Handmade

As we were putting up our Christmas tree last night...wait, actually the tree went up a few days ago, it's the boxes and boxes of decoratiosn that went up...Anywho, I was realizing all the handmade items on and around our tree. We have ornaments that are 40 years old, made by my husband's grandmother. And we have ornaments that my husband made when he was a kid (I don't know where all my handmade/kid ornaments went?). But, I was most surprised by how many we have made since B was a baby. Maybe it is because I am so busy these days and can't believe I ever had the time to do crafts...

So over the next week or so I will highlight a few. These are easy decorations to make. Some of them really capture how big or little your kids were when they made them.

First up...

Felt Hand Ornament

We celebrated our first Christmas as a family when B was 9 months old. This ornament was a way to commemorate her size forever. I made about four and gave two out to the grandparents, and kept two- one for me to keep always and one to give to B when she starts buying and decorating her own tree.

Felt
Thread in contrasting color
Buttons, sequins, beads
Photo of your child
Chalk or marker for tracing
Sharp scissors

Fold a square of felt in half. Trace your child's hand onto the felt. Note: if your child is very little and liable to wiggle or pull his hand away, trace on paper instead of driectly on the felt.
Cut out doubled felt, creating two hands. On one piece, cut a circle (or any shape you like) out of the center to display a photo.
Decorate that hand with beads, sequins, tiny buttons. I stitched her name but you could write on it with fabric paint.
Find a picture that shows through the shape you cut but the photo must be large enough to not fall out.
Place photo between hands, matching hands up exactly.
Get out your needle and contrasting thread. Blanket stitch around the edges (for an example of blanket stitch, look here...).
Stitch a loop at the top to hang it with.

Voila, a memory for a lifetime!

Next up...Handprint Tree Skirt.