** note … this is a much longer post than I anticipated when I settled on the title and edited the photos included.
In a nut shell, it’s about making people happy in 2012 with {handmade} goodies but for more details, read on***

Well, the 2011 Holidays have come and gone. Anniversaries. Birthdays. Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Years. As the year wore on after September and October, I started thinking that it might be best if I just ‘skipped’ the holidays this year. Yes, I would experience the actual ‘dates’ but I wouldn’t necessarily do the same things that I had done in the past. I knew I wouldn’t be able to celebrate the same so what did it matter if I didn’t really celebrate at all. The Nelson family gatherings have always been more about spending time with each other, trying out new recipes or re-experiencing old favorites and playing some sort of game than it is about the celebration of a specific holiday. I’ve come to learn the Perdues are very similar. I figured I might be able to handle all that if I just pretended it was just an ordinary Thursday or Sunday. To some degree it worked … there weren’t quite as many crying fits as I expected, I got hugs when I needed hugs and space when I needed space and at times I was able to pretend I was still in August because the sun shone bright and the temps were unseasonably high. I thank Mur for that.

I went on little hikes on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years which I know he would have loved. I took photos of the animals around me and I enjoyed the outdoors. I ate a LOT of good food and drank my fair share of wine and champagne. I received amazing gifts and gave some that I was incredibly proud of, all of which made people smile.

And that is {one of} the points of my post… I decided that 2012 is going to be a year of gifts, mostly handmade, for people that I love more than anything else. I want to bring people joy on a random Tuesday. I want to send cards through the mail. I want to write down my thoughts, feelings, appreciations and congratulations. I want to be crafty.

After I got back from Iowa in September my dad brought over a stack of cards that came in the mail while I was away. While they were all nice and incredibly touching {and I honestly appreciated them all}, there were 2 different packages that really stood out to me. They both came from long {and to some degree, lost} family friends. As I have discussed on here in the past, my mom was an amazing woman who touched so many people’s lives. It’s absolutely incredible how many people still carry her with them. One of her close friends {Cindy} sent me a beautiful journal and a heart filled card that was originally gifted to her by my mom. Inside was a {rather cute} picture of me and Cindy from when I was quite a bit younger. It really touched me that she still had this card and photo but even more so, that she gave it back to me to be something I could treasure. It reads as if my mom is giving it to me in a time of need and no words can really explain how that feels. 
Another of mom’s friends {Barb} had also saved cards and letters that my mom sent her back in the 80s and 90s with heartfelt messages and lots and lots of love and ‘sloppy kisses.’ Even just touching them made me feel closer to her. I absolutely love that handwritten and handmade things can mean so much to people for a life time. Those that are keep for years and years can evoke such emotion and memory at even just the sight of them. Sure, today we have digital photography and emails that easily live on computers and hard drives where they can be protected, but for someone to take the time to construct something that is meant for you alone and to take the time write out a card letting you know how important you are… that’s something beautiful. And I surely don’t think I’m alone with finding joy in the discovery of treasures in my mail box.

So alas, this all has given birth to ‘2012 – the year of the gift’ …

I kicked it off at New Years with goodies for my Iowa family.

Murray would love this. Man oh man. He would love this! But I think he’d want a star in place of a heart so it’s more dude like.  The story about these starts back in late September. I stumbled upon a lovely artist at a craft show who had a pendant for sale in the shape of MN, with a fork and a knife cut out of it. Being the food lover and crazy-proud Minnesotan that I am, I had to have it. I gave her my business card as well and mentioned what I did and told her how much I loved this pendant! Soon after that she found me on Etsy and long story short, I asked if she ever did custom creations and she said “no problem!” I just had to provide her the location of Griswold, and that was that. I am so in love with these!! It’s a simple and totally special way to stay connected to that home for all of us, even if we aren’t always there. I know it means different things to me than the rest of the Perdue’s but I would still hands down call that one of my homes.
So, once I had the pendants I whipped up the chains and such and then made my new favorite thing to make … packaging.

goodness sakes … the sewing machine that I got for Christmas last year helped me make just a few projects in it’s first several months but in 2012? That baby is going to purr night and day!!! I’m so excited. SO excited. 🙂

Besides the necklaces, I made some {super!} cute onesies for my little niecey but shame on me, failed to take photos of them when they were done. I have my fingers crossed {quite tight} that I’ll be able to see her in my absolute favorite one but she is growing like a weed so I’m a bit worried. Again, fingers.crossed. While I don’t have photos of the completed onesie, I do have a few ‘in progress’ shots. Here you can see all the necessary ingredients for creating it as well as a partially complete version.

Well goodness… that turned into a long post!! … There will be far more crafty things on here over the course of the coming year. I have a new {homemade} sketch book of ideas I want to make and couldn’t be more excited to get started!!! Take care everyone!! And I encourage you to find something that sparks you as much as being creative and making people smile seems to be making me. I reach for any ray of sunshine I can these days and this is a huge one for me!

Besos!

… and don’t worry, more pups + kitties to come soon.