A Handmade Christmas 2013

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and New Years! We are now going full throttle into 2014, and I hope that it proves to be a wonderful year for all of you :).

For Christmas this year, most of my friends and family received handmade gifts from me, so I thought I would share what they were with all of you!

My parents are the most difficult people to shop for, though this is mainly my mother. She wants for pretty much nothing, and she doesn't wear jewelry, care about clothes/makeup, etc. So I decided I had to put my crafty thinking cap on, and Pinterest helped a lot with this ;). These are the gifts that I made my parents:

 

I decided to take one of my parents' wedding photos and transfer it to a piece of wood. For the photo transfer to wood, I used a video tutorial I found on Better Homes and Gardens. The picture turned out to be fairly light on the wood, and there were some white spots where I didn't smooth the picture out well enough with the spoon. But, since this was my first attempt I was pretty happy with the results overall. I'm sure when I attempt this again, it can only improve from here. Since you can still recognize the two people as my parents, I called it a win and wrapped it up ;). As my gel medium, I used Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel Medium that I picked up from Joann Fabrics. The plate with Bible verses, I made for my mom. This project did not quite go as planned. The picture you see here is the before picture, unfortunately, this plate no longer looks this good. All over Pinterest I saw where it says that if you write on a glass/plate with a Sharpie, then put it in the oven (only one time) at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, the writing is then permanent. Well. Lets just say that I ended up cooking this plate about 5 times, and yeah the words still wiped off :/. I was pretty bummed, because I thought it turned out looking really nice. If anyone has any pointers for improving that process, I am all ears!

 

For my boyfriend, friend, and cousin, they all received a crochet beanie! The pattern for the beanie and bow was the same I used previously; the links can be found in one of my previous posts here. I used thicker yarns than what was used in the video, so I ended up making some modifications of my own so that the hats would be a tad smaller.

 

 

 

For my wonderful aunt, boss and coworkers, they all received crochet scarves:

 

And lastly, I made a bracelet for another friend. This gift was a long time coming. We had seen a pricey bracelet in a department store, and I told my friend I was pretty sure I could make it. Well it took me a bit to figure it out, but I finally got it! I used a metal button for the clasp, then the bracelet is made of leather, and beads that are sewn in.

 

 

I also received a couple awesome handmade gifts this Christmas. From the friend that the bracelet was made for she made me a fabulous wall jewelry display/organizer. She made it out of a frame and a burlap covered peg board. Unique knobs were then put through the burlap and bolted into the pegboard in the back. She also added a metal detail across the top that is perfect for putting earrings through. I absolutely love this, and as you can see I already have it hung and covered in jewelry!!

My supervisor also made me a coaster that is made out of foam and fabric. A pattern is cut into the foam and small pieces of fabric are cut out into the shapes of the pattern and the edges shoved down into the cuts in the foam. This is the awesome result:

 

As you can tell, it was a little busy around these parts getting ready for Christmas! But, being a crafter and making things for the people you love is what it's all about :).