Stocking Stuffers and Christmas Gifts

So, if you're immediate family, namely Cerene, Charissa, Paul, or Emilie, or James or Caida, or Mom, don't look any further, unless you want your holiday goodies spoiled!  I'm too impatient and I'm procrastinating those dishes for the second day in a row, so in my fidgetiness I have to post pictures of a few things.  I think gifts will have to wait.

ACTUALLY, I'M CHANGING MY MIND.  I'M GOING TO POST PICTURES OF GIFTS, TOO!  SO IF YOU'RE A MEMBER OF MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY OR A GOOD FRIEND THAT LIVES CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE GETTING A PRESENT FROM ME (that means you, Linds, Beck, and Audz, not to mention all you Watsons [and Dan, who I include in the Watson clan]), LOOK AWAY! (I promise, you'll see what's in this post eventually!)

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DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU...

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ARE YOU STILL HERE?

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Okay, the rest of this post is a secret.  Shhh!  :)  The sad thing is, it looks like a lot less work than it all was...and I'm not done yet!  But, anyway, you may remember that I am in charge of Christmas stocking stuffers this year.  Being poorer than poor, we've had to get a little creative with everything.  I'm just about crafted out!  Here's a sneak peek at a few of the cheap things I've made (because our family doesn't really care much about what we get for Christmas, as long as we get to open something and be surprised!):

Bookmarks made from giant paperclips--flowers for the girls, and Purdue trains for the boys.  Would you guess that I padded those Purdue ones with a round cotton pad?  :)  For Aaron's and Dan's gifts, I made little felt pillows of their initials into bookmarks like this.

Clothespin magnets--some turned out WAY cuter than others.  I took paper and funky stickers or, in this case, ribbon just the right width, and used double-sided tape to funkify a few clothespins.  A bit of magnet tape on the back, and you're good to go!  This is for one of the boys.

One of the girls.  :)

I work with flowers A LOT, so that's what I had on hand.  SO.  Magic wand for my niece (it's cuter in motion than in a still picture, because you see the ribbon and beads swaying...).

Ha, these are pencil toppers for our primary kids.  I thought they were cute.  :)

I spent almost two whole days crocheting a BAJILLION of these rosebuds.  I'm making them into pins as stocking stuffers and small gifts for people when I don't know what else to get for them.

Teacup pincushion made from a felted sweater.  I got to make this at a Relief Society Meeting at church, and immediately thought of Carri.

For James, since he and Cerene don't know how to date any better than my husband and me.  :)  Remember those 100 Dates?  Yeah, this is what I did with them.  I printed them out onto colorful paper, cut them, rolled them, packed them into capsules, and made a super-cute label.  No, really, it's adorable.  But I'm too lazy to type it all up again.  But the idea is that they take turns picking out a pill at random (a week in advance so they can plan), and that way they have a no-fuss date night every weekend without having to make any big decisions.  :)  I did this for Paul and me as a Valentine's gift, and when we used them, they were awesome!

My husband is one of those nerds geniuses who knows how to solve a Rubix Cube in under 4 minutes.  So I thought I'd make him an extra challenge!  (This is probably going to frustrate him beyond all reason, because it's all black-and-white, and I found out via google that the center square rotates and you have to learn a new trick to rotate it back.)  I used a dollar-tree "magic square" and just measured (VERY CAREFULLY) the photos, cut, and used double-sided tape to stick it all on. 

Paul made me a "Paul pillow" for the Christmas we were engaged, because we spent it apart and I was going to get lonely.  I decided to take this BEAUTIFUL dress Paul bought me in Chinatown (that will NEVER fit me, dear husband-who-thinks-I'm-thinner-than-I-am, even if I lose 60 pounds, because I'm not Asian--I have HIPS!) and turn it into a body pillow.  Paul seriously needs one, and since he gets too hot if we snuggle at night, this might do.  I don't have the stuffing yet, but I sewed up ALL the edges BY HAND (it took me about 5 hours altogether!).  Thankfully, there's a side zipper so all I have to do is stuff and zip!  :)

Here's a close-up of the dress...now you see why I just couldn't part with it!

Scarf #1 (literally and on this post), for Linds.

Scarf and winter headband/earmuff for Mom.

Scarf and winter headband/earmuff for a sister.

Scarf and winter headband/earmuff for another sister.  (I still have to make TWO MORE for my sister- and mother-in-law!)

Cute headband that will hold together my niece's Rapunzel wig (also made out of yarn...but I don't have a pic yet).

*Whew* ALMOST DONE!  One more pic, and then I'll save the rest for later.  :)

I turned a few (okay, 9) of those rosebuds into a Christmas tree for my in-love-with-Christmas friend's Christmas/birthday present.  I think it's adorable, but if she doesn't like it, I just used a pipe cleaner to hold it all together, so she can disassemble it and use the rosebuds for pins, decorations on bags, etc.