Sunday Souvenir – Christmas Traditions

Christmas at our house

I grew up in a small family. It was just myself, my dad and my brother. While my mom passed away when I was 5, we continued to get together with her family over the holidays. We had a tradition of holding Christmas either at our house, my grandparents house in Iowa or my aunt’s house in Colorado. I think we sort of rotated through locations, but I’d guess more were at my grandparents house than the others. Later on (when I was in my teens) we switched to renting condos in Florida and having a tropical Christmas. We had extended family in the area and got to share Christmas dinner.

Because we were Christmas nomads so often, we didn’t have a ton of traditions. I liked going to the Christmas Eve church service so I could sing carols and ask far too many questions about the logistics of the whole nativity story. I also had a stretch of years where I insisted on only eating Christmas dinner with my left hand (I’m right-handed), because I’m strange, I guess!

Christmas at my aunt's house. Hello, Barbie Dream House!

Stockings at my grandparents' house

One tradition I loved was stockings! They’d change based on whose house were were at (gift bags were used at the Florida condos) but they were always include an orange that would be added to Christmas breakfast. There were filled with candies and little wrapped gifts without to/from tags, that I suspect everyone contributed. I hang stockings for us every year, but they typically stay empty unless I put something in them. I plan to do some stocking stuffer shopping after all this reminiscing, but chances are mine will be empty come Christmas morning, heh.

Jax is still too young to understand the holiday, but I bet in the coming years we will start creating our own traditions.

I like my brother's sweater. No, really! I do!

Do you have any favorite traditions?

Link-o-rama

Thrift Store Gems

Sunday Souvenir – First Words and Childhood Scrapbook

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I missed last week’s Sunday Souvenir due to being sick, so today’s will be a two-fer. I’m almost over this cold, but buried in work and Christmas present crafts so I’m still trying to catch up here.

First Words

I’m not entirely sure what my first words were, but my baby notes mention that I say “Da-ddy” and “Bye-bye” at 38 weeks old. At 11 months old the notes say “Says ma-ma” sometimes. Very stubborn about doing things like patty-cake or saying words.”

Jax’s first word was “da-da” as well. It took him a lot longer to say mama, perhaps because he was always with me.

The next section of notes were a collection of things I’d said when I was little – most likely between 1 and 3 years old. My favorite quotes are: “No, Mousie. My lunch!” (Mousie was our cat), “Rub my bottom” (??? hehe) and “There’s hic-cups on you, Mommy!”

I am doing something similar now that Jax is starting to talk more. But, as a sign of the times, I am recording his quotes into a Twitter account. He is just starting to make 2 word sentences and is picking up new vocabulary like crazy.

Childhood Scrapbook

The above scrapbook was just for me. It catalogs all the cards I received (and some I gave my parents) plus drawings, notes and stickers. The scrapbook my mom made that I’m most in love with was made up almost entirely of cut up magazines. It is sooo 70’s and totally wonderful!

Mailbox & Letters Quiet Book Page

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I finally have another quiet book page done! First there was vacation, then working to make up lost hours, Thanksgiving and a bad cold. And there went November!

There’s nothing super original or crazy about this page, but it was one I wanted to include. “Mail” was one of Jax’s first words thanks to the mail song on Blue’s Clues. I have to give a shout out to Handmade By Jill, as her mail page was the first I came across.

Here is what I used: a 9″ x 9″ sky blue felt background, felt (in light gray, dark gray, red, brown, white, and assorted colors for the envelopes), ribbons and ric-rac, buttons, 1 grommet, Velcro and thread to match.

To make the page: I stared by sewing the two sides of the red flag together. I installed a grommet at the end – the same kind I use on the finished pages. I then sewed the lettering down onto the side of the mailbox. Placing the flag where I wanted it, I sewed on a button through the grommet hole. This lets the flag move just like on a real mailbox. To make the mailbox door, I sewed the two sides together with a loop of ribbon at the top. You could use elastic as well. I sewed the brown stake to the page, followed by the dark gray mailbox interior (the dashed line on the pattern shows where I sewed a decorative line to add dimension to the inside). I sewed the top, back and bottom of the outside of the mailbox down leaving the front open to put the letters in. To finish the page, I sewed down the bottom of the mailbox door and attached a button above it.

The mail is a blast to make! Get out your ribbon and ric-rac stash and have some fun! I used my sewing machine for them and had to rush. Please excuse the shoddy stitching in my example – I was actually nursing at the same time!

