Made with love...

Handmade and homemade presents are so sweet.

I love getting a gift that someone put a lot of their time and effort and talents into -

it makes the gift all the more special.

And I LOVE to make presents for people.

I wish I had all the time in the world so that I could make all sorts of cute gifts for all the

family members in my family.

But alas, I must take care of our baby girl, work a full-time job and clean and do laundry and the list goes on and on....

But I did decide sometime after Thanksgiving that I was going to make something special for all the kids in Annie Louise's Wee School* class.

*Wee School is a Mother's Day Out program at a local church - AL goes 2 days a week.

There are 7 kiddos in AL's class - 8 if you count AL.

6 girls and 2 boys - wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall!??

So, I wanted something that was gender-neutral for the most part.

And inexpensive.

And cute, of course!

My mom and I had made these precious fleece scarves before, and I thought they would be the cutest gift for all AL's little friends.

They were so easy to make (no sewing - just get some fleece, cut into strips, cut "fringe" on the end, and you're good to go!), and I thought they turned out so cute!

My only regret is that I didn't go with AL to school and take a picture of all those sweet babies with their scarves on!

We got really creative and added initial appliques although you could just make fun scarves in various colors and patterns - have you ever checked out your local fabric store to see the entire selection of fleece? The selection is amazing...especially right now!

An easy way to really add a special handmade touch to your gifts is

to make your own packaging!

Again, another easy and fun project...and you know all those kiddos loved

having their own snowman bag!

For this project, I just used small white gift bags.

We cut black circles for the eyes and mouth and orange triangles for the noses.

Then, we cut a band of fun, festive paper for the scarf.

Next, we cut another smaller band of the same paper and cut it up

on the end to look like fringe.

We glued all the pieces onto the front of the bag and wrote each child's name

on the back with a message from Annie Louise.

Aren't these guys just the cutest?!

Long story short, it doesn't have to take a lot of time or money or energy to make a special gift...besides, it's the thought that counts, right?

Merry Christmas!

LeeLee