I Did It My Way... As I always Do!

This Christmas I made all but one of my gifts. A few weeks ago on Martha Stewart one of the editors from Blueprint Magazine made very cool earrings from metallic tassels she'd found at a notions store. Her idea inspired me to go check out a crafts store. I didn't find any good tassels but I found some cool pendants, leather cord, hemp cord and some very cool heart shaped toggle closures. I perused my wrapping options and I couldn't find anything that I liked at all. As I was leaving a display of wreath ribbon caught my eye. I picked up a spool of gold ribbon with cream colored poinsettia and the idea for the little envelope bags you see above just jumped into my mind. I made the grey silk bags out of a remnant I had from bridesmaids dresses of yore and the tags are made from recycled wrapping paper glued onto cardboard from a gift box. Some of the ribbon is re-used from a previous gift.

Almost everyone in my family got a necklace in a little bag. (The guys in my family are very cool.) After I finished making all of the necklaces I had laid out to do I still had some leather cord left. On a whim I strung several different colored buttons on the piece of cord. I liked it so much that I decided to make a few more for some friends. Of course I made some more bags to present them in. All in all I spent less than $50 on 14 people and everyone was very happy with their gifts!


My dad gave me a Christmas tree cake pan just before the holiday... hint much? I decided to take on the project but with a twist. Several people in my family are allergic to wheat so I got a Gluten Free Pantry ~ Angel Food Cake mix and I used brown rice flour to dust the pan. My sister Stephanie, in particular, was ecstatic. She was so happy about it that when it came time to serve the cake I cut the top off making a mini tree and gave it to her! All in all we had a superfantastic Christmas. My gifts were a hit and I got some pretty cool gifts too. We ate like kings, we exchanged great gifts and we reminisced over old photos. It was great! I am blessed with a rockin' cool family for which I am truly grateful.