A REAL button maker! I can now make my own flair! I am also excited about what I can make with my overlock sewing machine.
The biggest gift... parents got me a corner cabinet... I have been wanting one for ages. My smallest gift... Aaron got me teeny bunny earrings from Figs and Ginger.
Oscar's favorite Christmas gift was his owl sweater!
The highlight and inspiration for this year's Christmas theme (other than the fact it's been a nutty year) were the huge walnuts I decorated to go on everyone's gift.
I have used walnuts as decorations before, but I have never given any away.
This is the first time I have glittered them too.
I picked the walnuts from my grandmother's English walnut trees over Thanksgiving.
I soaked the walnuts to get the shell gunk off and then I cracked them and dug out the nuts that were still good.
Each walnut got a loop of velvet ribbon stuck on top before I glued them back together.
After the glue dried, I spread glue all over the walnuts and then sprinkled them with glitter.
Longtime readers know that every Christmas I have a "theme" that I carry through
that year's gift wrap and Christmas Cards.
This
year my theme was "A Woodland Christmas". I was inspired by my
collection of plastic deer... and the fact Aaron could make mushrooms
and acorns on his lathe.
While we were on our beach holiday, Aaron and I celebrated our
third anniversary. While I stuck strictly to the traditional third
anniversary gift of leather and gave Aaron a new pair of leather flip
flops... he got me a radio.
Recently we replaced our big stereo with a small iPod speaker
dock. Without the stereo I couldn't listen to any local radio stations.
I wanted a little radio that looked cute on the kitchen counter, so I
could listen to NPR while I cooked. Aaron found this really nice, retro
looking Tivoli
Model One radio. It's perfect. (of course with the oven still
sitting in the dining room it's listening to NPR while I paint the
kitchen walls)
I make no secret of the fact that I am spoilt rotten. For Valentine's Day, Aaron got me Mariebelle chocolates (while apologizing for not making the chocolates himself) and a Paul Frank Pugly watch.
What I really loved though... was the work he put into packaging the gifts. He actually made the gift tags by gluing patterned paper inside craft paper and used a hole punch to cut heart shapes through the front. And check out the ribbon! (which I immediately hoarded away)
I was amazed. All these years of crafting in near proximity of him has paid off!