Who wants to spend a day at the mall? Not me. Here are a few ways that you can shop handmade today. Etsy’s Gift Guide has some great ideas for handmade gifts. You can also check my Resources page for other handmade sites. Or of course, you can buy handmade goods locally. Here are a few Etsy finds for today:
Golden Flower Frame Clutch Wallet from Kailo Chic, $32.
Tea Bowl with Angelica, $25 from Leaves of Clay.
Natural Toy Bus with Peg People, $40 from Wood Toy Shop.
Today I am thankful for well-behaved children and Tofurky. Hope you have a relaxing holiday.
Four Little Girls, $26 from Too Cute. She has some really sweet dollhouse stuff in her shop as well. Feeling crafty? Make your own little dolls. I’m going to try to make each of the girls a doll that looks like them. We’ll see how that goes! With both girls having birthdays in December, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by my long list of craftiness.
There are a million felted sweater projects out there, but I think it’s a great idea to save money and recycle wool sweaters. I found some more sweaters on a thrifting excursion the other day, so I made these plump holiday trees. They are about 7″ tall and each has 32 felted sweater circles.
Supplies:
Instructions (for one tree):
Step 1: Print out the templates below and cut out paper circles.
Step 2: Pin paper circles to the sweaters and cut two of each size. It helps to cut out a square from the sweater and work with that, rather than trying to cut from the whole sweater.
Step 3: Bend the wire at the bottom and begin slipping sweater circles onto the wire, beginning with the largest first. It helps to find the center by folding the circle in half, then half again.
Step 4: Wrap a bead or star at the top and bend the wire around. Snip.
If you make one of these, I’d love to see a photo in the Make it Monday Flickr group. Thanks!
Here are a few local finds from the Indie Craft Experience Holiday Shopping Spectacular 2008, which was held last weekend here in Atlanta.
Baby Set made with vintage fabric, size 6-12 months, $15 from Starbugaloo.
Simple Crescent Hoops, $38 from Laurel Hill.
Little Bird illustration, 4.5″ x 6.5″, $8 from Christy Wooke.
Ferris Wheel and Russian Dolls Votive Duo, $18 from maryink.
Scout & Her Tiny Bluebird Softie, (sold), others available from Blueberry Bandit.
Butter Cream Cup, $35 from Greenware Design.
i see the one i love, 7.5″ x 10″ print, $15 from Jessica Gonacha.
Hans and Heike print, 8.5″ x 11″, $12 from Pancake Meow.
Eli the Elephant, $35 from Lil’ Sprout Knits.
