Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.  I look forward to spending the new year with you~

Yay!!! I finally made it to the thrift store~

Thinking the e-mail said all Christmas items 50% off I went hog wild and bought a bunch of Christmas goodies.

Does anyone know who makes these sickly sweet little buggers?  I couldn't help but buy them, cutesy wootsy isn't usually my thing but I mean look at them.  Don't they just melt your heart. 

My favorite and most coveted item of the day was finding these vintage Gurley candles.  They sold me all three for only $2.00 and after I saw they were upposed to be $5.00 dollars each.  Score!!

Come to find out all the christmas items I bought were regular price.  Even though some vintage Santas, candle molds, childrens books from 1945, more miscellanious vintage ornaments and my first pair of high heel shoes made it home with me.  I know can you believe it almost 30 and never owned a pair of high hells.  I am going to look like a wobbling baby bird in those things. 

I am still steadily working on all my handmade gifts: layered cookie jars, flavored coffee mixes and necklaces for all the girl cousins are done.  The necklaces turned out quite nice I think.

Next up on the todo is the Rum Balls, Ale and Pretzel carmels, jar soups and assorted fudge.  I know it is making my damn head spin.  The one thing that has me the most stressed is shopping for my 9 year old son.  What do you get a boy who only wants video games?

More gifts.....

Here is some more pics of the various things I am making for gifts.  This wreath I got from the Dollar Store.  Spray painted it and decorated it with some glitter sprays I got a 90% off last year after Christmas.  The picture is a used greeting card with crackle accents applied to it.

This styrofoam wreath was $3.50 and it started out as one of those ribbon loop wreaths but I didn't have the time or tenacity to stick with that so this is what it ended up as.  All the ribbon is from my stash.

These ornaments were so cheap to make especially if you have chipboard frames laying around.  I got all the images for free off the internet.

I participated in an ornament swap and one of the members sent some beautiful napkins like the ones she had used on her ornaments.  They inspired me to make these trivets out of tiles I had laying around for years.  You can get tiles like these for a $1 at the home improvement stores.

The pics didn't turn out all that well, but hey. 

What handmade gifts have you been tinkering on?

Busy making stuff in my workshop~

Call me cheap but I will be sharing with you gifts I am making that cost me next to nothing.  With my financials being the way they are I am having to really stretch my dollar this holiday season and use items I already have on hand.  The first gift I want to share cost me actually nothing to make because I salvaged the frame from the garbage and already had the chalkboard paint.  If you don't have any on hand Walmart carries it for under $5.00, or you could maybe get it cheaper with a Micheal's coupon.  I love this chalkboard paint because you can use on wood, metal, glass,  etc.

The frame is made from....you know I actually can't think of the exact name for it but a house marker where you put your street number.  I love how it turned out.  The natural patina on it is what made me love it so.  It might just be a gift to myself.

I am heart broken this week our shar-pei Mocha passed away.  She was 16.  Two more years and she could have contended with the oldest living shar-pei.  But she was so sick her liver, kidneys, heart.  Then yesterday she suffered a stroke and went paralyzed in her hind legs.  It was the most heart wrenching thing to witness.  Thankfully my mom and I didn't have any kids at the daycare when it happened so we were both able to go to the vet to be with her.  I am feeling so guilty on top of it because I went through the last two years of pictures and couldn't find a single one of her, none the less she was loved deeply.

I wish for everyone to have a beautiful weekend~