Christmas Projects and Presents

David and I like to make our Christmas presents each year, so we have been extremely busy this month getting everything done and ready in time for Christmas. We have made all kinds of things throughout the years - picture frames, photo books, calendars, keepsake boxes, cornhole sets (please don't ask us about those - that was by far our biggest undertaking!) I had lots of fun getting inspiration from Pinterest and was thrilled with how everything turned out this year, and I think everyone was excited over their gifts as well. See below for all our fun homemade items this year!

This is a Pinterest-inspired felt Christmas tree I made for Anthony, as well as one for his cousin, Abigayle's, birthday. I purchased the green felt at Jo-Ann's and used a yardstick to free-hand and cut out a tree shape. I then used smaller felt sheets from Hobby Lobby and template patterns I found online for the star and ornaments. I loved how this turned out and thought he would have fun decorating and rearranging his own Christmas tree (and hopefully would divert him from messing with the real Christmas tree.) Unfortunately, his texture issues got the best of him, and he couldn't stand touching the felt.
It still made for a nice decoration!

Last Christmas I made round salt dough ornaments with Anthony's hand and footprints in the middle of them to give to relatives. I had come across this idea on Pinterest to use the outline of his handprint and make a Santa. I was thrilled with how these turned out, and they are such a fun keepsake! I made the salt dough using a recipe I found online and used a cardboard tracing of Anthony's hand and aluminum tape to create my own cookie cutter of his handprint. It worked great! Since I started this project early, I had plenty of time to let them air dry on a card table for a week, which worked out much better. Last year I baked them in the oven and it caused some air bubbles, cracks, and unevenness, but air drying is the way to go if you have the time. Once they were good and dry, I used acrylic paint and painted a base coat of white and then added the tan, red, and pink touches. I used a black paint pen for the eyes and also wrote Anthony's name and the year on the back. I then tied the ribbon through (which I used a straw to make the holes as soon as I cut out the handprints), and they were all done and ready to wrap!

The finished product!

I also saw these Baby Jar Snowmen on Pinterest and knew I had a ton of baby jars I could use to make them as a second gift for Anthony to give from him. So, I started saving them and washed and cleaned them up. I painted the lids black, used little black scrapbooking sticker jewels for the eyes, mouth, and buttons, used felt for the hat and nose, and cut strips of fabric for the scarf. I used velcro to attach the three jars together and filled them with marshmallows, hot chocolate mix, and chocolate chips.

Very cute!

We also made Post-It Note holders, which were another Pinterest idea. This one is the left-over we ended up keeping for us, but it gives you the general idea. I used all kinds of matching scrapbook paper for these, and some turned out really cute. This is a just a 5x7 clear plastic frame (less than $1 at Wal-mart), two matching scrapbook papers cut to size, a post-it notepad, and ribbon. We made these to accompany our main project this year...

I'm not even sure how or when I came up with this idea, but I remembered our friends in Atlanta, the Metcalfs, had started pen-making as a hobby not long before we moved. I thought, "Surely, that's something we could do too." So, I started researching and found out how they were made, the materials needed, etc. I really wanted to do this as our project because it is very hard to find a gift that is for everyone and fits all. A pen though, everyone uses pens! While I was researching, I decided to look on Craigslist as a long shot to see if there were any lathes listed. In the city just north of us, a man had posted not only a lathe, but also all of the pen-making supplies to go along with it! I figured it was meant to be, so David and I called and met up with him. It turns out, he and his wife had used it to make dollhouse furniture and items for their granddaughters until she had passed away. He hadn't used it since and was wanting to get rid of it. It was perfect, a fraction of the cost of what everything new would be, and just what we needed to try our hand at making pens. We found a Woodcraft store in Knoxville, which had all the supplies we needed to make our pens so we stocked up on pen kits, wood blanks, sandpaper, finishing wax, etc. and got to work!

Here's the pen kit and wood blank we started out with on each pen. We picked a medium-sized pen (again, a one-size-fits-all item that both the men and women could use) and also picked a style that only required one pen blank instead of two, which cut our work in half. We figured it was best for us as beginners and would save us some time.

David's drill press and vice. You begin by drilling a
hole through the center of the wood piece.

David at work on the lathe. After gluing a metal tube in the  hole you drilled, you place the wood piece on the rod on the lathe. As it turns, you use chisel tools to eat away at the wood and round the piece down to the size and fit you want for your pen. It sounds complicated, but is a very smooth and relaxing process. (It's just very messy as sawdust and chips fly everywhere. We used David's Shopvac to clean it up as needed.) Form that point, we used five different sandpaper grits to smooth the wood, then used a wax finish to put a protective coat on and make them shine.

Here are all of our pen blanks after they've been turned, as well as a couple of pens that are already assembled. We used an African exotic wood called Padauk, and I love how the coloring turned out.

Close-up of an assembled pen.

The finished products! We ordered pen gift boxes from Office Depot to present them in and wrapped them up nice and pretty. Everyone loved them, and again, I was thrilled with how they turned out. We have a new hobby!