Ah, Christmas ...

.... it started to creep into my mind a couple of weeks ago, but I forced it away until I made it through Halloween. Now it is November 4th (almost 5th) and I am consumed with thoughts of what I need to make, who I need to make it for, how I am going to make it, etc., etc., etc.

I don't go all handmade for Christmas. Heck, I don't think I even go 50% handmade (don't hate me), but I do like to craft a few things.

At the top of my brain right now?

My daughter's Christmas dress and a playhouse that will be for both the kiddos.

After doing lots of research I presented the playhouse idea to the hubby and he is all for it. Yay!

As far as the Christmas dress, I am tossing back and forth between a more traditional dress or a more modern/trendy dress. The traditional dress would probably be with a flocked taffeta and the modern/trendy dress would probably be out of Michael Miller's Ginger Blossom line. Ah! I can't decide!

Speaking of dresses ... I am willing to take one or two orders for a custom handmade holiday dress. Anyone game? e-mail me -- toodlesbybethany[at]gmail[dot]com -- and be fast!

There’s Always Next Year

With only a couple of weeks until Christmas I am running out of time, but most certainly not running out of ideas. Is it a bad thing for me to already be making my list of Christmas projects for next year? I hope not because these two are at the top of my list. Maybe I will make them in June. Hey, it’s winter in Australia then.

Amy Butler’s tree forest. How is it that something so simple can look so deliciously elegant? Thanks Amy, my piano was just telling me the other day that it would like a tree forest atop it.

Thanks to Jill for directing me towards this lovely creation. Paper crafting is a bit more time consuming for me than sewing, so starting in June probably isn’t such a bad idea.

Neighbor Gifts

Thanks goes to Karlie for her tutorial on making these super cute boxes. I will be making a plethora of them to fill with something sweet for my neighbor gifts.

P.S. Karlie is a SUPER talented florist. Check out her website, Garden House Floral. Seriously, it makes me want to marry Brandon all over again just so that I can have her do my flowers.

How lovely are thy branches!

I am a sentimental decorator when it comes to Christmas. It is a tradition in our family that we get an ornament every year for Christmas. When we get married my mom passes those ornaments on to us for our tree. I love pulling out each one and remembering the year it was given to me.

This lovely gem of an ornament was given to me the year I was born. Do you see what I mean? You would have to be sentimental to keep this. (The bad photography doesn’t help much, does it?)

The ornaments that remind me of what was going on in my life at the time always make me emotional. This was from my mom last year, in honor of our first Christmas in our new home. What a special memory.

These two ornaments aren’t gifts, but have equal sentimental value. I remember as a child I loved putting the ornaments on our tree that my parent’s had made for their first Christmas tree. So, after Brandon and I got married I was super excited to get some ornaments that we could remember as our first. Being in the thick of my first concert season ever as a music teacher, handmade didn’t happen. I love what we chose from Terry’s Village, though. The heart is one of 12 ornaments that are part of an old German tradition. I’m not German and didn’t even know about the tradition until I saw the ornaments in the catalog, but I thought it was pretty nifty, so I decided to join in on the fun! The snowmen are just cute. Busy Boy loved putting them on the tree this year.

What kind of tree decorator are you? Do you have any favorite ornaments?

Leave me a comment or write on your blog and leave me a link in the comments. I am making the cutest mitten ornaments for my kids (based on a pattern from Leisl at disdressed) and will have some extra fabric. Anyone that comments will get entered in a drawing for their very own mitten ornament. Also, if you link to my blog on your blog, you will get a second entry in the drawing. I will draw a name on Friday, December 12th. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say!