Just some of the appetizers and treats served at our Christmas party.
Christmas has come and gone can you believe it? I hope you all had a blessed Christmas celebrating our Savior’s birth! I have been crafting and sewing like crazy this past month. 🙂 I am so thankful that I was able to sew more Christmas presents this year than any year yet! I had a great time blessing my family in this way.
I made my sister a checkbook cover using this tutorial. I used scrap material leftover from other projects so this project was practically free! I couldn’t get the ruffle part of the tutorial to work out for me so I appliqued a K on it instead. I am so pleased with how it turned out. I might just have to make one for myself. 🙂
Katelyn’s checkbook cover.
I made the hubby a homemade vanilla milkshake instead of him heading to Sonic.
My handsome man modeling Bekah’s new hat.
I made my sister Bekah a fun fleece hat using this tutorial. I used scrap fleece fabric I had on hand.
We ate soup for three meals last week. I made Sneaky Potato Soup (with broccoli instead of cauliflower) and Crock Pot Tortilla Soup.
The eyeglass cases literally took minutes to make!
I made my mom and sister eyeglass cases out of a Vera Bradley purse (the zipper was broken beyond repair). It literally took minutes!
I made a nightgown for my cousin Katie for Christmas. I also made a matching one for her American Girl Doll and a sleep mask, sleeping bag, and pillow. I hope she enjoys playing with it as much as I enjoyed making it. I can’t believe how many creative sewing and DIY ideas there are out there for American Girl dolls. 🙂
Our Christmas open house was so much fun!
We had a Christmas open house at our home that was lots of fun. Besides the shrimp that we purchased everything else was homemade. As shown in the picture above we served vegetables with Red Pepper Hummus (both from Aldi). I also made a cheese tray using fancy cheeses and crackers from Aldi. (Aldi continues to be such a blessing to my family!) We also served: deviled eggs, popcorn balls, yum-yums, Pecan Tarts, Peppermint Kisses, Chips & Dip, Potato Chips, cupcakes, m&ms, bacon wrapped water chestnuts, fudge, and nuts. For drinks I served: homemade hot chocolate (kept warm in a Crockpot), water, and punch (my late Poppie’s recipe). We ended up with lots of leftover cookies which I froze and took to my parent’s house for Christmas. (They still tasted great!)
I made Elijah a fleece no-sew blanket with fabric I purchased on Black Friday. He loves it!
About half of the Christmas presents were purchased or made before the month of December. I hid the majority of them on the tallest shelf of my closet. Anytime I would find something at a great deal that I thought a family member would love I picked it up and added it to my stash. By purchasing presents at stellar prices I am able to minimalize our Christmas expenses while maximizing our giving. 🙂
I sewed a Christmas sleeper for my son Elijah. This wasn’t an incredible savings but such a fun memory! I made my first sleeper for Eli-pictures coming soon!
How did you save money this past week?
Emerson Family 
Miss you! Love keeping up with you through this.
Miss you too! Y’all need to come visit soon. 🙂