Homemade Christmas and Completing Goal #34

More progress on my Project 101 in 1001 list. Read about my journey here. 
Goal #34: For Christmas one year, hand-make all gifts - COMPLETE


As I was looking over my list of goals and realizing that this Christmas was when I had planned to make all my gifts, I thought that surely I would loose my mind if I tired. Had I any clue (which I didn't, not even close) last Christmas that this Christmas I would be a mama to twins, I would have gone to great lengths to complete this goal in 2010. But as life would have it, I had the goal of making all my Christmas gifts in 2011... while caring for two-month-old twins. 


So for starters, to keep my sanity, I had to loosely re-define the word "all." This year "all" my gifts didn't include the ones that Devin picked out (i.e. for most of the guys in our family) (which is good because it is really hard to make gifts for guys.) "All" also turned into "(most of) all." As in: "hand-make (most of) all gifts." So while many of my gift were hand-made, parts of them included purchased gifts (such as gift cards and picture frames). Lastly, I didn't make Devin's gift because 1) He's a guy and as mentioned before, that is a tough species to make gifts for and 2) I spent nine months of 2011 "making" him the gift of our twins sons, so I figured I got a pass with that one. 


While I initially thought this goal would be the end of me, it turned out to be really great. I love art and making crafts and it's something I haven't done much of since being pregnant and certainly not after the twins were first born. It was very relaxing and therapeutic to have something to do (besides sleep, which I did neglect while completing this goal) that was fun and used my artistic talents. It made me feel like me again, which seemed a lofty experience when caring for twins nearly 24/7. Turns out the timing of this goal was exactly what I needed. 


Here are the gifts I made this year:

Shanty 2 Chic inspired recipe/photo holders (I added the monogram for a little something extra)

Reversible Superman/Batman capes for my nephews (who are potty training right now, so along with the capes they received superhero big boy undies)

A "Celebrate" banner for my mom (inspired by my cousin Bethany)

Fabric headbands for my sisters and soon-to-be sis-in-law

A graphic map for my brother and (soon-to-be) sis-in-law of thier favorite city and hometown, Tucson. (This was the one gift I made for a guy - per his request.)

Plus, my parents got revamped frames full of pictures that Devin and I took of these cutie pies (see more here and here):

Thus, project "Homemade Christmas" was a great success and a lot of fun!