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Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - Favorites - Week 5, 2023

 

 

Time 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 60 days (2 months!!!) before the ho-ho-ho'ing, reindeer driving man clothes in red and white arrives once again. With the rapidly approaching holiday season in mind, Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions comtimue to host a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2023 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, 36 handmade/designed items from 12 artists were shared in the wide-ranging gift collection: jewelry of different styles, Christmas ornaments, throw pillows,nurse hoodie, a wire kippah. lampwork beadsand more.  Remember this motto: SHOP EARLY and 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 5:  

 

 

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 EARLYSHOP OFTEN!  And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support small indie sellers!

 

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

 

 

Christmas in July - Artisan Handmade Gifts - 2023

 

 

Since it seems Christmas arrives earlier and earlier each and every year, it’s never too early to start shopping for those perfect holiday gifts for a loved one!   Believe it or not Christmas with the jolly man in red and his reindeer show up in about 6 months - actually 164 days (from when this blog is posted) according to the ever ticking CHRISTMAS CLOCK.  I’ve noticed quite a few “Christmas in July” promos and such at stores and on social media, so I decided to host one here on my Shadow Dog Designs blog.  I asked artist friends to share two items - one that is “Christmasy” (in design or colors, etc.) and one that doesn’t have to be. Since many of these beauties are one of a kind, be sure to shop early (and often) so you don’t miss out.  And please visit the shops of the artisans featured for even more wonderful creations that are handmade from the heart.  Hopefully one or more items featured in the Christmas in July - Artisan Handmade Gifts - 2023 (or in the artists' shops) will make it into your shopping basket - treat yourself or someone else!  And remember this year:  SHOP SMALL and SHOP HANDMADE!

 

 

 

Christmas in July 2023

 

 

If you would like to participate in the “Christmas in July” promotion, share two of your items to the InLinkz below.  Please make one “Christmasy” either in design, colors, etc.  The other doesn’t have to be a Christmas design . . . but it can be if you want.  If you do participate, please promote all items on at least two social media sites.  And do the same for the blog I'll pull together featuring your items by the end of next week.  Please tag with #ChristmasInJuly if you tweet out the items so they can be easily found and RTd.  The InLinkz ends this Wednesday, July 12, at 5:00 MDST.   I hope to have the blog finished for Friday’s Twitter Tree.   I look forward to seeing your wonderful items!   

Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - 2022 - Week 12

 

 

 

Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick.   According to the Christmas clock, there is now less than 3 weeks (18 days!!!) until Christmas is here!  It’s hard to believe that almost a week has already gone by here in December, and, with it, the last week of the Countdown to Christmas 2022.  The Countdown has been graciously hosted all these 12 weeks (and many years) by Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog. Yes, Week 12 has come and gone and 30 artisan handmade items from ten artists were left in its wake.  Any of the beauties will be perfect for a Christmas gift, one that was carefully created from the heart.  Support handmade independent artists by helping Santa make it a HANDMADE CHRISTMAS this year! 

 

 

 

Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - 2022 - Week 5

 

 

Time 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 Christmas clock, there are only 67 days (barely over 2 months) before Jolly Ol’ Santa and his roof-clattering reindeer arrive once again. With the rapidly approaching holiday gift giving season in mind, Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions comtimue to host a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2022 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!   This week, 33 handmade items from 11 artists were left in the wide-ranging gift collection: jewelry of all different styles, hand crocheted baby items, notecards, jigsaw puzzle, Christmas apron, sticker labels, lampwork beads, Christmas ornaments and more.  Remember this motto: SHOP EARLY and SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support small indie businesses.

 

 

 

A Mixed Bag - Artisan Handmade - Three for Thursday

 

 

 

This week’s Artisan Handmade  - Three for Thursday is a mixed bag of fun items, three items from three artists.  I checked my thesaurus for synonyms for “mixed bag” and picked out some of my favorites words, some I’ve never seen before :  admixture, anthology, collectanea, farrago, gallimaufry, medley, mingle-manglepotpourri, salmagundi and smorgasbord.  What a fun selection of words!  And you’ll find this week’s Three for Thursday an equally fun mélange of artisan handmade beauties.  The three artists featured are Julie and Harry of Blue Morning ExpressionsJacki of Christie Cottage;  and me, Catherine of Shadow Dog Designs.  Enjoy this mixed bag of handmade gifts for a loved one or for yourself.

Christmas Red - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

 

As everyone is aware, the color combination of red and green is closely associated with the Christmas season.  From ancient history to modern time, color has been an integral part of cultural awareness and even an understanding of life.  The meaning of colors touched all members of society, conveying deep messages that everyone could “read”:  at one time, only royalty could wear the color purple and the red robes worn by Catholic Cardinals signifies the blood of Christ, even to this day.  The red and green color combination can be traced to the Mabinogion, a collection of Welsh stories from the 13th century.  And these stories were most likely based on an oral tradition that dates back to the pre-Christian Celts many centuries before where a half-red, half-green tree figures prominently in one of the tales.  In pre-Christian times, red represented male strength and desire and green represented female harmony and fertility.

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