Christmas Stitches

You know that saying that it's better to give than to receive? When I was little I totally didn't believe it. What could be better than getting presents on Christmas? Now that I'm older and (hopefully) more mature, I totally believe it. I have lots of fun planning the perfect gift to give to someone for Christmas. Of course, it's still hard to shop for some people. But others I like to put a lot of thought into what I get them.

I like making handmade stuff in addition to buying things. I think it gives the present a little bit more of a personal touch. One year I handmade Christmas cards for my entire extended family (it took 3 days to get the ink out of my fingers) and I usually bake my dad some kind of cookies because that's his favorite thing to get.

This year I'm making lots of cross stitch bookmarks, because that's my new favorite hobby at the moment. I enjoyed sharing some of my designs a few weeks ago, and so I decided to show you what kind of holiday ones I'm working on at the moment.

This snowflake one doesn't really have a destination at the moment. It will probably end up going into the Holiday Bookmark Swap once I'm done. I might even make a couple, since it was pretty easy to do. There will be four snowflakes total, and I did them in a variegated thread so they slightly change color. I like the effect so far.


I just finished this cupcake one. It's for someone's birthday who (predictably) loves cupcakes. Aren't they cute?


This one is for one of my coworkers from when I was working at Disney World this summer. She loves Peter Pan (and reading). It will say "We're Off to Neverland" when it's done. It's not only Peter Pan themed, but also an inside joke because Neverland is a code word for workers in Fantasyland. I experimented with a different stitching technique using the variegated thread here, but I'm not really sure I like the way it turned out.


Joann's was having a huge Black Friday sale last week, so I decided to get some green fabric and try out a variation on a pattern I saw in a Christmas book a couple weeks ago. It's hard to tell from the picture, but this has a metallic thread in it, so it shines a little bit.


And since just silver is boring, I decided to do a different alphabet in gold too (currently a work in progress). The metallic thread in both of these is the most finicky, tangled, unravelling, grumpy thread I have EVER stitched with. I certainly hope the finished effect is worth the trouble.

So that's a peek into my Christmas gift crafting this year. Good thing the people these presents are going to don't read this blog. :)