Christmas Spirit

"Handmade presents are scary because they reveal that you have too much free time."

Contrary to the above quote, I really don't have that much free time on my hands. I work a full time job, I have two dogs to care for, I practically live between two houses right now. I have NO free time. But I think it is incredibly important to find time to do what you love. For me, I sacrifice a couple of hours of sleep every night to unwind from my day. I usually stay up until midnight zoning out in my artwork of crafting.

I love Christmas. For the past couple of years I've tried to make about 60% of my gifts. I think it's easy, and a bit of a copout, to go to the store to buy your gifts. Sure, you could buy someone a sweater that about 10,000 other people probably have. OR you could MAKE someone a sweater that no one else has! Now, I realize that most people aren't like me. I realize that most people would rather have the new hip gadget, or designer clothing. But screw everyone else!!!! I work hard at what I make. I put hours that turn into days into my gifts. I literally sometimes make myself bleed while making my gifts. I put my heart and soul into my handmade items.

This year Christmas snuck up a bit too quickly. I still managed to make a bunch of gifts for everyone, but definitely not as many as I'd like. My poor boyfriend felt neglected during the Holiday season from all the pinning that I was going on Pintrest! So here you have it! Here are only a few of my handmade gifts. I don't even think I had enough time to take pictures of everything, but you get the general idea.

The first thing I made was for all of my girls at work! This was super simple, and everyone seemed to love it. I made them a "goodie bag" which said "For Your Mistletoes" on it. Inside of the bag was a bottle of lotion and some nail polish. 

With a little bit of bargain shopping, the whole ordeal cost me less than $3/person. 

Next I made my sister a dream catcher. This was super simple and a lot of fun to make. I used an embroidery hoop wrapped in ribbon as the frame. Then I used a vintage doily and tied it around the frame...or maybe weaved it around the frame. Then I tied on some tassles with beads and feathers to it. I made one for my sisters meditation space. Then my nephew caught a glance of it before Christmas and insisted that I made him one. With orange ribbon and green tassles of course. 

Next I made the girls in my family a heating bag. Again, this was super easy. Minus trying to figure out the sewing machine which I never used before! For the record, I do not claim to know a single darn thing about sewing. I have never used a sewing machine before. I can barely sew buttons onto a coat. But I figured why not?! I bought some inexpensive fabric at the store and filled the sewn bags will uncooked rice (not that instant crap). Then for scent I added some crushed cloves. 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. If YOU made some handmade gifts, I'd love to know what they were!