Handmade Christmas - Details

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year friends! 

I hope that no matter your situation this holiday season, you know you are loved and cared for. 

 I wanted to continue my handmade Christmas series with some details I did for the gifts we made and purchased this year. I found this custom stamp set at Michael's marked way way down right before Christmas, and it was perfect for making some personal details for our Christmas gifts!

I hope these inspire you all year with your gift giving! Stay tuned for another post on our holiday goodies!

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

I used the interchangeable letters to create a moniker that I used on some of gifts, as well as gift tags!

Using cheap $1 stamps I picked up from Michael's and a local thrift store, I created some patterned wrapping paper for various gifts!

Rearranging the lettering on the stamp block allowed me to customize each gift tag label!

Kitty says "For meeeee?"

Merry Christmas from Mari Makes!

watercolor on paper by Mari Fray Foster © Mari Makes

"In the beginning was the Word,
 and the Word was with God,
 and the Word was God. 

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; 
without him nothing was made that has been made. 

In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 

The light shines in the darkness, 
but the darkness has not understood it." John 1:1-5

A very Merry Christmas dear friends! 

I am thankful for you today, and praying for you. I hope your holiday is filled with hope, joy and laughter and reflection these next few days!

"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness..."

Being an artist and having a thoroughly creative-type personality, it's easy for me to get caught up in all the stress and concern with making and crafting of perfect gifts and decorations (like so many others with various tasks that come with the season). Those things are all good things, but it is too easy to become swallowed up in them alone and completely miss the point of why we celebrate.

"I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people..."

Christ the baby that was born in a stall is the same Christ who was nailed to a tree, living and dying as a servant, and rising again to free us from the bondage of sin and despair. This is just as true on January 1 as it is on Christmas or Easter, as it is true every single minute of every day. 

May you be filled with everlasting joy and hope today, and every day!

I leave you with some truly beautiful music that warms my soul, and will hopefully do the same for yours.

"Did you know, did you know 

It was God's own son?  

The salvation of the world begun?
Did you know it was love that was sent from above,to the Earth?"

Natalie Sleeth, 1976

A beautiful recording of an amazing song. Visit Hue & Hum

For more beautiful recordings of hymns, check out Redemption Hill Music

and Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas

Thank you for reading!

Handmade Christmas - Pinecone Garland

Today's issue of Handmade Christmas is brought to you by Pinecones! They may be sappy, but they're free!

I made this pinecone garland for next to nothing, and you can too! It's a great, cheap way to bring the outdoors into your home this Christmas season!

Handmade Christmas - Budget Anthro Mitten Garland

 I saw this adorable mitten garland on Anthropolgie's website last year, but had no idea how to go about making them. I can knit, but I'm not good enough to make up a mitten pattern when I have never made them before!

Anthropologie's Mitten Garland

This year however, I found this ( perfect tiny mitten pattern! ) If you have basic knitting skills, and can crochet a chain (that's about all I can do...) these are very simple, even if you have never made mittens before! They take about 30 minutes each to knit, and I made my garland over a few nights watching TV and knitting a few pairs in a sitting.  They don't even have to all be the same, if you mess up and miss a row or an increase, its okay! They will still look great.

This is a great project to use up leftover yarn, is not a breakable decoration (our precocious kitties make it impossible to use any kind of breakable Christmas decor...) and it is super adorbs.

I made 6 pairs of 3 different yarns, 18 mittens. I crocheted the garland strand and attached the mittens by crocheting little loops on and through the garland strand. You can also just knot yarn through the corner to tie them to the strand!

tiny.... mittens...

Handmade Christmas - Budget Anthro Mason Jar Snowglobes

 Today's edition of Budget Anthropologie is brought to you by water-less Mason Jar Snowglobes!

Anthropologie's Snow Globes

These little guys are sweet as can be, but, having a number of empty glass jars floating around my house, I knew I could recreate a host of these for a fraction of the price!

Materials:

- Mason jars or empty food jars with lids: I used basically every empty jar in my apartment, from empty salsa containers, spaghetti sauce jars, a few mason jars, even emptied and cleaned wax candle mini jars with lids and a tiny hotel jelly jar.

- Fake snow! I got mine at Target for about $1.50, which was as cheap as I could find it. Other ideas include crumpling up bit of foam into tiny pieces, shredded paper bits, glitter etc. 

- Bottle brush mini trees, or other fake mini trees. I found a pack of 2 larger ones at the thrift store for $1.00, and I got a few packs of 7 or 8 bottle brush trees of varying sizes for $2.00 each at Michaels.

- Hot glue and hot glue gun, or adhesive of your choosing.