Christmas Crafts

So, like a lot of people lately, I pin a lot of things on Pinterest. But I like to think I'm not wasting time on the site because I actually really try to craft/cook/bake what I pin.

Here are some things we finished working on these last few weeks:

A memento ornament of E's hand-print for his first Christmas:

Presents (aka ornaments) for family: 

 

I wish I'd gotten a picture of E making these. He loved having his hands squished into the dough. He'd get a huge smile on his face each time we did a new one--and we did a lot--while we made his imprints. It was probably just as fun for him as it was for me.

A gingerbread house made from real gingerbread:

The last time I attempted this was about 8 years ago and it was a disaster--absolutely no part of the house I tried to build or the gingerbread or the frosting worked out the way it was supposed to--so we can thank our friends for joining us and forcing me to try it again:

Since we didn't have a real Christmas tree I wanted something fragrant so we made these Cinnamon applesauce ornaments: 

They did not disappoint! They smell delicious and almost made up for the lack of evergreen smell wafting through our apartment this season.

Christmas Tree Growth Chart:

 I started this last year, knowing things would be a bit crazier once we had a kiddo. I got the idea from a friend of mine. The idea is that with each child you get a different color "ornament" (circles cut out of felt) and you eventually fill the tree up with the ornaments as they get taller. Plus it's just fun to see how much they've grown in the past year. E's already off to a great start. We measured him first thing Christmas morning and glued his first ornament to the tree.

Finally, because we were cooped up inside for a week and a half while E was sick, I got around to some projects I'd anticipated doing before he was born but never actually did.

These are the colors I've based most of the "decor" in E's room on.

And lately, I've been going crazy not knowing where to hang E's coats so I finally pulled my craft bag out from under the bed and got to painting. Ben was supposed to help me but he ended up working instead. (Gasp! Can you believe him!) Here was the final product of that:

Super simple but it's made the coat situation bearable. 

Anyway, I'm just excited to see the products of my labors all around our apartment. I'll be sad when we pack up the Christmas decorations and put them back up in storage until next year so I had to document them in case I start feeling like I never do anything again. 

And, I guess on the plus side, once the Christmas decorations are gone I guess it's time to start planning a first birthday party!