Saying Goodbye to the Christmas Season.

Like so many other folks, we are in the process of saying goodbye to the holiday season --- at least for now. We are carefully packing away our Christmas decorations as it will be another 11 months before we will need them again. And somehow, this is never an easy task... in fact, it borders on sad. Our house always seems to go from festive to "blah"... even though we were just fine with the decor of our home before Christmas. The packing away of all the holiday's fun & festive goodies always seems to leave our home feeling naked and dull for a while ... until we have forgotten all about how charming it looked and felt during the holidays.

So, I am thinking it is time to begin a new tradition. I think we shall begin decorating for our 1 month celebration of WINTER. I am thinking snowflakes, icicles, and various shades of winter blues ... and maybe begin our celebration on January 1st and end it on February 2nd (with the anticipation of the groundhog predicting an early spring). At least, I will give this new tradition a chance. And I will start with this:

No more naked house :) Any other ideas?

Love,

Jodi

Read More

Some Handmade Gifts That I Can Now Show You ...

... because they have already been gifted away to my loved ones.

I made these pillows for my best friend's couch:

I made these ornaments for my Mom as well as my Brother-in-Law:

I made these stationary folders for several ladies in my life. These were my favorite sewing project this season:

They included notecards of my own photography. The theme was "A Year in Maine":

Ahhh... and then there was the Johnny Depp pillow. Yum:

All that sewing, but I am still SO in the mood to create more! It felt wonderful to be able to give gifts that I spent quality time working on --- made with love and lots of coffee :)

Love,

Jodi

PS: There were many more handmade gifts given ... but I have already shown them here before ... knowing that the receivers do not check my blog.

Read More

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Enjoy this wonderful day :) And for an extra special treat, click here.

Love,
Jodi

Read More

Christmas Eve 2007.

A CHRISTMAS POEM

We'll touch the candle of our hearts

To the flame of the Advent Star

And set the light to burn a path

Where the darkened places are.


And some who never lift their eyes

To the stars that flood the night,

May find their way to a Bethlehem

By our candle's friendly light.


~ Ernest H. Sommerfeld

Love,

Jodi

Read More

The Tree Revisited : And Other Holiday Decorations

I think I like the new tree even better.

I found this vintage advent calendar at Goodwill for .59 cents! It s from Sweden (I believe).

It is so darn cute and has movable parts. Isaac keeps lovingly staring at it while declaring, "So pretty, Mama. Mama made that. It so pretty. Good job, Mama." I am SO not going to tell him that I didn't make it :)

And here is my vintage paper find from last year ... a nativity scene. I love it! (Sorry for the bad photo).

Love,
Jodi

Read More

Christmas Tree 2007

So, here is the story of this year's Christmas tree in the Renshaw-Sirimoglu household. Yes, there is a "story" --- though I am not sure whether it comes with a moral or any nugget of wisdom, but it is a "story" none-the-less.

As you may remember, we travelled to Piper Mountain with some friends to cut down our well-chosen Christmas tree. And this is what we came home with:

... not particularly charming, as it has a gaping hole on one side and is flat on the other. But we gave it a chance to be a glorious part of our holidays anyway.

And the kids were ready and excited to decorate this awkward but sweet hand-picked tree. Lots of laughs were shared... lots of silly antics...

And of course, Halis placed his coveted Dan Marino ornament in its own hallowed spot on the tree - where it could be well seen and appreciated by all. (How many of you out there can say that Dan Marino is hanging from your tree?)

And after some great ornament arrangements by Meaghan and myself.... while Halis watched from the recliner ... and Isaac sought to destroy every ornament he could get a hold of (he enjoys throwing things to see what they will do).... our tree finally became this beautiful masterpiece of festive Christmas merriment ...

But sadly, the tree would not experience such splendor for very long. I am not sure whether gravity, the dogs or the devil himself had a hand in our tree's sudden bought with dizziness ... but she (as we refer to her) came crashing to the floor like a drunken uncle... breaking nearly every sacred childhood ornament that was lovingly placed on her.... not to mention most of her branches as well. Sad. Very sad.

