The Cozy Gift

There is always that one person you have a hard time shopping for. For me, it's my brother-in-law and his wife. They live about 100 miles away and much different interests than the family that is closer. They are always the most difficult to shop for.

This year, after much thought, and hair pulling-out and stress and asking the hubby "what do get them?" I decided on a simple personalized gift. I purchased a warm fleece throw while they were on sale. Next I found a coordinating piece of felt and cut out their initials and appliqued it to the blanket. And PRESTO! A personalized gift that shows thought, care and sentiment and is useful to boot.

It takes only a little bit of sewing knowledge - and I hand stitched it.This is something that can be done in a night. If you want to personalize it further, make a no sew blanket from fleece or a minimal sew blanket with fleece and flannel sewn together with a applique personalization.

Sorry the picture isn't the greatest. It was taken on my phone before I went on a gift wrapping rampage and couldn't get a better picture!

The Practical Gift

Families are getting busier and busier. It can get hard to keep track of everything that needs to be done. Some times what we all need is that visual reminder of what what is coming up for the week. Or like me, to let the family know what I am planning to make for dinners for the week.

So I got an 11x14 frame, some scrapbook paper, ruler, sharpie, glue and pretty stickers to create a cute dry erase board. I got everything put together, divided the page in to eight sections, one for each day and one section for notes.

This is such a cute little functional gift for the busy people in your life. We can all get so overwhelmed with everything we have to do that we forget some of them.

The best things about this type of gift: it is affordable, it is functional, it can be personalized to match and decor, it is reusable because dry erase markers will wipe right off. This is another gift that doesn't take long to put together and shows a lot of thought on your part.