Handmade Christmas

If I told you that I'm a quarter of the way finished with my Christmas gift giving list you may think I'm crazy, right? And you'd think I was even more ambitious if I told you that said gifts are already wrapped and ready to put under the tree when it goes up, right?

...and that they look a little something like this:

What if I told you I had to be this ambitious?

Ok, so nobody is holding a gun to my head and making me wrap gifts... but unless I want to be up until 3am Christmas morning wrapping gifts, I really have no choice.

Why? Well, because Trevor and I thought we'd try having an entirely handmade Christmas this year.

That means we make all of the gifts we're giving.

We wrap the gifts up in simple wrapping.

We focus on the person we are gifting something to and we really try to cherish the moments we've shared with them this year.

Not only is it good for our souls, we decided to do this Handmade Christmas at a great time - when only one of us is working and we are up to our eyeballs in student loan payments - because it turns out the love we put into our gifts is much more valuable than the money we could have spent at the mall buying a gift instead.

Trevor and I have most of the planning done for all of the gifts we're giving. Every weekend we get a little closer to finishing a few more. He's making half of the gifts, and I'm making half of the gifts - and with 30 total gifts to make, it comes out to be 15 gifts that we each have the pleasure of making.

I am so blessed that my husband was on board with this idea but I am even more blessed to have such wonderful friends and family that will appreciate the love, time, and hardwork that we are putting into every gift.

Because family members read my blog {Hi, Mom!}, I am choosing to keep gift specifics under wraps until we can exchange gifts closer to Christmas... but until that time, here are some great Pinterest finds that you can make for your own Handmade Christmas! If you have any other ideas, feel free to add them in the comments below - I would love hearing about your experiences with handmade gift exchanges!

Maybe you'd like to make these cute felt coasters for a loved one?

Source: purlbee.com via Sara on Pinterest

Or this handmade lace pottery?

Source: strictlysimplestyle.blogspot.com via Sara on Pinterest

What about food gifts - like these grill rubs...

Source: kojo-designs.com via Sara on Pinterest

...or this bread in a bottle?

Source: sunset.com via Sara on Pinterest

I can't wait to share tutorials and photos of the gifts we're making this holiday season!

Would you enjoy making or receiving these gifts?