Homemade Christmas

I've tried to make homemade gifts for my family (particularly my girls) each year and I'm loving the tradition.  Santa brings the store-bought stuff.  From Mom, the girlies get stuff painstakingly created.  

This years I decided that, instead of giving the girls money and hauling them to the dollar store or scouting out cheap, non-junk gifts for them on my own, I'd give them two options: earn their own money for a store-bought gift or make one with supplies provided by me.  They chose the second option and it was fun.

Lizzie made treats for her friends (and delivered them with a sparkly store-bought ornament).

 Alaina made treats for her friends too (lollipops between two stapled together gingerbread man cut-outs).

 Lizzie made a "massage shirt" for her dad.  We used it for the first time tonight and it seemed to work fine.  As a sidenote, when Andrew first saw it he commented that it was funny that the bottom of the shirt (the southern most parking lot) look like a bum.  It was not intentional (and unnoticed till Drew pointed it out).

 Alaina made worry balls for her sisters out of rice and balloons.

I let her make one for herself too because I worried that she wouldn't be able to give up the others without it.

Lizzie made t-shirts for her sisters (we printed her drawings onto iron-transfer paper).

 I had nine things on my "homemade to do" list.  I ended up finishing four of them (with lots of help from Andrew, of course): the nativity costumes, a set of beanbags, the playhouse frame, and a wardrobe for the dress-ups.  The wardrobe was a Restore find.  Only $6 for an ikea cupboard and $1.50 for a set of four castors.  Andrew attached the castors, I spray painted the cupboard, and then Andrew re-sprayed it (he'd say "fixed").  When Drew saw my initial work he noticed all the drip marks and said, "What happened?  Didn't you read the instructions before you started painting?"  My response was, "Of course I didn't read the instructions.  Isn't spray paint pretty much self-explanatory?"  Anywho, the girlies love their cabinet and I suppose it's good that I'm learning on play furniture and not the girl's actual bedroom furniture (which is next on our repaint list).