Part 3

Below are some more of the homemade gifts that I did but didn't take any pictures of while I was making them....I promise i'll be better next year : )

These are "travel-while-its-hot" hair straightener holders.

All you do is simply buy a pot holder, fold it in half so the sides are together and then sew it along the side and bottom, leaving the top open so you can slide your straightener in!

These are earrings made out of string and paper clips!

It's literally as easy as 1, 2, 3 (4, 5, 6)! 

All you have to do is open up the paper clip and bend it to form a triangle. I, then used hot glue to connect it together so it would hold it's shape while I worked with the string. Then, you wrap the string all the way around the outside of the shape (be patient, this takes time and your fingers will feel it). Then, you have two options (unfortunately I don't have pictures of them). You can either run the string horizontally from the bottom of the paper clip to the top, covering up the middle of it so that it's a neat pattern; or you can do a "messy" pattern and just string it around a bunch of different ways until it's as filled up as you want it to be. Hopefully the pictures below will help you get somewhat of an idea, although i don't have a picture of the 'neat' way - hopefully you understand what I described. Then, when you're all done with the string, I again used a tiny bit of hot glue to secure the end of the string. Then you just need to get some earring hooks (I got a pack of 100 for like $0.30 on amazon!) and you're all set!

This gift was a "back rub for life"! It was pretty confusing for the recipient LOL - so the idea is that you wear the shirt and then your kids run their cars around on it and you get a free back rub!

All you need to do is buy a white t- shirt, go here to print out the pattern, stick it inside the shirt and trace it with fabric markers! Ta-da! : )

Although they were a pain in the butt and a headache - I really enjoyed giving so many homemade gifts this year and I look forward to doing it again next year : ) 

I hope i've (pin)spired you! 

Part 2

 I didn't take any pictures while making this craft because it was a huge headache for me! LOL

 This is where I got my pinsperation from. Jeremy and I made ours 10x10 vs 15x15 solely because of the price of the lego base plate. But, I think that the 10x10 is a perfect size. So, we had home depot cut the wood for us since we didn't have the means to do it ourselves. Then we put the pieces together & I painted it. Then I printed out their names, held them up to the side and wrote over the paper so that it made an indentation on the wood. Then I painted in their names and sprayed the whole thing with a protective coat. Then I glued the base plates down inside. THIS was the headache for me, minus small other little hiccups. Must be when the wood got cut or we put it together it didn't end up just right because the base plates wouldn't just fit right in. I had to work pretty hard to get them in and then weigh them down overnight so that they wouldn't bubble up on me. BUT - they worked out pretty great and they seemed to be a huge hit! The tutorial that I saw put handles on the sides and felt circles on the bottom but, I didn't think any of that was a big deal.

: ) 

Homemade gifts

Almost all of my gifts were homemade this year (all but 3 I think). I told everyone not to expect them next year because some of them were a huge headache and time consuming, but I really did enjoy doing it and I think they mean just a little bit more when you put all of the thought and time into them. Thank God for pinterest! LOL

I saw a lot of these given this year, so I'm sure you have all seen them by now, but I wanted to share my "issues" with it.

The post that I found on pinterest told me to write on the plate with sharpie and then bake it for 30 minutes at 150 degrees. Well, I did this, but it was not permanent. So I did some research online and found a post saying to bake it for an hour at 375 degrees. This worked much better. I actually ended up baking it for about 3 hours just to be safe! LOL 

(Note: it is still not dishwasher safe)

This was a gift for Jeremy's grandma : )

Surprise!

I can finally announce it!

The best Christmas present my whole family got...

Jonathan and Liz gave this to mom and dad when we celebrated Christmas. It is all of our hand prints sewn onto fabric and framed. From right to left there is Jeremy's hand with mine inside; then Caleb's hand with Cristale's, Casen's and there little green hand for Arya who will be joining us in February; then Doug's hand with Sarah's, Marissa's and Madalyn's inside; and then there is Jonathan's hand with Liz's and THEIR own little green hand inside - due sometime this summer! THEY'RE PREGNANT!!!!! They have been trying to get pregnant for about 2 years now. We all know how easy it is to say "if it's meant to be", or "all in God's timing", but we also know how sometimes that is the last thing we want to hear, when our heart is aching and wants something so much. I am so proud of them for not losing hope (although i'm sure they had their moments) and always trusting the Lord, even when understanding was the farthest thing from them. This will either be my 4th niece or 3rd nephew and I just can not wait!!!!!!! :D
Congrats again to my brother and sister-in-law <3

My "kinda-sorta-first" bag

My sister, Sarah, has been making purses/diaper bags for a while now. They are super cute and a really big hit. Lately, she has had so many people ask her to make them one that we thought maybe I could start helping out, so at Christmas time she showed me how it's done and we made a bag together for my Grandma. She had a lot of the work done ahead of time, but she saved the difficult parts for me to see and help with. It was SO much fun & i'm really looking forward to getting into it more.

Here is the bag we made for my grandma...

Now I just need a sewing machine and all the goodies to get started! 

Christmas/New Year's in SC

When we finally made it home it felt like we had moved in for the first time all over again...

We unpacked a little, but there is still a pile in the living room waiting for homes LOL It was time to bring in the New Year. 

We rented 'The Words' and 'Total Recall' - both of which were pretty disappointing, and ate a bunch of junk food of course.

We had a sleepover...

& rang in the New Year right : ) 

New Year's day we decided we would celebrate our Christmas, just the two of us, first thing in the morning like it was the real thing...

My goods...

LOVE these salt & pepper grinders...

you pinch them instead of twisting!

Cutest thing ever, right?! They had this at Blockbuster and every time we went there it caught my eye.
My wonderful husband pays attention ; ) 

Jeremy's goods...

I hope you all had just as Merry of a Christmas
and Happy New Year that we did. Although,
I am very anxious to see how 2013 is going to beat 2012 : ) 

Christmas with the Thomas'

We celebrated Christmas with Jeremy's immediate family the day after Christmas. His brother and sister-in-law who live in Arizona couldn't be with us, but we skyped with them while we opened presents. Here's some more of our fun!

Reece got a lego tray, too!

 

Our goods LOL

: )

Reece got bored and starting opening up mommy's presents
- a new DVD player! LOL

& of course more wrestles...

Uncle Jeremy was warned that this would happen when he came home, but I don't think he was quite prepared for the extent of it!

Look at that face : )

Uncle Jeremy is "da winner!"

.....LOL

That about sums up our trip home. I ended up getting a nasty cold, apparently my body is very used to the weather in SC, but it didn't really matter. I am so thankful for the time that we got to spend with our families and how awesome they all were at sharing us. Of course, it wasn't enough time, but this way each and every time we get to spend with them will be even more special. Hopefully our summer trip can be just a bit longer!

Oh, I almost forgot this awesome lady...

One of my best friends, Meg, that I got to see while being home. Along with many of our other friends. Time was much shorter with friends than it was with family - but still special to us <3 

Thank you all!!! <3