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Holidays at Home
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Dear Friends,
As we kick off November’s Handmade Holidays our thoughts naturally turn to holiday celebrations in our homes and yours. Last year we had fun throughout December, learning about your favorite recipes, gifts, traditions and memories. This year we want to do it again! |
How to Play:
1. Write about holidays in your home on your blog. Here is a set of writing prompts to get you started (pick & choose, or share something your very own way!):
- Gifts
- Do you have a favorite gift that you love to give?
- If you’re making gifts this year, what are you making? (Post photos if you have some, and if the recipients won’t find out via your post!)
- Do you have any good stories about handcrafted gifts you’ve given or received?
- Do you have any great gift compilation ideas (a grouping of gifts just perfect for certain recipients?)
- Name one thing on your personal wish list.
- Do you make and sell things that would make fantastic gifts? (Share a link.)
- Traditions
- What is your favorite family holiday tradition?
- Have you started any new traditions with your family that you didn’t practice growing up?
- What do you love most about the holiday season?
- What do you like least about the holiday season?
- Anyone close to your heart that you’ll be missing this year?
- What is your favorite holiday food?
- Do you have a great recipe to share?
2. Be sure to tell your friends and blog readers about the fun, and have them participate too. Link to this post so they’ll know where to post their link. If you’d like, you can grab our snazzy button.
3. Leave a link in the comments to this post to let us and others know you’re participating.
4. Throughout December we’ll highlight excerpts from Holidays at Home posts. If you’d like us to post a quote from your blog with an image and link, email us:
- Email: beth@sewmamasew.com
- Subject: Holidays at Home
- Attach: Your image sized to 300 px wide.
- Include: Your name and your blog name.
- Include: The blog post URL related to the image.
- Include: A snippet (100 words or less) of your post.
Questions:
Can I share more than one blog post in the comments?
Sure!
Do I have to get this done before December?
No!– Any time between now and the end of December works. We’ll begin Holidays at Home highlights on the blog at the beginning of December.
What if I don’t want to answer all of your questions, but I want to participate?
Anything goes!– Answer one question or answer them all. You can even share a picture of something you made for someone and leave off the questions all together. Have fun.
We can’t wait to learn more about your Holidays at Home!
Peace to you,
Kristin, Beth, Lauren, Rebecca & Irene
67 Responses to “Holidays at Home”
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I am very new to blogs and am just discovering how interesting (and addicting) they can be. I love the fabric and info you have on here. I come daily to read and there is always something interesting to learn about. I especially love fabric and quilting. I don’t know anyone in person who has this interest but I have found many online so far. Keep up the good work!
YAY!! THIS IS SUCK A GREAT TOOL!! I AM NEW TO SEW MAMA SEW AND AM EXCITED TO SEE ALL THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE. SO FAR THE TAGS ARE GREAT
THANK YOU
I cannot wait. I have vowed to make all my gifts this year and I am so excited.
This is such a wonderful idea, I like the sense of community of the blogosphere and sharing something about the Holidays is great. I’m in!
Yippeee!!! I gathered so many wonderful ideas last year… not just for Christmas, but for the whole year. Thanks!
i love reading blogs (ok… that’s an understatement. i read far too many of them!)
perhaps this will inspire me to come out of lurkdom in the blog world and start my very own!
I’ll definitely be participating – I’m hosting the second annual Holiday Traditions Exchange over at my blog – sign-ups end on November 9th: http://sewliberated.typepad.com/sew_liberated/2008/10/holiday-traditions-exchange-2008.html
This is awesome! What a great group of creative individuals! Looking forward to sharing some new and old traditions from our home! Please count me in!
I’m in! I’m making all my gifts for my nieces and nephews gifts, my sisters-in-law, my friends, my daughter’s friends and my aunt and cousins. I found alot of ideas from last Handmade Holidays! I can wait- I’m so excited. I better get moving- 55 days til Christmas!
I want to play along! I had already started talking about traditions on my blog, you can see the most recent one here: http://craftytammie.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-family-traditions.html
Count me in. I’m making lots of gifts this year and have at least one of them tucked away already. December is such a wonderful month and there are great traditions out there that I love to read about. I’ll share mine as well.
