Handmade Musings...

How do you feel about Handmade Gifts?  

Making them?  Receiving them?

Growing up, my grandmother, who considered herself "crafty," would spend copious amounts of time and energy creating homemade Christmas gifts for her grandkids.  One year, she appliqued atrocious floral fabric onto sweatshirts, which she then 'blinged up' by adding puffy glitter paint and rhinestones.  They were hideous.  Absolutely hideous.  I don't think I ever wore mine, and neither did my siblings or cousins.  So, while my grandmother might have had good intentions, the gifts were unwanted and unappreciated.    

It's been twenty years since I last thought of those horrendous sweatshirts.  Over the Christmas holiday, I heard tell of how my cousin entered an ugly sweater contest with hers and WON!  After chuckling about it a bit and reminiscing about all the awful handmade gifts from Grandma I also felt a little horrified and sick to my stomach.  Have I become the 'Grandma' of my generation, cranking out handmade gifts with good intentions that are neither wanted nor appreciated???  

You see, I spent a considerable amount of time and effort this year making handmade gifts for my nieces and nephews.  I made 5 quiet books for the under 3 crowd.   I enjoyed making them and imagining how each child would enjoy playing with theirs.  I think they turned out pretty darn fantastic, but it tugs on my soul that of the 5 books, only 3 have been acknowledged.  I'm left wondering about the other two.  Were they appreciated?  Did the kids like them?  Or, am I being mocked and ridiculed behind my back, kind of like how I treated my own grandma with her handmade crafts?    

Perhaps it's time to quit making handmade gifts for anyone other than my own children.  

And that's my two cents...

One Project Success...

Well...  late last night, I finally finished one of the huge projects I've been working on this year.

I can't tell you much about them yet, because they are gifts and I don't want to spoil the surprise.
I will say, they turned out amazing, and I am thrilled.  Here are some sneak peeks:

My other project I was working on in tandem with this one, was a complete fail... there is no saving it.  So, I need to come up with another plan on the spur of the moment.  And since I don't have a ton of time left to execute it, the project has to be simple and easy and will probably end up being (in my opinion) sub par.

Oh well.   You can't win them all!

Big Sighs...

I have spent every free moment for the past two months working on designing a project for Christmas.

I just printed up a prototype... and it doesn't work.  Sigh.

Back to the starting table!

Trick or Treat...

Behold!  

I give you this year's Halloween Extravaganza Costumes:

Minnie Mouse

Grandma was the mastermind behind this darling dress that transformed my Little Muffin into Minnie Mouse.    I did make some ears for her, but she much preferred the borrowed hat from her cousin.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

And I knit this one that turned my Little Cupcake into the Very Hungry Caterpillar.  (Except for the eyes... again, Grandma gets the credit.... darn crochet!)


And now for some Halloween Rants...


Can we all agree to stop purchasing the slutty/sexy costumes for young girls?  There is no reason any toddler (or tween or teenager) needs to dress up like a 'sexy witch' or 'sexy cat' or 'slutty pirate', etc...  If no one bought those costumes, they'd stop making them!  Thanks!


On Trick or Treating...


When did Trick or Treating turn into a mid-day event at businesses????  Driving down Main Street around noon, we saw tons of people out with their toddlers trick or treating at the stores.  It's one thing to take your kid to your own place of work to show their costumes to your coworkers, but an entirely different matter tromping into every store on Main Street to trick or treat!  The parents were NOT shopping, or even window shopping!  They were dragging their kids from one store to the next disrupting business just for a candy grab.  


And don't even get me started on Trunk or Treats... 

It's times like this...

that make me wish I was a better painter...  

and had more free time paint.

We spent some time this past weekend taking in the beauty of the mountains gloriously awash in Autumn's splendor.  And it's good we did it last weekend, because it is rainy and chilly this week, which means the spectacular show we witnessed has begun it's decline.  I love Autumn; the sights, the smells, the activities, and the cool and crisp air that is just perfect for sweaters and hot cocoa.