Handmade Holiday Decorating!

I'm so excited to be a part of my first Blog Hop today. It is being sponsored by the lovely Frugal Housewife. The theme is decorating for the holidays. There are 23 amazing blogs participating and I can't wait to read all of their ideas. If you want to see the master list check it out here.
My first thought when I agreed to participate was to go through my Etsy favorites and promote their handmade holiday items. Trust me, you can find the most unique ornaments and decorations in every theme imaginable by simply searching for Christmas on Etsy. For example one of my handmade blog buddies Selahestelle sells the most amazing embroidered balls which would be perfect on a tree or in a basket like you see above.

But as I gave it some thought I decided that I would take both a handmade and frugal look at holiday decorating this year, which I thought would be appropriate. I have to be honest that I haven't done much in the way of decorating yet this year. When my parents asked us to go to the farm this weekend to "watch" the farm while they took a quick trip to Dallas I brought my camera along. My Mom loves to decorate and I was sure that I would find examples of what I was looking for. The picture at the top of the page is a shot of their front entry way. The stained glass was handmade years ago by a close friend of the family and goes so nicely with the greenery Mom has put up for a simple yet striking display.



So many of us have things in our house, whether they are handmade or not that can be repurposed for the holidays. This shot of the tree is a great example of this. The handmade quilt behind the tree is usually hung in the master bedroom but is the perfect backdrop to the tree. It was given to Mom a few years ago by an aunt and has pictures of the family in each of the stars. You probably don't have this exact item but there are likely other things in your house that could be used to display and create a great visual. I have a large tin star that hangs in the living room and I have hung ornaments off the holes in it before to use what I have.






Most of us crafters have supplies in our stash that can easily and cost effectively turned into holiday decorations. I once ordered a box of mystery yarn that in addition to some great designer yarns also included over 10 balls of the wildest boa yarn. It is so rough I would never use it in a scarf to sell but I have made scarves for the nieces with it. I realized the other day that it would also make great garland. I knitted up the two on this little tree with the biggest needles I had in the time it took to watch a Law and Order. They would add some real bling to a tree or banister. I held 3 different yarns together and just cast on 3 stitches. I did all garter stitch until it reached around 40 inches, but you could make them as long or as short as you wanted. I have also used ribbon that I got on sale at Michaels on my tree instead of garland. I like that you can find it in all different colors not just the traditional holiday colors.


The last example I have of using what you have to decorate with is this sweet ornament on Mom's tree. It is a picture of the girls that they cut out and glued in place last year. It's a great handmade ornament that I know Mom will enjoy for many years.


I have really enjoyed participating in this hop. It is my pleasure to introduce the next stop on your tour. Will Oaks Studio is actually a favorite of mine. She has the most visually stunning blog and is a real inspiration to improve my photography skills. So go check her out and I'm sure that she'd be thrilled if you stopped by her etsy shop here to do some holiday shopping while you were at it.

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah to all my readers who observe. It always sneaks up on me and as always I got my nieces and nephew in New York their gifts ordered too late to get there for the first day. But luckily it got me motivated so now all of my Christmas shopping is also done and everything should be here in plenty of time. I definitely got my money's worth out of my free trial of Amazon Prime. No I didn't pay anything for a free trial but I feel like I should have with all the 2 day shipping I've used in the past few weeks.

Mike's sister Julie converted to Judaism and is raising their kids in the faith. The above picture is from their family vacation to Aruba last year. We are hoping to be able to make it to Abbie's Bat Mitzvah in a year. It will be my first and I'm interested to see what it is like. We unfortunately only see the family once or twice a year whereas I often see Kai and Ani once or twice a week. It is sad that I don't have the same relationship with her kids as I do with my other nieces and nephews. I always really enjoy visiting with Julie and her whole clan. I think if we lived closer there would definitely be a good friendship between us.

Abby is the oldest and she is a little bookworm. She and Mike had a few long debates about Harry Potter and for awhile she would e-mail him quizzes to see how well he remembered the details from the book. She had every single thing memorized including the title of all the chapters. He gave her The Hobbit last year to see if he could turn her onto Tolkien and at first read she didn't get it. After the second time I think she had decided she liked it.

Cassie is the middle child and I feel a connection with her on that front. She is feisty and has a devious little grin that I find adorable. The first time I met her she had just come back from a ride with Grandma and her Mom. Betty had pointed out some flowers to her and she had said, "I don't like those fucking flowers." She was a sweet looking 3 year old at the time and I found it hilarious, especially since she had used the word in such a perfect context.

