Gift #1179: Handmade Christmas

Hello everyone! I hope you all have enjoyed a peaceful Christmas and are looking forward to the new year. Today’s post will be a bit brief and heavy on pictures as I’m enjoying the holiday break with my family in Texas. We’ll start off with the Christmas cards I made for friends and family.

These cards are heavily inspired by a Victorian vibe and I especially loved the quote from “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”

Earlier in the season, I participated in a Christmas swap with one of my knitting groups. After several false starts, I made my recipient a hat with a fern motif.

Because we’re knitters, that means we always need lots of notions, so I made her some stitch markers with a winter floral pattern.

And finally, I also made her a necklace featuring chickadees, which are her favorite birds.

I also made a warm cozy cowl for a friend for Christmas. It was a quick knit and lots of fun to work up.

And what’s Christmas without ornaments? A few years ago I started making ornaments for friends and family and it’s one of my favorite parts of gift-giving.

This year I purchased some earring dies at a rubber stamp convention, along with faux leather. I’ve been having fun making earrings and jewelry pieces with them, and I thought that they would be perfect for making ornaments too. They turned out great! I had a few extra that I’m planning to convert to pendants.

I also participated in the Art Bead Challenge. For our inspiration artworks, we had wintry Japanese scenes painted on silk. They were filled with snowy buildings and birds and berries. Here are the pieces I created.

“Chickadees” is made with a faux tin piece from Humblebeads that features her own illustration of the birds and berries. I paired it with Czech glass and metallic shimmer to give it an opulent winter feel.

“Winter Bird” was a quick and easy necklace using polymer clay beads from Humblebeads dressed up with more Czech glass in cranberry, bronze, and white.

For a more wintry look, I turned to a beautiful cane long bead by Humblebeads. I turned it on it’s side for the focal and surrounded it with chunky pieces of raw cut icy stone. I added a snowflake charm for good measure.

My last creations are a bit unusual for me. I don’t do much baking but I couldn’t resist this recipe for gingerbread Bundt cake with eggnog whip cream. I don’t mean to brag, but it was pretty amazing. I’ll be making it again this winter for sure.

And finally, a bit of home decor. My mom and I wanted to refresh a wreath we’d had on the mantle for some time. After a trip to Hobby Lobby, our arms were loaded with festive trimmings and we set to work. This beautiful wreath was the result of our efforts.

It sits atop our nativity scene on the mantle. On that note, I wish you all the peace and joy and comfort that Christmas offers and hope that your new year will be full of adventure, wonder, and creativity.

Blessings to you,
Sarah