What I Did On My Christmas Vacation

Ok, first off-I got tagged for a neat award/blog meme thing from Maria, but I could not copy and paste the words and stuff and so I was too lazy to re-type it all and go back and forth so go read hers, think "oh, she's cool!" and then imagine great answers full of neat little tidbits of info about me, 'k?

Anyway, over the next couple of days I will share some of the bajillion Christmas gifts I made this year. I LOVED making so much stuff this year as creating makes me feel happy, but it left me no time for much else, which is honestly ok. I needed the computer break and just the time making and creating, sometimes side by side with my girls which was even better-it is restorative for me....well, except when it doesn't go well and then it is just frustrating and sweary but we will not get in to that business....

First up is the knitted teacher gifts:
Peekaboo Mittens (which I love and want some for me!!)

Next is the Branching Out scarf made out of a silk/wool combo yarn, mmmmmm, yummy:

Here we have a batch of treasure stones I made for my nephew:

He loves to do those kits where you can dig/scrape out something like a dinosaur skeleton with mini archaeologist tools. So, when I found a recipe to make the stones, I was excited! I hid a bunch of money in the stones, using "regular" coins, and then also some fun ones like a silver dollar, 50 cent piece, and even a paper dollar that I rolled up tiny and fit into a section of a straw so it wouldn't get messed up by the wet "dough" of the rocks before I baked them. They were SO easy and fun to make and I kept giggling while making them saying "look! they look JUST LIKE ROCKS!" I packaged them in a landscaping bucket filled with moss and included "instructions" one the side of the bucket. I am happy to report that he loved them, which makes me SO happy! They could be made for a party treasure hunt with a prize for each kiddo inside, be "fairy stones" with some added glitter and/or paint, Easter egg hunt if you shape them more egg-ish, the possibilities are endless!!

Finally, for this post, these are a few washer necklaces I made:


These are made with fender washers you can buy at any hardware or home improvement store. You can search for them on the web and find tons of instructions/variations on these-this is just how I chose to do mine. A few I covered with scrapbook paper and clear glaze, but they were really fussy and more of them didn't turn out well than ones that did so that was kind of annoying. I preferred the ones I hand-stamped as I could make them personal for the recipient as I did in the picture above-those are the names of the recipient's children. I ordered a set of steel letter stamps from Harbor Freight and used them to personalize the necklaces. These are not hard to make, well, unless you are a moron and cannot seem to hold the letters the correct way and repeatedly mess up the same thing over and over by stamping a letter sideways/upside down and then it might start to get teensy bit sweary, as previously mentioned-all hypothetically of course. You need a heavy hammer, a hard surface like a concrete basement floor, and a sharpie to blacken the letters. If you want more specific instructions, let me know and I can share with you how I did it. It was a really lot of fun (except for the sweary parts). I didn't manage to take pictures of some of the ones I added beads/charms to, but they were pretty cool, too. I am really not bragging or trying to toot my own horn, for reals-I am just as surprised as anyone when stuff I make turns out decently!!! Of course, I am honestly never really satisfied with anything I make either and will endlessly fool with and fret over it, noticing every little flaw. But, I really do love to make stuff and I have finally come to the conclusion that I was created to create-it is the thing that gets me so excited! I like to create most for others, it is like my gift to me to make gifts for others. So, basically, I am selfish!! haha!


I will have one more post of stuff I inflicted upon, um I mean, created, for others in the next couple days. If you made any gifts, leave a comment and email me pictures!! I love to see others' stuff and be inspired!!