crazy little thing called life....: things I make: blocks & blankets

***For more homemade gifts check out Kelly's Korner where Kelly hosts a 'Show Us Your Life' every Friday!!!

I love making things. I love imagining things, developing ideas, designing the minute details, creating the process, scouring the aisles of Hobby Lobby& Home Depot, and completing the final project. Yes, I do love to make all things. All things, that is, except for cooking.

I once told Emily that all of my creativity & confidence ends at the kitchen sink to which she replied, 'Mine doesn't even darken the door of the kitchen.' Unless you can call washing dishes creative this is probably a more accurate statement. Although I am very confident in my dish washing; I always have very clean dishes. [This could be in direct correlation with the amount I use them in the first place. Ha!]

Squirrel.

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'Merry Christmas' for Liz

Anyways, I really do enjoy creating things; homemade gifts are my favorite. The problem with this, though, is that I am always working on a project/gift for someone. Or 2. Or 9. In fact, as soon as I hit 'PUBLISH POST' at the end of this post I will move immediately over to working on a Christmas gift for my parents. Yes, you read that right. Christmas. It's the thought that counts, right?

This is the first year that I have had a significant other to give gifts to for Christmas. Let alone a significant others family. I racked my brain for something to get for his Mom and SIL. When I saw a picture of the blocks that inspired my holiday blocks my mind started racing at an insane & exciting rate. Since I had been to visit both of their houses, I was able to match the colors & styles with each of their homes & decor. I was so pleased with how they turned out.

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'Give Thanks' for Liz

As I mentioned, I saw a picture of blocks stacked like these so I can't take credit for the basic idea. I did, however, embellish & accessorize them a little bit, ahem, a lot! Between Michael's & Hobby Lobby I probably spent 7 hours looking through papers & accessories. Fortunately I was working on completing them after Christmas and all of the Christmas decorations were on sale. All of the beads, flowers, & glitter sticks are tree picks that I spliced, pulled apart, & restrung to my liking. This of course led to piles of glitter, wire trimmings, & flower remnants in the game room floor that due to time, my poor Dad had to clean up for me.

The 2x4 pieces were all cut up from scraps that Dad always seem to have an infinite amount of lying around. The blocks can be turned around and re-embellished for fall decoration. I love the colors on this one!

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'Merry Christmas' for Sue

Sue's home is decorated in a lot of greens, browns, & ambers so I went with a more traditional design & color palette. I loved the final product. [Mom did too and pointed out how well it would go in her house. ha! Thankfully I have a lot of paper & tree picks left over as well as 10 months to complete it!!!]

You could do so much with this idea: Birthdays, Halloween, any holiday really. The possibilities are endless!

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'Give Thanks' for Sue

I've reached the age where all of my friends are having babies. I mean it: there are some busy storks [and doctor's] out there!

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My Grandmother taught me how to crochet many moons ago; I think I was in the 1st grade, actually. I had just finished reading Charlotte's Web and was writing a book report. We created a 'web' out of a cut up basic chain that I crocheted and attached it to the 'barn' Dad built out of a fence board for my visual presentation. It's the only book report that I remember what book I did the report on, let alone what I created!

Over the years Grandmother taught me some more as I remained interested in the dying art. Until this year I have stuck to scarves & snowflake Christmas ornaments. All of my family & close friends can be spotted during the cold months wearing one of their many scarves just as their trees are covered with snowflakes.

But will all of the babies arriving this year I decided to tackle baby blankets. Babies are small. They require only a small blanket. Small blankets should be easy & quick enough, right?! Wrong! They are not easy nor quick but well worth it. I love being able to give something that can't be bought in the store.

This was my first blanket! It took a while as I designed the pattern & implementation of said pattern but I was excited when I got to the completed product.

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This is the same blanket but due to wonky lighting & my reliable camera phone the colors look very different. I took this close-up to A) remember how I did it and B) show my grandmother. She very impressed & couldn't wait to get on the phone and talk about my stitching methods!

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Baby Boy Blanket #2. This one is for a very good friend of mine who just had her first baby. I can't say her name because I don't think she has it in her possession yet. I mailed it earlier this week but doubt that it has had time to reach it's final destination: Alaska. Oops! Well, if she happens to read this before she gets the package the surprise will be ruined by process of elimination. I don't know too many people who live in Alaska!