To make the envelope: Fold the envelop flap over and stitch beside the fold to set it in place (felt doesn’t fold well on its own.) Sew a piece of Velcro on the inside of the flap and decorate the outside with a scrap of ribbon or felt. Fold the envelope body up to find where the other half of the Velcro should be, the sew it on. Cut a little rectangle of white felt with your pinking shears. Sew it on as the stamp with a scrap of ribbon or felt. I used ribbon and folded under each end. Cut some ribbon or ric-rac and position it where the address would be. Sew it down. Fold the envelope back up and sew around the sides and bottom. All done!

To mail a letter: Sew ribbons or ric-rac down on the bottom half of the white felt rectangle. Fold the whole thing in half and sew along all four sides and trim it to neaten it up. I just did two ribbons on each, but you could go crazy!

I hope the pattern is helpful! This page came out very cute thanks to the mail. I had to stop myself after 5 letters because the mailbox was getting too full! If you use this pattern, I’d love to see your end result. I hope you’ll share it with me!

Loving It – Cozy Winter Gear for Baby

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Family Portraits

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Sorry for the silence!

Pre-Thanksgiving I was busy working and prepping for guests. I took the day off on Thanksgiving, then worked Friday and Sunday. Saturday Jax was sick with sneezes and a runny nose so I took care of him while I worked on our family portraits (more on that in a moment.) Of course because I was wiping a snotty toddler nose and getting sneezed on all night while I nursed him, I caught the cold too. So my Sunday of working was pretty bad, and today is 100x worse. I’m sooo sick! But, I’m a contractor and don’t get paid if I don’t work, so work I must! Luckily, thanks to all the nursing, Jax was all better after just 36 hours with a light cold.

the photo we chose for our wall

We’ve been owing our relatives family portraits for some time. We actually had none that included Jax and he is almost 2! $500 photographers just aren’t in our budget, and mall photo studios hold your pictures’ copyrights hostage, which I don’t like. So it was time for some DIY!

I’ve been reading an ebook about my camera for a little while now which is a big help. I spent a couple weeks searching Pinterest and Google for tips on poses, outfits, lighting and taking your own family portraits. I knew that I was going to have to get creative and do a lot of Photoshopping.

I planned to do 2 separate shoots: one of Jax and I and one of my husband and Jax. I included pictures of us adults on our own as well. The plan was to take them all in the same location then Photoshop us together into different combinations. I ended up having to take them on two different mornings, but the light was very close both days.

The results came out much better than I’d expected! The lighting in the playroom was perfect. The poses came together the best they could. Photographers recommend everyone we very close and in contact with each other, but that wasn’t really possible the way I was doing it. We still got some great pictures.

Some behind the scenes:

In order to make Jax smile, I set up our iPad just under the camera. During my photoshoot with him, I played a YouTube video of a laughing baby to get him to smile. During the second shoot, I put on his favorite show, Peppa Pig. When I was in the photos, I used a remote to trigger the shutter. I made sure to take the pictures at the same time each day and left the camera on the tripod in the same spot between shoots.

I set up a Photoshop file with a clean wall photo I’d taken during the shoot, then cut us out of all the best shots and worked on arraigning us together. I spent a lot of time making sure all the edges were clean and added shadows and highlights to make it all come together.

See above for my camera setup, a silly screenshot with two of me and an outtake.

The goal was a nice, large black & white photo for our living room wall, some photos to send off to relatives, and a picture for our holiday cards. Yesterday evening I got everything ordered from Shutterfly. I used a coupon code for 25 free 4×8″ photo cards from saving up baby wipe points to get our cards. I used the promo code SHIP30 for free shipping, so I just paid for the prints.

Merry Bright Greeting Holiday

Create custom Christmas cards this holiday at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

What do you think of our DIY photos?

Link-o-rama!

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Are you ready for Thanksgiving yet?

As mentioned in my Sunday Souvenir, our friends bought a packaged Thanksgiving meal they are dropping off here tomorrow. We are adding on the pre-meal snacks (dips, chips and veggies), a vegetable (I was surprised there was none. Or do they count the potatoes? We’re having lemon garlic green beans.), sweet potatoes (my husbands must-have!) and adding to the apple pie dessert with cheesecake brownies and pumpkin bars. The husband is making all of that, despite me being the normal baker. I’ll just be mixing up some cheese dip!

Jax's leaves became our centerpiece

Since there will be much football-watching that day, I plan to have some quiet book sewing ready to go. That way I can be on the couch with everyone but have stitching to do since I can’t pay attention to sports for more than 30 seconds. Even though Jax’s quiet book is HUGE already, I’ll still loving making and sharing the pages with you all! Please let me know if you have any requests.

