Holiday Crafting

A quick craft I made today*

A few weeks ago I decided that for next Christmas (yes, that would be in 2016), I wanted to try to have completely handmade decorations.

I know. I know.

I can buy stuff at lots of stores. I can even get a lot of it discounted. It's not that we need more things. It's that I like making things. And to be surrounded by lots of decorations during the holidays that I or the kids made? That would be a wonderful treat!

Even though I want this next year - after all I do need to sleep between now and December 25 of this year, I wanted to start making things this year as I was able to.

So. Early this morning (which is code for not really even that early for most of the rest of the world but early for me!) I woke up, got my daughter, got my not-daughter-who-is-here-so-often-she's-like-another-child and we headed over to Jo-Ann's.

I'll admit, I was kind of scared. I didn't know what sort of crowd we'd be facing. I wasn't sure how many people there would be. And I didn't know how well the store would handle all the millions of people I envisioned would be there.

Thankfully, it wasn't as busy as I thought it would be - thought definitely a lot busier than normal! And apparently, the store has done this before, because they were ready.

Before we went in the store, we joked around and made a "game plan". Our game plan was basically grab a ticket for the fabric cutting counter pretty quickly to walking in, then shop. That way if the line was really long, we wouldn't wait as long! Then we did a team hand stack and we were ready to head into the store. Right when the doors opened.

But it wasn't that bad. People seemed to be in good moods. Most everyone seemed to expect there would be lines and waiting and lots of people, so no one was getting upset that it wasn't going faster. Most people seemed to know exactly what they want and there didn't seem to be a lot of just wandering around and seeing what there was (which is how I usually spend half my time in any craft store!). Despite lots of people, it seemed good to me. None of those images I've seen on tv of crazy crowds pushing and shoving and running and grabbing things out of people's carts!

I saved quite a bit of money between coupons and sales. And I've come home with many, many items so I can (hopefully) make lots and lots of fun things to decorate the house with. 

I'm excited about this. I don't know how far I'll get or how much I'll actually make. Or what I'll do with the things we already own.

But I do like making things. And I don't make hardly anything for our home, so I'm glad I will finally get a chance to do something crafty for our house!

*I saw this on pinterest. It was made slightly differently because they cut the letters out of vinyl and put it on the glass. I printed the words on a white paper ( a script font at size 100). I taped that to the back of a shadow box and put in three different sized silver bells inside the shadow box. It literally took me about 5 minutes! If I did it again, I'd move the words up higher so I could get more bells in. I'm also looking at that black frame and wondering if there's some way I can jazz it up. But I think what I will do is try to layer in decorations around it and leave the frame alone!

12 Days of Cookies: Cut-out Cookie Tree

A bit ago, my friend Natasha of Houseful of Nicholes asked who wanted to participate in the 12 Days of Cookies, and inside I was like oh yes I do want to join in because how fun is this, but on-line I was like yeah, if you need someone I'll do it. Because I'm all casual like that!

Instantly, I knew what I was going to make: a Christmas Tree.

I did this quite a few years ago and thought it was really pretty cute and it looks harder to make than it is. And if you can make yummy cookies that impress people, well, why not?

Last time I made the cookies, I printed a star graphic and then enlarged it a few sizes and shrunk it a few sizes. I carefully cut out all the stars, placed them on the rolled out cut-out cookie dough, and used a knife to cut them out. It is truly how I planned to do it this time as well. But as luck would have it, on Friday I accidentally came across a holiday sale and I found a set of 10 star cookie cutters on sale for one whole dollar. Yep I snapped those cookie cutters up and thought the universe must be looking out for me! (though if you don't have a set, you try the print, shrink/enlarge, cut method too).

I told the kids what I was planning to do and instantly I had quite a few helpers - in my house, the kids love to roll out dough and decorate cookies. The mixing, baking, cooling part? That's not much fun so it gets left for me, which I don't mind at all!

So I mixed the best cut-out cookie dough I know. The recipe came from my friend Melodee and ever since she shared it with me, I've never used another! After mixing, I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and placed it in the fridge. This dough, I've found, works best when it's just slightly cold. If it's too cold, it cracks and if it's too warm it's too sticky. I find just under an hour in the fridge is perfect and if it has to stay in longer, I just let it sit at room temperature until it softens.

