Monday, December 22, 2008

T'was a few days before Christmas....

...and as a procrastinator, I'm getting nervous! hehe That isn't entirely true. The majority of my hand-made gifts are finished, including two scarves for my nieces, a necklace for one of them, a decorative tray for my mom and I am in the finishing stages of the coaster set I'm doing for my sister-in-law! All that is left is to finish the crocheted afghan for a dear friend of the family and a scarf for my brother-in-law. I think I can that done by Wednesday.

The biggest obstacle is to finish all my holiday baking, finish the crafts and take pictures of it all to post. Unfortunately, the pictures probably won't get posted until after the holiday. But, realistically, there are a lot of improvements I need to make my fledgling blog. This was a sort of Christmas present to me - a place to show off my crafts and make some new friends.

Considering all the work I have to do, this post will be short. I need to get the lemon poppyseed bread ready for the oven and do a lot of crocheting before heading out to get those last minute supplies!

Merry Christmas to all!

Monday, December 15, 2008

The Holiday Season Is The Crafting Season!

Personally, I love giving gifts at this time of year ~ especially gifts that I make by hand. Over the weekend I finished two crocheted scarves for my nieces and I'm getting close to finishing several other gifts for family.

There is something very endearing about a gift that was handcrafted especially for you by someone who wants to show how much they care. Sometimes hand-made gifts get a bum wrap as being cheap or what someone with only a cash trickle (rather than a flow) would give. But the fact of the matter is sometimes the hand-made gifts cost much more than a simple store bought gift once you factor in the cost of supplies and the time involved.

We are taught at a young age that hand-made gifts come from the heart and should be treasured. Think back to the ornaments and cards you spent all day (or at least until recess) on, adding glitter and stickers until it was just right. The careful cuts in to construction paper and precise placement and coloring of each and every detail. And all that work was to get the "Ahhs" and "Ohhhs" of your parents and grandparents.

As a crafter and artist, I never lost that love of doing things with my hands and doing them well. That is the whole point of this blog. I make jewelry for sale on my website AutumnBlossoms.com but I love more than just jewelry making. Here I will share my many other endeavors, including crocheting, cardmaking, quilting, polyclay experiments, and photography amoung others. I hope you will join me on this productive, fun and always interesting journey!