Well, that was a long intro! Here are some links:

I love this felt headband! I need to make something like this for myself… I’ve seen similar ones in gift shops before.
This is the best idea for food at a toddler birthday party! Ice cube trays filled with fun and healthy finger foods!
I may have to use part of this free paisley embroidery pattern to make that headband I mentioned. Love!
What a fun bedroom! Though I wonder how many broken bones it would cause… I really like the ceiling.
Here’s one of those why-didn’t–think-of-that craft posts!
Love! Love! Love!

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday Souvenir – Childhood Thanksgivings

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I grew up with just my dad and my brother who is 6 years my senior. My dad did his best to keep us healthy and fed, but his repertoire was limited. The fanciest he got was Easter when he’d cook this heart attack casserole from our recipe box that involved hard boiled eggs, spam and at least 10 types of dairy. He was best known for his meatballs (which were a big hit when he’d be the only dad at my girl scout potluck dinners) on spaghetti night. The rest of the week we rotated through classics such as Kraft Mac & Cheese, Hamburger Helper (gag), soft tacos and hamburger and rice. For a rocket scientist raising two kids on his own, he did a pretty kickass job.

: Run for your lives!

So, Thanksgiving. Not his best meal… Hah. I don’t remember visiting relatives around that holiday, though we may have at some point. We all got together with my mom’s family for Christmas. Our Thanksgiving dinner involved a piece of “meat” I grew to dread. A turkey-like substance that probably had a hand in me becoming a vegetarian at age 16. What was so horrific? Turkey loaf, my friends. It was turkey loaf.

This man-made dish came in a tin like pound cake and was slimy with “gravy”. When you sliced off a hunk you could see a diagonal line separating where they mushed the “dark meat” and “light meat” into two halves. It held its shape perfectly, much like our canned cranberry goo. Turkey loaf was a thing of horror in my childhood. As we got older, I’m pretty sure it was a thing of ridicule as well, hehe.

Oh, Turkey Loaf… I love the family memories you are in, but I sure didn’t love you!

This year, as we have done for several years now, we are sharing a meal with our neighbors. They purchase a pre-prepared meal from the store that we just embellish. If they had this in the 80’s, our Thanksgivings could have been a whole lot tastier!

I don’t want to end on such an unappetizing thought as turkey loaf, so here is a photo of me in kindergarten. I rememeber that I was assigned to be a Native American in our little Thanksgiving assembly and I was super jealous of those who got to be pilgrims. It was only because I really hated wearing a paper grocery bag. But, I rocked that grocery bag – don’t you think?

Peace & Love Felt Ornament Patterns

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I plan to design and sew a couple felt ornaments every week until Christmas. I’ll be sharing the patterns here for anyone who is interested!

Peace & Love

Here are my first two ornaments: Peace and Love. Some of the photos came out with the colors off, but the photo at the top is accurate.

The supplies you’ll need are:
Felt (in red, sky blue, aqua blue and green), embroidery floss (in red, aqua blue and green), red ribbon or ric-rac, batting/stuffing, needle, scissors, pins, water-soluble marker or thin Sharpie and the pattern print out.

Start by cutting out your pattern pieces, pinning them to the felt and cutting all the elements out.
Decorate the fronts of each ornament. For the Peace sign, I did the stitch I usually use when sewing a felt applique: short, perpendicular stitches across the edge of the applique all the way around. I did the same for the berries, but sewed the leaves down first. For the leaves, I did a simple back stitch ⅓ of the way up the centers and left the rest loose. On the Love ornament I did the little heart and the holly with the same techniques. To transfer the text, I pinned the pattern behind the felt and held it up to a light. I was then able to trace over the word with a marker. I sewed the word using a ch ain stitch with 4 strands of floss (I normally use 2 strands for everything else.)
Cut two 6″ length of ribbon or ric-rac. Fold them into loops and pin them in place between the two sides of each ornament. Sew halfway around each ornament with a blanket stitch (I used red floss as an accent.) Add batting or stuffing (I used batting and cut them ¼” smaller than the main shape) then continue all the way around to finish them.

Peace & Love Felt Ornaments

Simple and sweet!

If you make your own, I’d love to see them! Send me a photo or link and I can add yours to this post.

Great Deals for Kids at MYHABIT

The Holidays are Coming!

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I can’t believe it is already mid-November! I’ve been so focused on preparing for our vacation that I haven’t had time to think ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Last Christmas

Here are some things on my to-do list:

Try to take holiday card family portraits and go somewhere for them if I fail.
Decide if we are putting up a tree and if we do, how to make it toddler-safe.
Makeover the wooden dollhouse I got at the thrift store into a play barn for Jax’s Christmas gift.
And you can help me with this one: Decide what projects to make and post here on Imagine Our Life!

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