a Handcrafted Christmas

Ok, so it wasn't all handcrafted. But due to the recent budget constraints in the Ray household, there was much more crafting than in years past. And I loved it.

Russ led off the hand-made brigade with doll beds for the girls American Girl Dolls. He made up the plans and they turned out great. We added flower stickers on the head & footboards and they are so cute.

Josh jumped on the bandwagon when he realized that he had missed the last shopping opportunity. He picked two pieces of fabric out of my stash and in just a couple of hours made quilts for the new doll beds, pillows, and pillow cases. Josh experimented with the sewing machine a couple of years ago but hasn't sewn in a long time but he did very well. He & I collaborated and made a quiver to for Jared's new bow & arrow set. Josh made a circle from a wire coat hanger and I sewed it into the top of the quiver so that it stays open. Pretty cool.

Jared was also a crafter this Christmas. He & I turned a whiskey box and a roll of contact paper into a wardrobe for the dolls. (Do you see a theme this year? It's all about the American Girl Dolls!)

We filled the wardrobe with clothes that I had made for the dolls, including some really cute Christmas dresses. Sewing for dolls is so much faster than for full sized humans!
And here are some of the other things I made this year that I'm most proud of. A dress for my favorite two year old, copied from this Pottery Barn ad.

And lastly, a customized Monopoly board. This was made using a kit, but I spiced it up with lots of personalized photos. We have several versions of Monopoly, including the all important Oceanopoly, but I think we're going to have to make a personalized version for us as well.