by hand

Starting during the last Christmas season, I've tried to have every gift I send be handmade. It's not always possible for me to make the items myself, so when I'm pressed for time I look to Etsy for extra-special gifts. Because I've just loved everything I've ordered, I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite sellers:

For jewelry I just love SaraArts (such pretty swingy earrings), DornickDesigns (where I found the groovy tree of life necklace that I'm so fond of), PolishedTwo (such gorgeous stones), the artsy pendants of MadisonCraft Studios, and the Parisian-style earrings of JenniferRydin Designs (oolala!). Although I'm not a 'fancy' person, I do love pretty things, and I get a lot of pleasure out of wearing and gifting jewelry these days.

For the items I crochet, I've ordered recycled yarn from Soulful Hues. She unravels old sweaters and then dyes the yarn in wonderfully bright and groovy colors. Gorgeous!

For paper goods I've purchased items from RedCaboose (who, unfortunately, has an empty shop right now, but she's the one who made the darling tags I added to my holiday gifts) and from JumpingJackDesigns (you just take a look at those catnap notecards and tell me that you can resist!).