Anyway, I pulled it out of the fridge and had some kids very eager to roll it out! I handed them some dough, a rolling pin, and a stack of cookie cutters. Be careful cutting them out, I warned, we need two cookie of each size so you have to pay attention!

So we carefully cut them out, placed on the cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and I was in charge of baking them. Which is good, because these cookies go from done to burned very quickly. I don't even leave them on the pan when I take them out of the oven - I move them to cooling racks right away!

Somehow, we managed to get two of all sizes (and three of one, but we'll call the extra a test cookie to make sure they were yummy!)

Now truthfully, this is where I stop for the day. After the cookies are cooled, I put them in a storage container and stop for the day. Yes, a two day cookie - not because they need to be, but because it's better for me to do it that way! If you don't have two days, do it in one. If you only have smaller chunks of time, split it up!

Day two of cookies is frosting day! Another thing the kids like to do. I whip up the frosting, fill bags, and let them go. We used a royal icing and outline the cookie and then fill it in. The kids do a great job at this because even if they don't, we just spread the frosting out a little bit with a spatula and call it a day!

Then it's time to let the cookies sit so the frosting gets hard. Alright, another confession, we never wait quite long enough because we are eager to move on to the next step, and it's okay! Because the next step is the most fun.

Starting withe largest size cookie, put a dollop of frosting in the middle, and stack on the cookie that is the same size. Turn it so that the points of the star are not right on top of each other. Put a dollop of frosting and place the next larges cookie on top. Dollop of frosting, cookie, lather, rinse, repeat, until all the cookies are placed.

Now step back. You have a gorgeous cut-out cookie Christmas tree. That isn't any more wok than traditional cut-out cookies. In fact, it's probably a bit of less work because you don't need to decorate them fancy - just top with green icing and you are good to go!

We also made one extra of the tiniest star and decorated it with sprinkles so it could be our tree topper! It looks lovely I think. And every one will be oohing and aahing over your cookies!

Cut-Out Cookies


1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cream of tartar
1/2 t salt

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in rest of ingredients.
Flatten into a disc and chill for at least one hour.
Bake 6-8 minutes at 400 degrees.

*You'll need to double the recipe to make a tree the size of mine


Royal Icing
2 pounds powdered sugar
5 Tablespoon meringue powder
1/2-3/4 cups water
2-3 teaspoon of vanilla
Food coloring (if desired)


Mix the vanilla into half the water.
Put the sugar and meringue powder into a mixing bowl and mix it at low speed.
Slowly add the water/vanilla mix.
Then add as much of the water as you need to get the frosting to a honey-like consistency.
Add food coloring (if desired).
Continue to mix for a few minutes, until it can form soft peaks.

I find this is a bit thinner than other recipes, but I like it that way much better! I even sometimes add a bit more water to thin it out just a bit more.

Bake. Frost. Eat. Enjoy =)

On holidays, gifts, and cancer

our mantle

So. It's December.

The month of Christmas.

Christmas is a big deal in this house.

It is my goal each year to give my family the perfect Christmas.

Several years ago, a perfect Christmas looked a lot different than it does this year.

For a few years I made the pajamas the kids would wear for Christmas morning. I tried to also make everyone at least one handmade gift. I baked dozens and dozens of cookies. Every inch of my house was decorated. We strung popcorn on thread and put it around the tree. Gingerbread houses were made. Crafts were done. Ornaments were made.

All of this equated to me not sleeping much during December. It left me stressed and frazzled and overwhelmed. There were probably enough tears to water our Christmas tree.

It was fun. But it was a lot of work. And at the end of the day, the perfect Christmas, probably wasn't so perfect for those in my family who were dealing with the fall-out of me being tired, stressed, and fretting when things didn't turn out completely perfect.

Sigh.

I'm tired just thinking about it frankly.

It took cancer to realize that maybe it was time to streamline things and focus on the parts I wanted and let go of the ones that were stressing me too much.

White Christmas and knitting

The Christmas of 2011 left me pretty much unable to do, oh, everything. That year my husband, bless him, was in charge of Christmas. I was sick, dealing with an infection for most of the month that wasn't actually diagnosed until December 23 in which I underwent emergency surgery. I had already been in the hospital earlier in the month. I was tired, in pain, and spent a lot of time in bed. I don't think I participated in Christmas hardly at all to be honest.

