Crafty

Well, now that Christmas is over (okay, it’s way over) and surprises won’t be spoiled, I can unveil the craft projects we gave as gifts. Christmas 2011 was insanely busy for me, so I neglected (translation: just plain forgot) to take photos of everything. Sorry.

Project 1: Papa’s Little Moose

The photo used for the moose project. Well, I cropped it to show more Charlotte and less backyard, but you get the gist.

This probably doesn’t really count as a craft project, but it required about 19 steps to pull off, so I’m counting it. First, on a sunny day that wasn’t too hot or cold, and I dressed Charlotte in the camouflage moose outfit my dad gave her last year. (My dad does moose-hunting trips in Canada every couple of years.) We added her moose slippers (yes, my child has moose slippers) and took a fantastic photo of our girl, running (as is typical) with giant grin on her face (also typical). I uploaded the image to Costco, placed the print order, picked it up and was thrilled that it turned out. (You never know.) I framed the photo in a large, rustic-looking frame, then wrapped it with rustic-style wrapping paper. (Can wrapping paper be rustic? Well, this paper was.) Then I added a moose ornament to the outside of the package. This was, of course, to Papa from Charlotte. He loved it.

Project 2: Domestic Goddess Gift Baskets
For Grandma Belle and Chris’s mom, I was a tad crafty in that I wanted to put together gift baskets that fit their personalities and that also had a little sass. Sure, you can buy PRE-MADE gift baskets, but where’s the fun in that?

I started with some Barefoot Contessa and Williams and Sonoma baking mixes. I then found the CUTEST purple and magenta dish towels at Crate and Barrel (I loved them so much, I bought myself the same ones). I actually managed to find PURPLE spatulas on Amazon, and by pure dumb luck, I discovered two purple baskets at Michaels. Each was also given an Etsy-made, vintage-style apron. (Not purple, unfortunately.) I tried wrapping the first one in wrapping paper and failed, utterly. So, I added extra tissue paper to add some mystery, then cellophaned. And of course forgot to document the end result with the camera.

Project 3: Hot Chocolate and Cookies

The hot chocolate portion of the gift.

For Chris’s employees, I wasn’t TOO crafty but was still somewhat crafty, creating these cute little hot chocolate (with mini marshmallows!) concoctions with quite crafty homemade tags that essentially explained “add hot water.” I plopped them into a festive Crate and Barrel mug and voila! Part One was complete.

Part Two involved a plate full of home-baked goodies: peppermint bark and various kinds of cookies. Per usual, I wrapped each plate in cellophane and added a big bow (again, not pictured--it was oh so late when I finished and documentation seemed too much at the time). Multiplied by a dozen co-workers, it was a lot of work but also a big success.

Project 4: Shell Frames

In the meantime, for grandmas, great-grandmas, and Auntie Cheryl, I made photo frames (these gifts were technically from Charlotte, but her glue gun skills aren’t quite there yet). I painted the frames blue and then sprayed them with a sealant that made me woozy from fumes. With the shells Charlotte’s pudgy little hands collected on the North Carolina beach this summer, I decorated each frame using a hot glue gun. Finally, I put in a photo of Charlotte at the beach, along with a note explaining to the gift-receiver that she had collected those shells herself.

Ta dah! Done. I don’t have a ton of time for crafty endeavors, so getting to do these four projects was fun for me and felt like a larger accomplishment than it probably was. Now, I’m not one of the Jesus-is-the-reason-for-the-season purists who views anything store-bought as sacrilegious and reflective of consumer culture run amuck, but I do think putting some time and creativity and love into gifts makes them a tad more special and in keeping with the spirit of Christmas.