Handmade Pledge, an Update

Looks like more than 11,000 people took the Handmade Pledge. I’m No. 4,423. The idea was to buy handmade for the holidays and to encourage others to buy handmade for me.

I’d say the results this year were mixed. I made more things than I purchased, in terms of handmade.

That includes hot chocolate and marshmallow filled piping bags tied to candy canes and treats for the nieces and nephews and the snow globes we made as a family.

I used antique Mason and Ball jars (that my mother-in-law treasured) for each family to have. If the jars leak or the proportions of glycerin and glitter aren’t right, we can try again next year, without ruining the jars.

Plus, now I have a whole year to save jars and find wider-mouthed jars so we can make more detailed scenes. My favorite was the one my youngest nephew made, using old plastic Sesame Street ornaments. I think his looked the coolest.

[Project Notes:To prepare, I painted the lids before we left. When we started the project, I had all the kids choose their figurines, place them how they wanted them, then put the glitter and star cutouts I brought into their jars. I went into a separate room to epoxy the figures to the lid. I put them all together the next morning and the iFarmer handed the finished pieces out at breakfast. We had some leakage, though the one I brought home hasn’t leaked a drop. The antique jars may be the most problematic, so I’ll probably bring rubber rings to seal them tighter next time, if I do this again.]

I did buy local wines, coffee and jars of preserves and apple butter for gifts. I also used rooftop honey from Chicago for party favors.

And the whole family at The Farm got handmade quilts.

Without revealing too much (I’m late with one Christmas package), I bought handmade jewelry for my sistas in Cali.

In turn, my So. Cal. sis made my whole family fleece blankets. If I could wear mine as a sweater, I’d have it on me all day. We took ours with us on our trip and they were very comforting to have on the road.

My favorite handmade item of the holidays is on our tree. Future Farmboy was concerned that we didn’t have a top ornament for the tree, so we improvised just before Christmas.

We cut up a pizza box, formed a star and wrapped it in aluminum foil.