Handmade Gifts From the Heart

I often marvel at the skill of craftsmen and women. People that through years of study and application, perfect a craft or trade. My husband Jerry is one of those people. Jerry's hobby is woodworking. He just made this cute little wooden ship.  To enlarge photos, just click on a picture!

It's amazing to me how he can just whip these things out from ideas in his head. He makes signs, chests and boxes (often pirate themed) and he makes carved wooden animals, people, and even spoons. This year he made us a life-size totem pole more than 15 feet tall. You can see it HERE.

I asked him how he designed this little ship and he told me that when he was little he wanted a toy just like this one, and although he never got it; the image has never left his thoughts. He calls it his "boyhood dream" ship. This toy is going to a very special boy for Christmas (Santa's secret). Jerry had a rough childhood. I think that's why he spends so much of his time building toys. It's his way of recreating childhood, one that is full of wonderment and imagination.

 Our yard is full of small outbuildings he constructs for fun and storage. We have a saloon, a mining camp shed, and he just tore down an old mini-farmhouse he built ages ago. I have come to realize that I live with a man with the most vivid imagination and the skill to manufacture his dreams, and that's pretty darn cool. What a lucky farmgirl I am. Merry Christmas!

If you have been thinking about linking up to share a handmade Christmas gift idea of your own, there's still time! Please link up and share!  Some of us need lots of help when it comes to making things.   Thanks and have a Merry Christmas!

Frosty the Snowman Ornament

     My favorite handmade Frosty ornament is a product of a crafting session between me and my Mom, many years ago and he's one of the easiest ornaments to make.  He's real fast and simple too.  Trace a circle about 3&1/2 inches wide onto felted wool or some other fuzzy fabric, perhaps fleece or an 80/20 batting.  Sew, leaving an opening on top to turn and stuff, then stitch closed.  Make the hat from two pieces of black felt.  Ours includes a folded brim.  Hand-sew it together using a wide decorative stitch with a high contrast pearl cotton around it. Hot glue or sew in place, covering the hand-sewn top of circle.  We use snaps for his mouth and eyes and a machine sewn, tightly stuffed orange cotton triangle for his carrot nose.  We hot glue button embellishments and the plaid scarf at his neck comes from on old flannel shirt we strip cut and frayed a bit. Embellish with buttons, bows, ribbons, bells, and greenery to you liking.

I have a free, simple pattern for his head and hat that I made using Microsoft Word.  I do not know how or IF I can attach it to this post, so if you'd like me to send you a copy of the file to print, please e-mail me at hgonzales8@bak.rr.com (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS) and I'll send it out to you.  Happy crafting!

I am linking this post up to my favorite blog Deborah Jean's Dandelion House and her Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop!

A Chilly Snowman

     I am going to be posting a series of my favorite handmade Christmas ornaments to my two blogs, White Wolf Summit Farmgirl & My Simple Country Living.  Today, I am sharing one of my favorites, my Chilly Snowman.  I have made dozens of this little guy over the years, he's always a great gift for a teacher or for a friend's Christmas Tree.  I sew using 1/4 inch seam allowances.

BODY- Make his body by drawing a triangle with a 3 1/2" base and a height of 4 1/2" from an 80/20 quilt batting. You can either sew the entire triangle closed and cut the top off to turn and open, OR- cut the top off before sewing and just sewing the two sides and base, leaving the top open for the head to go through.  Either way, you will need to have an opening at the top that's wide enough for the head to fit into.
   
HEAD- Make his head by drawing a rectangle about 1 1/2 " wide by 2 1/2" long.  Round the corners to shape him a bit.  Sew. Turn. Stuff firmly with Polyfil.  I pin and machine sew bases. I insert head into body and add a few beads of hot glue or whipstitch head to body to secure.  If I am making WIRE ARMS, I attach the head AFTER I have inserted and secured the wire arms.

STOCKINGS- I draw stockings about 2 1/2" long with a high contrast fabric and sew.  I leave top open and stuff.  Leave top edge raw, do not turn under.  Attach to body with a few hand stitches.  Loo at my examples below and you'll see I have attached a few to the front of the bodies with cute buttons for fun and I sometimes attach them to the back with no adornment.

ARMS- I have tried many things for arms. I have used tea-stained muslin and black floral wire (I like it because it ages and rusts a bit over the years). Both look great.  To make muslin arms just draw 2 1/4" long arms and cut and sew them from the muslin, turn and stuff.  I keep the top edges raw again and sew to body. To make the wire arms, I just try to shape them like branches and then run the wire through the side into body and twist a small circle inside to hold it tight.

SCARF- I use homespun plaids for the scarf.  I cut them 1" wide by 5 1/2" long and I fray an 1/8" edges by pulling out a few long threads.  I wrap the scarf over the raw edged arms, dabbing as bead of hot glue over each arm to be sure the scarf does not slide away from covering raw edges.

HEAD COVER- For earmuffs- Hot glue a thin ribbon and small pom poms to either side of your snowman's head for these cute earmuffs.  For hat- cut small wool or acrylic circle and sew it to his head. Attach button or foliage for embellishment.

FACE- Micron Pigment ink pen, a dot of white acrylic paint inside eyes, and blush on a Q-tip for cheeks.

NOSE- I paint a toothpick bright pumpkin orange, cut the tip off, and hot glue nose to face.

Other EMBELLISHMENTS- I sometimes tea-stain the cotton batting and muslin.  I stain them by soaking for a few hours in hot tea steeped on my stove, and hand drying and pressing the fabric. I don't press the batting, just try to flatten it before it dries.  I also sometimes add a few small square "patches" to the snowman's body using a cure plaid and a heat n' bond or wonder under.

