Christmas is coming...

We havedecided on a handmade holiday this year, inspired by Plain and Joyful Living's Handmade Holiday 2010.  In 2009, I did make many of our gifts, however, we also bought quite a few as well.    This year the goal is that all our gifts are either made by us, or, they are purchased directly from the person who made them, with a goal of having most of them made in our home using our own special talents.  I started planning our Christmas gifts in July, but have not made too many items yet, but I am working on it!

Here's what I have been working on...

A tree branch disk memory game for W.
A branch fell in my parent's neighbors' yard and  my mom was able to salvage this branch, cut it into thin pieces and
I then used rubber stamps to make the pictures and finished the pieces with beeswax polish.

The first of hopefully six hand knit cotton dishcloths for my mother.

These are mittens I recently knit for W.  They were my first attempt at mittens and they came out fairly well.  I also plan on attaching them to some I-cord that I will string through W's coat so that he does not loose them.  They should fit him okay for this year, but I hope he can get two years of wear out of them as they are a bit roomy.  They are made from Cascade 220 and I used the pattern from the book The Children's Year.  It's one of my favorite resources for cute little projects to do around the year.  I especially like some of the knitting patterns in the autumn section.

My current work in progress is this gnome's hat for W, also from the book,  The Children's Year.
I'm using Cascade 220 in red, blue, yellow and green stripes.
Several friends made these hats for their children last winter and they are just too cute!

Still lots more to do on the handmade gift front.  I am still looking for inspiration for several guys on my list including, my hubby, father,  father in law, brother in law, and my husband's cousin.  Somehow, these guys are the hardest in the bunch to make presents for!

Recently I was also reading Rockin' Granola's blog and discovered Organized Christmas.  I LOVE this website.  There are several different plans available on the website with lots of downloadable/printable tools to use to get organized and ready for the holidays.  I am starting with the Holiday Grand Plan this week. This is List Week and the plan involves focusing on the from porch, creating a holiday binder and making several lists in order to prepare. I have already made my Christmas binder, and have printed out and tabbed many of the available resources.  I will take care of the lists and the front porch over the course of the week.