i’ve always been one to personalize gifts. when i got my sewing machine last Christmas, it made it even easier to come up with fun gifts i knew my family and friends would enjoy! during the holidays one of my friends even said, lets all make homemade gifts next year! and then she changed her mind and said, Natalie’s will be the best! haha! i just had to laugh, because in my mind i don’t think what i make is anything spectacular, because it’s  just me having some fun!

a few months back i was left a comment by someone who’s blog i had never seen before. i really enjoyed it because her purses were cute (she makes a little coin purse that is in the shape of a bird!) and i thought it was soooo cool that she came across my blog because she’s in South Africa! it still just amazes me when i get comments from so far away! i know i get decent traffic (i check it every morning and it’s fun to see the spikes sometimes!), but most are from Virginia and California! i subscribe to her post and she posted about something that i thought, “i couldn’t have said it better myself!” i don’t think people realize sometimes what buying handmade really means, or even what giving something handmade means. some people just think, it’s cheaper to make it yourself, but really, i don’t think thats the case for many of us crafters! so…check out her post on What is the ‘value’ of handmade?