What I gave for Christmas

Happy New Year!

I decided to take it pretty low-key for homemade Christmas gifts this year. I gave the holiday hokey-pokey candy to my mother- and sister-in-law.

I put together a work-at-home survival kit for my brother-in-law who made the transition to a home office this year: over-the-ear headphones, a KEEP OUT SIGN and a water bottle (doubles as an emergency bathroom!).

But for my mom and sisters, I went a little bigger. It was my year to give Jaime & her husband gifts. I planned this well in advance, and had her send me a picture from their honeymoon back in September, about the time I pinned the inspiration project.

In progress

Of course, I still finished it the week before Christmas....

I also made little gifts for my mom and other sisters. These took some major experimentation . . . and still kind of failed.

This was the inspiration:

Source: completely-coastal.com via Dee on Pinterest

But I was worried the shells would get lost in the sand, so I wanted the sand to be more of a solid base.

Clear gel glue, water and sand do not mix. They also do not dry into a solid. Ever.

So I went for another method. Put a little sand into the bottom of an ornament, add a little watered down mod podge, add a little more sand, and stir with a straw. I added a few shells I collected from our beach week, and wrote the name of the beach and the year around the ornament in silver metallic sharpie.

Unfortunately, the glass ornaments didn't survive the shipping, even though I packed them in another homemade gift, a set of purple flannel crib sheets for Brooke's daughter, PB. (I also packed them in plastic bags, so I'm hoping PB won't find any bits the hard way.) For these, I followed my own tutorial on sewing a crib sheet. I also gave her some knitted ballerina slipper booties, which I actually made for her when she was born. My youngest was kind enough to model them for me about nine months ago:

I still have an almost-finished surprise for PB, too.

What did you make for Christmas?