And I hated it. Except I was too tired to hate it as much as I should have.

2012 was better. Except I still feeling tired, run down, exhausted. I was dealing with the iron issues and bleeding and anemia. I didn't spend most of the month in bed, but I spent my fair share of time napping.

Last year was a lot better. Still exhausted, but able to shop and bake and do things.

It was good.

This year will be good too.  I'm still exhausted, still dealing with some chronic pain, but I'm here and I can be present.

That is a present in itself.

And I've learned to cut back. Because you know what? The couple years where I wasn't able to really do much (not by choice), an amazing thing happened .... the sun still rose, and the kids still had a good Christmas, and so did I (well, provided I divorce the holiday from the medical things going on).

We buy pajamas now. I make almost no gifts - just a couple as I can. I will still bake an obscene amount of cookies - because that is important to me to keep it on the list.

But I'm also spending a fair amount of time hanging out on the couch watching Christmas movies. We've watched White Christmas, Muppets Christmas Carol, Santa Paws 1 and 2, and some other movies. It's been lovely.

We are hosting Christmas Eve and bless my husband, he set-up for a cleaning service to come get the house cleaned. We pretty much never have anyone else come clean, so this is awesome.

I'm doing Christmas cards this year ... which I haven't done in a while. They are pricey and a lot of money. But I got them on-sale, they are postcard cards, and they will double as "we've moved" cards (which I never sent out).

Our gorgeous tree!

This might be the most relaxed about Christmas that I've felt since being a child.

It is lovely.

Because in 20 years I don't want to look back and think about how stressed I was this time of the year, I want to remember being happy, despite anything else going on in our life, whatever that may be.

But don't mistake me. Getting sick may have allowed me to step back and see that there is more to the perfect Christmas than I what I previously thought, but there is not one ounce of me that will ever. And I mean EVER. I will never call cancer a gift.

I know, I can my hear my husband in my head "Never say never. Or always." but no, I can say never here. Cancer was not a gift. That is, as I've said before, not to say some good things came out of that time period - new appreciations, new friends, new relationships, and changing how things were done to make it better. There were good moments, good things, but none of that will ever make me think of cancer as a gift.

I've got a lot of gifts in my life. Mostly a fabulous family and some awesome friends, who are there whether everything I give is handmade, or lovingly picked out from a store. I have good memories with my kids, some beautiful holiday moments. Those are my gifts. And I plan to appreciate them as much as possible this holiday season.

Happy (not) Ugly Sweater Day!

It's here! It's here!

Today is December 12 - it's Make the World Better with a Sweater day and I'm ready.

I finished knitting my sweater at the start of this week (which sounds like I was cutting it close, but I thought for sure I'd be working on until I put it on today, so I'm happy!). And I'm rocking it out today.

Without further ado, I present to you my sweater:

I had so much fun making this sweater and I feel really good about helping out Save the Children. They really are doing some wonderful things right now and I feel good about supporting them!

Sadly, my 12 year old did not finish her scarf. She did start it and is working on it (and has discovered that she LOVES to crochet) but her heart was in the right place, so I told her not to worry!

And I know it might be a bit early, but I may or may not already be thinking about what sweater to make next year!

But now it's your turn! If you would like to help, you can donate $5 to Save the Children simply by texting SWEATER to 20222. Also, feel free to take a selfie in your sweater (ugly or not, holiday or not, made by you or not) and tag yourself with #sweater and #elfie

Don't have a sweater, that's okay! You can download a paper sweater here and still participate!

Have some fun, help a good cause, spread a little holiday cheer - sounds like a good plan to me! Hope you are all having a great Friday!

Sweater details:

Pattern: Soltice Dias de Betty
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease
Needle: US 5
Slight modifications in regards to increases/decreases because my gauge was larger than the pattern called for. I also knit it down one side to help offset the gauge difference as well
Would I knit it again? Yes, but the should area is a bit small, so I would probably make the back smaller by a few stitches at the top! 

Sweater Update!

Well, I've been working hard at knitting a lot recently - I've finished one shawl, got another shawl on the needles, planning any holiday knitting, but of course, I've been working away on my sweater!

Yep, it's my sweater for Save the Children's Wear a Sweater and Make the World Better Campaign that I told you about in November!

sneak peek of the front

#Sweater day is December 12 (which also happens to be the National Ugly Sweater Day) is
coming up soon! In less than two weeks and I'm bound and determined to get this sweater done so I can wear it! 





