it's a handmade christmas!

hello!

oh, i do hope everyone had a wonderful christmas.  mine has been lovely and white and happy, and who wants more than that?  take a look at my kiddos christmas morning >

i am only sad that my family christmas is held on or after christmas day and it is not until now that i can show off this year's gifts!

i have tried year after year to only give handmade gifts.  i have given up on this with my own children - they do deserve to have their zhu zhus and board games like all the other kids.  but my nieces and nephews, parents, etc - i might be the only one giving them handmade presents and i consider it my duty.  my abilities might not allow me to personally make all of their gifts and so i do buy handmade when this occurs.

my mom purchased these two scarves from me for my grandmas.  my mom does try to embrace the handmade, as well.  she also commissioned me to make a photo book for one of them using one of those online photo place, but i left the captions blank and hand wrote those in and drew in a family tree in the back.  sadly i didn't take any photos, but i'll get some eventually.

 

our family stockings.  in order: barry's, georgia's, wiley's, and mine.  they are small stockings, as i think those big stockings are a bit ridiculous (and expensive to fill!)

this is our new nativity.  obviously i did not make this.  i purchased it from an exceedingly talented local woodcarver.  i had looked for years for a nativity that was special AND that the baby jesus was removable.  baby jesus isn't born until christmas, so he doesn't belong in the nativity until then!  anyhow, this fella made it happen.  he makes so many gorgeous things, so you should check him out: http://www.jimcarves.com/

i made this for my 1 1/2 year old great niece, addie.  it's a little felt house that is kinda like a purse and a little colorful egg 'family' that fit inside. 

my niece, baylee (13? 14? - geez, i should know this), has a thing for daschunds and recently took up a cooking class.  why not make her a wiener dog apron?!?!  it turned out super cute, and i made a little matching flower barrette to jazz it up.  i think she's probably too cool for the barrette, but little addie will likely take it off her hands.

i painted this for my mommy.  the colors in her living room are sage greens, tans, and purples.  my mom has a default setting for neutral, and if it were not for my diligent nagging all these years i am convinced that she would be swimming in a sea of taupe.  it's my job to force her to be colorful!  she loves the painting, by the way.

i got these adorable little cars on etsy from mervs cars for my great-nephew and god-son, nicholas.

another gift for baylee.  i got this from etsier bratfactory, and it was hard not to get one for myself.  i am not sure where the mustache craze came from but i am intrigued.

on the left is an image of a very nice 55 chevy bel air, and on the right is a photo of my dad's 55 chevy bel air that is still in early stages of hot-rod-dom.  i gave these photos to a friend of mine, and below you'll see the final product.   

this is airbrushed onto the back of a dress shirt.  gene, the artist, taught me everything i know about airbrushing and is obviously extremely talented.  check him out: airtrixairbrushing.com

my brain must have fallen out of my skull, because i forgot to take pictures of some of the other handmade gifts that i gave. i will have to return with all of those. humph.

until then

jo