I Saw Bo Kissing Santa Clause....

*

Tah-dah!!!

I finally finished all the handcrafted Christmas gifts for certain people. I am also giving them some "bought" gifts, but I also wanted to give some handcrafted things---especially since my mother's art studios are so fantastically packed with hundreds of things for whichever craft you want to do! The above is a picture of a "shell box", the back side. This gift is for my niece, who is an artist and loves unusual, unique things.

The "shell box" is made with sea shells from all over the world. My mother brought many of them home from Kuwait during the years when she was still working for the United States Foreign Service as a diplomat and was traveling in the Middle East. (The below is the front side.)

The top of the shell box is removable. Both the top lid of the box and the bottom portion are kind of heavy with all those shells on them...

The above picture is some mosaiced frames I made for the people in the pictures. And the below picture is a pencil/pen box,another gift for my niece, who is a college student.

The above and below pictures are the God Box that I'm going to give to my sister. (For a definition of a God Box, see my previous post.)

The below are necklaces I beaded for my sister and my niece. (I hope they like them...)

The below is my favorite gift for my sister. I bought the kind of pillowcases that she uses on her bed (350 count, cotton) and then my mother sewed onto them some yardage of my late grandmother's crocheted lace. (I am an appallingly bad sewer...) My sister wasn't there when my uncle told me that I could have anything of my grandmother's needlework that I wanted, and so I had grabbed a bunch of wonderful stuff--- but I want to share some of it with my sister so that she, too, can have a memento of my grandmother. (And I have even more of my grandmother's crocheted things that I'm going to do something with for my sister's upcoming birthday.)

Okay, below is the almost-finished, dadgum, durn, aggravating Last-Minute Christmas Aran Pullover that I am still fighting with. That irksome collar has got to go. I've already ripped it and am trying to do it better....sigh....

(Whodathunkit that the biggest problem I'd face would be the dang collar?)

And last, but not least, is the latest of my mother's work on her current piece, the grave marker for her handyman's late dog, Shelby. Believe me when I say that when my mother gets through with it, it will be totally dazzling.

Well, that's all for now. If I have time after finishing the dang pullover's neckline, I may make some other crafted things. I won't be leaving for Dallas until Tuesday.

*

*