It's a fun sweater to knit - I'm using different yarn and having to make some alterations to the pattern to accommodate it, but nothing too big!

The color is lovely! And I can't wait to wear it! I can't lie, I'm a little nervous I'll finish it and then it won't fit ... I don't often knit sweaters for myself for this reason. I tend to make more that don't fit than do fit, but so far, this one looks like it will be okay! Phew! 

What about you? Are working on making any sweaters or thinking of hosting an Ugly Sweater contest to celebrate the 12?

casting on the back

Let me know!

On Pins and Needles

So, I'm a bit late to the game ... everyone else posted on November 12. I, however, excel at forgetfulness so I'm here today.

But better late than never, right? That or we can all just pretend that today is the 12th and I am totally on time!

Anyway, this holiday season I am taking the Save The Children's Pins and Needles challenge!

This is part of their holiday fundraising, which culminates on Friday, December 12. When we are all encouraged to wear a sweater and donate $5 to the organization.

Wear them to work, around the house, out to dinner with friends, whatever works for you! Just
remember to donate your $5 (which Save the Children has made easy - you can just text SWEATER to 20222).

I will be participating by starting to knit my own sweater today. That's where the Pins & Needle challenge comes in! I found a pattern I really liked and went out bought some yarn today to start working on it. I'm SO excited.

My 12 year old is going to join in the fun with me ... except she's not quite ready for a sweater, so she's going to crochet a scarf. It's kind of like a sweater for your neck, so I think it is a great idea. Not to mention, it's the thought that counts so I'm excited she wants to create with me.

And yes, we will be posting and sharing pictures as we work! And then, assuming what we make turns out and fits, we will be wearing our sweater and scarf on December 12.

Yes, my eyes are closed, but I'm happy

So, you may be wondering, why, during this busy time am I going to sit and work on a sweater. Well, that's a good question. Save the Children is doing a lot of good in the world right now. There work in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan was able to help over 800,000 adults and children.

And right now, they are in Africa, working to help fight Ebola. They are building treatment centers, making sure people have access to help, and they are helping to take care of children who may be orphans after losing parents to Ebola. 

I can't be on the ground helping, but I can support those who are. And if it's as simple as taking some time this holiday season to work on a sweater or teach my daughter to crochet, then why not!  
And the universe knows I have a lot of kindness to pay it forward. We've been helped by so many wonderful people, especially over the last few years. Our family, my children included, have had some great support and people who want to help us when we need it. And so now it's my turn to pay it forward and try to help others!

I'm also impressed with Save the Children's score over at Charity Navigator. They have 95 out of 100 points. That is a great score. I feel great about the work they are doing and I feel great about donating to them. 

So. That's what I'm doing!

Here's what you can do. You can watch along as my sweater comes together. You can encourage me to just keep knitting! You can don your own festive sweater on December 12 - knit, borrowed, store bought - it doesn't matter. And when you put it on in the morning, send off $5 to Save the Children. 

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy as I like to tell my children!  

If you'd like more information, you can head on over to Save The Children's Make the World Better with a Sweater page.

*Save the Children contacted me and asked me to participate in the Pins and Needle Challenge, but I am not being compensated for this or sharing any information with you!

A few of my favorite things!

I didn't make much for Christmas this year. I just knew I needed to be pressure-free and while I love making things to give to people, it can be stressful to finish everything on time! Plus, with my energy being non-existent, I was worried I just wouldn't have the energy to finish things.

I did manage to make two blankets though, and I LOVED them both. It was hard to give them away, but alas, I managed too!

The first blanket was crocheted. I had worked on it for almost two months. It is my first granny square project and I might just be in love with granny squares now!

The pattern I used can be found here {note: you must be a member to see it, but membership is free}. The pattern is actually for a baby blanket, and this blanket did not go to a baby, so I actually made 4 blankets and put them together to make the blanket big enough! I also changed the edging ever-so-slightly! I just love how this blanket came together. And there will definitely be more granny squares in my future!

I knitted another blanket too. This blanket was for a grab-bag gift exchange and knit up pretty quickly (which was good, since I started it very close to Christmas LOL!)

