This year's ornaments were nice and simple. I used up scraps of fabric from our favorite Christmas quilt and used this Scandinavian Fabric Stars Tutorial. Holly and Greta chose which strips of fabric they wanted to have used in their stars. I made a few extra. These little stars are a great little project!

I made only a few Christmas gifts this year: a backpack for my nephew, Hudson Pants for two of my sister-in-laws, the dolls for the girls, American Girl doll dress for my nieces, and a quilt for my in-laws.

I love this quilt! It turned out better than I wanted it to. It's so cheerful and bright and happy. I used a Pow-Wow quilt pattern. I used the corners to make the baby quilt for the school auction. My girls look so cute wrapped up in it, in my opinion.

For Holly, I helped Greta stamp polka dots on a skirt and then Greta helped me sew the elastic waist and the hem. It was so cute to see my girls exchange gifts. Holly has worn the skirt Holly made for her a lot - almost every day since Christmas. She really loves it! If I have the energy for handmade gifts between girls next year, I'm totally doing it!

In past years, the girls have purchased gifts for each other. This year, I chose to take a handmade route. Holly made Greta a plate through a company called MakIt. I got together some friends and we put in a big order and got the cheapest plate price. Holly had made a plate like this at the end of preschool last year for herself and Greta has been very envious of it. I think she'll be thrilled with this gift. It was a little painful making it with Holly - she didn't seem to want to put in the time and effort I wanted her to put into it. But it turned out so cute anyways. I'm excited for the girls to exchange their gifts. Greta and I will finish her gift for Holly this week before school's out.

I'm not sure that we'll always take the handmade route... but as long as I have ideas and the energy for them I think I'll shoot for it. It's a harder thing to do with Holly because she's in school. But easy to do with Greta. We'll see!

This was one of those crafts that I wanted to do with my daughters because I wanted to make one. We used scraps from the quilts I made for them last year and sparkly modge podge. And then we glued the scraps onto glass ornaments. I love how they turned out! Our Christmas tree will likely be covered with handmade ornaments forever and I love that. I love these little things I make with and for my daughters. Decorating the tree was such a joy this year as we remembered years past from our ornaments. It's just so special!