Friday, December 6, 2013

2013 Gift Guide: #HandmadeHour

Here's to supporting small business and the artisan community this year by shopping handmade! This is the latest in a series of gift guides featuring works from makers on Etsy. These artists also hangout on Twitter for #HandmadeHour.

I'm relatively newish to Twitter. I've had an account for years, but I rarely use it. Mostly because I'm already juggling a FB page, blog, Website, Pinterest, etc. and the idea of one more social network to keep up with was... well you know. Also, Twitter moves fast. Even with the lists and hash-tags the variety of content can be overwhelming. Then I found #HandmadeHour! It's fast paced, but in a good way. Most of the artists/makers are from Europe, but they welcome makers from everywhere. It's like a mini vacation via the internet!

My Top 5 from #HandmadeHour

1. Upcycled bullet brooches from Lucy Ann Smethurst of ChangeTheRecord. Love these! 

Upcycled brass bullet brooch pin with real bird feathers- duck, pheasant- unisex buttonhole winter wedding groom



2. Aileen Clarke of AileenClarkeCrafts creates colorful textile art from her cabin in Fife incorporating hand-spun and dyed wool from Scottish Islands featuring Scottish landscapes. She also sells prints, mugs and calendars featuring her original works.


4. How about a pin from Farah Shah of Fawa1 to stuff in that stocking? Bright illustrations created using colored pencils on shrink plastic. 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/170871748/blue-bird-brooch-handmade-animal-brooch?ref=related-1

3. Louise Jenkins of illustratorlou creates fantastic water color paper cuts inspired by the English countryside.  

Paper Cut Wall Fine Art Piece of "Hogg & Ewe" Sheep/ Made to Order


5. TheOriginalThread has just the thing to trim tree this year. Two handmade Christmas robins from an original pattern. So Sweet!

Two Handmade Christmas Robin Hanging Decoration


I love that all of these pieces are inspired by the natural world. There were so many great items to choose from over at #Handmadehour it seems kind of silly to label these my top five, but I guess that's been true of this entire series. So much creativity out there!

Check out my other 2013 Holiday Gift Guides: 
 
For the Host/Hostess
For the Jewelry Lover 
For the Kids 

Thanks for reading! 

1 comment:

  1. Wow, what a lovely collection. I have used some of them in tonight's #handmadehour treasury. I am Dalmatian Mum or Jilly of Fabrilushus. | LOVE the handmade hour. Nice blog.

    ReplyDelete