Ellis Family Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Parker is at that age where he is learning about Christmas and also loving to rip open presents.

We wanted to make sure we took a family picture, because we aren't sure when we will be taking another one altogether. I think these came out amazing! These were taken in the courtyard at the Esplanade in Phoenix. On the weekends the only thing open in this area is the theater and the escalators aren't turned on.

The happy Ellis family!



Ellis-Ellingson 2012




These are some quick photos I took of Eliana.





Santa pictures!! I love how these turned out. We had them done by a professional photographer, who did a Santa special at her studio. She charged roughly the same price as the mall, probably cheaper, and did a great job.





Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Our stockings!

I had the idea to make our own personalized stockings after Eliana was born. I thought it would be a more daunting task, especially with all the extra embroidery I was doing, but they didn't take quite as long as I thought. They took me about a week, even with all the embroidery. I used a GREAT DIY tutorial  from pinterest. There is even a printable pattern.

You can find the tutorial here. 



Stocking DIY cost: 

Cotton fabric(Front): $15.00 (35th ave Sew & Vac)
Cotton fabric(Accents): $5.00
Minky fabric(Back): $5.99 (SAS fabric wholesale)
Crushed velour fabric(Inner): $2.00 (SAS fabrics wholesale)
Embroidery designs: $3.40 ( Planet Applique-On sale)



Total: $31.39!!! 

That doesn't include  the cost of the embroidery materials as I already had them. I looked into buying them retail and each stocking with personalization was around $25.

I didn't use any batting as I had minky on the back and crushed velour inner and I found that it was more than enough fabric. I don't think I could've sewn through any more layers. I also didn't do binding at the top. When I had embroidered my stocking my name ended up being too high and the stitching would have been covered.