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Monday, December 30, 2013

Homespun Christmas..


Greetings everyone.. 
Hope you all are enjoying this week of Christmas. 

I wanted to share pics of my and Shonda's homespun Christmas before the holidays were all  over.. smile.. 

I have posted that last Christmas we decided we would do a homespun Christmas between the two of us..
We picked an amount to spend and each item had to be handmade, thrift store, yard sale or auction finds.. 
There was not to be anything new.. 

So..
They arrived here in time for supper on Christmas Day and then afterwards we made ourselves a lovely cup of tea and went into the Living room.. 

These are the parcels that she did up.. 

All beautifully wrapped with Kraft paper and burlap and such.. 
Please forgive the quality of the pictures. 
The room was dimly lit..

And these were the ones I did for her.. 

Shonda opened up the tin can first as I suggested.. smile.. 

I put it in a tin so it would not break.. 
It was also wrapped in a package with my Mom's writing on it explaining that this was one of my her and my Dad's first Christmas ornaments from 1951..
It is precious although the picture does not show it well.. 
It has an old Santa inside.. 

Then I opened my first one .. 
It is a wreath she made from the pages of an old book called The Hiding Place.. 
This is one of my favorite books and I think it is beautiful.. 
Shonda said I could put it in my Sun Room where I like to read.
smile.. 

Then she opened another from me.. 

An antique Pink Depression water pitcher that she has loved since I bought it at an auction.. 
It matches a bowl she had received from Terry's mother.. 
She was excited.. smile.. 

She also made this for me..


A lovely centrepiece made from a vintage Christmas tree stand.. 
Neat, eh!!

I had found this old box..

And filled it with her favorite homemade treats that I make at Christmas.. 
 Walnutty Caramels..

I loved the way the packages looked that she had done.. 
Burlap bows and berries.. 

And another gift from her.. 

A pair of skates filled with holly, branches and such along with a wreath hanger to put on my door.. 
Lovely.. 

Here is the Santa I made for her.. 

She loves Vintage Christmas so this will match her new house decor.. 
He is made from a wool sweater that had a cowl neck which made a lovely hood.. 
The decoration on him came from old vintage hats that I had.

She gave me a lovely round rooster mat and old shelf that she had in her other house. She knew I loved them and kept them for our exchange.. 
That is the nice thing about having a whole year to prepare, eh? 

Also, this lovely old mirror with a beveled edge.. 

I also gave her some glitter trees, books, napkins and such.. 

All in all it was so much fun.. 

I know I will treasure my gifts and I know she will hers.. 
We have decided to do it again next Christmas.. smile..

Thank you dear hearts for your visit.. 
I have answered a few of your comments on the last post. 
I need to be a better blogger but there just does not seem to be enough hours in the day, lately.. 

Our weather here in New Brunswick has been terrible.. 
It looks so beautiful out there but so much ice and snow.. 
Some dear folks have been without hydro all through Christmas and into the new year.. 
We have men coming from Quebec and even the USA to help get everything restored.. 
Terry plans on getting snow off of our roof tomorrow.. 
Now they are forecasting very low temps.. 
Winter in Canada, eh!

Do you have plans for New Year celebrations? 
We are going to a New Years Eve service at church and then I am planning a lovely dinner for after.. 

Praying that all is well with you dear ladies.. 
God bless... 

HAPPY NEW YEAR.. XO

20 comments:

  1. What a lovely, homey Christmas! Your Santa is soooo cute! Maybe a tutorial? : ) Happy New Year, Angela

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  2. Sounds so perfect, looked like a beautiful Christmas had by all......love your Santa, wow, so great, Happy New Ayear Blessings Francine.

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  3. What a lovely exchange...

    Great idea!!

    Happy New Year, to you as well!!

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  4. I love your gifts... the ones you gave and the ones you received! Our weather has been snow and ice too... more ice than snow :-( I would much rather have snow. We were to babysit for three of our grandchildren tomorrow night while their parents went out for dinner and a movie, but mom is sick so they aren't going. We'll just stay home and try and stay awake til 10!!! ;-) Happy New Year!

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  5. I love this idea. I hope you don't mind but I am stealing this idea. It will make Christmas that much more special.

