Erica shops local for Christmas gifts.

Mommy tote bag, bib-cape, children's book, headband, crocheted ornaments and bracelet for the Sapp family.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday this weekend. (and if you didn't celebrate, I hope you at least got to enjoy a few extra days off work! I was off work from December 23 - 26th and it was pretty wonderful.)

Olive wood sculptures from the Holy Land and local coffee for my mom's husband, Mike.

It is currently 2:14pm on Christmas day--even though this blog won't be posted until tomorrow--and I am officially two thirds of the way through my Christmas activities. Last night, I went to mass with my mom & her husband. Wes & I had a nice breakfast with his brother, their mom and her boyfriend this morning. We are taking a quick break now, and the grand finale will be dinner at my mom's house this evening.

Hand-painted and personalized brick door stopper for my mom.

All year (actually ever since RagsReborn was formed), I have been encouraging--maybe nagging-- everyone to go out to local craft shows and scope out all of the talented artists & vendors. Once November rolled around, I really harped on everyone to shop local for their Christmas presents. Unique, handmade and thoughtful are the best type of Christmas gifts. This year, I did about 90% of my Christmas shopping at craft shows. (For the other 10%: I handmade about 5% and had to begrudgingly purchase the last 5% from established retail chains.)

Children's book, an Oklahoma charm necklace and bracelet for the DeArment family.

Since almost all of my presents will be delivered by the time this blog gets posted, I will go ahead and post pictures of all of my gifts that I either handmade or purchased from a local artist at a craft show. I was sure to affix business cards to all of my local gifts so the recipients could go back and shop more from that vendor if they enjoyed the gift. I hope whoever has purchased pillows from me as gifts does the same for RagsReborn. Repeat business and referrals are the best for small business owners.

Handmade totes and clutch, and children's books for the Cape-Ngo family.

Instead of a blog, you can call this a local gifts shopping guide. I understand the gift giving season is over now, but some things to remember for next year are:
       For children's book, I recommend local author, Carly Cartmill.
       For organic gluten free dog treats, I recommend Zee & Zeus.
       For handmade jewelry, I recommend Bead for Life.
And, of course, for anything sewn, I recommend yours truly, RagsReborn! I know everyone will have birthdays to shop for throughout the year so I highly recommend that you utilize your local resources.

Harry Potter wand, handmade clutch, owl magnet and bracelet for my friend, Lacey.

Some of the craft shows where I did a majority of my shopping are:
The Handmade Show at The Crown Center
Christmas Bazaar at First Presbyterian Church
Christmas at the Lodge at the Mustang Masonic Lodge
I was also a vendor at each of these craft shows. These shows mainly showcase handmade items but there are a few direct sales vendors if you need your Scentsy, LuLaRoe and Pampered Chef.

Handmade photo display, bracelet, organic dog treats and kitchen towel set for my friends, Alan and Melanie.

I can see you're thinking, "Craft shows aren't my thing. I'm not really into knitting and homemade pickles. None of my friends will like 'crafty' things."  Well, I can assure you that you are probably wrong. I have friends and family members from age 1 thru 65 and I was able to find something for literally everyone on my Christmas list this year. I was able to shop for guys and gals who have a wide variety of interests and hobbies. And everyone was pleasantly surprised when they unwrapped their gifts.

Pokemon wallet and bracelet for my friend, Jessa.

If you still aren't sold on craft shows, you can always shop locally at shops and online. Many local artists sell their items in stores & boutiques and also have an online presence. Many cafes, bars and restaurants are run by local small business owners. My philosophy is that if you're going to spend money anyway, why not help out your community? I hope these pictures have proven that shopping local can produce bountiful gift ideas. As 2017 rolls around, I hope to see more and more patrons at craft shows. I already have three or four shows lined up that I will be participating in this spring. More to come on that on the next blog!

Crocheted ornaments and beer gift certificates for my friends, Travis and Cameron.

Erica's handmade Christmas gifts.

My Christmas gift to the Sapp family (but mostly for Courtney LOL).

I know I'm about a month late with posting this but I didn't want to post anything until after my gifts were delivered, which happened to be at dinner tonight. Luckily, none of these projects are holiday themed so you can make and gift them for any occasion. Let's change the title to "Erica's handmade everyday gifts." LOL
       Now that I'm writing this, I think I was late with posting my handmade gifts last year, too. I guess my new tradition will be to post Christmas gift DIY projects in January.

For my coworkers.

I chose three easy and inexpensive projects for my gifts this year. I was super swamped with pillows, craft shows and custom orders so I needed Christmas DIYs that weren't too involved.
     ...And my unrewarding day job was super stressful and extra terrible this year so I had zero holiday cheer >.> Blame it on changes in management and job duties/responsibilities. *rolls eyes*

Cookies & Street Fighter mugs for Wes' two best friends.

I think every craft/DIY blogger has a segment about Dollar Tree projects. It's like a transformation story...
       "buy these seemingly un-craftlike things from the Dollar Tree, read my creative project blog, and turn them into awesome projects that look totally classy and not like they are from the Dollar Tree."
       I personally love the Dollar Tree (household items and office supplies for only $1!!!) and reading about these cheap projects. They are so fun and simple! I have so so many saved from Pinterest on my to-do list but I've never really done any of them. For my projects tonight, I have one classic and two that I think are originals (I could have been inspired by an existing project but I feel like I mostly made it up on the fly.)
       We're  going to borrow a page from Sesame Street's book and use the number three as our theme... three projects, done in three steps, using three (okay, maybe a few more) materials. Let's go!

For Courtney, Rachel, Tashara, Audra, Jessa & Brendon

Framed artwork tutorial:
       Materials needed- cheap picture frames--we'll just be painting over them, a calendar (I used an old one from 2014), paint & paint brushes

1. Remove the backs and glass from the frame. Clean the glass with Windex to get rid of finger prints. I hate how frames and artwork get so dirty and smudgy at the store! Ugh!

2. Paint the frames. I am really proud of the colors I mixed. I think this is the best purple I've ever made!

       I wanted them to look rustic/vintage so I only used one coat of paint. The original color of the frame was still a little visible so it looks "worn." I normally do two coats of paint on everything, though.

3. Measure & cut the artwork (calendar pages, in this case) to fit the frames and place them back into the frames. A friend of mine got this calendar for me & Wes for our first Christmas together. I really liked the Keep Calm and Carry On poster at the time.

       I had some fun dessert stickers from an old Halloween costume that I ended up gluing onto the frames (not shown in this picture but they're on the first picture). It made the finished project more whimsical--my coworker, Brendon, loves whimsy. (LOL...inside joke...)

So... I was totally just kidding about the three projects tonight. I do really have three crafts to blog about but I don't have enough time for them all tonight. Plus, you've read enough for one night, right? And for some dang-gum reason, my blog formatting aligned to 'center' without my input & I don't like it!! Typing any more is just going to drive me crazy! I've already teased what the other two projects are with my pictures but you'll just have to wait until next week for the tutorials.

TO BE CONTINUED...