A homemade Christmas

Well, the first week of the year is over. Another week closer to another round of Christmas chaos and fun. Don't hate me, you know you've thought about it.


I've been telling you I was going to share the gift I made for Jim for Christmas. We do a homemade Christmas exchange with his Mom, Step-Dad and Grandparents. We draw names at Thanksgiving and you have from then until Christmas or Christmas Eve (depending on when we celebrate Christmas with them due to travelling to see my family) to make a gift for your person. There is no set price limit. It just needs to be from the heart. It doesn't have to be crafty, it can be from the kitchen too. 


I really wish I would have taken pictures of all the gifts, but I didn't want to be the only one with the camera at Christmas and annoy everyone. /sigh  There were some great gifts this year!!!


I drew Jim's name. Doesn't that make for some fancy footwork. ;) Wouldn't you know that once I have a project to do for Jim they don't put him on the schedule to work very many nights. I was finishing his gift the day it was to be exchanged. There are still some things I want to do to it, but it made it to the point of being giftable. It was packaged and ready to go with an hour to spare.


I was in the basement after I drew his name and I saw this box sitting in the shop.

I couldn't just take it, so I asked if I could "borrow" it. I told him he would get it back, it just wouldn't look like this anymore. As I walked away with the box he asked that I take a picture of the sticker on top. *done*


My original plan was to cover the box with the Monopoly game board that I had picked up at a sale this summer. I got the board and all the game pieces out and sat here and looked at it...and decided this wasn't the project for the Monopoly game after all. The  Monopoly game is back in the attic.


Plan B involved pictures and mod podge. I printed a bunch of pictures onto paper (it mod podges easier). I put pictures on each side of the box. I would lay them out first before mod podging.

You can see the mod podge in this picture. Since I was no longer covering the box with something big, I worked the sticker (Jim's had this for awhile) into the layout. I also added stickers.

I put ribbon the whole way around and finished it with a button. There are pictures on all sides. I put a funny picture and a poem on the bottom. On the inside I wrote a note and included a picture. The pictures are of moments, places, friends. Each one can start a conversation.


That is the outside of the box. For the inside of the box I was inspired by this photo I came across on Pinterest.

source

Hers is done with Vintage Post cards. My monthly dividers were in a plain state at the time of gifting (and still are). Someday each divider will have additional photos or keepsakes relating to something that has happened that month.

...the inside contents...

Each day of the year (including leap day) was stamped onto a notecard.

Then I went through pictures, ticket stubs, old journals/calendars of my own (of which I couldn't find them all) and even Facebook, and wrote the year and something that happened that day. Some days go back to 2008, others are bare.  It was fun going back through that stuff though. I walked through the transformation of this house. That was interesting. I have been telling myself I would share the transformation during these winter months. I promise I will. Things, we did, places we went, visiting. It was fun to write all those things down in one place.

This really would make a great gift for so many different occasions. Do you journal in someway? I use a yearly planner and try to write something every day. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment. :-)

Playoff Sunday -- GO STEELERS!!!


Linking up to:
Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special
At The Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday
My 1929 Charmer for Sunday's Best
Pinkapotamus for Pink Hippo Party