Creating Christmas Gifts

The Christmas season is a busy time no matter which way you slice it. We need to make time for shopping, cooking, baking, visiting and still go to our jobs. To make that all go a bit smoother and to keep things as inexpensive as possible Ryan and I did some DIY Christmas gifts this year.

Just like last year, we took our own photos and made cards to send out to family and friends. We made 35 this year and even though it was time consuming I absolutely love the outcome. I think they are much more unique and creative than the photo cards that you can get printed professionally. 

I had the idea to make a tree ornament for Ryan this year, something personalized and meaningful, and even though he had no idea I was doing that he still came up with the same idea. We made ornaments for his little sister and also for our 2 secret Santa's. 

I don't know either of the people we chose so we did a quick little Facebook search and came up with these. Ryan made and painted the Blue Jays logo and I did the lobster claw. I think they both turned out great!

I've been making stockings for several years now and I really love it. Bentley just turned one in October and he finally gets his own stocking. I had hoped to make one for him last year but it didn't work out. I previously made one for his Mom, Dad and sister too.

Though it has my name on it this one isn't for me. Another Dani has been included in the family and this one is for her. I think the 2 stockings I made this year are my favourite ones I've done. 

All the kids gifts were handmade this year in hopes that they might be a little more meaningful and might last a little longer that the typical toy gifts.

For my older niece and a friends daughter I made these adorable little bubblegum machine tree ornaments. They only cost a few dollars to make and are a fun addition to the tree.

For the next 4 kids we made them each a bunny. Yes, you read that right: we cut, sewed, detailed and all-in-all made each child there own stuffed bunny. Each one is slightly different and they all have different coloured tails to keep from being confused. 

Lastly, instead of a bunny, Bentley got a dinosaur. I made this one too. 

Everything seemed really well received and I'm hoping to continue this in the future. I think a meaningful handmade gift is always the best to receive. 

Pre-Christmas Creations

'Tis the season to celebrate with family and friends, and that's just what we've been doing. Ryan and I attended two Christmas parties this weekend and I got to be creative before both. 

I volunteered to bring a dessert item to both parties and spent ALL day on Saturday baking. 

I made a cake with 5 layers and 3 trays of cookies, my kitchen was the messiest it's probably ever been and I had to walk to the grocery store in between batches to get more eggs. Fortunately the store is only across the street since it was one of the coldest days this year and my poor van died in the garage at home.

After 4.5 hours of baking and with almost no time to get ready, we set off to the party. I'm going to tell you, I made the ugliest cake ever, it's could win awards for its ugliness, but when I arrived with it everyone seemed pretty impressed!! 

Supper was amazing. Curried cauliflower, though I expected to dislike it, turned out to be really delicious. Veggie pies, mashed potatoes and Caesar salad were excellent as well. There was a great selection of vegetarian food, which isn't usually the case at parties, so it was easy for everyone to enjoy. My 3 best friends are vegetarian as well and all in attendance. 

At dessert time I was told that my gingerbread cake was "the best cake I've ever had" by one of my friends and that really made my night. Baking all day paid off I guess!

Our second party was a "tacky Christmas sock" party. Better than sweaters in my opinion. Again, I was busy doing.. I don't remember what, all morning before the party so we were a bit rushed getting ourselves ready. Fortunately I did all the baking the day before so the gingerbread cookies were ready to go when we were! 

A quick trip to the dollar store to buy sock decorating supplies and then about 10 minutes at home with the hot glue gun and double sided tape had us ready. 

Ryan had a lovely oven mitt creation and I went with garland and jingle bells up to the knees. The (approximately 1 million) kids at the party seemed to like our choices, and that's what counts. 

I'm really looking forward to spending more time with people over the holidays and being festive! 

The Weekend

This past weekend it finally started to feel like the Christmas season for me. Even though I was finished my Christmas shopping in October, I’ve had my tree up with wrapped gifts underneath since mid-November and I’ve been doing little Christmas DIY’s in my spare time for over a month now I still didn’t quite feel as though the season had begun. Now it has.

On Friday night Ryan and I went to the Snowflake Festival in St Albert to see the big tree lighting. Of course, we didn’t actually see the lights come on, but we weren’t really there for that anyway. 95% of the reason we came was to ride on the horse drawn wagon! We saw them last year but the line up to get on was crazy. 

When we arrived we were quickly distracted by a free photo booth and got in the short line to have our picture taken. We knew the line would only grow as the event went on.

As with the photos we knew the longer we waited the longer the horse line up would get. In fact, it was already really long when we got there. Fortunately for me, the line was still at a length that we were willing to stand for and we happened to be right beside a booth giving out free hot chocolate!! 

We did end up waiting quite a while but amused ourselves with people watching. And once we got on our straw covered wagon and headed off into the crowded streets, we continued to watch the people around us. 

The rest of the evening was spent checking out the different booths and hunting for free cookies. We found donuts instead!

On Sunday we went to Elk Island again. It's been quite a while since we visited and we felt like getting out for a hike. 

We chose a 3km Trail that we haven't done before, bundled up in our winter layers and got going. We both walk fairly fast so the Trail only lasted about 45 minutes or so and was pretty uneventful, just a nice walk through the trees and a good excuse to be outside. What was more exciting was actually seeing some animals along the road this time! We saw several Bison within a few feet of the car and also a Coyote down by one of the ponds. We very excitedly stopped to snap a few photos before going back home. 

I love that we live so close to one of the National Parks and we get the opportunity to be away from the city without needing to drive for hours.