Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Handmade Holidays

I've joined in with a ton of other lovely bloggers in Angela's blog hop! We're spreading the handmade word to try and encourage people to support artists and crafts people this holiday season, and beyond! I am always thrilled to talk about how important hand made things are, so I jumped at the chance to share with this great community. For this wee little blog, it's an honor to share the list with so many awesome sites! From cooking to crafting, handmade is always much more satisfying to me. I'd rather cook dinner and bake cookies in my oven than go out to eat or buy oreos (as yummy as they are...) And I do my best to carry that over into my holiday shopping.

Now, I admit, I make a LOT of my gifts every year. But there's always that person who is hard to craft for, or the list of "to make" becomes too long to handle... That is when I turn to others who make.  I tend to use Etsy.com for this purpose, collecting ideas into treasuries or clicking "favorite" through out the year so I can keep track of what I may purchase, or things to add to my wish list.  I also go to local galleries and boutique shops, but for easy handmade purchases, the internet is just darn handy!

Here's a peek at my potential shopping list... I know I should plan ahead better, to make sure everything comes in on time, but I just can't stop looking for that one item that would be just perfect for so-and-so!  I hope my list helps narrow yours down!

For the animal lovers with a sense of humor, Berkly Illustration (I adore this Cheetah!)

Meet Stan the Bird.  I have the green Stan hanging in my house.  I met his creator at Maker Faire this year, and know several people who would love to have one  in their homes too.


I have three brothers, plus a bunch of guy friends, Bare Tree Apparel will make it easy to shop for them (for once! And great lady stuff too!)


SunnyRising is one of my favorite people online.  Seriously, she's amazing, kind, and terribly talented. I'm hoping that I have enough change in my coin jar to add some of her work to my gift list this year.

And don't forget to say thank you for all your handmade gifts received! (well, all of them really!) Keep your handmade commitment going!















I mentioned treasuries on Etsy earlier, and they are a great way to shop! Here are two examples of treasuries I've put together recently.  They make for great reminders when you are ready to get shopping! And it's fun to see what other people pull together too! (in fact, you'll see some of the items above in these - told you I use them!)



Enjoy your shopping, and make sure to check out yesterday's poster, What, No Mints?  and Friday's Covet Chicago too!  Have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, may your gravy be lump free!





P.S. check back tomorrow for a special sale! xoxox

7 comments:

  1. What a great list! Josh and I are making gifts this Christmas too. But just like you said, I also love buying from people who make handmade as well. That bike t-shirt was a great find for guys. Oh, and I loved the flying birdies. So pretty.

    Thanks for the great suggestions. And have a happy Thanksgiving.

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  2. I love making treasuries, too, and have gone back to some of mine to remember items I really like but forgot to favorite!

    Also, I recently discovered a really fun Treasury Challenge that is ongoing (http://treasurychallengenonteam.blogspot.com/). An inspiration item is released once a week and everyone builds treasuries around that item. The person who made the inspiration item gets to pick the winning treasury, and the winner for that week gets to have one of the items in their shop be the inspiration item and they do the judging for that week. Anyway, something fun to do if you like building treasuries like I do!

    -Kristen

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  3. ahh treasuries! they are such fun. I have been using my favorites lately but do need to have some treasury fun soon. Great list! Love the bike tee, I created a similar image on my wedding invites so that totally caught my eye! thanks ;)

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  4. Hehe - The Cheetah Print is pretty awesome! Etsy DOES make finding that perfect, unique gift so easy - I was shopping for family back in the summertime and adding picks to my favorites - Makes buying gifts so much easier when the holidays finally roll around.

    Thanks so much for sharing with us!

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  5. Thanks for all your sweet comments everyone! This has been such a fun blog hop! Happy Thanksgiving!

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  6. Love that you mentioned thank you cards too! I'm looking through the Bare Tree shop right now and it's so great - thanks for sharing :)

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