A sampling of the gifts I made for christmas...

This year I took it upon myself to hand make every single christmas gift for my family and friends. It was quite an undertaking especially since I started in November making them. It was right down to the wire but I got them done. Unfortunately I did not get pictures of everything I made. But I wanted to share a few that I did photograph.

These are the alphabet blocks I made for my nephew


I actually cut the blocks down from 2x2 poplar with a miter box saw, all 12 of them. I sanded and painted them, then I decoupaged various scraps of scrapbook papers I had on hand to them. I then embellished them with rub-ons and stickers. Then after I distressed them a bit, a few coats of satin finish Mod Podge were applied. I got the project idea from marthastewart.com.
They were a compete labor of love but cost me about 4.00 to make a complete set. the have all 26 letters and the numbers 1-10 as well. My sister-in-law loved them!

Another project I remembered to photograph was the marble coasters I made for my dad and my mother-in-law. It was such a simple projest. A box of tumbled marble tiles runs about $4-$5, I got mine at Lowes. There are 9 tiles in a box, enough for 2 sets (plus an extra tile in case you mess one up...).
After rinsing each tile to remove the dust and letting them dry for a few hours, I simply rubber stamped images on the tiles with Stazon ink. Then I baked them in the oven at 400 degrees for 5 minutes rendering the image perminant.

I chose a large wood grain stamp for the set I made for my dad.

I chose a few different stamps and created a different layout for each coaster in my mother-in-laws set.

I finished off each set with self-stick felt circles, to protect the table top.

My daughter's "starter home"

So yesterday i made my little one this cute little doll house. It is a "CD holder"that is shaped like a house which I purchased at a big box craft store. This little treasure was about $5.00 and in the unfinished wood section. I painted it out and decorated with scrapbook paper and sweet little embellishments I had on hand. I finished it off with a couple coats of satin finish Mod Podge.


Here's a shot of my daughter playing with her new starter home...


It was such an easy little project and you could decorate it in so many ways. I am thinking of making a few more and creating a little village for her. I am thinking a school house, a fire house, a grocery store, and maybe a couple more houses for her little neighborhood!

These would be great partnered with a hand painted play mat or these awesome play tables like these I found on marthastewart.com
You can paint the layout for your little village with roads, yards, ponds, driveways, parking lots... whatever your imagination can come up with!