Ben is the youngest and he is the sweetest boy you will ever meet. He is so polite and friendly that it always amazes me, especially since we see them so rarely. He will crawl up on your lap and start charming you 5 minutes after you meet him. When he was 2 Mike had picked him up to reach something and he said thank you in this high pitched baby voice. Mike and I still use that voice when we say thank you to each other all the time.














I got the girls the Happily Ever Crafter kit that I had to order through Imagine Toys since it was out of stock at Amazon. I did find a 15% off coupon which helped make it more in line with Amazon's price luckily. It has 9 different projects with directions to learn the fundamentals in crocheting, embroidering, and sewing. Since they aren't here for me and their Aunt Debi to help teach them the love of crafting I'm hoping that this will inspire them to appreciate the handmade world.

I also got Abby Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, which should be required reading for girls her age in my opinion. I got Cassie The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo also by Blume. I haven't read this one but it is about being a middle child which I thought was appropriate.

I got Ben a big set of Wikki Stix and some activities to do with them. They are crafty but the description and reviews made it sound like boys enjoy them just as much as girls so I hope he likes them. They are a colorful, non-toxic wax and yarn product to stimulate imagination and creativity, according to the description. Sounds like fun to me!

So Happy Holiday to you whichever holiday you choose. Yes, I do always say this rather than Merry Christmas. It just feels more right to me since you just never know. I have another in-law that identifies as Buddhist and other family members that are both atheist/agnostic so I think "Happy Holidays" covers it all. We all enjoy the season and I don't think it is a slight to Christmas or Christ in any way.

Shop Updates!

My Etsy shop is now down to just 25 items listed. The poor thing is barely at 2 pages which is just plain sad in my book. I was going through my remaining inventory and seeing if I had pictures for anything already taken last night. I found at least 10 scarves that I have photographed in the past but not listed for one reason or another.

Some of them were previously listed in my 1000 Markets shop which has been unceremoniously disconnected due to lack of activity. I don't think I'm the type of person that can divide my attention like that I'm afraid. So I started listing some of them to try to get my shop back to its normal capacity of at least 50 items. If I don't have 3 pages it bothers me for some reason.

I've already listed the top scarf, the Regal Rose- Handmade Pink Lace Scarf in a hand dyed ribbon yarn. I can't believe that it didn't sell at one of my shows. It is absolutely gorgeous in person with just the right amount of sparkle and WOW factor. The red scarf I'm calling Holiday Cherry Red. It's a wool blend that is super soft and cozy. I think it would be great for the holidays and beyond. This last one is a close up for a scarf that I'm calling Tie Dye Delight. It is a Noro brand yarn that has a cool tie dye effect, and I added some speckled beads for extra fun. I'm now done pimping and tomorrow I'll get back to normal blogging!

Family Ties

I took these three pictures when we were all home for Thanksgiving and I was really happy with how they came out. The sun was perfect and they were all sitting in the little chairs so I got a nice angle. I particularly like the one of Kate at the top. She is my favorite niece after Ani to photograph. I think that Jess is probably going to be more attractive in person but Kate is more interesting in pictures.



I so miss having Kate around. She is just such a fun and quirky kid. She is only 7 but she has the most advanced sense of irony and sarcasm, far superior to most adults I know, including her parents. It will be nice to have all of them here for a few weeks over the Holiday and we are going to plan on going down to see them over Mike's spring break too.







One of my cousins bought the Oreo Glam scarf that she saw on my Etsy shop last month. She wore it to Thanksgiving and this is the only shot I could find of her here. She has been wearing it all around town and becoming quite the promoter of my shop. Beth is always so well put together and attractive that I couldn't ask for a better representative. She had it on at a boutique last week and the owner complimented her on it and asked her were she got it. Beth talked to her about me and got information for me to contact the woman. It's definitely something for me to consider. I really want to get into some boutiques next year and it's always nice to have someone already know of you and be interested in your work rather than going in cold. It's all about the family ties today I guess.

Big Ass Wrap Up

I took no decent pics from the Big Ass Indie Show yesterday but they have a whole photo montage on their Facebook page here if you are interested. The above was my view from my perch yesterday afternoon as I guarded the dressing room. This was a rack of mostly my scarves. I think it was a good show, not necessarily a great one for me but I really can't complain at all. I haven't seen my actual numbers yet but just reviewing what I didn't come home with I can estimate how I did.



