A little help from Etsy...

This past Christmas I wanted to come up with some handmade, creative and economical gifts. I have 14 nieces and nephews I send gifts to every year, both grandparents, my kids 2 school teachers, and a secret Santa work gift. That can add up!!! This past Mother's Day I received a beautiful hand-stamped necklace that I love (Thank you Jacki!). So I started looking on Etsy for hand stamped items. I remember saving a store to my favorite list when I saw that she personalized hand stamped washers for a very reasonable price, it was called Compass Rose. And the shop owner is fabulous! She worked with me to personalize all 19 washers! Once I got the washers I purchased key chains, charms and suede rope to make my gifts. The above gift was for my coworker. She will be a new home owner this month. Our secret Santa gift limit was $20. I was able to get her this cute key rack holder from Etsy shop, Got A Hang Up, and make her personalized key chain for all under $20! I had her and her fiance's names stamped on one side and the following quote on the other side, "Home is the nicest word there is." She loved it! And my coworkers all told me they hope I pick their name next year!

For the kids school teachers I made these key chains. On one side I stamped their names. On the other side was stamped the following quote, "Your big (heart) helps shape little minds." The kids received personal hand written thank you cards from their teachers saying how they've never gotten anything like this and they loved it. :)

For all the nieces and nephews I had their names stamped on one side. On the other side I either did a favorite song verse, or scripture reference, or a sports encouragement quote. I also gave the kids the option to have their washers on a suede rope necklace or a key ring. From what I heard they liked them.

On Christmas I got these pictures in a text message from my niece in Hawaii saying how much she liked her gift. On Kiara's I put a favorite song verse of hers from the song, God Girl. I was really pleased with how the gifts turned out. They were fun to make and I stayed in the budget I needed to on the gifts. 

One of my dear friends was asking on FB for any homemade gift ideas during Christmastime. I shared with her my ideas (they were still in the works and being made). She went ahead and ordered some washers for her nieces and sons. This is a pic of how hers turned out, don't they look super cute!? I hope she doesn't mind that I stole the pic from her blog, Ramblings From A Mama of Four. :)

Another great Etsy find were these gifts I got for my kids, they are hand made tooth fairy pillows that you can hang by your bed or on your door and have a pocket on the back for your tooth and money. I actually got these made from my coworkers wife who is the Etsy shop owner of Bubblegum Monkeys. They were very reasonably priced and she did such an awesome job! She let me pick out the fabrics and colors. Kids can't wait to loose another tooth!