Homemade Christmas

We've celebrated Christmas and entered a new year, and I'm just finally finding time to sit down and write a blog post about it. The good news is that I actually finished the gifts for Christmas in time. I've said it before on here, but I'm really trying to do more homemade gifts. Partly because we have so much stuff already that I don't want to keep adding more stuff. I've realized that having a bunch of toys overwhelms me, so I have been working to keep our stash of child entertainment to things that I find beautiful and that bring me joy. Seeing toys that Ben and I worked hard on brings me joy. Making homemade things takes a lot of time, and sometimes I'm nervous about how much the receiving person will like it, but I so enjoy working hard to think about what another person will like and creating it for them. We didn't do a completely homemade Christmas. But we did do quite a few homemade gifts, and I wanted to document those.

I painted a few signs for my mother-in-law for her birthday and Christmas with her favorite verses on them.

I bought a wooden school bus and peg people off etsy and painted all of them for my nephew Braxton.

Our girls had a plastic play kitchen in their playroom. It was given to us for free a couple of years ago, and we were thankful to have it as our girls enjoyed playing with it, but I certainly didn't find it beautiful. I ran across an ugly little play wooden stove at a used furniture store a few months back, and at $3, I figured it was worth buying and giving a makeover. I didn't want to spend a lot on making a play kitchen for the girls, but I wanted them to have a homemade one. So Ben built a matching sink cabinet, we painted and stained the set and bought a faucet. I sewed up a curtain for the front of the sink (I'll share more below, but I just learned how to sew, and I pretty much didn't follow any rules and just sewed this curtain together, so it's super uneven and imperfect haha!). 

We didn't make this doll bunk bed... it was a childhood toy of mine... but I took it from my parent's house and painted it for the girls.

I've been wanting to know how to sew for years, but I wasn't very motivated. Having little girls has suddenly determined me. Sophie is so proud that I can sew now. :) So I learned to hand-sew and make little dolls, and I sewed up cloth doll houses for the dolls on my sewing machine. They are imperfect, for sure, but I learned so much, and I really enjoyed giving them to the girls. 

Each doll got a ballerina outfit, dress, coat, and pajamas. The dolls and clothes were all hand sewn from a pattern from this etsy seller. The doll houses were made from a pattern from this etsy seller.

Sophie loves her doll. She loves little activity toys, and she has already requested for me to make new things for her doll.

Brielle opened her doll house up, took the doll out and undressed it, and then dropped her on the floor :) Maybe she'll like it more in a few years.

I'm already dreaming of the next homemade gifts I want to make. I always wish I had more time... but what a gift it is to be able to make things for people I love with my own hands!