A Handmade Christmas.

ATTENTION:
If you're my mom or my mother-in-law, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. I mean it! Unless it's after Christmas. Then it's all good.

Ok, moving on...

The hubs and I decided early on in the holiday season to keep things simple this year. We didn't get anyone anything elaborate and I ended up making a lot of our gifts. I especially enjoyed making the gifts for my mom and Mudder (mother-in-law). {Really, if either one of you is reading this.... No further!! Love you, mean it!}

My mom and mother-in-law are cut from the same cloth because they are both geniuses in the kitchen! So for Christmas, I originally wanted to get them something like this. As gorgeous as that is, I don't have that kind of dough for one, let alone TWO of them. =(

Thank goodness for my hubs and Hobby Lobby, which is where he found these. And my idea sprang from there. A trip to Home Depot for some wood stain and I now had these:

 Fun, huh? After a whole lot of drying time (my fault for not following the directions), I went to Michael's and found these:

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE Sharpies? Well I do. So imagine my happiness when I saw Sharpie Paint Markers!! And they didn't disappoint. The extra fine point helped me achieve this:

And the fine point helped me fill in the blanks. And I'm so so happy with the outcome!

I created the dividers and recipe cards to go with it, topped it off with some baker's twine and voila!

What about you? Are you giving handmade presents? I'd love to see! ♥