Craftyness for Christmas!

So this Christmas, my teenage daughters and I bonded and had fun doing some crafts together for Christmas gifts.  So I will start with my big project which totally involved all three of us and lots of patience.  So let me start with a little history of why.

 

In 2014 my wonderful empty nesters of In-laws decided to become foster parents.  God put 4 little children into their lives overnight.  They are a challenge and a lot of work.  Their ages ranged from 3months old to 7yrs. old, and they come from a horrific background of abuse.  We have all as a family, pitched in and helped them out whenever we can and have truly loved on them as if they were our own.  Well, there is a chance that they may be leaving our family soon, after having them for nearly 9 months.  So I wanted to make something of a "keepsake" of these children for my in -laws.  All I could think of doing was, salt dough handprints and putting them into a shadow box frame with some kind of quote on the glass, in vinyl.  So we "borrowed" each child for a few hours to let them put their handprint into the dough, then once they were baked, we let them paint them up the way they wanted (except the baby of course).  The amazing part was that none of the kids squealed at all for almost 2 weeks before Christmas.  It was a total surprise for my in-laws!  Their was not a dry eye in the room, and even now I still tear up a bit, remembering their reaction to it.  The kids were very proud of their handprints too.  The quote says: "You've held our hands for a little while, but our hearts forever..."  So here is a few pictures of the work we put into this wonderful project for some AMAZING in-laws!

                      

                      

I think they liked it!

 

Now onto our other projects!

My oldest daughter is very close to her cousins and has a great relationship with them all, but one of them just recently got married very quickly due to her fiancé being deployed.  I posted about their wedding day in a previous post here: Wedding Bells.  My niece greatly misses her husband and only gets to talk to him maybe once a week.  So we wanted to make something extra special for her and her special day.  So she decided to make her coasters that we decoupaged some wedding pictures to some tiles and sealed them with a clear coat and put adhesive felt on the back to protect the table surfaces.  We also, made a monogram for 2 of them on my Cricut Explore, with vinyl and did the same of sealing them too.  They turned out beautiful!  My niece cried when she saw the pictures and so did we.  This Christmas was full of sentimental gifts for many!  Check them out!

Aren't they beautiful!

 

Anyways, next she wanted to make the same thing for one of her other cousins that she is really close to, also!  But she kept it simple, yet they turned out so beautiful too!  We just decoupaged some pretty paper to the tiles and then did her monogram on 2 and then her name on the other 2 with my Cricut Explore.  I really liked them so much, I wanted to keep them, except that none our names are Kimberly!  That would be a little weird!  LOL

Anyways, here they are!

Aren't they adorable!

 

Okay the next project she did was for another cousin that she is very close to, also!  I know, I know, how many can she possibly have that she is really close to?  Well, there is just the three.  So this is the last of these!  LOL  She went a little different route on this one, a very fun and creative one.  This particular cousin is always posting private messages back and forth and sharing funny little videos on Instagram.  The three are all from one side of my family and they are more like best friends than cousins.  Anyways, she came up with the idea to make up a frame to look like Instagram and they even have their own cute little hash tag!  So here is her adorable frame that she painted up and then I made their hash tag up on my Cricut Explore in vinyl.  I think it also, turned out so cute!  She did a fantastic job!

 

Here it is with the my daughter on the left and two of her cousins!  Didn't it turn out so cute!

 

We did several other little projects, but I think you get the point that we were very busy, and had a wonderful Christmas with everyone!

Again, thanks for stopping in and seeing what we did this year for Christmas.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year will be filled with many blessings!

 

My New to Me Craft Space

 I am so very excited to share with you all, there has been some new developments here at Eastunders Creations! I used to have my crafty little corner in my beautiful but tiny dining room but as most of you know what happens after a while...your supplies start to grow as your "needs" grow.  So before you knew it, I was taking over my dining room and it didn't look to purtty!   And if I was working on a project of any kind, it would all end up on the table.  Then in the middle of these projects, I would have to stop and make a meal and have to quickly clean off my table, so that we could use the table for eating!  Who would have ever thought of that!  LOL  Plus, I was just plain outgrowing my "corner"!  So this past spring, we had our basement waterproofed to stop the flooding that happened 2 times the year before.  Our house was built in the 1920's so waterproofing the basement was not a concern.  So I waited to see how things went before I put my precious paper and machine down there.  Kinda a wait and see, kind of thing!  I still am not totally trusting of it all, but it seems to be working just fine.  It is nice to have a rainstorm and not have to be stressed that the basement may flood...again and then wonder what am I going to loose this time...   Who would have thought that a storage tote full of books would float upside down and fill up with water!   Anyways, we have plans to kinda finish part of the basement in the future.  So the front area was kinda sitting empty till we have the "funds" to do that.  So I decided to reclaim my dining room and to stake my claim on the basement area for my craft room.  It is a work in progress and a little rough, but it is working for me right now.  I have much bigger and more grand ideas for it, but with what I came up with, I don't think it is to shabby!  I saved the old bookshelf that was put in the garage years ago, and was just collecting saw dust and not being used.  Then my wonderful hubby helped me make a better system for my table top by adding some "legs" to help it be more sturdy.  I borrowed the "camping table" for a little extra work space...but I think the kids and my hubby like it for other things.  We had two computer chairs that just don't look to nice anymore or something was wrong with the mechanics of them, they were in the garage for years, so I salvaged them, too.  So now I have a more comfy chair to sit in, instead of a "card table" chair.  Yay!  Plus, I had an old area rug that was a little frayed on the one edge, so I threw that down on the old uneven half painted old floor to help warm up the space.  I put some unused lamps down there to help soften the bright white glow of the florescent lighting.  Then also my wonderful hubby had an unused shop light that he hung right over my desk area for the extra lighting that was lacking greatly over it!  I think he is happy to have the dining room back too!  What has been kinda funny now, is that every time I am down there working on something, it seems everyone ends up down there with me.  Either they like the "cozy" environment that I have created, or maybe they just like being with me!   Yeah, it is just the room!  LOL

Just a Few More Christmas Cards 2014

Hello everyone!  Did you think I got lost?  I disappeared for a while, but not from my crafting, but just from my blog.  So much has been going on as of lately and I just have not had the time to sit down and post.  So just a quick post of a few more Christmas cards I made for this past Christmas of 2014.  I made a bunch more but didn't even have time to take pictures of them all.  I was very busy in my "New" to me craft area. Pictures of that coming soon!  Anyways, during this time I also got a new machine to craft with!  I got the new Cricut Explore!  I LOVE it so far!  I put it through a lot of "tests" to see what it could do, and man can it cut!  It handled the very detailed cuts with ease, which is what I was hoping for!  So I put it through good use, through the Christmas season and kept it busy!  My craft room was a constant buzz of papers, vinyl, paint brushes, Mod Podge and such things were a flying around!  It was crazy, but fun!  So you can imagine how messy it got...or maybe not, maybe I am the only one who didn't have time to clean up until after Christmas...Nah, there has got to be others out there with the same problem.  Anyways, here is just a few more cards that I put together from my friends and family for Christmas!  Enjoy!

I love how these all turned out!  I have many more things to post and share with you all, so be patient and keep stopping by to see what they are!  Thanks for stopping in and I hope you all stay warm and cozy this winter!