Handmade Christmas gifts cont....

Before it gets way too late to share Christmas gifts with you all, here is what my Pop made me...

My Pop welded me a swinging bench! How cool is that? Not only did he weld me a bench, but he welded one for my sister too. Her bench is sunny yellow and doesn't swing (per her request). I told him he needs to open an etsy shop =) He has another design with sea horses. I haven't seen it yet, but he says it's better than the palm trees. I don't know about that.

When I was younger, I can remember my Pop coming home from work with his well worn yellow work gloves and welding helmet in hand. He always had a particular smell of metal about him. It didn't bother me. There was something strong about it that made me feel safe. Sometimes I would ask him to put his helmet on and make it close without using his hands. He would put it on his head and with one firm nod his helmet would shut into position. I thought it was amazing; like a magic trick. Cherished memories indeed.

My mom made me a beautiful clutch...

Inspired by a vintage clutch she saw in a shop, she drafted the pattern herself. I think it turned out quite nice. I can't wait to use it for a special occasion.

Here is my sister's handmade gift...

She photo copied a picture of the three of us kids and mod podged it to a tile. She then mod podge the flowers around the picture (or maybe it's the other way around). I love it! I totally remember when that picture was taken. We were sitting on a hand rail at Corona Del Mar Beach. I was nervous that my sister was going to fall, which is why I'm holding her like that. That's really funny to me, because recently my husband and I took a personality test for fun. My personality came up as Guardian and my husband was Artisan. How did that happen? I thought I was the artisan in the family. I really wanted Artisan =( Anyways, I guess I've always been the Guardian type.

That concludes the handmade gifts made for me by my family. Soon I will share a couple handmade gifts that I made for my sister and a few other people. They were basically my ginny pigs for testing out a new pattern I was working on. I like how the pattern turned out. I can't wait to share.

Jamie