The yarn was variegated and the pattern came on the yarn package. It was quick to learn and one of those patterns that you don't really need to look at!

Again, I made the blanket larger than the pattern called for, which was good. I don't think I would have been happy with the size if I had just followed the pattern 100%. I'm actually working on a twin sister blanket right now. Not quite sure what I will do with it, but I'm sure I'll figure something out!

xoxo,
Brandie

P.S. I pre-wrote this before surgery so the blog wouldn't sit empty!

Christmas 2

Alright, a few more Christmas gifts.

First up another shawl I made for a friend. Which I also loved. And would totally take one for myself ;-) It comes from a pattern available on Ravelry.

(Again I say, don't I have awesome models!) And she says it's nice and cozy ;-)

The curling on the edges I debated blocking out or not, but you know, I kind of like them honestly. Of course, I hope my friend liked it like that (and if she didn't, I know she knows how to block LOL!)


I made another friend of mine a knitting bag. No pattern just from my head. I do like the bag and the design and all of that, but I already know some ways to improve it. I've joked that I will give her the improved model for her birthday LOL!

 This detail is my favorite! I just knitted a little swatch and sewed it in! =)

Not much, but that's about all I did this year. I wish I had done more, truly, but on the other hand, we had so many other memories we made during the month of December, so in  the end, it all turned out alright! But this year, I hope to get everything done before December so I can have the best of both worlds! =)

Christmas 1

Yes, this is in fact long over due, but alas, I did manage to make a few things for Christmas this past year.

The truth is I didn't finish all that I wanted to finish. And just a bit into December it dawned on me that I needed to just stop. Accept that what was finished was finished and what wasn't, well, it would have to wait to a further date. Which was hard to accept. I can't lie. There were tears (on my part). December is a long and busy month. And I want to spend it with my family, not holed up in my craft room trying to finish everything that I feel is required to have a "perfect" holiday.

That said, I did finish some things, and well, I have to show them off, don't I?! =)

First up I made my father-in-law socks (again! Which made me think of a song we used to play at my house called Didn't I This Last Year to the tune of Do You Hear What I Hear! LOL!) Anyway, socks it was again this year. But I did make very different ones! The Pattern is from the book Favorite Socks.

I really liked the detail on the socks.

And a shawl for my mother-in-law. The pattern is a free one from Lion Brand. I've been eying this pattern for several years and just never had a chance to knit it up, so I used the holidays as an excuse! I love how it turned out, how easy it was to knit, and I am in love with the color (which I should note my 5yo picked out and at first was afraid it would be to strong, but as I knit, I loved it more and more!)

{Seriously, do I have a great model or what? ;-) }

I am in love with that shawl. In fact, I'm toying with making myself one. But there are so many good patterns out there, it's so hard to pick! Good thing there is no shortage of people to knit for so I can try each one out!

Handmade Holidays

If you've been reading my blog through out the years, you will know that handmade holidays is very dear to my heart.

For the last 3 years as it gets close to Christmas, I sit down and plan on making as many gifts as I can for my family and friends. This year I actually started planning in January! (Although I didn't get a lot of making done until more recently!).

There is something special to me about sitting down and trying to find the perfect thing to make for people, locate patterns/directions/etc or create my own, and all during the process thinking about the person it's going to. Some years, I get some hints (like last year when my mom told my children to tell me she really wanted some hand knit socks for Christmas!).

Now, I haven't successfully figured out how to make something for every single person we give to - and I do know it's special to go out and pick out the most perfect gift, and yet, it is different when you are making it. That isn't mean to lessen the giving of store bought gifts at all - they are just as special, but it's just different. (and since we are on the topic of buying, I do try hard to buy items that have also been handmade, even if not by me! Thanks to craft shows, ebay, etsy and artfire, it's not only fun to see all the wonderful things other are creating but easy to purchase things!)

The first year I made a large portion of my gifts, I admit I was nervous. All crafters have learned that not everyone is not, well, as excited to receive handmade gifts as others. And while no one makes gifts in order to have thanks and praise and compliments lavished upon them, no one makes (or for that matter buys) a gift where the person receiving it kind of gives you "really, that's all" look or worse yet "what in the world is this and why did you give it to me" look. But my fears have been (so far) unfounded. I've learned most of my family and friends not only enjoy getting something handmade but love it. {That said, there are some people who have said things in the past that make me think they won't appreciate it and to save all of us, I have not ever attempted to make them something. Because I genuinely want people to like what we gift them and I don't have enough time to do it all myself!) And in the case of my mom, when they haven't yet receive something handmade, they let me know they would like to!