It looks like I sold over 10 of the higher end scarves which is what I was hoping to move at this show along with the majority of my lower end scarves. I think I sold only 2 scarflettes which was surprising to me until I started thinking about it. They had the majority of them buried in a wheel barrow that they were using as a display instead of arranged on a table so I really don't think people were willing to dig through it. Not a big deal since I need something to keep my Etsy shop going until I can get more pictures taken.

I started the season with 2 large tubs and 2 medium tubs stuffed to the brim with my inventory. After my last show I could probably fit everything into the largest of the tubs if I stuffed it tight. I'm very happy with how it all went and couldn't have asked for a better 3 shows for my work. I'll do a more complete wrap up later with my thoughts on how to improve things for next year.









There were some really amazing vendors at this show including a few that I'd never seen before. I got a Flesh doll by Michael Baird that I'm absolutely in love with. Mike says it is probably the weirdest thing I've ever bought which is really saying something. It has the coolest eyes in it with a long tail that I can use to hold it while I hit Mike in the back of the head, only when he deserves it of course. The leather is so soft and smooth I actually found myself cuddling it last night while laying on the couch watching TV under my blanket.

I always go into a knitting funk after my last craft show of the season. It's like I get all the frantic work done and I don't know what to do with myself after it's all done. I've knitted a few Christmas gifts and I'm going to give myself 1 week to not knit and then hopefully I will get some inspiration back. I really am wanting to work on some hat designs for next year and hopefully that will get me going.

Big Ass Indie Weekend!

The Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show starts tonight and if you are in the St. Louis area I hope you will come out this weekend for some Big Ass fun. There will be entertainment and refreshments to go with your shopping until 11 p.m. tonight. The Craft Mafia always puts together the coolest displays and visuals.

It is St. Louis's biggest collection of alternative art and crafts.

The Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show showcases St. Louis's finest artists and crafters! FREE admission! Friday Saturday and Sunday.

As I was dropping my inventory off one of the girls checking me in recognized my work from the Rock N Roll Show. She asked me if the Bud Light scarf had sold as everyone had been talking about it when she was there. I told her that surprisingly it hadn't so it must be meant to be hers. The Mad Art Gallery is literally in Anheuser-Busch's backyard so hopefully the scarf with little Bud Light beads will find a home this weekend.

The Upcycle Exchange will also be there the whole weekend led by their fearless leader Autumn. If you bring items to donate you will get complimentary gift wrapping in addition to contributing to a great program. Lucky for you I chose not to volunteer at this table as my gift wrapping skills are comical.

I talked about the Upcycle Exchange as it related to the Strange Folk Festival here but there have been some interesting changes made since. Here is the new description, "a “co-op junk shop” that will now serve as our central sorting and distribution center called Finder’s Hive. The Upcycle Exchange will still be collecting at area events, in addition to new drop-off locations to be announced in January 2010." There is going to be a $15 seasonal membership fee that will allow you to be a part of the distribution of the donated supplies. I'm seriously considering becoming a part of the program and getting my hands on some cool supplies for next to nothing.

Because I'm Worth It!

I just ordered myself the DSLR camera that I told myself that I would get in a few years today. Why, because I'm worth it. Because I have been taking lots of pictures and want to have the best equipment I can. Because my primary hobby of knitting is completely self sufficient and the money I made at this craft show was basically money in the bank. Because we will have all debt besides Mike's car and the house paid off by early next year. Because we don't have kids and can afford to treat ourselves to toys that we want but don't necessarily need. Basically because I really wanted it.

I chose the Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens. I seriously compared my options over the past few days. At first I thought about going with the entry level Rebel XS but I decided for just $100 more it just didn't make sense to not get the next one up. I couldn't really justify the T1 with my current skills as it is really a low end professional in my opinion. I think that the XSi will grow with me. It has live view which was important to me and all the bells and whistles I could ask for. I went to an electronics store last night and held them to make sure it felt right in my hands. The XS felt cheaper made to me while the XSi just felt right.

The Nikons were nice but the Canons had the nobs and buttons in the same place as my Powershot and felt more familiar to me. I'm definitely a creature of habit and didn't want to have to learn a whole new software package and system along with learning my new camera. The Rebels seem to have a very loyal and devoted following so I think I will be very happy with my purchase.

I will probably want to get a better lens before too long but the kit lens will get me started just fine. I'm going to ask for a Rebel case from Mom for Christmas with a filter and spare battery pack. I also bought the The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D Companion in paperback which should help me get more comfortable. I should have it in 2 days since I signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime. I'm looking into some photography classes for the new year that could help me improve my skills. I just had to share my exciting news since Mike has been completely uninterested in my endless comparisons of cameras.