handmade christmas: part III

First post of the new year...I can't believe we're almost halfway through January already. I've spent the past 2 weeks in serious wedding-mode trying to get things checked off. We went dress shopping in Louisiana, then booked our venue, caterer and coordinator!

I've also been busy getting a few last minute things together to send to my sister and brother-in-law who are expecting their first baby in February.

In my last two posts, I showed you the beginning of my hand-made Christmas gifts here and here, but I also made these adorable booties for the infamous future-niece....

Also handmade this Christmas - cards! We didn't have a picture that we wanted to use to order cards and I also didn't like the idea of spending a bunch of money on them. So, since I recently learned to emboss, we had handmade cards instead. Here are a few of my favorites:

handmade christmas: part II

One of my goals was to learn to crochet. After watching a few youtube videos and scouring the photos in my two crochet books I finally figured out a few easy stitches.

I practiced just a tiny bit before jumping into my first project. I couldn't find a pattern on Ravelry which I loved that was also easy enough for me to complete - so I did what I'm sure you're not supposed to do when you begin to crochet: I made up my own.

In fact, I made up my pattern as I went and repeated it in different colors. It was fairly simple - but I will admit it took me FOREVER. I give you, my future-niece's baby blanket: