Hip, Hip Hooray for Handmade Gifts

I wish I were a more creative person. Some people tell me I am, but the older I get, the more I realize, I am not. This became more evident over the month of December when all my daughter wanted to do was make Christmas crafts. The best I could come up with were putting glitter stickers and foam stickers on glass ball ornaments and making snowmen out of mini-marshmallows. Oh, and those foam craft kits were quite handy as well.

Despite my lack of craftiness, there is creativity that runs in my family. One of my brothers is quite creative and witty with his writing. My other brother just made us a compost bin with wood from a futon that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill. My older sister is very creative when it comes to food. While I enjoy eating and writing about food, she is great at experimenting with food and making food look really yummy (oh, and of course it tastes great too). At my nephew's recent birthday party there was a gorgeous camouflage cake and some super yummy and beautiful appetizers...things like mini-skewers of Italian meats,roasted peppers, and mozzarella balls. When she makes and presents food, it's just beautiful.

My younger sister amazed us all at Christmas. She lives on the opposite coast that we do and flew in bearing a least a suitcase full of handmade amazingness. I am still in awe at all of the things she managed to make in just a few short months. I would be lucky to have made one thing in that time. She even admitted to "messing a few things up," but yet, re-making them! While she has no formal sewing training, she has the patience and creative spirit to make magic happen! The things she brought for us could have been sold in those cute little shops that carry people's homemade things. Since I have no sewing talent whatsoever (OK, I MIGHT be able to sew a button), I love to support people who can make things on their own when possible. These items tend to be a bit more expensive than those made in factories across the world, but their uniqueness is priceless. But now that I know how talented my sister really is, I can just ask her to make them (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

So here are a few things that she made...

Onesies for the baby...note the matching slippers for the middle two.

On the left are plastic sandwich bag replacements. They velcro shut and you can wash and reuse them and save a few bags. On the top right is a cute little wallet. On the bottom right is a little wristband thing (not sure the formal name) made with my late grandmother's handkerchiefs. They also doubled well for Christmas dinner as napkin rings.

These are reusable produce bags!

Some pillows...as my husband would like our son to be into sports someday. Right now he's really into musical instruments, hence the next pillow she made him. Cute, right?

A super cute doll (sorry, couldn't figure out how to turn the picture.)

And finally, matching aprons and chef hats. Oh, and the aprons are reversible!

Amazing, right!? And the pictures don't really do justice to the quality of what she made.

Anyway, the point of this post, other than getting to show off my sister's cool things, is to support people who make and sell handmade things. I cannot imagine the hours she spent making these, plus lots of other stuff for the rest of my family members. I'm sure even if she sold them, the cost of her time and talent would go unrewarded.

I'm sure you've all been in little shops where they sell handmade loveliness. If not, you can always check out etsy.com, a great place to check out all things handmade. Not only can you support others who often make a living or have a small side business doing what they do, you can get something original for yourself or someone else.

Three cheers for that!