Christmas Gifts...unwrapped

Wow...what a whirlwind Christmas was!  I didn't get quite as much accomplished as quickly as I had hoped, but nonetheless, everyone seemed to enjoy what I'd made them (and, I got it all DONE!).  I spent the wee hours of Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve crocheting my little heart out to get finished!  It was all worth it, though, to see everyone's faces when they opened their handmade gifts.  That's the most fun part about gift giving for me...I love seeing their reactions!

Here's a few random photos of some of the gifts that got given by me or by clever members of my family...




Renee, Diana, Autumn, & Kim all got sparkly bling bracelets at our office gift exchange

Bracelets originally featured...here!


Here's the 6 other bling bracelets that I made for my Mom-in-law, my Momma, my Grandma, Jen, AuntieGrandmaCheryl, and Katie.



My cousin-in-law Katie is so sweet...she tried her Scarfette on right away!! What a beautiful smile she has!  I have to give Katie a shout-out because she is the absolute queen of homemade Christmas gifts, which I think is so awesome!! In years past I've been lucky enough to receive a hand-painted cookie plate, homemade cookie jar mix, soup mix, and she's made awesome tied-fleece blankets for a few other cousins. 


 Scarfette pattern is here if you are looking for it!  Lately, though, I've been making them with a Q hook instead of the P like my original pattern said.  It only takes about 5 rows in addition to your chain with the Q hook, but just try and see what you think.


Grandma loved her bracelet, which I made in green fire polished Czech glass in honor of our Irish roots!



I know Momma loves her Scarfette, because the last few times I've seen her she's been wearing it! Awesome!



I have to rat myself out on this one...my poor sister-in-law has been promised this blanket since last Christmas.  I just couldn't get it done in time, so I gave her a half finished blanket last year!  I finally got it done this, year, though, and decided to wrap it up for her again!


 Get the pattern for this throw....here.  I used a Q hook in a bulky weight yarn.



I can't take credit for this one, but I thought it was such a cute idea that I had to show you all.  My dad actually came up with the idea of it! (Way to go Papa!)  He and my mom gave my Grandma this cute wreath decorated with gift cards from some of Grandma's favorite places!  What an easy but festive way to give gift cards!  I love it!

 
I also received some awesome gifts that I can't wait to use!!!  I think people have me figured out, because almost everything I got was crafty, vintage, or just good reading material!  Here's a quick rundown of some of my favorites that are craft-related!  You'll have to let me know what your favorite gift that you received was in the comments section...

First up, this awesome new book by Amy Barickman...it's called Vintage Notions, and I'm in love with it!  If you know me, I love anything vintage or fabric, so to get something about both...I'm in heaven!  But wait, that's not all!  This awesome book also has cooking, sewing, fashion and more...but all vintage!  I love love love this!!!  If you're interested, you can get the book here, or find it at the store where my particular copy came from here, or...if you want to know more about the woman behind Vintage Notions...check out her website here! 

Another gift I'm way excited about is my new Dremel tool!  I've always wanted a cute little Dremel tool of my own...I figure every serious crafter needs one, right?!  So the Hubster came through and surprised me with this little bad boy!  I can't wait to use it!  If you need one of your very own, here's where the Hubby says he got it.

One of my all-time favorite blogs out there is written by Camille of Thimble Blossoms fabric fame.  Her blog, Simplify is checked daily by me.  She's got awesome style, and her new Bliss fabric line from Moda is to DIE for!  I was lucky enough to get some Bliss for Christmas.  You can find it at a lot of your local quilt shops, but the Hubby got my charm packs from Etsy (yay Etsy!).  Isn't Bliss Gorgeous?!  Teal and red...my faves if you can't already tell from my blog ;)

I might have totally on purpose accidentally bought the Bliss Jelly Roll from this lovely Etsy sight as well!  Santa won't mind, right?!

I must have been awfully good this year, because I also got the two newest books from my favorite series...The Elm Creek Quilts novels...by Jennifer Chiaverini.  I spent all Christmas break reading them, and they, like all the others before them, were FABULOUS.  Check out Amazon if you're looking for them here and here.

And finally, the gift I've used the most so far!  I asked for a good desk lamp to use while beading, crocheting, etc.  I might only be 27 going on 65, but my eyes ain't what they used to be! (Daisy Mae Moses would be proud of that sentence!)  So this light has been awesome!  I especially LOVE that it has an outlet built into so I can plug my glue gun right into it, and it has these awesome little compartments that conveniently hold my jewelry making tools and crochet hooks.  Thanks Renee, Autumn, Kim & Diana! (Find the lamp here, you need one of these puppies!)



Phew....I'm pooped!  This was a long one, so thanks for bearing with me!  Hope everyone had as awesome of a Christmas as me! 

Photos from Craft Night #5 are coming up next!