Getting Creative

I haven't been posting much on my blog in the past several weeks, but I have some good reasons for part of my absence.  I decided this year for Christmas I wanted to be both economical and creative. I managed to get creative and made several of the gifts I gave this year. I'm very proud of them, but they did take some time that might otherwise have gone into writing.

Once the creativity got started, I haven't been able to stop! I have so many ideas and inspirations in my head, and it's actually helped me create one of my New year resolutions, which is to be more creative and crafty. I've found that it's a great stress reliever for me and I enjoy giving gifts to people knowing I've put time and effort into them. 

I also wanted to share some of my creations with you, so here are some pictures, and descriptions.

The first gift I made was an afghan. I have made several of these in the past, and the chevron pattern is my typical. I've gotten the idea to branch out to some other options though, so I'm excited to see what I come up with. Here is the completed blanket I made for our annual friend group Christmas swap.

Another project I put together was a daily calendar. I made one of these calendars for my mom, my sister and my sister-in-law. Initially I had gotten the idea to make a creative daily journal. I expanded on the idea and made a daily "thanks" calendar. Each day the recipient can write something on the calendar that they were thankful for. I thought this was a great way to remember that there is always something to be thankful for, and I didn't put a year on the calendar, so it could be re-used year to year! Here are a few  pics of the calendars I made.

I have also made scarves to go along with the calendars. They don't really go together, but they were fun to make and quick. Here's a picture of one of the scarves. This is my mom's, and it's in light raspberry.

I also made a scarf for Craig. We went to see "Sherlock Holmes 2" over the holiday and I was inspired by the scarf worn by Jude Law. The scarf I made for Craig isn't a direct copy, but my own interpretation.

So now you can see that I've been a bit busy. :) I am currently working on another project, which I'll be finishing in a few days and giving as a gift. I'll take pictures though and eventually will get them posted. I'm pretty excited about it!  Hope everyone is having a good new year so far!