Christmas 09 gifts!

Hi and welcome to my "crafty" blog!  It may or may not last; we'll see.  I have trouble enough keeping my regular one updated.  But I wanted a place where I could post JUST about my projects and stuff.  SO, I thought I'd do my first post about the Christmas gifts I made for my family...now that it's over there should be no surprises.  ;)

For my sister:

This was going to be a set of pillows, but the first one went terribly wrong.  It was beautiful in my imagination; it really just didn't translate well.  You know when your own husband makes a face and says that he wouldn't want it in HIS house, it's bad!!!  So I did this one (different design), which I totally love.  And I think it's very "her." 

For my mom:

bird silhouettes on silver-y chargers.  My mom has birds all over her house; they'll have lots of friends!  These are fun to do if you like doing tedious cutting and getting high off of Mod Podge.  ;)

For my dad:

The coolest thing ever.  It's known as the "photo star" at our house.  Totally fun to do, and totally unique.  I found a pack of Amy Butler scrapbook paper that I fell in love with, and used it on this.  My sister & I pooled our family pics and shared them for photo gifts this year - it worked out great.  I really need to make one of these for our house.  I'm not a "country" person; I don't wish to have a barn star on my house like the rest of the world; that's really not my style...but I LOVE this photo star!!! 

For my two adorable nieces:

"Cuddle Blankets" - a huge hit.  I tried my hand at embroidery and I thought it turned out way better than I expected.  I think my years of cross-stitch really helped.  It felt the same, except without requiring all that concentration, which is great because after 2 kids, I pretty much have lost my ability to concentrate anymore.  It is very relaxing for me; I think I will be doing lots more of it this year.

I had grand aspirations of making handmade gifts for EVERYONE on my list...didn't happen.  There are a few more that I'm not going to post because, believe it or not, we still haven't done the exchange with the in-laws yet.  That happens sometimes when you live 9 hours apart and it snows for 2 weeks solid.

Well if you found my blog, enjoy, and please let me know you're here!!!