Crunch Time

As of Yesterday, there are 3 weeks until Christmas. Before Thanksgiving I felt like I had a good grip on everything and would be done with all my gifts with extra time to spare. But now as the last of the turkey sandwiches are eaten I am feeling the squeeze (and not just because my pants now feel about 2 sizes too small). I have a few project finished...even 2 already wrapped, I have a few more that are partially completed, and then some that have not even been started.

So...to keep myself straight and in case you care....below is a list of the thing I am making

Shawn:
*A Beanie-Crocheted...then Felted (a cool new technique I learned about at craft warehouse). If it doesn't work out I have enough yarn to just crochet a new one.
* A Vacation Savings Jar for his change. Shawn has been wanting to go "somewhere tropical" ever since I can remember. I found a huge glass jug at my grandma's house that I am going to use. I am going to make a thermometer type thing (like they do for fundraisers to see how close you are to meeting your goals) up the side. At the bottom there will be really lame vacations and the higher you get the better the vacations will be. I even have some loose change to get him started.

Jake: I am going to buy all his presents this year. I had some cute ideas but I am going to wait for his birthday in April so I can spend a little more time on them. Shawn and I are going next Saturday night and then to dinner.

Mom: Jewelry Box. I bought a wooden box at Michael's and painted it to match her bedroom. Then modge podged a picture of Jake to the inside. She wanted a divided one but I didn't want to attempt that so my sister and I both made one in different sizes. This one is finished and I really like how it turned out.

Dad: Joke Book. I wrote a little about this before. I have found some pretty good jokes so far. I also paid good attention when I was at their house for Thanksgiving for some Jerry originals. Now I just need to put it together and print it. I found some paper that I already had to print it on and Shawn can bind it at his work....so not too much more work on this one.

Niece: A dress-up kit. My sister and I found a bunch of cute things are Target in the $1 section that were 75% off. We also hit up the dollar store and some second hand stores. We found costume jewelry, dresses, skirts, purses, etc. We are still on the hunt for an old suitcase to put it all in otherwise this would go on the done list too. I think this is one of my favorites and still was pretty cheap.

Nephew: Crocheted hat and matching scarf. I made it out of 3 colors of leftover yarn I had for other project. This one was free too....just a little sweat equity. And another one on the completed list!

Mom-in Law: An assortment of cards...thank you, just thinking of you, etc. I had a bunch of blank cards in all colors with matching envelopes. I also found a bunch of rubber stamps and ink pads that I forgot I had. Shawn helped me do the stamping. They turned out really cute and Shawn and I had a fun time doing it. To quote Shawn "Thanks for making me do this...it is actually fun". Not too bad for FREE!

Sister-in-law: A recipe box....for a different sort of recipes. I found a bunch of recipes online for homemade beauty treatments. She is a hairstylist that loves make-up and that type of thing. Something different that might be fun for her to do. I am coping them on recipe cards (while at work I might add) and including some blank ones so she can add to it.

Father-in-law: Homemade blueberry pie. He loves dessert and is very picky so it make getting him gifts very hard. He mentioned the other day that he would like to have a homemade blueberry pie. Obviously this one cannot be done too early. I have never made one before so hopefully it turns out. My sister makes great pie crust so I will get that recipe from her. And then don't you just buy the filling in a can? Couldn't be that hard right? Shawn and I are going to do this together so at the very least it should be fun!

Grandparents in Boise: Framed family picture. I found the frame on Clearance at target for $2. I am so on top of this one that it is already wrapped.

Grandma in Pennsylvania: See above. I am also doing this same thing for Grandma in Pendleton.

I have a few other things that I am doing for friends and people that might be reading...so I will not include those.

For the past few weeks I have been busy making some ornaments that I am really excited about. We are getting our tree this weekend so I will get pictures up as soon as I can! I will let you know more about those then. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!