And that's all lovely and I'm glad that everyone likes getting handmade, but still, I have doubts - are they saying it to be nice. Did they really like it, etc, etc. But this year, this year, all my doubts have been erased. Because not that long ago my 11 year old, in conversation that actually wasn't about the holidays or handmade gifts specifically, said that although she gets lots of great things every year from people, but her favorite gifts are the ones I make for her. And to add to that, both my girls (11 and 8) are planning on making a lot of their gifts this year. Now, I've never made them make things. And have offered to help when they talk about making something here or there, but this is the first year they have tried to do a handmade holiday themselves. And I can't tell you how much that warms my heart. =)

This post is being entered in the Artfire: Win a Canon Rebel XS Digital SLR Camera contest. If you have handmade holiday story or plan to share, I encourage you to go over and enter too - but be quick, the contest ends tomorrow!

Sneak Peak ..

One of the projects started for Christmas ... can't give too much away, but aren't these fun fabrics?

 

Hmmm ...  wonder what it will end up being? Me too! Nope. Just kidding. I know, but I can't tell you yet! LOL!

Christmas Crafting has begun ...

Close-up of sign:



And I've warned everyone, if you see your present in progress, it's not your present anymore. (And no, this is not my only line of protection!)

What? Halloween? Umm, yeah, I'm working on that too. I still have 7 days LOL!

Last holiday project!

Well, at least I think this will be the last holiday project!
These are for my mom ... all she asked for this year was a pair of socks. I tired so hard to finish them by 12/25, but it just didn't happen :( However, we had a family Christmas party this past weekend and so I decided I would give them to her then.







It's nice to be done. To have survived. However, I hated, hated how stressed I was in December - I definitely procrastinated way too much over the holiday season and it just was too much (I still feel like I'm recovering and trying to get into normal sleep patterns!!)

So, I've already started on next year's gifts. It's true. I am in progress on one, and have materials for 3 others. I even created this google doc to help everyone plan their homemade holiday. You can see it here! That's a blank copy. I have one that I'm already filling up with lots of ideas!

But of course, I can't show you pictures of what I'm working on just yet. My plan is to alternate between non-holiday and holiday things so that I don't get overwhelmed with it all. The neat thing is, since I'm starting now I can do things that are a big bigger/more complicated to make. And that's pretty exciting - at least during this planning stage =)

Christmas Round-Up Part 2

So here are the rest of the Christmas gifts that I was working on!

First up, my oldest asked for a robe for Christmas, so I set out to make all three kids robes. They aren't hard to make, but definitely took more time to make than I was anticipating. I think there's just a bit more fabric there than what I usually work with, but they turned out really well I thought!













And yes, they are all hooded. I'm a bit jealous. I might have to make one for myself as well! As fro the kids, they really like them! They've worn them a lot. The youngest was a bit confused - he kept wanting to wear them as pajamas, but I think he finally gets what they are for



I also gave the two girls new scarves



The fleece one is for my middle daughter. The fuzzy one is for my oldest - she asked for it. A fuzzy pink scarf. The small one is for her American Girl doll (also something she asked for!)

I did some freezer-paper stenciling too. I made each child a shirt with a mouse head on it:



One of the "gifts" they unwrapped was a trip to Florida, complete with 2 days at Disney World, so these shirts were bundled in with that. Interestingly enough, the 4 year old was way more into the shirt than the trip! ROFL!

I did a bag for my sister, who is a new sorority girl and the other bag is an iron-on for my other sister:



My husband got a Bears blanket:



(the back side of the blanket is the footballs you can see in the lower right - I flipped up part of the blanket for that pic)



Of course, the Bears didn't have the best season this year but let's hope the power of the blanket helps them do better next year!

My oldest also got a blanket - which she hinted very heavily to me about it LOL!



The back side is the purple that you see in the corner. The pink side also matches the robe I made her.




I feel like I made a lot for Christmas this year and I love all that I made! It was so worth it ... but next year, I need to plan ahead a lot better so I'm not rushing so much at the end LOL!!

To see my Christmas Round-Up Part 1, click here!