a week later, i'm finally getting around to posting photos of our christmas gifts. better late than never right? here is the gift that danny made me. a portrait of our family, that he hand screen printed on paper, and then hung in a "floating" frame. pretty freakin' awesome! it was really hard for me to capture all of the detail in a photo, so of course the real thing looks way better. the original photo is over here. danny is very proud of how well it turned out, he sure is one talented guy. i love it. 
he printed it a few times, until it was perfect, so these are the extras (with very minor flaws). we gave one to dannys mom and dad, one to his sister, and i am sending one to my mom and dad this week.
i made him this little embroidered heart. it's not very exciting, but i was banned from spending any money on him (by him), so i had to be crafty, haha.
we hung the portrait in the living room this morning. it looks great.
he also gave me this amazing book:
here are the gifts i gave my family. my goal was to buy hand-made, from small businesses, or vintage this year, instead of just buying useless crap from the mall or a big box store. i found these items on etsy. i had hoped to find some frames at the flea market, but the weather was cold and wet every weekend in december, so we didn't make it out. i got these frames at a.c. moore, and they were all made in the usa, so i guess i did a pretty good job.
this is a vintage map of the state of utah from 1891. it was for my brother brad.
this is my sister natalie (and her dogs), she loves the giant squid...
...so i got her this print by dan bob thompson. i think we might buy one for our own house. it is beautiful up close.
and of course i got my parents this print by jenn ski. remember it from my earlier post about the house i grew up in? i love it. and i think they do too.
this is my favorite gift for alanna. after looking all over online for a jewelry stand for her, i found this one at urban outfitters. it's a nice size, and she'll be able to add a lot more pretty things to it.
i also got this necklace for her on etsy. she loves giraffes right now, so i knew she would love it. she's been wearing it almost everyday since christmas.
this is where malcolms adventure tent has ended up. on the nice soft futon in his room. malcolm loves playing in it... and peeing in it, he's done that twice now, haha.
my mom gave alanna a bead loom bracelet kit, and we've been busy working on it while she is still on break from school. the first one was a little hard to figure out, but the second one was easier, and turned out better. it's fun to do. we just need to buy some more beads!
and last but not least, here is the apron my mom made me. it's too cute, and i will be sure to wear it while i am baking. danny took this photo on christmas, after a looong day. if you can't tell, i was tired.
we did not exchange gifts with dannys family, so there are no photos. we decided to do gifts for the kids only this year. it made things much less stressful, saved us all a lot of money, and helped us enjoy a more simple holiday. i will admit that it was a little strange not shopping for and giving any gifts, and not having anything to open. but i did make treat plates, and vicky made us all a stocking, gave us each some yummy body wash, and a calender (mine was alphonse mucha, dannys was the simpsons, and alannas was spongebob). this is the first year that i didn't receive any gift cards or cash (so no after christmas shopping. bummer, haha), but i'm grateful that the kids got so much awesome stuff, and that we were able to spend the time together. <3
