I thought I would just share a few of the handmade gifts we made this Christmas. Above you can see some of the little peg people (there are two boys also) that Ginny inspired me to paint. I was going to do a nice assortment like Ginny did, but I got rather hung up on the matryoshka look and well, you see the results.
Some time ago I had made myself a small pocket sized watercolor sketchbook using chipboard covers (gleaned from the backs of sketch pads), linen spine covers (from the scrap bag) and an assorted mix of watercolor papers for the sewn signatures.
I liked it so much I decided they might make nice gifts for the artsy ones on my list. (The end papers are simply small rectangles of brown paper bags.) These are time consuming, but so much fun to make.
I haven't mentioned it here (because we were giving three as Christmas gifts) before, but we have been quite into the whole hooping thing these last couple of months. We made several for ourselves (various sizes) and then thought what cool gifts they would make.
We used 3/4" 100psi tubing following the instructions here.
Also made, were (lots of) truffles, homemade/homegrown tea blends, branch blocks (This is the set we gave Lilly for her birthday, but we made a second set for a special Godchild.), crocheted hats and scarves and homemade quick bread mixes. The best part about the whole handmade gift thing this year was that everyone got involved. Chip with the woodwork, Anna with crocheting and everyone else (with except maybe Lilly) with the candy making (and tasting) and overall idea giving. All in all, we loved the whole process and I am already making a list of ideas for next year. :)