So, Halis did what any good dad would do in this situation. After I removed all remaining ornaments from her branches, he took her outside and resurrected her into a shorter, but actually more charming, version of herself:

And now Isaac and I (okay, mostly I) will spend part of today returning the tree to its original festive splendor, albeit with a lot less decoration ... and no more gaping hole.

There is our tree story. Just a little bit of drama as is often the case around here :) But the story won't end here ... I'll be sure to post pictures of the tree's second chance at life.

So, how are your holiday decorations holding up???

Love,

Jodi

Read More

Oh the Joy of Sewing!

I am having so much fun trying out new sewing patterns ... made by me... but inspired by others. I recently uploaded some of my favorite photographs to Snapfish.com in order to create some fun note cards for gift-giving. But after ordering them, I realized that they needed patchwork stationary wraps ... you know ... to contain all the cards & envelopes while also making them look simply gorgeous!

So, this is a work in progress, but here is what I came up with for some of my own cards (of my dog, Jack):

The jean fabric is very sturdy, but I still added a fairly stiff lining. I plan to sew a divider between the envelopes and the cards, but I think that may be the only alteration. I really like how these came out! I look forward to making them for some loved-ones for Christmas ... but better get going on them!

By the way, for those who are interested, I have placed more goodies in my Etsy Shop.

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays thus far :) Today, we decorate the tree! I'll be sure to post photos soon and hope you will show me your trees as well.

Love,

Jodi

Read More

More Bags ... As Always ...

I think that I will forever be making bags of all sorts throughout my life. They are so fun to make, so versatile, so useful and make great gifts! And they can also be created to showcase your own artwork. Here, I took a copy of a squirrel I had painted and turned him(or her) into a batik tote bag. This one *might* be for my cousin, Nicole (if she wants it). If not, you will find it on Etsy soon:

This one is a gift for a poker player in my life:

And these have been sent to Haiti as Christmas gifts for my son's biological sisters:

And I am sure there will be more to come :)

Love,
Jodi

Read More

Tree Hunt at Piper Mountain : 2007

I LOVE rituals. And heading to Piper Mountain with my friends and family in order to pick out our Christmas trees has become a recent, but favorite ritual. It has been a long time ritual of our dearest friends, and we are so thankful to be a part of it.

You can see some fun photos from our outing by clicking on our Flickr account to the right ... But here are some of the highlights:

Our best friends.

Devon shakes the trees in order to make some really cool photos!

Meaghan experiences several "white washes".

Isaac learns how to throw snowballs (thanks Grampy!).

Daddy and his boy.

My favorite photo of the day.

Meaghan and her Grampy.

Ahh... and the evening fire. Gotta love it :)

And speaking of rituals and traditions, Halis and I plan to incorporate some new ones into our lives thanks to some great suggestions I have received from some new books. I hope to share them with you soon and to hear of yours as well!

Lots of love,
Jodi

Read More

Holiday Banners for Etsy.

I just love these banners. I love hanging them all around the house for every occasion ... even birthdays! The one pictured above is my "Winter Solstice" banner. It can be kept up throughout the winter till it is time to be replaced by our "Spring" banner. And they are such practical decorations in that they can be washed, folded, and put away till they return year after year. (By the way, the solstice banner resides above the window, but was moved for photographing).

I plan to make several of these in the next week ... in all sorts of winter themes (Christmas, Snowmen, Nativity, Solstice, etc) ... so that I can post them on Etsy. But, just in case I am unable to complete all that I would like to, I thought I would offer my readers a chance to special order one or more if they would like.

I have loads of fabric for use in these banners, so you can choose your theme and your colors and I can put together a wonderful banner that works for your home.

Each banner will be about 3 yards long, made of 100% cotton, and contain about 12-13 pendants. The cost is $18 each, which includes shipping!

Just let me know :)
Thank you,
Jodi

Read More

New Etsy Items For Sale!

