Giving

 

There is something magical in the air around Christmas time that urges me to create, sew, and craft. I made almost all of the gifts I gave this year, and this not only saved money but helped me feel good about the things I gave because I spent my precious time on them. To me, that makes a gift extra special.

Here they are, in no particular order:

Hooded towel for Landon. This was easy and much needed, since he has grown out of his other baby towels. The hood keeps the towel on him when he’s streaking around the house after a bath. I got the tutorial here.

 

Ok, I couldn’t help adding this picture to this post. He is such a gift. That is Nutella, one of Landon’s favorite treats.

 

I gave my dear friend this scarf for Christmas. It took me two days to finish it, probably about 3-4 hours per day. I love the scallops although it didn’t turn out quite like the picture. I got the free pattern at the lion house yarn website here.

 

This felt-flowered belt went to Ryan’s younger sister Janine for Christmas and I made his other sister Jessica one like it with pink, blue, and cream. The turned out cute and were fun to make. Here’s the tutorial for that: bloom belt.

 

I made Ryan and Landon matching bow ties for Christmas and also made three others for his brothers. They were a hit and they were super easy to do. I need to sew Landon’s down a bit so it doesn’t get skewed like in this picture when he’s trying to rip it off. This is the easiest tutorial for bow ties that I have found and I made Landon’s a inch short although in retrospect, I should have gone down two inches because it looks a bit clownish: bow ties.

 

Ryan and I made these together. Ryan sanded the edges after I spray painted the blocks black. Then we modpodged the saying that I designed onto the wood and hot glued the candle to the top. I love the that the words convey what Christmas is really about and encourages us to follow Christ’s light. We gave these to close family and friends.

 

I did make some Jello playdoh as well as some green Gak for Ryan’s siblings and Landon but I didn’t take any pictures of them.

Hope you can find some gift-giving ideas for your loved ones from my creations this month!

Emily