There were lamps with shades made from old slides- beautiful wood projects made by Elf Raphael using wood from our basement- including beautiful floor lamps made from old shutters... hand sewn hand warmers, and journals with stunning cover art, and exquisite wood wall hangings with paint and cooper worked into the ancient grooves. I will add some pics to give you the idea. But it was just really great to see what each person came up with and how thoughtful and beautiful the presents were. 
I do think everyone enjoyed not only Christmas but the process of creating for Christmas; it added so much love to the presents, and goodwill to each person who worked so hard to make it special. 
I know that most of us got at least starting ideas from the website Pinterest. I had only taken a cursory look at it in the past, but with the need for new ideas I asked one of my daughter's how you got into it and she showed me the steps. Easy really, and I was quickly able to access 100's of ideas, many with instructions of how to make the item, and it just made me realize that most people love to create and share. If this had been around when my kids were little, wow!
I'm not sure if I have shared this, but each year my daughters and I would make a family gift- that we would produce enough of to give to all our family members, neighbors, teachers, anyone we wanted to give a gift to- sometimes we would make 30+ gifts!
It was a family project, where we would have to come up with an idea, figure out how to make it, and choose to make it for everyone. The choosing process was part of the fun- when they were little it was usually a hand painting project-but as they grew older the gifts got more sophisticated and we often made a "boy gift" and a different "girl gift". Also, as we were creating them, we would decide who it was for- so it was personalized in some way, at least in our heads! We didn't have Pinterest, so we looked at craft magazines, and books and went to craft shows in the area, or saw a store bought item and figured out how to make it.
Not all the gifts were a success, but they always were loved by us, and given with love to others. I know this year's Christmas reminded us all of this yearly process, and I know there was sharing of ideas between various family members to make just the right thing.... I think what we did was very Pinterest like- I guess you could say we were the precursor to Pinterest.
Anyway, with Pinterest, the world of great homemade gifts is at your fingertips- and you can take ideas and combine them into something new and uniquely yours.... I am so happy to have this wonderful site and pleased by the sharing that is there- people creating and sharing is how we improve the world. Thank you Pinterest!
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