love-made, not homemade (or lemonade)

One of my favorite things around the holidays is homemade gifts. And as a giver of homemade gifts myself, I truly appreciate receiving homemade gifts, because I know firsthand how much effort and time can go into brainstorming and creating or finding the perfect gift for a friend or loved one. Not that store bought gifts don't have the same effect, they certainly do (case in point: awesome Vera Bradley address book from my mother in law or cool vintag-y looking necklace from my sister in law!), but as a crafter, I gotta say homemade gifts also have a special place in my heart!

So, as an after-Christmas special, I wanted to spotlight some of my special h♥memade gifts.


Numero Uno: Homemade food
One important thing you should know about me... I LOVE FOOD. From cranberry bread from my neighbor Patty to pear honey (which tastes awesome on toast with a little cinnamon) and spiced applesauce from ♥J to jam from Mar, I can't say much other than YUMMMMMM! In short, the applesauce is already gone and I'm working fast on the others....


Numero Dos: A bookmark from Nel
Holding it's place in one of my favorite Bible passages, a saweet bookmark from Nel! Seriously people, homemade gifts make me want to cry. Someone had to sit around, with their finger tapping their cheek, wondering what colors I might like or what style they see me as. LIKE. Keep it up sisters.


Numero Tres: Crochet goodies from Mar
This year the fam decided to do "secret santa"-ish gifting, and Mar had me as her secret giftee! I realize that I may be difficult to shop for, so she didn't do much shopping at all, just a lot of making! (and etsy shopping!). I am wearing my slippers right now and that clutch is all the excuse I need to get a new dress (despite the fact that it matches a few I already have!). If you're wondering what the Marshmallow is doing, he is sniffing my beautiful smelling feet.


Numero Quatro: A bracelet from etsy
Ok, so no one i know personally made this bracelet, but I think it's perfectly acceptable to count handcrafted gifts in this category. This bracelet is a Pandora replica from Cookalas House of Cards on etsy. Eileen, the store owner, actually was able to get my bracelet out to me with lightening speed in time for Christmas, and I can't express more how professional and kind she was! I used my Christmas gift money to purchase the bracelet. Here is a link to a bracelet similar to mine. Use your Christmas cash to get one today!! (I was not paid or perked or flattered to post this either, I just really like my new bracelet!!) :) My sister also got me a neat peacock pin on etsy and I have an extra peacock feather charm to craft something with! Oh, the possibilities! (PS can you see a peacock theme anywhere? haha).

Numero Cinco: A CD from my husband
This CD has a special place in my heart! On a camping trip back when we were first married, friends of ours had a "classical rock" CD playing in their car. It's classic rock hits performed by an orchestra or string quartet, piano, etc. My husband loves classic rock classics, and we always joked that that kind of CD would be perfect to get our future kids loving classic rock even when they're really young. In all our years of marriage, we'd never been able to find this particular CD. So, this year for Christmas, my husband (secretly) researched, searched for and downloaded the songs individually off iTunes. It actually made the CD so much more meaningful, because he was able to choose songs that had special meaning to us, or that remind him of me (for ex., God Only Knows by the Beach Boys). Now we'll be prepared for when we have kids someday, and for now I can enjoy the classical orchestra music and think about how wonderful my husband is and how much he loves me :).

And just a few more photos from our Christmas Eve get together:

hot cocoa barlemon and cranberry water (idea shamelessly stolen from hubby's aunt)
cranberry bread (compliments of my neighbor Patty) :)

Hope everyone's Christmas was as merry as mine was and that your heart is full of love- the best homemade gift there is!