sweet gifts ideas

Happy New Year to all of you! I have loads to show from my Christmas, just wanted to start with a couple of pretty pressies I put together for my mother in law and my cousin.

I chose their favourite sweets - sugar almonds for my mother in law, parma violets for my cousin - and packaged them in a pretty jar, covered the top with some fabric from my stash and added a final touch with a personalised label. Et voila'! 

graduation keepsake

My dear friend Davide graduated from uni recently and together with a few other friends we decided to put together a scrapbook filled with pictures taken during the years in uni and a few messages of good luck.
I took pictures of most of the pages, here they are!

I didn't have loads of time to make it but still I had loads of fun putting it together and was so pleased to see the final result. Even more pleased seeing his face when he was browsing through the pages, remembering all the good times we had!

Lovely handmade goodies

By now you must have realised how much I love handmade goodies...I love making them and give them to my closest and dearest, but I have to confess I also love receiving them!!! So today I took some pics of some of the handmade pressies I received at Christmas to share them with you...

This sparkling green bracelet was a late birthday present from my cousin Joanne, it's handmade by a friend of hers.

I simply love that cute hummingbird charm, don't you?

This was picked up by my friend Emma during a trip to Annecy, in France...needless to say this is a rockin' charm and I always carry it with me now tied to my purse.

Emma was so kind to leave the business card attached to my pressie and I went to have a look at the blog of Pas de samedi sans bigoudi straight away and I have become a fan on Facebook as well, loads of great goodies on there and I hope to pass by any of the shops very soon!

front...

These are some gorgeous bookmarks handmade by my friend Cristina! One for me and one for Stuart, who claimed the Coca Cola one straight away, while I am very pleased with my cupcake one!

...back

This gift comes in really handy because I have also received some great books over Christmas...which will be revealed on my next post!

And what about you, have you received any handmade presents at Christmas? Let me know!

late night thinking

I found myself late at night thinking about how to package some brooches my friend Jane bought from me, as usual I am always last minute, but usually it's under pressure that I get the best ideas...Until now I have not really given too much thought to packaging and so far cannot really afford anything too fancy, so I thought long and hard about how I could present them using things I had in my crafty stash already.

I like the idea of keeping it simple, even if some time ago I used to be "scared" of empty spaces, like when I used to design some greeting cards, I always wanted to fill in every available space, then I slowly changed and I do agree that sometimes less is more. I really wanted my items to speak for themselves and at the same time I wanted my logo to stand out and also needed some room where to add my blog address so people could find me.

I opted for some brown card, I cut it into a rectangle, rounded the edges, stuck my logo on and handwritten my blog address...

Considering it's my first attempt I am quite happy about them, though I am sure there's room for improvement...eventually I am hoping to get the cards properly printed and looking more professional, for now the rustic feel will have to do! Let me know what you think!

N is for Natalie

Today we joined our friends Paul & Dawn to celebrate their youngest daughter's Christening. It was a double celebration as today was also their oldest daughter's birthday, Matilda, who is 2 years old.

As a gift for Natalie, I wanted to create something special that could stay with her as a keepsake to enjoy for years to come, so I went on making an alphabet print that highlights her initial and I added her Christening date, then decorated with little sparkling gems. I also made a matching card.