Meaningful Gift Giving

My camera is officially dead. This is so, so sad. I like to document my progress on the shop and post what I've done, but until I get a new camera you just have to believe me that I'm working on things! Things are good and I'm making progress.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about Christmas. Eric and I have never been big Christmas spenders. Last year we took off for the holidays and celebrated our honeymoon instead. What a stress-free way to go through the holidays. We're planning on doing a repeat again this year, but I still want to get Eric something.

Meet the Giver's Log. This is a beautiful blog about giving gifts, wrapping gifts, and gift ideas.

Inspired by this blog post, I'm thinking of getting Eric something he wants, something he needs, and something he can treasure. I'm always trying to not spend a lot of money, so I've got to be thrifty and creative. I think the 'treasure' gift may be something I create that can be printed on this free canvas being offered by http://www.canvaspeople.com/.

How do you approach gift giving each year?

My Shop - Progress Update

I came up with the idea to open my own Etsy shop in April of this year. Since then I have spent approximately 100 hours researching Etsy, small businesses, photography, crafting, and the potential market for my jewelry display boxes.

This weekend I worked on filling in a few gaps in my boxes with wood filler and sanding them to perfection. This week I will be painting and working on stenciling some designs I've found. My camera recently died (RIP), but I want to keep my blog posts going until I can get a replacement.

I'm hoping to do a soft opening of my Etsy shop during the Christmas break and will keep you posted on my progress.

If you read this and are also working on a big project, how are you doing? What are you working on now?

(Pillow from www.pillowfarmer.etsy.com. Isn't it fabulous?)

Etsy Finds - Vandalized Vintage Plates and Arts

Trixie Delicious' Shop on Etsy creates "vandalized vintage" items like this fabulous set of plates on the seven deadly sins. More highlights below.

I'd love to have tea with a girlfriend with that kiss and tell set!

Inspiration is Everywhere - Magazine Page Pennant

I'm addicted to pretty little hanging pennants (also called banners or bunting.) Here is one I made from Yoga Journal and Real Simple magazine pages for a friend in a craft swap.

I highlighted an adorable pennant on Etsy in this post last month and below is a DIY I'm planning on making from Cathe Holden's blog Just Something I Made.

I'll post pics of my own once I've made it. If you haven't checked out Cathe's blog yet, head over when you get the chance. She is a great designer and offers a ton of freebies and tutorials.

Halloween Pennant - Printable Freebie

I made this sweet little Halloween pennant for a craft swap on http://www.momsasylum.com/. No, I'm not a mom, but I fell in with this great group of ladies and just love it there. I've included links to the pennant below for free download. Feel free to contact me for the Photoshop files if you'd like them.

Oh, a tip. Use a pretty black ribbon to sew the pieces together but make sure your ribbon doesn't get twisted. Mine did and I had already finished before I noticed. It was still cute, but I'll try to save you the trouble.



Halloween Banner 'T'
Halloween Banner 'R'
Halloween Banner 'I'
Halloween Banner 'C'
Halloween Banner 'K'
Halloween Banner 'or'
Halloween Banner 'E'
Halloween Banner 'A'

*As always my free tutorials/printables are for personal use only. ;)

Jewelry Display Box 2.0

I started work on my second jewelry display box prototype. I need to come up with a catchier name than a "jewelry display box" but I haven't figured one out yet. I think I may call each version or different size a different name. Like "Chloe" or "Illiana." Maybe I'll do city names. One style can be "Savannah" and another "Paris." If you think of something fancy, let me know okay?

I'm working on two right now. They are smaller than my first one but I'm reworking the design so I wanted to work small and then go big. I'll be working on these all week and will post updates as they come along.

More Creations from Craft Class

Featuring from left to right: Rachael's paper star earrings (modeled by Tobi), Marlene and Lulu's plushie, Nicole's Bob Marley painting, and Ahsaki's pirate plushie.

Above we have Brendon working on one of her cosplay wigs and Coco and Taylor working on the base coat for a chair design they created.

To all the ladies and one gentleman in my class (just wait until you see what Jeremy is working on), thank you for really diving right into this class. It is so inspiring to see what you come up with and it is so motivating to work with you every day.