December 7th - Hand-made Gifts

Hand-made gifts are great to receive - and I have received many over the years.  My grandfather was a great crafter and made a pyramid-shaped shelf that held my grandmother's salt and pepper shakers - that shelf is sitting in the corner of my living room now!  He also made an iron canopy doll bed for me when I was a little girl.  Unfortunately, that doll bed was accidentally donated when we were preparing to move into a smaller apartment a couple of years ago.

My mother was also a great crafter and made a lot of afghans, doilies, dresses and hats for my daughters and my son.  There are still a few of those afghans in one or the other of my "children's" homes and mine, as well!

When my daughters were younger, my grandfather made a dollhouse that opened to show the inside rooms.  It is still in the family, although it has been "re-decorated" a couple of times!  When my youngest daughter out-grew the dollhouse, we kept it in our garage for awhile until she "loaned" it to a friend for her daughter who is now 7 years old.  Now, we FINALLY have a granddaughter to pass it to once she is old enough to enjoy it!

I never thought of myself as very crafty until I was an adult and my "children" were older.  Once I found a hobby I enjoyed (besides reading and writing!) - scrapbooking - I created many albums full of pictures.  From that new-found hobby, I have also learned other crafts that I make for gifts.

A few years ago, I bought some 5 x 7 black picture frames and decorated them with buttons, added a picture of the family, and gave it to each of my "children" for Christmas.  I also made one for my friend who loves buttons (I don't have a picture of this project).

Last year, I made a button Christmas tree for my friend and she LOVED it!  I had planned to make more this year for a craft show, but ran out of time (and money!).

This year I decorated a small notebook and a few magnets which will be used as gifts; just not sure yet who will receive them!

My granddaughter is a BIG fan of "The Wizard of  Oz" and we are always trying to find her something unusual to add to her collection.  The magnet on the left is Dorothy and the words are "HOME" across the top.  I kept everything black and white, except for her shoes, which are "colored" in with red glitter glue.

The biggest challenge I had was decoupaging a wooden "box" that is shaped like a book that opens and has a place to put her treasures... 

Left side is back of the "book";

right side is the front.

Inside of the "book"

The most precious gifts are the hand made cards and pictures made by my younger grand children. And, my best ever (so far) was a birthday gift from my 15 year old grandson - an 8 x 10 charcoal drawing of a lighthouse:

Enjoyed showing off my crafts and special gifts!  Can't wait to see what everyone else is sharing!

Blogmas 2014

Linking up December 1 - 25