - MAJORLY discounted! Yippee! I love it when things go "right" during projects! :) 

Next stop: JoAnn's (I've been so impressed with their fabric selection lately - they remodeled the one in Amarillo and it's amazing now.)

 After some browsing and fabric switching I finally picked my fabrics! Yes, that's is a baby foot at the bottom - don't worry, I was resting the bolts on ether side of Michael's stroller - he was very comfortable and having fun laughing at his mamma's crazy antics. :) 

 Here's a better shot of the fabrics - I loved the bright cheery print on top - it was modern/bright and just what I needed as a jumping off point. :)

I also bought some fun ribbons for some textural details.

I didn't take pictures of the process but here's a run down,

• Wash fabrics, Iron
• Cut out strips in varying lengths and then cut out pieces at 45 degree angles. (I cut mine out with my rotary cutter and cut two pieces out at once, this gave me two pieces that were cut perfectly to "mirror" each other on the runner.)
• Lay out your pieces in the order you want them to go.
• Sew together your pieces (much like you would a quilt top).
• Iron your top on to a piece of lightweight interfacing (I wanted to give the runner some stability so that Amy wouldn't need to iron it every time she washed it). 
• Sew on your ribbon accents (this hides any mistakes, ie. corners not matching up perfectly, you might have made along the way)
• Sew on the back of the runner, turn right side out and top stitch to finish.

Tada!

 The Pom-Pom trim was one of my favorite parts!

 All ready for it's owner. :) 

Amy loved it and I even got to see it in action at her apartment! It looked so cute on her green table! 

Are you a crafty person? Do you like making homemade gifts? Or if you're not crafty, do you like receiving them? :)

2012 Christmas Pictures

Oh Christmas pictures... how you excite me with both fear, dread and anticipation of great things. Haha - am I alone in this? We are kind of do-it-ourself-ers and that applies to picture taking too. Eventually we'll have a professional help us out - but until then, I love our quirky family pictures.

The first photo-shoot we did was on the day we put up our christmas tree, we got one nice family shot (out of 30?) out of the crazy 10 minutes of smiling, talking through our teeth and laughing. Lucy was ecstatic about the tree so it was a good moment. :) 

Totally not perfect - but like I said. I love it. :) 

The second shoot came on December 23nd - before church. I made an effort to be dressed and ready 15 minutes before we needed to leave for church to allow time for some Christmas pictures of these two cuties. 

 I'm showing you the best first... fyi. Haha :) I love Lucy's expression - she's gotten really good at "smiling" on cue and her smiles are (usually) natural looking. Michael on the other hand, looks at me with an expression of curiosity and questioning. Haha!

 My joke must have fallen flat... :)

 I pray they grow into great friends. 

Then it was time for solo shots!

 One baby is easy! Look how easily he smiles. :) If my memory serves me well, he was laughing at Lucy jumping behind me - that gets him every time. :) 

 My handsome one year old. 

 Michael was given the adorable tie for his birthday and it matched his christmas sweater perfectly! His sweater/jeans and shoes are all from my friend Misty - she got them for him before he was born and said, "This is a little-Brad outfit for your son." It was perfect for the occasion. 

Solo-photo-shoot 2 (aka. The one that didn't go so well)

 As you can see, my sweet 2 1/2 year old was d.o.n.e. Haha - was mommy? Nope, not quite. 

We tried tickling...

 ...requested nice smiles....

 ...and finally realized that no good was going to come out of these efforts. :) 

You win some you loose some, Right? Are you a do-it-yourself "photographer" or do you leave this difficult job to the professionals?

Michael's Birthday

(I know I'm months behind... but I think I'm okay (kinda) with that - get ready for some Christmas posts later this week! Haha!)

Michael's Birthday finally arrived! Little did he know when he woke up what the day was going to hold for him. :) We had a normal breakfast - Michael eats better when there is a routine and his food is predictable - and the the birthday boy got to open a few gifts. 

I love the "I just woke up" eyes in this picture! :) 

Laura, showing off a picture she drew for Michael. 

Lucy was excited for Michael to open the gift that was from her - a Melissa and Doug Sorting Cube. "Can I play with the Sorting Cube with you Michael?" We had had many conversations about Michael eventually sharing his toys but giving him space to look at them by himself when they are brand new. A difficult concept for a little girl - but she did well. :) 

Opening the gift from Grammy and Papa

A nice plaid shirt and jeans! 

Our morning was uneventful but fun, we played together and relaxed - we were resting up for the open house we had planned for that afternoon. :) I had scheduled the party during Michael's "Awake time" in the afternoon so he would, hopefully, be cheerful. Brad made the invitations for me - didn't they turn out well? He has some mad skills. 

I think the mustache is pretty awesome - they are all the rage right now and someday when Michael asks us why we were so silly, we'll reply "They were cool back then and they'll be cool again." haha

I took the opportunity to decorate a bit during nap time and was really happy with the results. :) Christmas got put away for a little bit because it was time to celebrate our BOY!

The Buffet

Michael hasn't yet shown interest in one toy/play thing over another - so I "shopped" my house for things that he liked playing with that fit in with the colors and party vibe. 

Just like at Lucy's 1st Birthday Party - Michael's quilt was the "runner" for the table. 

We served fresh, soft pretzels, regular pretzels, cheese dip, veggies, chex mix and sugar cookies. :)

I take back my earlier comment about Michael not having an affinity for one toy/play thing - he LOVES balls. I was able to go through our ball bucket and find enough color-coordinated balls to fill my "centerpiece." Isn't it masculine? :) Haha

Sugar Cookies! I'd very much like to be better at frosting them, so I'll keep practicing. 

And because no party is complete with out a banner at Sarah's house - Brad says I have a banner obsession, and he may have a point - I made Michael a birthday banner. I'm thrilled with how it turned out - I used fabric scraps from his quilt and bought a few extra fabric fat-quarters to use in the same color scheme. Then, to keep it simple, I simply sewed the flags into 3 yds of store-bought binding. (I've since made two other banners using store-bought binding and I'm a huge fan!)

For a side by side comparison, I put out Lucy and Michael's framed monthly pictures - it was fun to ooh and ahh over how cute they were/are. :)

The side of the fridge held larger images of Michael's monthly pictures - it was a great conversation piece at the party. It was so fun to examine when Michael got hair, choose our favorite pictures and talk about how much changes in a year. 

Here's Lucy waiting for friends to arrive. :) 

The birthday boy - enjoying his cookie. 

He's so fun. 

It was a success - Michael loved the cookies and the party was so fun. :) 

During Michael's second nap of the day - I made him a cake. :) I had seen a Moose cake on Pinterest (where else?) and wanted to try it. With the exception of his "antlers" (I ran out of powdered sugar to thicken the frosting) Michael's moose cake was cute and full of character! :) 

While Mr. Moose hung out in the cold garage we had a yummy dinner of Chicago-Style Pizza (have I told you Brad has p.e.r.f.e.c.t.e.d. the recipe - tastes just like Giordano's. YUMMO!) Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa in Michigan while opening a few gifts from them and then got to eat some cake!

He was pretty enthralled with the candle - he may just be a pyro like his daddy. 

He has the sweetest profile.

He loved having the attention of everyone at the whole table! 

And eventually he dove in and realized that there was chocolate cake under all that frosting. :) 

He liked it - in case you can't tell :) 

We ended the day with a nice bath - the best way to get rid of chocolate frosting!

All in all - it was a great day. It was wonderful to celebrate with family, both near (my mom and sisters) and far (via Skype), and dear friends.

Happy Birthday Michael Bradley. We are SO thankful for you. LOVE YOU SWEET BOY!