Christmas Projects

This Christmas I have been determined to make most of the presents I will give out this year. I love looking at blogs that feature DIY craft projects and websites that sell handmade items.

Some of my most recent favorite DIY loves are...

The Pom-Pom Wreath
Soft Trees
Kid-friendly Wreath Ideas (and the coolest milk jug wreath idea I must try and tackle!)
Reusable Sandwich Bags

Aren't those great?

I can also spend hours upon hours looking at all the sellers on Etsy - the best website for everything handmade. I discovered some great finds lately...

TwoSeasideBabes
vesselsandwares
thelittlereddoor
leandogpottery

Etsy is the place to look for anything handmade!

So, most of my "handmade" gifts are in the form of pottery and yesterday I was able to do my first bisque fire EVER!  I just came upstairs from unloading it and good news -- nothing exploded and (I think) it fired to temperature!  I am so so excited!!! Here are a few pictures from yesterday and today.

Here is my kiln...probably a couple hours into firing only.  It fired for about 9 1/2 hours!! I learned a lot from this firing, so next time it should not take as long.

We had a fire going downstairs while we were down there. I went down about every 2 hours to check on things. The temperature it fired to was around 1900 degrees.  It's "yellow heat" at that stage.  Peeking in the top peep hole of the kiln is NOT good for your eyes...but you could definitely see that it was glowing in there.

Here I am in my most awesome outfit opening the lid to peek at my stuff for the first time! I let the kiln cool for about 18 hours and everything was still warm to the touch!

Don't look too hard at this picture...you might see your present!  There are three darker pieces in the picture that are that way because I washed them off with water.  Everything gets sanded and rinsed before it's glazed. Then it's glazed and fired again...this time to 2200 degrees.

I have other handmade projects I'm working on, but I will post about them later...probably after Christmas!