I am still unpacking from my trip and as I do so the memories are flooding back and I am struck, when I unpack a ring from Kate Mckinnon and some beadwork from Marcie DeCoster, just how kind these gifts are.

I am very fortunate over the years to have been given some gifts of items handmade by people and I have to say I value these beyond words can say. That someone not only gave me a gift (which is always appreciated) but that they gave me something made by their hands, and that they had devoted their time to is very touching.

I of course appreciate bought gifts, and understand that these don't appear out of thin air but also need time, effort and money spent on them, and that people had to work to be able to buy them. But for some reason a hand-made item always seems extra precious to me.

I very rarely made gifts for people anymore, and it's even rarer for me to do this with beadwork. It's partly because I often only make items for particular projects and need to keep the finished piece, but partly because I have often made gifts, and given them, to realise the fact the item was made by me had no meaning to the recipient.

It wasn't necessarily that they didn't appreciate the present, just that as people who don't make items themselves, they don't see or understand the time, thought and effort such a gift takes. There's only so many times you can do that before deciding to buy gifts instead!

I think for people who don't make things themselves, a home-made gift is viewed as the cheap and lazy option when to me it's completely the opposite. The one thing I know that I, and many others, am short of is time. The fact that someone has spent some of this precious commodity on making me something blows me away. Even if they weren't thinking of me when they made the item, giving me something that has taken their time and energy, often without a second thought, touches my heart more than I think any other gift can.

It also humbles me as I feel ashamed of just how little I do this. Maybe my experiences of home-made gifts being under-appreciated has affected how little I do this? But I see now that instead of stopping giving these gifts, I need to just change the people I give them to. Also I need to bead and make things more so that I have plenty to spare and spread around.

I have made items for others, and given away other work I have made, but not often enough, so if this is something you do then you're a very generous person and I hope the gifts you give are appreciated.

Pictured are some of the items I have been given, I do have more so sorry if yours isn't shown here. Be assured I treasure every hand-made item I own.