In searching my photos for the "before" picture of this refashion, I realized that this one started over two years ago!! I had picked it all apart, set it aside, and then went on to live my life for over two years. Well, with Christmas upon us I decided it was time to wrap this one up...no pun intended!
I really liked the red plaid rayon fabric, however, I didn't like the gunny sack fit, the length, or the the front patch pockets.
This year for our church Christmas party, we decided (actually, I strongly lobbied) to do a Cowboy Christmas party. It had me scouring the thrift shops for cowboy boots,
hats, blankets, wooden crates, pots and pans, and anything else that seemed to fit the theme.
I hope y'all have fun viewing the pictures from the event!
To start, I downloaded various clipart from the web and put together an invitation using photoshop.
The lettering for the welcome sign was cut using my Cricut. It was displayed on a rustic easel I used previously at my daughter's country wedding. A few extra props rounded out the scene.
Our church always has an annual Christmas dinner. Sometimes its the usual sit-down dinner with some light entertainment. One year it was a breakfast at the North Pole. We have even had Christmas in Nauvoo. But this year, we went all the way back in time to Bethlehem. We have done this before and its always a lot of fun.
Upon arrival, each person must stop and sign the census, pay their taxes (canned food for the needy) and pick up a bag of coins to purchase things in the marketplace. Everyone is encouraged to come dressed in biblical attire. If you don't have a costume, you can visit the tailor shop upon entering the city and get outfitted for the festivities. Townspeople enjoy walking around the open market of Bethlehem for good food, music, and the smell of spices in the air. The kids have fun making beeswax candles, shaping things from clay, and making wooden mallets in the carpenter's shop. Each family can pick out something from the gift shop. If you're tired, and you want to spend one of your gold coins, you can sit in the inn to eat your food.
A garland of bagels helps to define the bakery shop filled with many delightful home-baked goodies.
Next to the bakery was a shop offering lentil soup and smoked salmon. Further down was the Pita Inn offering delicious pita pockets filled with chicken salad and cucumber slices.
Jasper, the donkey, was watching over the photo area. Just a side note...Jasper is a well traveled donkey. He has been south of the border, to Nauvoo, Bethlehem, and other various locations (depending on what church activity we're having!)
The fruit stand offered a variety of fresh fruit.
The gift shop was filled with ornaments depicting the nativity, small clay figurines of the nativity (some from red clay, others from fimo), simmering spice potpourri, and other small items.
Other shops were the dairy, serving cheese cubes and olives, and the "winery" serving grape juice.
The pottery shop allowed the kids to sculpt something from self-hardening clay.
The shop also had some pottery on display.
The other two shops were the candle shop, where beeswax candles could be made, and the popular carpenter's shop where a lot of enthusiastic pounding was taking place!
After everyone had enjoyed the market place, townspeople made there way into the chapel for a reenactment of the Christmas story and the singing of hymns, ending the evening with our thoughts toward the real reason that we celebrate Christmas. I am thankful for the birth our Savior and for the life that he led so that we might have a perfect example to follow. May we all strive to be more kind, more patient, more loving, more forgiving, more like Him!
Below is a beautiful, short video about the most important gift ever given.
This is a fun activity, but needs a lot of advance preparation for it to be a success. You can find several ideas for this if you search the web. A couple of things we did the first time was to get several castoff sheets from a local hotel. I cut a cardboard stencil and used spray paint to make the stone walls surrounding the city. I also dyed several sheets brown, blue, burgandy, and green. These have come in very handy for covering all the tables. The upright supports for all the awnings are 2x2's that are attached to the table legs with duct tape...lots of duct tape! All of the baskets, pottery, fringed fabric, table runners, greenery, etc. were purchased over time from thrift stores (a fun assignment to have, I might add!) We're lucky enough to have two large plywood boxes that fit on the roll-around carts under the stage for storage...and they are filled to the brim! It takes several hours to build the city of Bethlehem, but with enough workers, only about 45 minutes to take it all down...yay!
