The Season of Giving

I hate posting this after Christmas, but I really had to since I wanted everything to be a surprise! 

So here are a few DIY gifts that I made this year...

I started with a scarf for my daycare provider, because it was the most simple. I made almost 20 of these suckers for my baby shower (but none since) and I was still pretty confident that I would be able to replicate an awesome scarf. 

Success! I had a couple bumps in the beginning, but all in all, I remembered how to fix my mistakes, so it worked out well! I also taught myself how to sew a 'P' onto a knitted piece. It didn't turn out as awesome as I would have liked, but it's still a pretty neat effect! 

Next, it was my cousin's girlfriend's gift. 
I don't know her very well, but I do know that she just had a baby and appears to love pink as much as I do, so that seemed easy enough! 

I found an awesome mug and drew my inspiration from there. I bought 3 different sized bowls, and 2 plates from Dollarama and beautified them with some Sharpies. 

There are now a bunch of different people who have posted about this and I can't find my original inspiration, but this is so easy to do! 

(Just a side note, you should use real Sharpies because I didn't, and the colors changed! Boo! One of the bowls didn't turn out at all, so I kept it!) 

But once you draw (or have your kids draw) on the dishes, stick them in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. Done! 

I used masking tape to section off the black lines and it worked pretty well! 

This gift fits all my favorite parts about giving a gift - personalized, easy, fast, and inexpensive! 

She thought this was the greatest thing ever! 

Phew!

My next gift, was for my cousin Emma, and I found it on Christy's blog. 

It's a marshmallow shooter! 

Jay got and cut all the PVC pieces and we printed the instructions 

and put it in a box. 

We had to substitute the marshmallows for wheat puffs, since the marshmallows got stuck (maybe our fancy Canadian marshmallows are bigger?).

And, I couldn't resist making this braided ball for my cousin's newborn. 

It was actually pretty easy to make. I used my knitting machine to knit the 6 strands, then braided it all together. I tried to follow the Ravelry pattern, but I found it too complicated to convert the paper strands to knit strands, so I eyeballed it. I added a baby rattle in the middle to make it a little more fun. 

I can't wait to hear updates as she grows!

All in all, it was a successful DIY Christmas! 

{Daily Odd Compliment: I like you more than I like receiving gifts. And I absolutely love getting presents. It's probably my favorite thing to do}