Homemade Gift Exchange

In the beginning of November, I signed up for a homemade gift exchange.  I came across it on the Craftalcoholics  Anonymous blog.  See link below.

http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/gift-exchanges

I thought this was such a cool idea.  So I signed up and was quickly paired with a partner.  My partner was Caty from North Carolina.  We actually had a lot in common.  We are both 25 years old.  Both of us just celebrated our first anniversary in November.  And we both married guys named Justin.  How crazy is that!!  Caty favorite color is purple and she loves dragonflies. 

My initial thought was to make my "go to" girl hat in purple, and then add a dragonfly broach that I could have probably scored off ebay for next to nothing.  But then I thought, this is the perfect time to try something new.  So no cheating for me!  I decided I would make the dragonfly out of beads and wire.  It took some figuring out. 

The first thing I did was draw what I wanted the shape of the dragon fly to look like. 

Then, I played with the wire to see if that shape was even possible.  When I saw that it would work.  I beaded the wire, and then started to shape the wire into the picture I had drawn.  I think it turned out beautifully. 

Now the original go to hat I was planning would not cooperate.  So I found this new stitch called the puff stitch.  Super easy, but it makes this hat SUPER warm.  I am glad that I did not take the easy path, but instead I learned two new things for this gift exchange. 

Here is the sweet thank you, I received. 

Oh, thank you so much!  I absolutely LOVE the dragonfly, OMG.

I tried it on and it fits my head like it was tailor made for me! :D

Thank you again so much, I've never received a gift like this.  You are very talented. :)

Just in case you are wondering.  This is what I received.  I think it is super cute.  It is already on my shelf.  What a great paper gift for a first anniversary.

http://ohdarling143.blogspot.com/