Lorrie
this looks like a lot of fun! I want to play along too. I look forward to hearing more about other families’ traditions. I’m also looking for ideas for homemade gifts for guys.
I am so excited about getting and giving ideas!!
I’m in. Heres the link to my blog:
http://ospontosnosis.blogspot.com/2008/10/ive-accepted-sew-mama-sew-chalenge-to.html
I’m in too. I’ve already started my Christmas Pressie challenge, 2 of the gifts I have finished so far are already on my blog. My challenge to myself was to make as many of my gifts as possible, for recipients ranging in age from 6 months to 60 years.
my blog is http://www.meandmy2guys.blogspot.com
HI. I am fairly new to blogging and I was wanting to know: how do I grab that Handmade Holidays button to add to my blog? I am pretty sure that I need an HTML code, but I do not know where to get that. Thanks to anyone who can help! http://www.4livingsimply.blogspot.com
I’m getting all warm inside just thinking about the holidays! Can’t wait!
Let the holidays begin! I can’t wait to try some new crafts and make some old ones for the holidays this year!
This is fabulous!
Christmas is a home holiday for me, so I find the name adorable.
I have just started writing about Christmas and gifts preparation on my blog few days ago.
I am definitely participating! I think I will answer some of the writing prompts in several different posts and add pics of some gifts that I am currently making
nothing better than giving things you’ve poured your heart and spirit into. Super ideas and tutorials make it so much more easier and enjoyable. thanks.
I am playing along! We are doing an all handmade Holiday this year and are very excited. I posted about it on my blog http://dawnday.blogspot.com/
Thanks SMS and all the contributors for these amazingly creative projects…I picked up my sewing machine last evening and I can’t WAIT to get it all up & running, with some great SMS fabrics and ideas. I’m soon to start my own blog so stay tuned…
i’m in!! i made a hostess apron for my sister – out of one of my old skirts!! and i posted a tutorial on my blog. http://jenanddarrellclark.blogspot.com/2008/11/frugal-hostess-apron-tutorial.html. i’ll be making other homemade gifts as we go along.
sorry – that link didn’t work b/c it included the period…ack!
http://jenanddarrellclark.blogspot.com/2008/11/frugal-hostess-apron-tutorial.html
I am so excited about this! I am still pretty new to sewing and craft stuff but with so many tutorials I know I will find ideas for everyone on my list! I have posted a couple entries on my blog with the answers to the questions. I will try to post pics of any gifts that I am working on that the recipient won’t find out about through this.
I hope you will be including gifts for hard-to-gift older brothers.
My brother is nearly 30, in the army, really difficult to buy or make for. He seems to have everything he needs. The easiest ‘person’ on my gift list is my brother’s dog! Hahaha.
I really love this idea and adore your list from last year! Thank you! My goal is to make as many gifts as I can this year – but with a ton of teenagers to buy for it will be a challenge.
What a fun idea! Homemade gifts make celebrating even more fun. I’ve been working on this apron which has a surprising twist.
http://ourdelightfuldays.blogspot.com/2008/11/apron-surprise.html
I love this blog! I’ve just recently found it and subscribed to it right away! I just love it! I’m always trying to find just the right thing to make for the favorite people in my life, and now I see there’s a huge community of people like me! Wow! Anyway, I want to play for sure. This isn’t much of a post on holiday traditions as we’re trying to sell our house, but I’m definitely busy keeping it beautiful to sell it… See my creations for curb appeal in this post.
http://tdjdmason.blogspot.com/2008/11/house-update.html
This is a great resource – thank you. Are you aware of Make Something Day http://www.makesomethingday.org/ started by an organization in San Diego. They encourage people to use the day after Thanksgiving to make something rather than to go out to shop. There are some great suggestions on their website.
I have contributed a recipe for Lavender Lotion that you can check out on my blog. http://godspace.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/make-something-day/
Here is my entry:
http://thismamamakesstuff.blogspot.com/2008/11/art-case-tutorial.html
This is my favorite time of year..and I can’t wait to begin crafting for Christmas..This will be such a fun thing to do.
Thanks so much for hosting..
p.s. I added your button to my blog….and I will be back later to look thru yours more.
Great idea. I will give it a shot.
