Christmas crafting...

So as I mentioned in the last post I went handmade crazy this Christmas. ;)

I've been wanting to make blankets for the kiddos beds for a while now, so a couple months before Christmas when I was at the fabric store for something else I wandered over to the fleeces and asked the kids which two were their favorites. Since I'm always asking them random questions they didn't really question it and totally forgot about it. So it was a nice surprise Christmas morning. I made them large enough for a twin bed. Totally reversible, bright and fun. :)

Banden's blanket, nice and bright!

Atticus' blanket, of course. ;)

Ira's blanket, it was hard for me to get the TV characters, as it's not my favorite thing on clothing, blankets, etc… but it's the one he picked.

Leiella's blanket, purple is her new favorite color, so of course she picked fabrics with lots of purple on them. Purple is my least favorite color, sigh.

Even Ryder got one, as he mentioned I've never made him a blanket when I was showing him the kids blankets. He was only teasing, but even so he was happy to get one on Christmas. :) I made his the same size so it's like an extra large lap blanket I suppose.

I also made blankets for my bonus kids, the boys I watch. :)

This is the one for the older boy. He loves bright rainbow colors. 

Here is the baby's set. I accidentally bought too much fabric, so I made the medium taggie blanket I was planning on, then a little one, and still had enough for a good size baby blanket, ha ha! Better to have too much than not enough when making something right!?! He loves the taggie blankets, so cutting all that ribbon, and the crazy amount of pinning was all worth it. :)

I also crocheted two bear cowls, one for Lala and one for her cousin. Plus a bunch of infinity scarves, and hat/scarf combos. I crocheted a couple Seahawks hats too, blue with a green stripe, for Ryder and J. (The kids helped me pick out the perfect Seahawks colors, and according to my husband we did good, ha!)  I might make another bear cowl for her other girl cousin, as well as three more Seahawks hats and an infinity scarf. Hoping to go visit them soon and will be bringing late Christmas presents. I guess I'm not totally done yet, ha ha!

I was pretty proud of myself being as up until this year all I've ever crocheted was granny squares! And I've been working (slowly) on the same granny square blankets for about 10 years now, ha! Obviously not consistently, but it's been a random work in progress that I occasionally get out and work on. ;) It got put away for years when the kids were little. Anyways wish I'd taken some pics of all the crochet work.

 On top of that I made a huge batch of calendula salve, once again using dried calendula from my yard. Love that! It's amazing stuff and everyone seems to like it. :)

Will be growing an even bigger batch of calendula this year, I hope.

So there you go, I was a busy elf. ;) And I totally burnt myself out. But it was kind of nice as well, I watched lots of cheesy TV shows and drank tea and ate too many snacks and enjoyed peaceful crafting time without interruptions. Now I'm in a terrible habit of staying up way too late though. It's hard not to since the only time I get peaceful time to myself is at night, and I treasure it so! Just me and my poodle babies (and occasionally the cats) snuggled up on the couch, or sitting at the computer, or crafting. I love my kids but it's me and them all day long, every day, day in and day out… So mommy needs a break! And sometimes I get a little greedy about it and try to cram in too many hours and before I know it it's midnight. Ugggg! As I have to get up at 6 am and face the day with a house full of kids and a million things to do, hopefully with a smile on my face. Hopefully. 

The bags under my eyes do not thank me. ;)