homemade christmas 2008

i love the week in between christmas and the new year. it is often quiet and a good time to just be home and play! after spending the entire month of december crafting under a deadline, it has been nice for me to be able to craft for fun.

making all of our gifts this year was wonderful! i have never been as excited to give gifts as i was this year. being able to invest time and love into something for someone else made this christmas very special. here are some of the things i made this year:












i didn't photograph one fiber art by moonpie, one apron, 2 knit hats, and the amazing silhouettes john made. here's hoping he makes a couple for us!

how was your homemade christmas?

***update***
coby's reusable sandwich bags (sorry i forgot them the first time, brother)

love and joy

advent day 3 & 4
love and joy

last night we celebrated the final days of advent. because of our late start we had to combine the third and fourth day. we made heart shaped sugar cookies to prepare- moonpie's recipe.




when she saw that we were making hearts she jumped on the opportunity to make the craft. after cutting out 10 hearts, she instructed us to decorate them. glitter abounded. this morning i had john cut a branch for me and we created our advent tree.



our theme for the night was love and joy. and while i would have liked to let each have their own night, love and joy really go hand in hand. where there is love there is joy. we shared how god is love. he can be nothing else because that is what he is. and out of that huge love, we are to find our joy, our peace and our hope.


this was our first year to observe advent as a family and it has been so special for us. for me it has been a great time to let go and let daddy do the planning. in doing so i have been shown that i need to step back more often. he loves this family insurmountably...advent has been a special reflection of that love.




1 John 4:7-8 (The Message)

God Is Love
7-10My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

save the toys

have you been hearing about the actions the CPSIA is taking to regulate toy companies? on one hand it is fantastic news! no more pthalates? no more toxic paint? who can argue with that? however, if the language in the current legislation is not rewritten, this will be all encompassing. what this means for small, home based artisans is that their livelihood will be taken. what this means for me is that i will not be able to buy that beautiful maple teether i've been eyeing on etsy. my ability to support crafts people will be taken from me. i no likey.
here are the facts from the handmade toy alliance:
The issue:
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.





For small American, Canadian, and European toy makers and manufacturers of children's products, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business.



A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.
A work at home mom in Minnesota who makes cloth diapers to sell online must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.
A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import.
And even the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.

The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of children's goods that have earned and kept the public's trust: Toys, clothes, and accessories made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade children's products will no longer be legal in the US.

If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole prospered.

How You can Help:
Please write to your United States Congress Person and Senator to request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys and children's products. Use our sample letter or write your own. You can find your Congress Person here and Senator here.

if you agree what this organization is trying to do, please take a minute to visit their website and send a letter.

thrifty thursday

i have been a thrifting fool lately. it seems like we are at our local thrift stores weekly- usually on thursday. in honor of my new favorite past time, i am creating a new blog feature entitled, 'thrifty thursday'.



here's a rundown of my five favorite finds (and trust me, i'm being generous- $10 buys A LOT):

a vintage bridal veil for moonpie's christmas ($2)

milk glass tea cups ($1 each)

for my messy spoons ($1)



lovely velvet and satin covered hangers ($1 for 7!)

peace

advent day 2


peace


sunday night we celebrated the second day of advent. the focus of the week was peace. to set the atmosphere we turned off the lights and ate by candlelight. this led to a very quiet dinner- what a change! we read our scripture, sang 'i've got peace like a river', and then john led a craft. i was so impressed with his preparation! my heart was full as i sat and watched as he led moonpie in her sewing craft (buddy had fallen asleep before dinner). we talked about how true peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather completion. when relationships are complete, or whole, there is peace.

what a lovely evening.

our feast: one local omelet and apple turnovers

moonpie sewing her dove with daddy

John 14:27 (The Message) 25-27"I'm telling you these things while I'm still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I'm leaving you well and whole. That's my parting gift to you. Peace. I don't leave you the way you're used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don't be upset. Don't be distraught. (from www.biblegateway.com)

christmas give-aways

check out this amazing giveaway on mer mag . be still my heart, i want that family portrait so bad!!!

http://www.mermag.blogspot.com/

and here's another from calico. give me that softie, and that bag to keep her in!

and for the biggie, design mom. wow! why can't i be so cool that 12 different vendors would give me expensive gifts to give away?

update:

i don't know why my links aren't working, but here are the websites

http://www.designmom.com/

http://cally-cruze.blogspot.com/

magical

last friday i took the kids (and the husband and the grandparents and the aunt and uncle and nephew) downtown to play in snow. since it never snows here they blew some in and then charged $3 a kid a to play in it. for 10 minutes. and we were happy to do it, because we, as southeast texans, are desperate for snow. well, miracle of all miracles it SNOWED here yesterday! we spoke in hushed tones as we dressed in our non-snow apparel (just lots of it) and headed outside. we didn't want our shouts to scare it away. but once we hit the yard we couldn't contain ourselves. we screamed ourselves silly, spinning in circles with our mouths open wide, praying for a snow flake to make contact. and when it didn't, buddy just licked the snow right off the table, 'ooo, too yucky'.
in our exhiliration, i dropped my camera on my way out the door. that's what happens when you put a newbie in gloves : ). within 10 minutes of dropping the camera the kids knocked over the christmas tree and the cat broke a family heirloom. it seems that the snow caused some sort of disturbance in the cosmos- we just couldn't handle it! the snow is melting away now and it's supposed to warm up to 60', which secretly, i'm happy about. it appears that i don't do cold all that well.

check out brandi's blog for pics of our snow!

sneak peak

my nights have been busy lately. if you've called recently, and haven't heard back, this is why. i've been a crafting fool, trying to get everything ready for christmas. i have really loved making all the presents this year. i have completed 4 items, have 3 semi ready, and have 7 that i haven't even started yet. but i'm not feeling stressed about it. yet. i mean, come on, i have 2 more weeks, right? so here's a sneak peak at what i've been working on:
(and yes, i realize that there is nothing more annoying than a bragging blogger)

:

hope

advent - day 1

HOPE

today we celebrated the first day of advent (we know, we're a week late!). john led us in such a special time. we feasted, made salt clay candle holders, and read from isaiah 40.

Isaiah 40
Comfort for God’s People 1Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to herthat her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned,that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
The Word of God Stands Forever 6 A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?"All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
The Greatness of God 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not;say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

fall color

so, we may not get the traditional 'fall color' around here . no weeks of gradually changing scenery. no real autumn, to mention. really we just jump from summer to winter in one day. but, look who's still getting csa shares: