Wrapping it up

One Christmas I had no money, and so I went home and just, like, wrote a poem; I mean, I didn't write them, but I just handed out poems as Christmas presents. Like, 'Here's a Pablo Neruda poem that really made me think of you.'
~June Diane Raphael

Do I love y'all? Why, yes I do. How will I prove it? I'll share this video. (Diagonal wrapping! How did I not know about that?)



Green Gift Wrapping Alternatives

If you are a Harry Potter fan like myself, check out this uber-fan's creativity:



I'll end with two personalized gift ideas that I did this year...

* I designed a calendar using photos that my family members contributed based on their birth month. For instance, I picked the one for March and my mom's photo is featured in August. The theme was "plants" because I thought that would be pretty easy. Our birth months are spread out enough that we only had one overlap (my daughter Elena moved to October because she and my dad were both born in September). I used Picaboo and was very happy with how it turned out.

* My mother-in-law just moved from her house into a retirement community (this week!). She paints, so I had a custom porcelain ornament made using a painting she had done of her house. A photo works equally well.

I have some other presents I hope to make. They are all a bit touch-and-go (not sure they will turn out). Are you making anything?