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Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Week 5 Favorites - 2024

Where does hte time go?  It seems to go by more and more quickly each week:  week 5 of the Countdown to Christmas has already come and gone!  According to the ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown Clock, there are only 63 days (a bit more than 2 months!!!) before the the reindeer driving man clothed in red and white arrives once again. With the rapidly approaching holiday season, Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions comtimue to host a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2024 of artisan handmade items on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog. Now is the perfect time to start your holiday shopping and the Countdown is the perfect place to begin that!  This week, 33 handmade / designed items from 11 artists were shared in the wide-ranging gift collection: jewelry of all different styles, photo albums, art prinrs, note cards, throw pillows, keychains, decal sets, lampwork beads, baby gifts and more.  Remember this motto: SHOP EARLY and SHOP OFTEN!  And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support a small indie business.

Each week during the 12 week Countdown, I will pick a favorite item from each artist (hard to do!) and feature them here on my blog.  Here are my favorites for Week 5:  

Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Week 2 Favorites - 2024

Week 2 of the Countdown to Christmas 2024 has already come . . . and gone!  No worries, however, because unique artisan handmade / designed items were left in its wake.  According to the ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown Clock, there are only 84 days until Christmas is here.  With the rapidly approaching gift giving season in mind, Julie and her wonderful four-footed sidekick, Harry, are hosting a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2024 of artisan handmade items on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog, part of their of Blue Morning Expressions Shopify shop.  The twelve week time period was chosen to correspond with the ubiquitous Christmas carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas''. This week, there were 39 shares by 13 artists featuring a wide range of gift ideas: unique jewelry, Christmas tags, watercolor art prints, an original book, photographic and digital art for the home, ornaments, key chains and a host of other beauties.  If you need a perfect start to your Christmas shopping, the Countdown is the place to do just that!  An excellent motto to follow is: SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN.  And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support small indie businesses!

Each week during the Countdown, I pick my a favorite item from each artist (hard to do!) and feature them here on my blog.  These are my favorites for Week 2:   

Hot Fun Under the Summer Sun - Artisan Handmade Gifts - 2024

The official start of summer will soon be here.  It takes place here in El Paso on June 20 at 2:50 p.m,  Officially June 20 will have 12 hours, 8 minutes and 59 seconds of sunlight, about 4 hours and 9 minutes longer than on the shortest day in December.  To celebrate the hot, hot summer days, I asked artist friends to share two items that represent “hot summer fun” - something with hot colors, a sun, beach or tropical theme,  sunflowers and the like.  Some items shared are more on the blazing summer side and some represent a more mellow, cool summer.  However, ALL are artisan handmade / designed and many are one of a kind pieces.  So if something catches your eye on this Hot Fun Under the Summer Sun - Artisan Handmade Gifts - 2024 blog, please click the photo or the link below the photo for more information and pictures of the individual item.  Hopefully one or more will make it into your shopping basket - treat yourself or someone else to a unique artisan beauty!  And remember: SHOP SMALL and SHOP HANDMADE!  Small artisan shops will THANK YOU!

Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Favorites - Week 1, 2023

Amazing!!!  It seems like Christmas was here just a few months ago . . . especially when the Christmas Countdown Clock says there are only 88 days (as of today) before Christmas is here!  With that in mind, it's definitely not too early to start thinking about all those people on your Christmas shopping list.  Where to start????  What should you get them???  A perfect place to shop (and hopefully buy)) is the 12 week Countdown to Christmas 2023 collections.  Hosted by Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog, the collections will be filled with a wide variety of artisan handmade / designed gifts.  A new collection will be added each Friday through the second weekend of December.  On week 1 of the Countdown to Christmas, there were 36 shares from 12 handmade artists: unique jewelry, Halloween gifts, lampwork beads, party invitations / stickers / kits, tote bags, baby gifts, Christmas ornaments, home decor and more.  A good motto to follow through these weeks leading up to Christmas is:  SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN!  And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support small indie sellers!

Here are favorites from Week 1 of the Countdown to Christmas: