I'm dreaming...of a DIY Christmas

I am that person. You know, the person who start Christmas Shopping in July and is finished by the first week of December. It gives me legitimate anxiety if I don't have my shopping done early. Plus,  I hate dealing with crowds, especially crazy Christmas shopping crowds. This year was a struggle because Matthew wasn't working from April until September so I couldn't do my normal shopping schedule. Since funds were tight, it was a good year to do a lot of DIY Christmas presents.  I tried to find some great DIY projects, since I wanted to give gifts that were better than something I would have bought at a store. I only made a handful of DIY gifts because they are truly time consuming, but I'm so happy with the turn out of it all. So here they are...

-My step father-in-law has an amazing hunting camp. Hunting camps are extremely popular throughout the south, so I'll give a detailed post of how hunting camps work in the next few weeks. But, back to the gift. This past summer, he finished the inside walls and ceilings of the camp. So I thought the perfect gift for him would be a huge pallet sign to put on his newly finished walls. At the time, it was easier said than done. I received some free pallets from my awesome neighbor down the road from us, so the only cost for this project was for the brackets used to put the pallets together. It took me forever to take the pallets apart. It finally got to the point where I just borrowed a saw from my step father-in-law and cut the pallets apart with the help of one of my good friends.

It took a good few hours to get the pallets apart but the end result was more than worth it. After the pallets were removed, I sanded them and wiped them down with a cloth before staining. I chose a golden pecan stain, and thought it turned out great.

I put the brackets on the backs attaching the pieces, I didn't get a picture this time around but I will be sure to take a picture for the next sign I make. And by I put the brackets on, I mean that I gave up and Matthew did this part! I turned my sunroom floor into a "staining" area because a) the floors are already a golden pecan so spills aren't a problem and b) it was too dang cold to work outside by the time I got around to staining. I did a good few layers of staining and let it completely dry before coming cutting some freezer paper stencils with my silhouette cameo machine. I  used a spray adhesive to attach the stencil and used plain white paint for the words and images I wanted to put on the on the sign. Here is the finished project! I'm going to put up an additional picture when it's put on the walls the camp.

-My mother-in-law is up next because, again, I made something for her to enjoy as decoration at the camp. The one room that is practically finished as far as floors walls and furniture goes, is the master bedroom. So, I wanted to give her something to start making their bedroom at the camp a little more "homey". I found some inspiration on pinterest from here and here and ran with it. I used some burlap fabric, my printer, some old ribbon and some affordable picture frames! This was the end result.

- For our grandmother, great aunt and uncle we decided to make some stepping stones since they have gardens. And by we, I mean I decided to make them and so this project was 100% me! I used the method of making the stepping stones from this amazing website. This was one of those projects that I thought were going to be really time consuming but ended up being finished pretty quickly and was SO easy. The best part? Again, it was a $5 project! This was the finished result

-Levi, the little boy who I was a nanny for, also needed a little something from Mrs. Karen too. I tried my hand at dying plain white onesies, and it didn't turn out 100% how I wanted it to, but it did take on a cool design. Then I picked some fun designs, since his daddy is a hunter, and used the freezer paper stencil method I normally use with my silhouette cameo machine. He looks completely adorable in them!

-This project wasn't a "christmas" project, as much as it was a cool thing I wanted to do for my trip to Disney. I made some shirts for my nephews to wear in the park, as well as some shirts for me and my sister. Again, I used the freezer paper stencil method and they turned out to be fabulous! Not to mention, Mulan said that she love our shirts! I was practically swooning.

 

 

-Decorations are also things that are so easy to DIY! We didn't have the time, or energy, to decorate the house as much as we wanted to this year. But I wanted to share a few of my projects that I came up with.

 This one was so easy, I couldn't believe it. I just printed the image out on pretty scrapbook paper and BAM, instant Christmas decoration!

Okay, so my tree isn't DIY but I thought it was pretty and wanted to share a quick picture!

I don't have a fire place that I can hang my stockings over, and I wanted to make some sort of sign so this is what I came up with. I may try to make another one next year and just make it a little bigger. Overall, I'm happy with it though!


And that's that. I have onnnne more DIY Christmas present but it's doing to have a post all of it's own. I hope I didn't bore you all to death and maybe even inspired some of you to go the DIY route next year. It's a challenge in the best way possible. Until next time..