I'm not one to brag. It has been ingrained in my brain from my Chinese ancestry that bragging is off limits. But in this case, I just can't help myself.

My one bragging allowance is that I am an excellent gift giver. And this Christmas, I gave some awesome gifts. Thankfully, the gift giving was particularly easy this year given that the {NewNew} was in fine form, providing me with a great variety of amazing handmade goods to choose from.

The first gift I gave this season was a pair of beautifully made gold key cutout earrings from Lingua Nigra, which I gave to my best friend. You can see them peeking through as she snuggles with my daughter.

Every year I pick up a pack of notecards from Blue Stitch Books, which are great when writing thank you notes!

My dear friend from high school is now currently working on her dissertation at U.C. Berkeley, so I picked out this sweet print from Virginia Kraljevic, framed it, and mailed it off to her. It's now sitting on her desk so she can see it when she writes.

And for my dissertation-writing-friend's mom, I've been sending her these seasonal tea towels from Claudia Pearson all year and "winter" was the last one to complete her collection.

I sent a couple of these lavender soaps from Nordea Soaperie to my godmother, who absolutely loves this scent!

And for a few of my friends and my sister-in-law, I picked out an assortment of lovely earrings from Wish By Felicity.

And lastly, I always reward myself with a couple of gifts for myself for surviving the busy selling season. Every year at the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade I treat myself to one of Better Than Jam's gorgeous dresses.

And to top it off, I purchased a beautifully sewn hat from Rocks and Salt. (And my daughter is wearing a Rocks and Salt hat that I purchased from them about five years ago! She loves it!)

I'm looking forward to 2011 as I become acquainted with new designers and their products, so I can get ideas for the next holiday season!

Karina

Windows of Agate