christmas day has come and gone…a day for celebrating giving, family, miracles, love and thoughtfulness (among many, many, many other things). and for our family, it was the culmination of the greatest idea ever…the inaugural handmade holiday. (if you still haven’t been versed on the inaugural handmade holiday, see this post. we had rules and everything.)

today was the day. all crafty creations were due. each person drew a name and was responsible for making one thing for the person they drew. no dollar limit on the gift (although, i think it was an unstated rule that you don’t go overboard.) and the whole purpose was to make something that means something to the recipient.

i have to say, i am mucho proud of my family. the creations were lovely and crafty and thoughtful. as a rundown, here’s each of the handmade holiday loveliness (because i told my family i’d be featuring them on the blog immediately):

crafter: mr. re-nest
crafting recipient: my sister’s boyfriend
homemade giftiness: a fuzz guitar pedal

(no pic available…sister’s boyfriend had to go home with it before we could photograph it.)

my sister’s boyfriend is totally into guitars. pair with this mr. re-nest’s love of all things electronic and his natural, innate sense for tinkering (and his love for fry’s electronics), and we had a match made in heaven. mr. re-nest literally spent three weeks working on this at our kitchen table, putting together circuit boards and switches and lots of other things i don’t quite get. and he cleverly used it as a reason for “needing to buy a guitar” to test the pedal. he totally scored.

crafter: my dad
crafting recipient: me
homemade amazingness: a handmade butcher’s block cutting board

when we had this whole idea about handmade holiday, we totally called out my dad. he was voted “most likely to not actually make the gift on his own and seek outside assistance.” so not the case. i was handed a very heavy wrapped gift, opened it and was met with this gorgeous butcher’s block cutting board. made from nineteen different one-inch strips of wood, adhered together, hand planed and sanded, and then finished off with boos block. i was totally taken away. and my dad was feeling super satisfied with himself.

crafter: my sister
crafting recipient: mr. re-nest
homemade uniqueness: paint chip ceramic coasters

a super-customized and modern take on coasters for the home. made with individual four-inch by four-inch ceramic tiles, paint chips from the paint aisle at home depot, some mod podge and some acrylic sealer. all were done in shades of grey (the color of choice in our home decor) and are going to be a lovely addition to our house. (and we’ll likely be making an additional set once we have the basement finished)

crafter: my sister’s boyfriend
crafting recipient: my bonus mama
homemade craftiness: custom-made wine cork cheese spreaders

when it comes to gifting, you have to know your recipient. and that was so evident here. my bonus mama (and dad) tend to entertain a lot (i mean, who wouldn’t? they live in florida, which means they have, like, eleven months of great weather a year). he took a set of cheese spreaders (those tiny knives), removed the decorative ends that were on them, and replaced with wine corks. perfection for my bonus mama!

crafter: my mom
crafting recipient: my bonus dad
homemade uniqueness: thoughtful shadow box with keepsake memories

this past year, my mom and stepdad went on some incredible trips…one of which was a three-week jaunt to south america and the amazon. this, along with their love of photography, equaled a pretty great keepsake gift for him filled with photos and tickets from their trip.

crafter: my bonus dad
crafting recipient: my dad
homemade giftiness: wine cork trinket/wall art

are you starting to get that we’re a family who likes wine? yep. this gift was a hit and helped get rid of some wine corks. super cool and unique trinket for a wine-enthusiast.

crafter: my bonus mama
crafting recipient: my mom
homemade loveliness: custom photo shadowbox

big props to my bonus mama, who made a thoughtful and sentimental gift for my mom. with a wooden box frame as the basis, she custom covered the outside of the box with patterned scrapbook paper (even matching up the seams!), and cut an opening through the back. the final touch? a collage photo of little mr. re-nest. 

it can’t be a surprise that i l-o-v-e-d this handmade holiday…and i’m totally up for doing it again in 2013. there’s some campaigning to be done but i’m pretty certain we’ll be doing it again. (he, he!)

here’s to your creative holiday season!
ashley