Hooray! I have finally placed something new in my etsy shop: This Handmade Life. And it is terribly sweet! There are only 4 available at this time, so get 'em while their hot (literally, as I just pressed them :)

I plan to add more goodies for Christmas ~ so please check in with me once in a while. I hope to have some scarves, purses, totes, and other hand sewn goodies on the site within the next couple of weeks.

Currently, I am working on a quilt for my brand new nephew, Brady Borromeo! He was born last Wednesday and I cannot wait to love on him :)

Enjoy the day.

Love,

Jodi

Read More

The Quiltmaker's Gift

A new quilt project for a special someone. I bought this wonderful Mary Engelbreit toile fabric at Mardens (a must stop for all fabriholics in Maine). And then I grabbed some additional sweet fabrics from my stash, as well as a gorgeous pattern from one of my favorite quilt books: Quilts From the Quiltmaker's Gift ... and I am happily stitching my way toward another handmade Christmas gift.

For all sorts of ideas for handmade gifts, you must RUN (don't walk) to this website: Sew, Mama, Sew.
You'll thank me for this link :)

Love,
Jodi

Read More

My Crafty (and Amazing ) Cousin Nicole.

I have this amazing cousin, Nicole, who married this equally amazing guy, Murry, and together they are adopting a child (or children) from Kazakhstan. They are nearing the end of the process, and are now only waiting for a phone call from some "adoption officials" to tell them when they will be expected to fly to Kazakhstan. Once they arrive, they will need to spend a month there in order to complete the adoption. That is not only quite a sacrifice (we know this first hand) but it is also quite costly.

So, my Cousin ... who is always so inventive and motivated ... has come up with a gorgeous, useful and sweet craft product to sell in order to raise some funds for their trip. She has made these wonderful journals from vintage Little Golden Books ...

These sweet journals come both lined and unlined. They come filled with quality recycled paper and all of them include the original story at the back of the book. How sweet is that??? And only $15 each plus shipping!!! These would make wonderful gifts for any holiday. And I am so excited to have placed my order for the Poky Little Puppy shown above :)

If you are interested in her work, please visit her website and click on the FOR SALE link at the top of the page. They are selling fast, but Nicole plans to add more great journals as soon as possible. You can also place orders for certain books or styles. What a treat.

Enjoy her site.

Love,

Jodi

Read More

Homemade Christmas :: Memory Game

I am still working on crafting all of my Christmas presents for this year. I just finished making this Memory Game for Isaac and thought I would share it with you all. I plan to make a few more for Etsy.

So, that is one more gift done and LOTS more to go :)



Love,
Jodi

Read More

This Handmade Christmas - I Hope!

I have vowed that every Christmas present that I bestow onto a loved one this year will be handmade by me. So, I have ALOT of work to do!

I have begun by making Isaac a new quilt ( I think a yearly Christmas quilt will become a tradition). It is finished except for the handstitched binding. And here it is:

He is SO into elephants, that I thought a safari quilt would totally delight him. And so far, as he has caught glimpses of it (even though I have tried to sew in secret) he has gotten quite excited about the elephants. So, hooray for Mommy. I think this will be a hit on Christmas morning.

Also, I have begun a couple of "stuffie" projects as well:

I am going to put together a basket of stuffed puppies in a basket, thus the first puppy on the left. And I am also hoping to finish a line of safari stuffies to go with Isaac's quilt. (Any patterns or ideas out there? The giraffe was all I could find so far).

So, that is what I've got for Isaac so far. I am also working on making a "Memory Game" out of fabric squares. It, of course, it has a safari/jungle theme as well :) I have made these before with much success:

The above game was made last year for my neice. They are lots of fun to make - and pretty easy to make without a pattern, but if anyone would like some advice on making their own, just ask.

Well, I'll keep in touch regarding my progress on the gift making front. I have also decided that if I cannot keep my vow, I will resort to purchasing second-hand items instead (Viva La Goodwill!).

Love,

Jodi

Read More