Handmade Jewlery, Bags, Clothing, Art, Crafts, Craft Ideas, Crafting Blog

Merry Holidays!

I know it’s *short notice* (I’ve been busy for the holiday too), but I have an amazing giveaway for you all to help usher in a new year.

This month’s giveaway is worth over $100!

One winner will receive a handmade camera strap from !Mo and an $80 gift voucher for the BeadCrafty site to spend as you wish!

2 Easy Ways to Enter:

1) Leave a comment below letting us know which !Mo camera strap is your favorite and what you’d create with $80 from BeadCrafty.

2) Share the giveaway on Twitter using this message:

I entered the #giveaway @hhandmadeblog and you should too! http://bit.ly/v8aITk

(more…)

The perfect present for your furry friends!

This is the recipe I use to make our treats at home. The result is a very hard, crunchy cookie – just the way our guys like ‘em.

The directions suggest you leave the cookies to cool overnight in the oven, but if your canine companions simply can not wait that long – it’s ok to serve after cooling on a wire rack (they just will not get as crunchy).

I’ve found that these cookies stay good for about 1-2 weeks in an airtight jar. They also freeze well for up to a year. (more…)

A Heart Handmade Blog Holiday Feature

What type of felting do you do?

Needle felting. It is a fairly new art/craft. Originally the needles we use were designed to be used in machines to commercially make felt sheets. Some really creative and adventurous person decided to see what would happen if used manually…and with wonderful and fun results!

A Heart Handmade Blog Holiday Featurette

What have you been working on for the holiday season?

I just started making my gift tags. They are easy and fun to make and I get to use materials already lying around the house. I liked the idea of making sets so that people could personalize their gifts while keeping a cohesive theme. Not every gift requires a giant tag so I like to make sets with different sizes.

A Heart Handmade Blog Holiday Feature

Today’s feature spotlight should give you some good ideas on how to display a few of the ever-so-important aspects of your holiday dinner – THE DESSERTS! Inspired by shabby chic and vintage elements, Deborah puts rare, antique and one of a kind pieces together to beautify your holiday table.

A Heart Handmade Blog Holiday Featurette

Hope you enjoy my critters as much as I enjoyed making them!

I love the slight imperfection that comes with handmade goods. They feel much more alive than machine-generated massproducts and I like to think that the intention of thought, attention to detail and most of all love that goes into handmade creations will also resonate with the new owner.

A Heart Handmade Blog Holiday Featurette

Everything in my shop is skin nourishing- & knowing that I’ve held nothing back, skimping nowhere. I take pride in delivering exceptional products.

A Heart Handmade Blog Holiday Featurette

Bonnes Fêtes!
Which is French for Happy Holidays!

Geraldine is a French artist & illustrator living in San Francisco.

Tell us a little about your holiday cards:

I hand drew this owl silhouette, inspired by traditional French embroidery, vintage lace and doilies from France. The design features multiple delicate woodland motifs from nature like flowers, branches, leaves and birds while incorporating abstract and geometrical shapes like hearts.

A Heart Handmade Blog Holiday Featurette

What is your favorite holiday tradition?

My family began a tradition we call “Christmas Eve Drive Surprise” years ago. Each Christmas Eve we would spend the day on sometimes a well planned route and sometimes a flying by the seat of our pants route going to various fun places with the kids. They would never know what was coming next and spent the time in the car guessing where the next stop would be. Some years it was just bowling, movies, miniature golf…easy things but usually in another town nearby to keep them guessing. Other years we would have something more elaborate planned incorporating visits to relatives or theme park visits. One year we planned to spend a couple nights in a cabin in the mountains….that one will go down in family history. My daughter now takes her children on a drive surprise. That tells me that all the time spent planning (or not) our adventure was one of the fondest memories we created for your kids.

How did you get started doing holiday crafts?

I have always made gifts for my family at Christmas time (it’s how I got the nickname “Martha”). Some of the things I have in my shop are inspired by gifts I have made in the past.

How is your holiday crafting different than “regular” crafts you do?

My Grandma K was an avid crafter. All of my siblings (there are 11 of us) have a special stash of her Christmas ornaments all handmade by her. I look forward to bringing out her ornaments every year. That is what I try to do with my holiday crafts. I want my crafts to bring a smile to someone’s face when they take them out each year. It is making such treasures that inspires me. I love the thought that someone is taking out one of my angels and hanging her on their tree each year just as I anticipate taking out my Grandma K’s ornaments.

Tell us a bit more about your angel tree topper:

My angel figurine was a gift I made for each of the girls in my family a long time ago. This year, I made her into a tree topper. She is ordinarily a little shabby chic if you will with burlap wings and a twine halo. I wanted to make her a little more dressy and special so I added a lace overlay to her dress and gave her a whimsical Christmas bouquet of fun things to hold. She was quite beautiful and is now in someone’s home topping their Christmas tree, I love that.

I love that something I made is bringing joy to a family somewhere!