Do you love to get your hands in there, creating beautiful, elegant crafts, gifts, or home decor? You get me in a craft store and I practically swoon.

Often the only thing that differentiates a "ho-hum" handmade gift or craft, from a truly elegant one, are the materials used. I am constantly on the lookout for beautiful fabrics, scrapbook papers, ribbons and other craft supplies. When I do see something I love, I buy it and store it away, waiting for the right idea to use it.

Of course, one could end up with a closet, or room full of unused craft supplies! If this describes you, start poking around this site, then start poking through your supplies. I'll bet you'll find a craft idea or two you can use. Don't you just love it when inspiration and beautiful materials come together?

Ever on the search for new ideas for homemade gifts, crafts, and home decor, I searched the web for inspiration. Far too often I would find tons of sites for kids crafts to make, which are great, just not what I wanted.

When I did find an inviting description, I was usually disappointed to find that there was often just a listing for a craft idea - no instructions, no pictures, or neither one! Other times the crafts were just not elegant enough for what I wanted.

There are so many different types of projects that I enjoy creating, such as decoupage, sewing, painting, stamping, candles, scrapbooking, card making and many more. I wished for a place to find all of these together, so that I didn't have to go searching all over the place every time I wanted inspiration.

So I decided to provide the type of site that I was looking for myself. I envisioned a place where crafters could find tons of free and easy craft ideas and homemade gifts. Eventually I would love to provide a spot where you can show your own creations. It might be a gallery or a "page of your own" that you could upload to. Talk to me and if and when I have enough feedback, I will try to make that happen!

At Elegant Crafts and Homemade Gifts you will find...

• ideas for many different types of projects
• full, step-by-step instructions
• plenty of pictures
• pictures large enough so that you can see the details

I am a very visual person, and as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words." The pictures on each page are optimized so that the pages will load more quickly, but plenty large enough so that you can really see how to do each step.

If you want to make your own gifts, or decorate your home with elegant crafts you make yourself, you've come to the right place. Enjoy and let me know what you think, or if you have ideas for crafts you would like me to add. Just contact me here.

The site will be growing each week as I add more and more craft ideas. Add us to your bookmarks, then stop back and visit often. Let's get creative together!