Blog entry

Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Favorites - Week 4, 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:  

New Handmade Jewelry by Shadow Dog Designs

You would seem due sheltering in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d have more time to create new jewelry and blog.  Before, my days were very structured.  Now they’re not, even though I try to structure them.  It seems I find myself saying, “I’ll do it tomorrow” . . . and then when tomorrow rolls around, it becomes “tomorrow” again.  So, this morning, I sat myself down to create a new blog showcasing the newest pieces of jewelry in my SHADOW DOG DESIGNS shop.  Fourteen handmade beauties:  nine pairs of earrings, four necklaces and one bracelet.  They are all one of a kind creations from a variety of materials including, gemstones, polymer clay, Czech glass, Swarovski crystals and a host of other things.  I hope you take the time to browse and to check out all the other jewelry in my shop.  After all, Christmas will be here before we know it - get a head start with your holiday shopping!  Enjoy.

New Handmade Jewelry from Shadow Dog Designs - Necklaces and Earrings

This quote by Rebekah Joy Plett pretty much says it all when you are a handmade artist:

“When you buy something from an artist you are buying more than an object. You’re buying hundreds of hours of errors and experimentation. You’re buying years of frustration and moments of pure joy. You’re not buying just one thing, you are buying a piece of a heart, a piece of a soul… a piece of someone else’s life.”