Ho, ho, ho!!!

I have FINALLY delivered all my Christmas 2010 gifts!!  I am so relieved.  Everything is off my plate!  And, because I refused to get trapped in the same situation this year, I have already blown through about 1/3 of the Christmas gifts on my list for this year already.  Ok, so it's kind of cheating because most of them are simply adding a monogram to a ready-made product...but I LEARNED MY LESSON.

But - back to all the Christmas joy of 2010:

I have a sweet, beautiful friend who lives on an idyllic plot of land in Mississippi with her cute as a button husband and their cuter than a button toddler.  For me, she represents the epitome of fashion and style and I just wish I could be so effortlessly gorgeous as she is.  Her house is like a spread in Cottage Living and she always looks like she just stepped out of a J. Crew catalog.

In short, I am intimidated by shopping for her.

So I make fun things instead so at least if it is awful, she'll know it's from the heart!

This past year, I gifted her this fun apron!

The apron goes "MOO!"

Ok, so for a girl who is married to a cattleman, I thought an apron with a cow print was appropriate.  But not like, a steak marinating, grill-manning cow-print.  Something with a girly flair. 

Something like this super-scripty, hot pink monogram!  What a fun juxtaposition!

And it's reversible!  The back has a large pocket.

A large pocket that says "moo" :-D

This was a great pattern to use.  I know that this is not the type of apron that is in style right now, but this was just a first attempt, and I wanted to build up to the more Donna Reed type aprons that are all the rage.  And maybe if I fool around with them enough, I can end up creating my own patterns and having something fun to sell on the etsy shop!

For her sweet little boy, I decided to use a ready-made hoodie to make his little tractor-loving dreams come true.  

How precious is that gingham tractor???  And I was able to use a metallic silver thread for the exhaust pipe up top.  I heard from my friend that not only did Mattman love his "Tratur-jacket," but Dad thought he might like to have one, too.

Still looking for the perfect green hoodie that's daddy-sized.