We give, we get.

As promised, I wanted to take time to share some special gifts that were given and received this Christmas. As Christmas approaches, I start to have grandiose visions of making homemade gifts for everyone. Then the reality of life settles in, and suddenly it's mid-December, and I haven't even started yet. I wanted to make these little monogrammed ornaments for all the females in my family, but in the end, I only cranked out two. The little faux bois frames are made by a British company, so I had to order them from an overseas Etsy seller. I could only get my hands on three, and the third one, well, was claimed by the Littlest Crafter:



It's Lauren's first embroidery project. She designed the pattern and sewed it by herself (with a little help from Mommy). It's an elephant and a giraffe.



As I've mentioned before, I LOVE making mini-albums. I had to make one for Noreen so she could remember her adventures with us.



MOO is a printing company that produces awesome business cards and stickers from your photographs. I've been dying to order some, but didn't really have a reason to do it. That is, until I noticed that our friend Dolores had business cards for her biscotti business. I know that she sells a lot of her tasty biscotti, so I thought that she could use some more. When I received them, I was really impressed with the quality. My only regret was that I didn't include more than one photo because you can have up to fifty different images per box.



Now for gifts that were given. My Aunt Phyllis gave us this gift basket filled with jams and other Christmas goodies. How adorable is that little hand mixer? She must have intuition (See below).



The "FRA-GEE-LAY" box from Mel C did not contain a leg lamp, but this framed print that she had specially made for us. Mark even hung it up already - that's really saying something!



I must have been a very good girl this year because Mark really outdid himself. I guess someone was actualy listening to my protests about the fact that I don't have a Kitchenaid mixer. I can't wait to get some attachments for it!



I often dreamed about it, but I would have never guessed that I'd actually receive something TIFFANY'S!! I love Tiffany's blue. I think it's my new favorite color.