     I look forward to seeing what YOU can do to spruce him up!

Fast & Fun Christmas Ornaments from Nature

      I was inspired yesterday by a post from my friend Kateri of Dandelion Haven.  She made cute twig star Christmas ornaments from remnants of a morning stroll.  What a lovely idea.  I will be sharing many of my own homemade Christmas ornaments on our Virtual Christmas Ornament SWAP Blog Hop over the next few weeks, and I  hope you share a few of yours too so we can all have a tree full of fun, new, handmade ornaments and maybe even make some extras to share with loved ones and friends.

      Here is an old family favorite that's EASY and fast.  My Mom's friend Cheryl made these from tree branches my hubby cut to her specifications, on an angle, you want them to be atleast 1/4 inch thick.   

 She drilled a small hole through the top and ran a pretty satin ribbon through as a hanger and bow. 

 She used red, green and black permanent markers to draw the greenery and names

 and an old ink stamp pad to transfer your thumbprint image onto the ornament.   Then, she cleverly turned your thumbprint into a cute little Christmas mouse.  

     I can imagine some of the artists that read my blog could paint entire winter scenes on these little gems.  Wouldn't that be nice too.  Branches with nice bark look great, and they can be sprayed with a sealant, though we never did and they've hung around a long time.  Ours are a sort of time capsule.  You see, my son Jonathan was 3 years old when his thumbprint touched this image and today he's 6' 5" tall, married and on his own.  I am going to give him his ornament this year for his family tree and we will make more for our grandkids someday, when we get them... hehe.

 I wish you a Very, Merry Christmas!

This ornament is linked to Deborah Jean's Dandelion House 

Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop

 & 

the Virtual Christmas Ornament Swap

Virtual Christmas Ornament Swap

     Just like the button above says, we're having a VIRTUAL Christmas ornament SWAP!  It's a BLOG HOP designed to allow you to show off your creative side by sharing an image and tutorial or story about a Christmas ornament you like to make and swap OR have received at Christmas.  

     I am a Christmas ornament junkie.  Over the years, I have made and given away literally hundreds of angels, snowmen, santas, and the like.  I LOVE making and giving them away so I will be sharing quite a few of my own ornaments.  I encourage  you to share your favorites too.  

Rules-

1. Any medium, any style- sewn, quilted, glued, painted, WHATEVER! So long as it's a Christmas ornament.

2. Please grab the button and post it to your wall so more folks can see it and be inspired to participate too.

3. Link as many ornaments as you like, the more the merrier.  I love new ideas!

4. Have FUN and get your workshop hopping!

I have linked this post to Deborah Jean's Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop

& Homestead Revival's Barn Hop

Handmade Gifts From the Heart Blog Hop!

     ATTENTION CRAFTERS, BUILDERS, CHEFS, AND MOMS! This post is for you.  When my hubby and I were just starting out, we used to make nearly all of the gifts we gave to family and friends for birthdays and Christmas.  We had to, we didn't have any extra money.  I have to confess, those Christmases were my favorites.  It was so much fun.  I enjoyed the whole creation process. Planning gifts, picking colors, textures, paint, and designing and making everything was a blast.  Our family enjoyed those days so much more too. The look on my Mom's face when Jerry unveiled her new cabinets, or a bench seat would bring tears to everybody's eyes.  There is nothing more satisfying than giving someone you love, something they really want. Likewise, who wouldn't rather have a gift made by your loved one's own hands.  My favorite all-time gifts  came from my husband, my Grandma, and my son Jon; and they were all homemade.
     Homemade gifts are meaningful in so many ways.  My hubby Jerry and I talked about it recently and decided that we will be going "old school" this year.  We are going to make as many gifts as we can.  It's a selfish plan really, I know.  We love making things, our family enjoys homemade gifts, and making things keeps me busy and helps burn some of those excess calories, so it all works out in the end.
     We've made dolls, rockers, quilts, clothes, food-in-jar mixes, painted decorations, garden boxes, and so many other gadgets and goodies over the years, and we like finding new, practical, interesting gift ideas.        
     That's where the blog comes in.  I am going to post and share some of the ideas, directions, and instructions for a few of my gift giving plans and I'd really appreciate it if YOU would link up and share a few of your homemade, handmade, gift giving ideas with all of us here too.  That way, we build a sort of instant "ebook" on this blog hop linky that we can all refer back to for good ideas all season long.

Share as many homemade gift ideas as you like, the more the merrier.  

I have just a few requests, please oblige me.

1. It would be wonderful if you would place the button for this linky party on your blog. (You can cut n' paste the HTML code from the side of this page.)

2. If you get the chance, write a post about our hop so more people can hear about it.  The more people participating, the more ideas we get, thus- the bigger our bag of tricks will be for Christmas gifts.

     That's it, It's time to get brainstorming.  I know we will all be busy this next week, so I don't expect many posts yet, but think about ideas.  That's what I will be doing alot of (as I cook) thinking up ideas. Get back here and post when you have a chance and check in every few days to see what's new.

I have linked up this Blog Hop to Deborah Jean's Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop

Prairie Homestead's Barn Hop

and Ladybug Blessings' Handmade Tuesdays

Thanks for visiting, I hope you stop by again.

My Simple Country Living: Handmade Gifts From the Heart Blog Hop!

My Simple Country Living: Handmade Gifts From the Heart Blog Hop!: ATTENTION CRAFTERS, BUILDERS, CHEFS, AND MOMS! This post is for you. When my hubby and I were just starting out, we used to make near...

Thanks for visiting, I hope you stop by again. I like comments.