Allyson Hill

Blessed

Behold the massive stocking!  Yes it is big, but it will always remind me of humble beginnings.  I made this stocking for Micah's first Christmas out of scraps of craft felt, I couldn't afford anything else at the time.  I bought his gifts at the Salvation Army.  Yet in those meager times, I experienced great acts of kindness and answered prayers which filled me with hope, faith, and a dream for my future.      

Now all these years later I am blessed, so blessed to be able to overfill his stocking with gifts of my choosing.  Really, I get all teary-eyed thinking of all the kind people out there who supported my shop this season.  Everything was just right this year, not too much and not too little, just perfect and just enough.  I am again filled with hope, faith, and a dream for my future.  I am so thankful.

Gingerbread Men

Ouch, that hurts!  (by the way I do NOT recommend skittles and gingerbread, yuck!)

All fancied up!

   

Christmas Gifts

Bright and cheery for when you are feeling dreary.  I decided to make mini tissue covers as little gifts to those important people in our daily lives: teachers, front desk people, postal workers, school bus drivers, nurses, doctors (I'm bringing Micah today because I think he has an ear infection), neighbors you wave to on the way to school, etc.  I thought it would be fun to make these little mini notebooks with Micah's picture on it.  I just used those little party favor notebooks, tore off the covers and made new ones to staple on.  Then Micah drew a little smiley face and I duplicated them into buttons:

Micah's kindergarten teacher, Ms. Moore, gets a little extra special gift.  The apple fabric is vintage from the 1970's.  I also made her a red plaid and polka dot tissue cover.  All together, very quirky just like her.  (Good quirk you know, the kind you want in a kindergarten teacher :)      

 

I wrapped it all in this charming paper.  Micah really enjoyed handing them out this morning.  He really loves all the special people in his life and I am just so thankful for the love and joy they add to his days.

Christmas Gifts

Today is a nice day.  I need to decide what gifts to make for my son's teachers and for my wonderful postal workers.  I am torn between mini tissue covers or some sort of little pouch.  I am in love with my scrap bin right now, so many perfect sized pieces and I am so in the mood to make tiny things today.

The sewing machine is calling me and my coffee has just kicked in.  I just need to make that decision...

      

Gingerbread House

A Gingerbread House, well actually graham cracker house.  I had every intention to make it gingerbread but well graham crackers are so much easier!  I promised Micah we will still make Gingerbread Men so I don't feel so bad.  This house was the joint effort of Yaya (my sister), Micah, and myself.  Yaya had a lot of creative ideas up her sleeve like the carmel pathway, the mosiac peaks, the icicles hanging off the roof, and the green marshmallow hedges around the house.  Micah really enjoyed making the gum stick roof, the mailbox, a snowdrift, and dropping presents all over the roof and yard (he said they are from the mailman).  I very much enjoyed making the fence, the pine tree, adding berries to the tree and hedges. and plastering candy all over the sides of the house.  We had one midhouse meltdown which called for a pizza break and then we were back to work.  Micah is home sick from school today and I am positive it is NOT because of last night's candyfest... 

   

Christmas Delights

A sprinkling of confectioner sugar atop these Pizzelles would have been nice, but the 5 year old did not approve.  I gave him his way since they are for his kindergarten cookie swap and because eating confectioner sugared sweets can be very unpleasant for the unexperienced confectioner eater.  The eating of confectioner sugared sweets is an art to be learned over time.  To begin, one must slowly approach the sweet without breathing through the mouth or the nose.  To neglect this step will cause one of two devastating results- 1. breathing in the confectioner sugar causes an unpleasant feeling in the back of ones throat or inside of ones nose.  2. breathing out the confectioner sugar causes unruly dispersal in any which direction.  After your breathing technique has been mastered, you are ready to move onto the consumption stage which calls for the most delicate of nibbles so as not to disperse the confectioner's sugar all over one's garments.  I am wondering if proper etiquette calls for garment checking after each nibble or only after the entire sugared sweet has been consumed?

Orange Delights:

Breyer's Orange Sherbert/Vanilla Ice Cream combo tub

Sprite or other kind of sparkly drink

Magic Bullet or not if you don't happen to have one

This picture is dark and was taken late (7:00) at night which is why the cups are so small (to avoid ridiculous wall bouncing).

More Ebayed Books

I ebayed these books for 18.04 which includes shipping!  I love using this search which will find soft-cover series books for children ages 4-8.  This series was a great find and one that I have been eyeing for a while.  They are thin and short with no page numbers.  I did a quick Internet search and I believe these books were made around 1935.  They will make a nice Christmas gift for Micah and he will enjoy them throughout the years.  How fun is it to peek into the lives of children around the world!  We were watching "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" the other day and Micah noticed "Jessica" had a ribbon tied around her waist, he said "she must be French because I think French girls wear ribbons like that."  I think she is German but it was a nice observation still :)

   

Pouch Sisters

Here are two pouches I custom-made for two sisters - they are Christmas gifts to each other which is why I wrapped them up:

The gift tags were made by Lonneke Furst - Visit her blog, it plays a beautifully sad song.  I want to know who sings it, anyone know? (Sung by Anouk).  Lonneke and I traded - I sent her some fabric-covered buttons and she send me these gorgeous tags and postcards (one of which I will be framing and keeping for myself):

Custom Orders

These wallets have kept me very busy recently.  A wonderful woman named Marsha mailed all these fabrics to me (she picked and matched them all except the orange stripe interior which I picked out for her).  They will be gifts for her kids for Christmas.  I need to ask her if she really has 7 kids...

   

Christmas gifts for Micah

Did I mention that I LOVE Ebay?  Well I do very, very much.  Here is one of Micah's Christmas presents which I won for 23.00 including shipping:

The price tag on the side says 79.99 was the original price so I think its a great deal!  It doesn't come with the figures which I am happy about because Micah has tons of figures to use with it. 

Also, here is another ebay snag:

Finally, I have been wanting to get Micah a daily rip-off calendar and I found this one at the bookstore:

He will definitely need my help making them and I am sure there will be days when we forget, but overall I think it will be a fun activity for us to do together.  You need to keep a pair of scissors alongside them because some do require cutting.  The only problem I foresee is the dozens of paper airplanes laying around the house and the stress of what to do with them all...