Handmade Gifts

Okay, now that the big day is over and things are back to normal around here, I can show the gifts I made for the kids. I wanted to hand-make one gift for each child. Firstborn was a little tricky. He was not particularly happy with any of his birthday gifts back in November. Hello preteen years. At least he wasn't rude about it; I could just tell he was disappointed.

Anyway, he's not into stuffed animals or any cutesy stuff like that, but he does like to be comfortable and cozy. He would wear pajamas all the time if I let him, except he doesn't wear real pajamas, he wears holey old sweatpants and huge t-shirts. So this is what I came up with for him.

I made the pants out of flannel, using his old sweatpants as a pattern. The shirt was my first attempt at freezer paper stenciling. (That is cool stuff! I will definitely have to do that again.) This is lounge-at-home wear, not street wear, so I used a kind of funny saying that was sleep related, that I normally wouldn't necessarily want him wearing in public.

This whole get-up, without getting too precise about it, was about $10 or a little less. He likes it (score!) and has been wearing it quite often since Christmas. It's been through the wash twice already.

The other two were easier. They both like stuffed animals, and when we watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium several months ago, they both noticed the sock monkey. Perfect! I did a little research, ordered the original red heel socks, and whipped these up.

Meet Matilda and Murphy. They each came out a little differently, and have their own character. They are a big hit, and caused more excitement than I even thought they would. Including the stuffing and button eyes, they were probably about $6 each.

Lastly, I'm going show off my gift from Dixie. With the help of her hubby, she made these gorgeous silhouettes of my children! These are somehow actually manipulated photographs, rather than cutouts, but you'd never know it. (Sorry about the blurry photo, my camera battery ran out right after this.) I love them! And I feel a little guilty that all I gave her family was a plate of cookies; she also gave us a family movie basket and a plate of goodies.


Time to get back to real life now. Orange juice spill on aisle one.