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Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Favorites - Week 7, 2023
Posted November 8, 2023
It is so very hard to believe (at least to me - how about you?) that we are already a week into November . . . and that there are only 5 more weeks of the Countdown to Christmas 2023! It’s also hard to believe that Christmas will be here before we know it. According to the ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown Clock, there are only 46 days (as of today) until Santa drops down the chimney once again with his bag of goodies . . . or coal. With Christmas rapidly approaching, Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions continue hosting the twelve-week Countdown to Christmas of artisan handmade items on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog. Start or finish your holiday shopping now on the Countdown - Week 7 - a perfect place to buy unique handmade / designed gifts! This week, 33 items from 11 artisans were shared in the wide-ranging gift collection: jewelry of many different styles, Christmas ornaments, gearhead sweatshirts, keychains, lampwork glass beads, baby gifts and more. A wonderful motto to follow: SHOP EARLY and SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support small indie businesses.
In addition to saving each handmade item from the Countdown to Christmas 2023 Week 7 collection to my handmade Christmas Pinterest board and Twitter feed, I pick a favorite item from each artist (hard to do!) and feature them here on my blog. Here are my favorites for Week 7:
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Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Favorites - Week 4, 2023
Posted October 18, 2023
Who would have believed how quickly Week 4 of the Countdown to Christmas 2023 went by . . . but here we are! Left in its wake is a wide variety of gorgeous artisan handmade items. According to the ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown Clock, there are only 67 days until St. Nick pays a visit to let you know of you have been naughty or nice. With the rapidly approaching gift giving season in mind, Julie and her faithful sidekick, Harry, are hosting a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2023 of artisan handmade items on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog, part of their Blue Morning Expressions Shopify shop. This week, there were 33 shares by 11 artists featuring a wide range of gifts: unique jewelry designs, photographic and digital art, home decor, note cards, Christmas stickers,lampwork beads, crocheted gifts, coffee mugs and a host of other beauties. If you need a perfect start (or ending) 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 12 week Countdown, I pick a favorite item from each artist (hard to do!) and feature them here on my blog. These are my favorites for Week 4:
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Favorites - Week 1, 2023
Posted September 26, 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:
Fun in the Hot Hot Sun - Make it an Artisan Handmade Summer
Posted June 8, 2023
The official start of summer will soon be here. I takes place at 8:57 a.m. on June 21 here in El Paso, where the day will be 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 beach or tropical theme or 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 Fun in the Hot Hot Sun - Make It an Artisan Handmade Summer 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!
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - 2022 - Week 9
Posted November 15, 2022
Christmas is barreling down on us like a runaway freight train! It will soon be here. Week 9 of the Countdown to Christmas 2022 has come and gone and the ever ticking Christmas clock doesn’t let up. According to what it says today, Santa and his traveling buddies will start their journey in only 39 days, just a bit over five weeks from now! The Countdown is a place for handmade artists to come together and share three of their beautiful (often one of a kind) creations and then promote each other. Need a perfect start / end to your Christmas shopping? Shop the Countdown to Christmas to browse and purchase that special piece! An excellent motto to follow this holiday season is : SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support hardworking indie shop owners!
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - 2022 - Week 8
Posted November 8, 2022
It’s all going so, so fast: week 8 of the Countdown to Christmas 2022 has already come and gone, with only four more weeks remaining! The Countdown is a chance for artists to come together and share three of their beautiful gift ideas, each one a perfect gift for a loved one. The ever ticking Christmas clock doesn’t let up - according to it, Santa and his flying reindeer will start their journey in only 46 days! Need a perfect place to start / finish your Christmas shopping? The Countdown is the place to do just that! A good motto to follow: SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support hard working indie artists!
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - 2022 - Week 6
Posted October 25, 2022
It’s hard to believe that we’re already half-way finished with the twelve week Countdown to Christmas 2022! Yikes! That means Christmas is bearing down on us and will soon be here - two months away! According to the ever ticking Christmas clock, there are only 60 days until the jolly ho-ho-ho-ing Santa and his merry band of clattering reindeer arrive once again. Now is the perfect time to start your holiday shopping and the Countdown is the perfect place to buy unique beauties! Remember this motto: SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all, SHOP ARTISAN HANDMADE to support a small indie business!
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - 2022 - Week 1
Posted September 20, 2022
Wow! It seems like Christmas was just a few months ago. It’s very hard to believe that Christmas is only 95 days away according to the ever ticking Christmas clock. With that in mind, it's definitely not too early to start thinking about all those people on your Christmas shopping list. What should you get them??? A perfect place to start looking (and buying!) is the 12 week Countdown to Christmas 2022 collections. Hosted by Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions on their Shopify blog, the collections will be filled with a wide variety of artisan handmade / designed gifts. A new collection will be added each week through the first full week of December. This week, there were 27 shares from 9 handmade artists: unique jewelry of all types (earrings, bracelets and necklaces), baby gifts, party stickers / gift tags, fun thumbtacks / magnets, Halloween gifts and more. A good motto to follow through these weeks leading up to Christmas: SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support small indie businesses!
Halloween - Spooky Artisan Handmade Goodies - 2022
Posted September 11, 2022
Halloween will soon be here, a little more than six weeks away! It’s a favorite day / evening for many with a steady stream of trick or treaters in creepy or cute costumes, grinning skulls, Jack O’ Lantern pumpkins, spooky ghosts and other notorious beasts. During the weeks before October 31, it’s fun to wear spooky accessories or decorate the home for Halloween. With that in mind, handmade artist friends were invited to share two Halloween-type items - whether symbolic or filled with the traditional colors or both. You’ll see a wide variety of spine-tingling jewelry, eye-catching photography, fun party items, a cute baby gift set, an orange cat print, unique lampwork glass beads and your choice of sugar skull pincushions. Each one of these handmade beauties, many of which are one of a kind pieces, are perfect to help celebrate that supernatural day of the year. I hope you enjoy these choices and will visit the shops of the talented artists featured for more amazing handmade beauties, some shuddersome and some not!
Oldies But Goodies - Unique Artisan Handmade Gifts
Posted July 5, 2022
Whenever someone says “Oldies But Goodies,” most people think of old songs (especially from a jukebox - remember those?), vintage cars, lots of items on the Antiques Roadshow or, possibly, themselves (after . . . *ahem* . . . a certain age). However the term, “Oldies But Goodies,” also refers to items in our artisan handmade shops that have been around for longer than the artist who made it would like. Whenever something is created and then listed in our shops, we always think it will sell right away. Some do. But, for whatever reason, some beauties sit there . . . and sit there . . . and sit there some more. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that particular item - not at all!!! It just hasn’t found that forever person to give it a forever home.
I asked artisan friends to share two items from their handmade shops that they considered “oldies but goodies.” Many of the items are one of a kind creations and would make a perfect gift for a birthday, an anniversary, for Christmas, or just because . . . I hope something catches your eye and that you visit the shops of the artists below. And that many of the “oldie” items find a loving home.
