Gift Guide

The holidays are upon us and I'm already done with half of my shopping, woohoo! I even scored a treat for myself on cyber-Monday :-)

I am an admitted etsy addict. I simply love the idea of paying artisans directly for their unique work, rather than paying to keep up a retail store. There are also some good deals to be found on etsy, especially for the most competitive category which is jewelry. I'd love to promote etsy more but I do think it can be a bit overwhelming at first for newbies because there is so much stuff! So I put together a gift guide for people to check out that includes some really unique pieces as well as some good deals! Its roughly arranged to have more expensive items on the left and less expensive items on the right. The respective links are copied below the picture.


For her
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33674826
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26541657
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35185931
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34685856
For him
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31015641
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35736514
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34730857
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35720016
Anyone
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31341663
Child or Animal Lover
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15100454
The Gardener
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29597351
Fancy Schmancy Stocking Stuffer
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29338105
Unique Gift Ideas
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29322732
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34502624
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35070529
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35563036

These are, of course, only single items from some great sellers. If you like something I'd definitely recommend browsing the artist's store.

Happy Shopping!

The Projects

My most recent project, a necklace, was caused by a gray rainy day. It just seemed like there should be some way to capture the look of dark water droplets. Luckily I had picked up some Czech glass beads a while back that had yet to inspire me. With a few architectural acrobatics in wire I was able to create this:


I decided to call it 'Waterfalls' because of the two separate clusters of beads (I couldn't put beads in the middle because they deformed the shape of the chain, making it hang at angles rather than draping). Overall I'm happy with the effect.

From the world of design:
At the moment, I'm sewing netting and rapidly learning that it sucks. The pattern instructions simply say to sew it, but the fact that its made of more air than material causes headaches for the sewing machine. I've decided to use scraps of muslin/plain white fabric along the seams, though its made the pinning process quite slow. After sewing it I trim the scraps very close to the seam so that there isn't a lot of excess fabric. It just isn't a fun process, but I'm hoping the end results are worth it.

Miscellaneous:
The other project is a dresser. I picked it up for $50 intending to repaint it (the green is godawful ugly) but the wood underneath (see the picture of the drawers) is actually very nice, so I'm thinking I might change my mind and refinish the wood instead. Its quite a bit of work sanding things down. I've already done quite a bit of it and got a great workout for my arms :-) Most of the information I've read on the web about refinishing was VERY intimidating, mostly because of the sanding, but I really don't think its that bad. I also haven't worked with paint stripper yet though, which I will likely have to do if I want to get rid of all the green. Dilemma... I already have the cranberry red paint to change the color. Should I really go through all the work to refinish it?

Oh boy, so many things to work on. I also picked up the cheapest dress form I could find to make the designing/sewing process a bit easier. We'll see how it goes.

Until later...