Our Handmade Christmas ! Enjoying the Holidays & Keeping A Budget :)

   If you have a lot of people to buy for this Christmas or even if you only have a few special people in mind, but either way you are trying to maintain a budget for the holidays then I have the list for you. :) I have compiled a list of my favorites and the list of things that I'm doing this holiday to cut down on cost, but really increase the meaning of the gift you're giving to your family and friends.

   A big focus of mine is handmade! Now this scares some, but don't let it! There is a wide range of handmade gift ideas and absolutely everyone can find something special to them to make from the heart! 

 1) Handmade Art by Your Kids :)

  Your sweet little ones can create gifts for the holiday that mean the world when received! Visit your local Hobby Lobby and pick up some of their canvas for handprints and footprints or a beautiful piece of art painted by your kids! This will absolutely be a hit and you won't ever get another like it! 

2) Gifts Fresh from Your Kitchen

   Go to the kitchen and pull out your favorite recipe! What is a signature dessert you love to make or a favorite hot chocolate with your special flare added to it that everyone just loves?! Now think mini version! :) Make your favorite pie, but in a cupcake pan for bite size gifts to fill small Christmas trays with or a batch of cookies would be perfect too. Back to the hot chocolate you could make one of those adorable ingredients layered ready to mix up mason jar gifts as well!!! Just get creative and pick your recipes and treats according to ingredients and pricing as well. There is no harm in picking the best dessert at the least expense. Everyone loves a warming, homemade treat and it will be a hit no matter what! 

3) Handmade Crafts by You

   Something I personally love to do is crafts. I am making a lot of crocheted things for the people this year. This is something that relaxes me and majority of the people I know love to receive these types of things. Pick patterns and projects suitable to their tastes too. I am making blankets, scarves, hats, head bands, and little cell phone purses. You can crochet all of these and at a very reasonable price especially if you watch your sales at your local craft store such as Hobby Lobby. They run sales for sections of their store every single week and they also offer a 40% off coupon for one regular priced item per customer. Also note weeks before Christmas even comes close to arriving Hobby Lobby and many other local craft locations are already marking down the Christmas everything substantially so this would be a great time to grab those last minute yarns and scrapbook papers with a holiday theme!!!! 

 

4) Now for the Festive Wrapping! 

   Now to "wrap" ;) this all up think about the wrapping paper that you are using. That festive pre-finished paper can be so expensive and for barely any paper! Some wonderful warm, personal alternatives can be butchers paper or some basic white paper that you can buy from anywhere for a multitude of purposes. The cost will not be nearly what it would be for some pre-packaged holiday wrapping paper because it's not geared towards the current high demand. Grab a silver or gold marker and write your Christmas note right on the paper. Get some solid white paper draw some pretty designs on it or make a little ornament and attach it to the top as a decorative edition. Examples of ornaments are in my prior blog post about handmade ornaments http://mommamiamoments.blogspot.com/2014/11/handmade-christmas-decorations-family.html?m=1 . I have also included some other ideas below. Simple little wooden ornaments you can create by just finding a tree limb in your yard or grabbing a dowling rod that you can get from your local hardware store and cut in slices. You want the width to be substantial enough to make a nice circular ornament so a few inches wide is ideal. Use a little wood burning tool kit or paint (whatever you prefer) on these and add some sweet sayings, a Bible verse , names and a date, or note the celebration of a first Christmas for a couple just married or in their first home. Highlight a precious baby's first Christmas or a gift for expectant parents and it will mean so much, but at a portion of the cost. 

   I hope that you enjoyed this and are inspired to out your own personal touches on Christmas this year!!! I appreciate each and every person that stops by and reads my page. 

Merry Christmas!!!! 

~~ Momma Mia :)

Handmade Christmas Decorations ~ Family Fun & Special Ornaments DIY

   I love to decorate for the holidays and I love the special memories this time of year brings!! Leading from this I think THE SINGLE MOST perfect memories and decorating combination is handmade decorations with your children, family, and friends! Absolutely nothing beats the value of those to me! Give me an ornament that is store bought in comparison to an ornament my little boy made for me and the one that will light up my day is the one he hands me with his beautiful art work and a huge, proud smile!!!

   Below I have shown several pictures of ornaments we have made at home this holiday season. 

** Below is the way my sister arranged her special handmade Christmas decorations and I just loved and had to share! She made the little snowmen clothespin son the tree and the terra cotta pot snowmen sitting on the end table as well. 

1) Children's Handprint Ornament

   

   Below is a blank porcelain ornament where the kids painted their sweet little hands and placed their handprints one on top of the other. I just love, love this!!! Immediately made it and every member wanted one! Be sure and let the prints thoroughly dry then spray a sealant for safe keeping :)

2) Terra Cotta Snowman Ornaments 

   These are precious and were simple to make. Well, I say that, but it takes a tiny bit of sewing and prep before it just falls together and my wonderful mom did the prep on these precious pieces. We made this as our Thanksgiving Day craft for all of my sisters and the little ones to do together. 

   First just simply paint your terra cotta white then for the scarf base we just got glued ribbon on. The face is hand painted and little Pom Poms are the ear muffs! :) Feed a couple of bells larger than the hole in the base of the terra cotta pot onto a string and then feed the string through the hole. Knot it off and this is your bell sound and ornament hanging string :) 

3) DIY Clothespin Snowmen

   Just get clothespins from any craft store and paint them white. The scarfs are pipe cleaners twisted and secured in one little spot with hot glue. The hats are the wooden sewing string spools painted black and then to widen the base of the hat more we cut some black felt in a larger circle and just got glued to base of the black wooden spool. Tada! :) So cute!!!  

4) Reindeer Ornaments from Wine Corks 

   These are assembled with hot glue, twigs from our dogwood tree :), and a little screwed on loop to hold string on top so it can be hung as an ornament. I like to crochet so I also just did a simple double crocheted scarf for each to the width and length that was proportional to their size. 

This is mine below. 

Then the one I made for my husband. 

Then the one I made for our son :) who is two and a half. I tried to pick smaller wine corks and tinier details for his. I also painted the tips of the antlers blue like little lights because he liked ;) 

   I hope you enjoyed these handmade ornaments and let me know how's yours turn out as well!!!! If love to hear ideas and requests too for other posts! 

~~ Merry Christmas from Momma Mia and my Family!!