A Homemade Christmas ~ Week 3

Welcome to the 3rd week of A Homemade Christmas. (If you would like to see the other weeks: Week 1 and Week 2.) We have been discussing homemade gifts and also welcome people sharing ideas for decorations and food. I am glad you stopped by and would love it if you would also tell about your ideas for a Homemade Christmas either in a post on your blog and then use the Mr. Linky here to add your post or by making a comment in the comment section.

I had fun getting ready for my post this week. Instead of working on making some new homemade gift to write about, I worked at thinking of different homemade gifts that we have in our home from times before that we still enjoyed. It ended up that all of the ones that I came up with hadn't been given for Christmas but they would certainly work to give for Christmas if you wanted to.

Here are some homemade gifts that have a place in our home:

~This little bench. My Dad made it for me for my 5th Birthday. It also turns over and becomes a baby cradle. I used it a lot growing up, I even took it to college with me (I sometimes used it to sit on in my dorm room) and now it is in pretty constant use here at our house. It's main job is in the bathroom by the sink so the kids can reach to wash and brush but pretty much daily it is drug out for other play as well. If you know how to make rounded cuts (I admit, I don't) then making a bench like this shouldn't be too difficult. (If anybody wants measurements, I would be glad to add them to this post).


Here is my Sister Anna and I on my 5th Birthday. Also in the picture is a homemade Raggedy Ann Doll from my Grandma.

~Along the line of dolls: Here is Raggedy Ann again, my daughters are still enjoying playing with her. (She does look a little dirtier though!) My grandma made her with peachy material for the main body and then painted on the face. She did use red and white stripe fabric for the legs and black for the feet and then yarn for the hair. My older sister got a cute one as well. (We pretty much always got matching gifts from Grandma as we are only a year and a half apart.)

Ann is riding in another childhood gift of mine. When I was around 6 and it was our first year of homeschooling, Peter and Anna were taking achievement tests and I was feeling very bad that I had to miss out so Mom made me this cute little baby carrier to take my blues away. I enjoyed using it a lot as a child and Mara has used it quite a bit as well.
Here is another picture with it spread out so you can see how it is made. The bottom ties are tied around the child's waist and then the doll can sit inside. Then the other straps go over the shoulder and cross over and come around and button on the side. The red fabric is a pocket to store extra stuff in.
~ These moccasins are a present the I received as a teen from my brother Peter. At that time we enjoyed going to rendezvous where we dressed in close from the 1800s. I was quite excited to have proper footwear! I don't wear them that often now, but I still do occasionally. I am thinking about trying to make them shorter so they would be easier to wear at this time.
Here are some links with instructions for making moccasins:

• Woodland style moccasins.
• High top moccasins.
• A variety of moccasins (but no good pictures).

~A nightstand made by my Dad. I don't remember which birthday I received this but I do know I have used it constantly since!

~ This actually one I made (with assistance from my Dad). One of my husbands favorite games is pegotty. (Which I have no idea how to spell!) It is something that he, his dad, uncle and Granddad love to play. There are no game boards that I have ever seen available to buy and so I thought how hard would it be to make one? Dad had a scrap piece of countertop which we thought would work nicely. Then I drew a grid on it and using a drill press made holes all over the top (15 x 15 holes but you could have more) . We made the holes the right size and distance apart so that we could use golf ball holders as our pegs. To play the game you simply take turns putting pegs in and you try to get five in a row. It is a very simple game but my husband and his family are very into strategy and they can take hours playing one game! This was one homemade gift that I was able to think of to make for Ken and it was very successful!
~ Wooden Dominoes. This was something we recieved from a friend as a wedding gift. He also made sets like these for people at nursing homes as they are nice and big and easy for shaky hands to handle. This is also nice for kids. For Ken and I was actually use regular dominoes as Ken is the type that memorizes which domino has what wood grain and would know exactly what dominoes that I had! :-) Our kids love playing with them though.

How about you? What homemade gifts have you made or received? I would love to hear about them! Please feel free to post and then add your link to the Mr. Linky. (If you do I would appreciate if you link back to Proverbs 31 Living.)