Exchange Gifts: Bryan's Gift to Arman and Amanda's Gift to Darleen

As promised, we are sharing pictures of everyone's great gifts! (Please send me your photos if you haven't yet! Take close-ups so we can all see the details!)

The US Postal Service delivered Bryan's gift to Arman today, and Emily sent a video of him opening it:

This was Bryan's first foray into knife-making, and I know he is planning to post on his blog about the project. (Update: here is the post - Making a Kitchen Knife) Bryan made two knives - a practice one that he kept, and then the one he sent to Arman. He documents his projects very well, so I already had a close-up picture!

Arman's knife is the one nearer the top of the picture.

In this view, you can see the different woods that comprise the handles. 

Darleen sent me two lovely pictures of the ornaments I made and the perfume I sent:

This teacup is lovely perfume storage - I use shot glasses!

Here are the scent descriptions: 

• Fireside Reverie - a crackling wood fire, holiday blend of cinnamon & nutmeg, precious resins of frankincense, myrrh, and benzoin
• Frosted Mittens - a peppermint mocha topped with mini marshmallows and crushed candy canes, white chocolate peppermint bark, chill winter air
• Morning Mayhem - vanilla French toast sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with  maple syrup, coffee milk, balsam fir, wrapping paper
• Sugar Dusted - cinnamon sticks, apple and pumpkin pies in the oven, plates of sugar cookies and tins of sugared pecans, smudges of butter and splashes of vanilla extract
• The Perfect Tree - rows of balsam & silver fir trees, curls of orange peel and cloves simmering on the stovetop, a bayberry wreath on the front door
• Gingerbread Kittens - gingerbread cookies sandwiched with marshmallow fondant and dipped in citrus glaze, fluffy kitten fur, a glint of amber eyes

This is the tutorial I used to learn to make the ornaments:

(The host talks a lot. I admit that I skipped ahead whenever it seemed like she wasn't going to get to the point.) 

Who's next? Send your pictures! (Also, Bryan's and my gifts are coming with my parents on Monday, so we will get them soon!)