I will be creating and celebrating our holidays at home and bringing art into my life every day
http://www.momtasticstitchery.blogspot.com
I wrote about our holiday tradition of making Midnight Soup & posted the recipe.
http://life-is-a-musical.blogspot.com
Happy Holidays! Beth
love this idea of sharing- look forward to all the neat ideas and stories! I am not quite sure how to post my ideas- when I went to enter a small one I had on my blog it went to my normal blog address not the address of that particular blog- you would think I would get this down by now!
blessings
mary
New at blogs and excited to participate…this year I am embellishing linen tea towels as gifts for co-workers. I measured a 4-5″ band of coordinating fabric to fit across the lower front width of the towel. Before sewing the band to the towel, I embellished the band with 3 coordinating yo-yos. I centered the yo-yos on the band and slightly overlapped them to form a triangle and tacked them down in the center and around the edges. I then sewed the band to the front of the towel. Very pleased with the results. Enjoy your crafting:)
I just found your site and think it is wonderful. I am doing a lot of crafting this Christmas. I recently did a post on how to make your own holiday gift tags. http://www.christyallbee.com/2008/11/make-your-own-holiday-gift-tags.html
My baby girl just turned one, and we can’t wait to show her all of our yearly traditions. I will be posting about that soon as well. Have a great holiday.
I’m so enjoying the postings about holiday gift ideas! I just posted about my gift compilation for kids this year, featuring home-sewn pillowcases: http://butterandsugar.blogspot.com/2008/12/settling-down-for-long-winters-nap.html
I always do a lot of crafting for Christmas – I start off with big ideas, but find the days passing too quickly to make everything I want to. Sometimes it is just a matter of finding the right thing to make, though, and this year it is journal-covers with built-in pencil cases – easy to make, and just as perfect for the scribbling kiddies when made in juvenile fabrics and filled with a handful of crayons, as for a good friend who likes to keep a journal or collect recipes, when you use a few pretty designer fabrics. Feel free to use my tutorial : http://craftymathea.blogspot.com/2008/11/journal-cover-tutorial.html
Hope I’m not too late! I am making cupcake ornaments for my swap-mates a-la-Betz White. They are so adorably cute in minty green, pink and brown. I really love them and am so happy to have done it. I’m sending them out to 4 people I don’t even know and I think its so neat. Happy Holiday’s everyone!
Angie H
I’m a little late, but I just put up a post about our family heirloom advent calendar. It was made by my grandmother alomst 50 years ago, and it’s hanging in my front hallway right now in all it’s burlap and sequin glory.
http://solsisters.blogspot.com/2008/12/holiday-tradition-at-my-house.html
I’d be happy to share my little tutorial on making your own Christmas ornaments!
haven’t added this to my blog yet but I will, we have 2 family traditions that always happen, our Daughters come home to help make Lefsa and decorate the Christmas Tree. We try to do that all on the same day (Lefsa is an all day event) but we take turns keeping an eye on it and the others help decorate the tree. The Girls (And I admit me too) eat more lefsa than we cook, so we usually end up making 2 batches. The Gifts we give every year to the Girls are Lottery Tickets (usually $10.00 worth of tickets) and fruit in their stockings. We have done the fruit thing since they were little, we added the Lottery Tickets when they turned 18. I didn’t make any gifts this year but have been doing alot of etsy gifts. A Jewelry rack for oldest DD, a Family Favorites Recipe Book for DD #3 and a Journal for DD #2. I am doing some home made cards with stuff I had laying around plus some extras I also got from etsy. That is my favorite place to shop this holiday season that and buy local!!!!!!!! Jeanne
http://jeanne-justjeanne.blogspot.com/
I have posted some pictures of the gifts I’ve been making:
onevintagehousewife.blogspot.com
I’m in. Got a post going up tomorrow about my favorite holiday tradition. I can’t wait to check out some of the others to see what it is they have written. This is a great idea since I’m always on the look out for new traditions I can start with my little family.
oh, this is great. I am making quite a few of my gifts this year, and this will #1 make me finish them
and #2 take pictures of the gifts…I always forget to take pictures. Count me in!
Hi, Count me in for Homemade Holidays. I have started making and blogging about it.
What a wonderful idea! Please do count me in. I just put up a post about creative and inexpensive gifts for children. All have been tested and approved by my own family
Here is the link…
http://www.blossomhandmade.com/2008/12/creative-gifts-for-children.html
Enjoy
Count me in, sounds like what I’ll be blogging anyway.
Thanks for linking to all these wonderful craft ideas. I love to make crafts from nature, and just posted these lovely little trees on my blog.
http://www.mygardentravels.com/blog1/?p=67
I’m in. This is my first year to participate in the Sew Mama Sew blog. One of our traditions is making ornaments. This year we did Quilted Balls. It was fun and easy, and surprisingly relaxing. The tutorial is linked in my post, too. http://reannalilydesigns.blogspot.com/2008/12/ornaments.html
I’m trying to make many presents this year, and I’ll definitely be looking here for more inspiration. Most recently I’ve made some decoration for our Christmas tree – a take on paper chains made out of fabric instead (complete with a tutorial on my blog ) and I just finished quilting a tree skirt – seen
How neat, I’m in the process of sharing a Christmas tradition every day this month that I do. feel free to check it out. and I can’t wait to read all the others who commented.
http://edeenutcreates.blogspot.com/
i been posting photos of “Christmas past” from my childhood. this past year was a difficult one. i lost my brother in november and my sister in march. my daughter had her first baby last december and my son had his first in january. needless to say, emotions were chaotic for months. God takes away and gives back. hopefully will be posting photos of gifts too. going check out the links. thanks!! http://lagniappe-suesueb.blogspot.com/
I am doing a handmade Christmas, handmade cards, food gifts, and as many handmade gifts as I can possibly get done! I posted about it here, and you can get a free PDF pattern just for visiting!…
http://threadsofconversation.blogspot.com/2008/12/jolly-holidaysand-free-gift.html
Finally some photos to share I made 2 posts today about gifts we are making! thanks for the encouragment!
handmade ornaments – http://dawnday.blogspot.com/2008/12/handmade-ornaments-every-year-i-make.html
Handmade pillowcase with my 6 yr old – http://dawnday.blogspot.com/2008/12/handmade-gifts-part-1-josephine-and-i.html
Oh I’ve missed all the fun so far! I’ve been posting like crazy on my blog. I’ve got all kinds of handmade decorations I’ve been sharing, and I have more planned for every day until Christmas!
I just updated a family tradition on my blog. I really think it’s something that other would like to do as well. Come by and see!
http://vacuumqueen.blogspot.com/2008/12/updating-christmas-tradition.html
Hello, I love all the information and fun things that you share and you are on my top 10 reads every morning. (that is all I have time for:) I have found so much information and inspiration here. For the last two years it has been my primary source of homemade ideas! I love your fabric too!! I would love to be part of your Holidays at Home.
I have posted a few times about christmas and associated craftin/gifts on my blog
here is the link to one of the posts
http://tanyadrummond.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-crafting.html
I have enjoyed going through the comments on this post and hope to be able to try some of the projects.
Here is the link to a couple posts I have done that seem to fit the topic:
http://tryingtraditional.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/the-traditions-that-are-christmas/
http://tryingtraditional.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/my-holiday-at-home/
I’ve been hard at work, trying to get a bunch of Going Green Totes done before the USPS mailing deadline of Saturday comes & goes.
http://candiedfabrics.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/emerging-from-santas-sweatshop/
My gifts are coming along slowly…I’ve posted a bit here:
http://amatricis.wordpress.com/2008/12/12/holidaysyipee/
I also wrote up a quickie last minute tutorial for everyone!
http://amatricis.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/oh-so-pretty-squishy-felt-christmas-tree-tutorial/
Enjoy!
This has been the year of felt ornaments for me. I’m really proud of this ornament (http://lulabellsdaughter.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-favorite.html) and some of the others that I’ve made this year. I can’t wait to check out all the other projects.
What an awesome idea to share all of these projects! I wish I would have come across this sooner considering Christmas is in just a couple days! I’ve been making a lot of Bird’s Nest Boxes lately, and here’s the tutorial I put up on my blog for any last minute crafters like me
http://genevievegail.blogspot.com/2008/12/get-your-craft-on-birds-nest-boxes.html
Happy Holidays!
Genevieve