Handmade Holidays

As I've discussed in earlier posts I spent a lot of time working on trades for family members this year and shopping on Etsy. Most of these handmade gifts were received well and were appreciated. For some reason I didn't have my camera handy for most of the festivities. I stole a few pics from my sister in laws flickr page but I've got nothing from my family. My mother in law really liked the custom portrait of everyone's favorite poodle from beccasophie. And Kai really liked his Day of the Dead shirt and i-pod holder made from ties that I got at the Big Ass show. Anh loved her scarf and wristcuff I made her and the pink skull pouch. Her comment was my favorite of the weekend when she opened it she said "You know me so well Aunt Paige". We spend a lot more one on one time with these kids so I would hope that I would be able to pick out what they like. My sister in law seemed to like her bag of handmade goodies also and her son Graham liked his handmade train crayons even more than the weird space creature I got him.

My sister's girls are not as open to original designs but I think that they enjoyed the variety of my gifts. They have a much more name brand mentality and when they got an American Girl Doll knock off instead of the real thing this year there was some grumbling. I really try to show them that to be one of a kind is better than being just like everybody else but they are growing up in the West County world and they only see me so often.

Little Typhoid Savannah gave the gift of a nasty stomach bug to everyone in the family so Mike and I have been in bed the past few days and feeling incredibly miserable. I'm starting to feel a bit better so hopefully it won't ruin the rest of my time off.