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  6. what a fun idea of making your own gifts and ornaments. I like shopping in second hand stores and antique stores. My sis and I do that quite often for our birthday get togethers in Feb. We continue to have alot of fog and it's kept us chilly all day. Got to see the sun a bit on Saturday and it cheered me up. Thinking my daughter and I will watch a movie tomorrow night. Not sure of what husband's plans are. He called a bit ago and we decided the plan was no plan, with his work schedule right now. Oh well,at least he's employed and we are still together. We usually don't do much over the new years anyway! I'll just come to your house for dinner, ok? (Ha!) :0) God bless and Happy New Year!

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  7. I love all these beautiful gifts. Love this idea. Happy New Year to you and Terry. xo

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  8. Hello Dear Heart.....I am so happy that you showed us the lovely exchanges between you and your Shonda! What wonderful and creative ideas. I could go on and on about each item but that would just take too long....so I really admired 2 of them the most. 1. Shonda's ice skates with the decorative floral arrangement for the door. I have been complaining all fall that I could not find my original skates. I love how Shonda did hers. 2. The beautiful Santa! He is gorgeous....all dressed out in the whites and creams........and his face....absolutely darling. I am glad to hear that you two girls are going to do this again next year. All made with love!

    Blessings and love,
    Susannah

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  9. Morning Faye
    Oh looks like everyone got wonderful gifts . Glad you had a good Christmas to ! I saw how bad the weather is there on the weather net work . It is snowing and blowing here today . Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year !

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  10. What a wonderful mother and daughter tradition! Truly beautiful gifts!
    God bless you all in the new year,
    Christine

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  11. This is such a great idea, Faye. The gift of creativity shared between you and Shonda is heartwarming.

    I love all of the ideas and gifts. I echo the commentator who asked that you post a Santa tutorial.

    Laurie

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  12. Everything is beautiful! Looks like so much fun. God bless.

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  13. Everything is so neat! I really like the centerpiece made from an old tree stand. So creative. And that tree is really gorgeous. Wishing you a very happy new year!

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  14. Sweet Mrs. Henry~
    Thanks for sharing, it's a sweet idea! Those gifts will mean so much!
    I am so sorry to learn of your weather, power and all.
    We are praying for you all and from our home to yours a we wish you all a
    healthy, happy year filled with growing closer to the Lord, each other and many more memories made! :)
    We think of you so much~
    Our love & prayers~
    Mayo's
    P.S. We are just getting Roger better...
    thinking I shared my lil-bug and it took him most of the Christmas
    time to get beyond it.
    Tomorrow we are having a lil-birthday for him :)
    He is a New Years baby and this will be the 50th time he celebrates! Yeah! <3

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  15. Hi Faye, I have been waiting to see your homespun Xmas and loved everything. Your Santa turned out lovely. I absolutely LOVE Santa's--the older the better.
    We are babysitting 4 little munchkins tonight. The 2 older ones--12 and 7 are so good with their little cousins--3 and 5. Doug bought fireworks so the kids thought that was great. Everyone is settled now and I think I will not see the New Year in either. Happy New Year to you and your family from ours.

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  16. I love this idea,and your gift exchange was wonderful...that santa you made was so nice. My daughter knitted me some beautiful dishcloths..I almost hate to use them :) I tried to get my kids to do this this year,but most of them were not fond of the idea...maybe I can at least get the girls to go along with for next Christmas :) Handmade is so much more special....Happy New Year dear friend...many blessings to you and yours.

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  17. Faye, have been anxiously awaiting your homespun Christmas post - its a wonderful idea. First, I love the tree in your first picture, the one by the hutch, it reminds me of bygone days; love the little vintage ornament with the Santa inside you gave your daughter - most of all, my favorite, was The Hiding Place wreath - that is beautiful!! All of the gifts the two of you exchanged were lovely and I'm sure very much appreciated as you know the work and thought that went into it. We sure did have a white Christmas here in NB!! We have enough snow now!

    A wonderful post as always....Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you and your family.

    Cheryl from F'ton

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  18. What a great idea! So many wonderfully creative gifts! I really enjoyed seeing them. Thank you for sharing.
    Blessings for a healthy New Year!
    Julie

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  19. wow, catching up, loved this post!
    esp. oved the paper wreath, and the sweater Santa!
    the hutch is esp. fabulous! just love it!
    it's a wonderful idea for you to share with us all!

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  20. I love your idea of a make it yourself vintage Christmas! You both had some great ideas for gifts. I see that Shonda has your talent for taking something old and making something new from it (the old tree stand decoration). I remember all the beautiful things you used to make for the craft shows out of old vintage stuff. A lot of work but always unique and pretty.

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