All the best in 2009!

Happy new year my friends! Hope you all had a blessed holiday season! I'm sure glad to get back into the swing of things here.

For my first post of the year I thought I'd share a few of the wonderful items I gave and received over the last month or so!

First up, thanks to my incredible circle of friends here at home for throwing us an incredible Welcome Home party for Charis. It was a sweet time, and your generosity was overwhelming! I have some amazingly talented friends who knew I was hoping for handmade items :o) And afterward I was in the buy-for-new-baby mode, and I snatched up a few of the Etsy items from my baby wishlist.

And with Christmas fast approaching at the time I also shopped some fab Etsy shops to find gifts to give. Some places I shopped:
**Fun Button Hip Clips for 11 year old neighbor from Button Boutique
**Awesome emery Pin Cushions for sewing friends from Dottyral
**Sweet Bows for baby girls from Tara Marie
**Soft and squishy cloth balls for babies from Muse
**Adorable Pony Tail Holders and Hair Clips from Mary Marsh at Meeting Street Designs
**Super-fun jewelry for friends of assorted ages from fellow Amy in the Arts teammate AlwaysAmy
**And everyone on our Christmas card list received a darling photo card of the boys with their brand new sister along with holiday greetings handmade by another Amy teammate, Amyzo

Some extra-special gifts I received for Christmas:
**An incredibly special personalized necklace with the kids names and birthdates from ChristinaPDesigns

**A gorgeous pair of earrings and a Signature Chain bracelet from Mary Ellen Doran for our CREST team exchange





**Actually a gift for our 10th anniversary - an amazing Ametrine solitaire ring (ametrine is special to me because it is the natural blending of two quartzes: amethyst - my birthstone - and citrine - Josh's birthstone - he gave me a necklace with this stone for our first anniversary)

Overall, spending time with family and friends this Christmas and New Years, and having a little downtime, was the best gift I could have asked for! I look forward to a wonderful year ahead, hope to share more with you, and get to know you all better.

Happy new year! Amy

PS - come back tomorrow for details on my very first SewArtsy giveaway!!