I know you can find variations of these missionary stockings on the internet.
Some creative person came up with the original idea and, unfortunately, I don't know who it was so I can't give credit...sorry!
My missionary son, however, is a vest-wearing kind of guy. So, I did my own version of a missionary stocking. You can check out the step-by-step tutorial after the jump.
How much does it cost to make four pairs of pajamas and two nightgowns?
$30? $40? $50?
Well, let me tell you...
big chunk of flannel from the thrift store...3.99
flannel sheet from the thrift store....2.99
bias trim from the thrift store...50 cents
elastic....1.49
four clearance-priced t-shirts....4.00
TOTAL= $12.97
(That's about $2.16 per child!)
Not too bad! I used an old pair of pajama pants to make the pattern for the boys. The girls' nightgowns were made using this pattern from Sew, Mama, Sew! I did add a ruffle to the sleeves and bottom of the nightgown for added detail. The nightgowns seemed a little wide in the chest, so in the future I might cut them down a little. All in all, it was a pretty easy pattern.
Christmas Break was like one long pajama party!
And what's a pajama party without making a few goofy faces?
I also thought I would try my hand at Bokeh before the Christmas lights came down....and not just regular bokeh, but shaped bokeh. I learned the technique by following this tutorial at The Hobby Room. It's a pretty fun technique with amazing results.
"Regular"
"Stars"
"Snowflakes"
I'm excited about this technique and can't wait to experiment more with it!
Our son is serving a mission for our church right now down in Brazil. We have discovered, through sad experience, that the Brazilian postal service is not exactly the most reliable. (Sorry if you are from Brazil, but we haven't had the best of luck getting our packages through to him!) Anyway, envelopes, as opposed to boxes, seem to do alright. Last Christmas I wanted him to have a little bit of Christmas cheer but had to think of something that could be sent in an envelope. I came up with a paper Christmas tree and paper ornaments. Before I sent them off, I asked friends and family to write something on the back of each ornament. As he placed the ornaments on the tree, he could read what was written and feel the love that was being sent his way. So, if you have loved ones far away, maybe this idea could bring a little bit of Christmas cheer to them also. When taken apart, it all fits into a large manilla envelope.
Here is the decorated tree.
I cut ornaments from solid and printed papers, then mixed and matched the various pieces. The ornament tops were cut from gold metallic paper.
A view of the tree before the ornaments.
Each "branch" is attached to the poster board base with stick- on velcro. I randomly placed paper brads on the branches for the ornaments to hang from. Well, maybe it wasn't completely random...I put the tree together, then placed the ornaments on top to get an idea of where they should go. I marked them with a pencil and then added the paper brads. The star was cut using a stencil and then glued to the tree top. The ornaments and branches were cut using my cricut. I have included those SCUT files at the end of the post.
A close-up of one of the branches.
I used a variety of green paper to give it some character. I chalked around the edges to add some depth.
The base was cut from poster board and taped together so that it could easily fold and fit into the envelope. I labeled each spot of velcro with a letter that matched a letter on the corresponding tree branch. I thought that would make it easier for my son to put it all together.
And, just to show you that it successfully reached Brazil...here is the photo our son sent of his tree hanging in his humble little apartment! (I just realized that the ornament at the top is the one that his girlfriend wrote on...I can tell by the extra paper that was attached to the back. Now I see where we rank as parents! That's alright, though, we love Becca. She's serving a mission also in Peru.)
I cut the ornaments and tree pieces using my cricut. I use Sure Cuts A Lot v.2. Below are the downloadable SCUT files for the branches and ornaments. If you don't have access to a personal electronic cutter and software, you could still replicate this idea by making your own templates and cutting them by hand. You might even be able to find some paper garland (I saw some garland of Christmas lights at the Dollar Tree) that could be cut apart and used as the ornaments. Good luck! I hope this brings some holiday cheer to your loved ones far away!
