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Valentines Day Gifts: Artisan Handmade or Designed - Week 2, 2026
Posted January 22, 2026
Valentine's Day will be here before we know it, February 14, less than a month away. Since the day is drawing nearer, a collection of wonderful Valentine's Day gifts was pulled together, 4 items from each artist. Each week of the 4 week promo, a blog will be posted on Shadow Dog Designs' site to share one artisan handmade / designed beauties from each participant. There are plenty of Valentine's Day themed items, but also ones that are not so distinctly traditional Valentine's gifts. Many can be worn / used all year long. If something catches your eye, be sure to click either the photo or the description below to be taken to the artisan's shop. To see all of the gift ideas in one place, be sure to click this link: Valentine's Day Gifts: Artisan Handmade or Designs - 2026. All of the gifts shared here were created by small business owners. Be sure to SHOP SMALL this Valentine's Day and support an indie artist. It will certainly be appreciated!
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Valentines Day Gifts: Artisan Handmade or Designed - Week 1, 2026
Posted January 15, 2026
Valentine's Day will be here before we know it, February 14, almost a month away. With that in mind, a collection of wonderful Valentine's Day gifts were pulled together. Each week for the next four weeks, a blog will be posted on the site of Shadow Dog Designs to share the artisan handmade / designed beauties that were posted to an Inlinkz. There are plenty of Valentine's Day themed items, but also ones that are not so distinctly traditional Valentine's gifts. Many can be worn / used all year long. If something catches your eye, be sure to click either the photo or the description below to be taken to the artistan's shop. To see all of the gift ideas in one place, be sure to click this link: Valentines Day Gifts: Artisan Handmade or Designed - 2026. All of the gifts shared here were created by small business owners. Be sure to SHOP SMALL this Valentine's Day and support an idie business. We will certainly appreciate that!
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Week 10 Favorites - 2025
Posted November 18, 2025
Wow! It's pretty amazing that we are already at Week 10 of the Countdown to Christmas 2025 with only 2 more weeks to go! Time sure can fly by. The ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown Clock doesn’t let up: only 36 more days until Santa and his herd of flying reindeer make a nighttime visit to leave welcome gifts or lumps of coal. Since the holiday gift giving season is lurking just around the corner, Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions are once again hosting a twelve-week Countdown of artisan handmade / designed items on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog. The Countdown is the place for artists to share three of their beautiful (often one of a kind) creations. This week eleven artists shared 33 items, a wide range of wonderful gift ideas: many styles of jewelry, Christmas ornaments, lampwork beads, Christmas notecards, art prints, photo albums, keychains, and many other unique items. If you need a perfect start or end to your holiday shopping, please shop the Countdown to Christmas; browse and purchase that special piece for that special person! An excellent rule of thumb to follow this holiday season: SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support small, independent artisan shops!
In addition to promoting each handmade item from the Countdown collection to my "Countdown to a Handmade Christmas 2025" Pinterest board and on my Twitter feed, I decided to share one item from each of the artists who participated this week. Here are my "favorites" picks of the items - hard to chose! I hope you enjoy these unique items!
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Week 8 Favorites - 2025
Posted November 4, 2025
The weeks are going by so, so fast! Week 8 of the Countdown to Christmas 2025 has already come and gone, with only four more weeks remaining! The ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown Clock doesn’t let up - according to it, Santa and his flying reindeer will start their journey in only 50 days! Yikes!!!! Need a perfect place to start / finish your Christmas shopping? The Countdown - a place for artists to come together and share three of their unique gifts - is the just the place to do that holiday shopping! Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions are hosting the twelve-week Countdown to Christmas of artisan handmade items on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog (where you can also see the first seven Countdowns). This week, 30 items, many which are one of a kind designs, from 10 artists are featured. The artists shared a wide range of handmade gift ideas: jewelry, lampwork beads, art prints, throw pillows, home decor, keychains, baby gifts, and much, much more. A wonderful motto to follow: SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support hard working indie artists!
In addition to promoting each handmade item from the Countdown collection to my "Countdown to a Handmade Christmas 2025" Pinterest board and on my Twitter feed, I decided to share one item from each of the artists who participated this week.
