Thursday, December 30, 2010

handmade holidays - not necessarily my hands

I wanted to share some of the handmade goodness that went on here for the holidays. Not all of it was made by my hands, as they have been highly occupied loving on a little baby. But from etsy to crafty friends, the handmade goodness made their way to our Hanukkah/ Solstice/ Christmas celebrations.
First for the boy... my neighbor SuperJen once again did her thing. I guess she's one of the many people who have tripped over and found Zach's matchbox cars all over the marina. His normal protocal after scraping together his spare change and buying these little cars with his own money (I think he likes the buying of them as much as the playing, as they are just $1) -- is to stuff them in his pockets and bring them here and there to play outside. And many never come home again. SuperJen created a solution from an upcycled wool sweater.
Yes, a perfect little roll up car tote. Hopefully this will help him keep track of his cars, he's already been using it just to carry them around the boat.
But SuperJen's awesomeness doesn't end there. I have been bugging her for a while now (mind you, she works 40+ hours a week and is a mama too, so her spare time is... uh, tight) about this idea I wanted to make. Jen knows that's code for, "will you make it for me and I will stand and watch you?" :)
I've seen those silk/flannel blankies in the natural toy catalogs for a while now, and since we have, oh, 7-thousand or so playsilks on board the boat all I had to do was buy a yard of flannel. Jen sewed it together for me while I watched and voila!

It's SOsoSO soft, I wish you could all reach through and give it a feel. And I think I paid careful enough attention that I could make one myself now.
Naia also got a few other little gifties... an amber teething necklace (from here), a gorgeous set of personalized wooden keys from the amazing MamaRoots, a beautiful dolphin rattle (from this etsy shop), and this lovely little doll from, you guessed it, SuperJen. Zach sweetly re-gifted one of his playsilks to her as well.
I made Zach a little wallet and coin sack for his growing world coin collection (my hand work is not worth showing in photos!) But his favorite items aside from his new audio books (oh how we love audio books!) were a stack of CD's that I burned for him, each with a theme (rock and roll, pirate music, show tunes, sleepy time music, etc) that he can use in the radio in his room. And we made his very own first aid kit.
He's forever running about with bandaids in his pockets and antiseptic cremes up his sleeve just waiting for someone to need medical assistance. So we got this cool army med bag on EBay and my husband stocked it with real medical supplies for him along with weekly lessons on what to do, from wound care to handling burns.
Major father son bonding.
I guess his medical training is paying off, it seems we're all starting to feel better over here after a round of the coughs/sniffles. Thanks to all for the well wishes!

10 comments:

The Ceol Mors said...

How nifty is the play silk blanie and car tote? Love the med kit. I can see a career for Zach with Doctors without Borders. :)

Happiness is... said...

Awe, it always is so much fun to craft original works for your family. Yes, if I didn't have the responsibility of the FT job, I would have a rocking Etsy shop. So until then, I craft for those I love. And there's more to come (however, a little sailor's birthday party is pending and I am crafting and baking).

So more sewing and a bit of knitting lessons this winter?

And I love the medic bag for Z - how PERFECT is that?!?

XO,

Super Jen

momma rae said...

seriously? did you just say that your own handwork is not worth showing? too bad we know better! ;)

Happiness is... said...

Momma Rae...I know better too - Cindy is endlessly talented and very modest. I learn so much from her that it's ridiculous.

Diane, Evan, Maia and Charlie the cat said...

You are definitely going to need to learn to love your own handiwork sweetie--there is no Etsy out cruising. And no mail service either...

Tonya Gunn said...

I just love the idea for the matchbox cars. Truly wonderful handmade gifts.
Thank you for sharing.
Warm wishes,
Tonya

boatbaby said...

gee really Di?
;) whst i meant was it wasn't worth photographimg b/c it's not going to imform or inspire anyone. but the stuff i made did make the people who got it happy so that's all good. just not necessarily interesting enough to share.

rae -- you rock for helping me on those lanterns, i think i finally got the hang of them and passed out a few to special friends locally. thank you!!

Tonya -- Zach LOVES the pencil holder you made! it IS gorgeous! but that will have to be another post for another time. :)

jen - knitting lessons after new years and i'll bring the wine & chocolate!

Joy said...

Those are all great, Cindy! I love Naia's blanket. I always wanted one of those too, but Finn had so many blankets that I couldn't justify it. The matchbox car holder is fabulous! Finn would love, love, love that. He carries his around in his Bolga. haha!

Green V-Neck said...

Love, love, LOVE. All of it!

Anna said...

What fabulous gifts. All of them. But I especially love the medical supplies kit and lessons. What an incredible gift -- as it involves life lessons as well as parent bonding.

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