Getting Ready for the Holidays/Homemade Gift Ideas

We decorated our house this weekend and I LOVE how everything looks. I'll blog more about that later, but for now, I thought I would post a few ideas of homemade gifts since I have gotten a lot of emails asking what I am making. I am still not revealing the gifts I am making for others in case they check the blog, so I thought I would hilight some of my favorite homemade gifts I have received from others.

This is the quilt my coworkers made for me before I had my baby. The tree theme fits into the room perfectly!

My mom gave me this as a wedding shower gift and although the container itself is not homemade, she wrote a poem about each of the words painted on the drawers and placed them in each drawer. Each poem was wrapped and tied with beautiful ribbons and charms. It was extremely thoughtful! I copied this idea for my friend Jen's wedding- the best ideas are meant to be shared after all:) I use the container every day as it houses cotton balls, Q-tips and makeup.

My husband is always one to get creative and the following gifts are all from him:

I got the basket with all of the shapes in them for Valentine's Day one year. He painted all of the shapes and each one symbolizes something that is an important part of our relationship. Then he put them in a basket for a fun presentation. These are in our master bathroom.

Each year for Christmas, Jonathon makes me a calendar with photographs of the previous year. Each month reflects what we were doing last year during that same month. He makes this on http://www.walgreens.com/  since that it where all of our photos are stored and oragnized by date. It also has friends and family members' anniversaries and birthdays listed on it. I hang it up on work and it is truly the gift that gives all year long. Each month I get excited to flip to see the new pictures and take another trip down memory lane.

Other ideas that I did not take pictures of (because they are no longer here to photograph!) are food gifts. Our friend and neighbor, Jeff makes us homemade bread and we LOVE it. What a  treat that is! My grandma gives me homemade strawberry jam and canned pears; I've gotten salsa and homemade pickles from my aunt and uncle; and I have coworkers who share jams and cupcakes. Since I rarely take the time to make any of these myself, I truly enjoy the fruits of their labor!

These are just a handful of ideas that I thought I would pass along to get you started making your own gifts, if you decide to do so!