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Week 5 Favorites - 2025
Posted October 14, 2025
Where does the time go - It seems to go by more and more quickly each week! Case in point is that week 5 of the Countdown to Christmas has already come and gone! According to the ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown Clock, there are only 71 days 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 comtinue to host a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2025 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, 9 artiss left a total of 27 handmade / designed items. The collection is wide-ranging gift collection: different styles of jewelry, stickers of various types, phtotography, Christmas ornaments, home decor, watercolor prints, lampwork beads and much. 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. My favorites for Week 5 are:
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Week 3 Favorites - 2025
Posted September 30, 2025
It's amazing just how quickly Week 3 of the Countdown to Christmas 2025 flew by with October just around the corner. According to the ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown Clock, there are only 85 days until jolly Santa Claus and his merry band of reindeer are delivering packages (or lumps of coal) once again. With the rapidly approaching gift giving season in mind, Julie and her handsome four-footed sidekick, Harry, are hosting a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2025 of artisan handmade items on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog, part of their Blue Morning Expressions Shopify shop. This week, there were 24 shares by 8 artists featuring a wide range of truly unique gift ideas: jewelry of all types, party tags, photographic and digital art, watercolors prints, note cards, key chains, linens 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 12 week Countdown, I pick a favorite item from each artist (hard to do!) and feature them here on my blog. Here are my favorites for Week 3:
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Week 2 Favorites - 2025
Posted September 23, 2025
Week 2 of the Countdown to Christmas 2025 has already come . . . and gone! No worries, however, because many unique artisan handmade / designed items were left in its wake. According to the ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown Clock, there are only 92 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 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 27 shares by 9 artists featuring a wide range of gift ideas: unique jewelry, lampwork beads, Christmas stickers, note cards, photographic art for the home, pennants 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 SMALL and SHOP HANDMADE to support an appreciative 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:
Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Week 1 Favorites - 2025
Posted September 16, 2025
Wasn’t the Countdown to Christmas happening just a few short months ago? Here it is, already the middle of September, and the Countdown is up and running! The ever ticking Your Christmas Countdown clock says there are only 99 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 for them??? A perfect place to shop (and hopefully buy) is on the 12 week Countdown to Christmas 2025 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 beginning of December. On week 1 of the Countdown to Christmas, there were 21 shares of a wide variety of gifts from 7 artists: unique jewelry, lampwork beads, home decor, note cards, stickers, holiday money holders and more. A good holiday motto to remember: SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all: SHOP SMALL, SHOP HANDMADE to support small indie sellers!
Here are my favorite picks from Week 1 of the Countdown to Christmas:
New Jewelry at Shadow Dog Designs, Handmade, One of a Kind
Posted May 18, 2025
It has been a good while since I shared any new jewelry here on my blog. Spring is always busy with planting flowers. I choose mostly native plants that are proven to attract pollinators: hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and/or wasps. A hearty dose of cosmos, zinnias and sunflower seeds are planted also planted, all also very attractive to pollinators. Another dust is brewing outside, so I decided to pull togther a blog of the eight newest pairs of earrings along with two of the newest necklaces. If something catches your eye, please either click on the photo or the link and you'll be taken to the item in my SHADOW DOG DESIGNS shop for more information. All of the jewelry is handmade and are one of a kind designs. Thanks for stopping by!
Make It an Artisans Mothers Day - Week 5 Gifts - 2025
Posted May 6, 2025
RED ALERT! Mother’s Day will be here very, very soon - in fact, it's next Sunday, May 11. It’s still not too late to order a handmade gift (do it now!) from the beauties shared this week on the Countdown to Mother's Day 2025 Week 5. The Countdown was hosted again this year by Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog. Hard to believe this is the last week of the Countdown - time sure flies by! Despite that, 8 handmade artisans shared a total of 24 wonderfully unique items, some of them one of a kind designs. Browse the wide range of eye catching shares for this week, visit the shops of the artists featured and buy your Mom, Grandmother, aunties (or yourself!) something that was HANDMADE from the heart! By shopping small, you'll also support a small indie business (and for that, we are eternally grateful!).
Featured below are my favorites from this week's Countdown to Mother's Day:
