EtsyGreetings Blog Hop: Handmade Holiday Tradition

This post is part of the EtsyGreetings Team Holiday Blog Hop.
Our theme is Handmade Holiday.
Happy reading!

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I've always had many handmade traditions around the holidays, I particularly enjoy making handmade gifts and wrapping them in creative ways.  But now that we have a toddler in the house, our traditions are expanding in many new directions.

As a Pinterest lover, I've found an enormous amount of great holiday do-it-yourself ideas for the little guy.  One that I'm especially excited about is the idea of making a felt tree for him to decorate (and hopefully it will be a terrific distraction from all the sparkly ornaments on our full-size Christmas tree!).  I'm hoping this will be a fun holiday tradition for at least a few more years.

The tree works on the principle that "felt sticks to felt" and is very similar to "story boards" you may have encountered in the children's library as a kid.  I cut a generous-sized Christmas tree from 36" wide green felt purchased at Joann Fabric.  I went for the highest wool content I could find, in this case, 35%, because really the guiding principle here is "wool felt sticks to wool felt".  And in fact the "stickiness" property is significantly higher the more wool content you have.  Because of this, the artificial craft felts are not great for this project.

As it turns out, felt with any wool content is hard to find locally in great colors.  So naturally I turned to etsy and of course, found an excellent seller with a superb collection at Felt on the Fly.  My felt choices arrived last week and I can't tell you how gorgeous they are.  I had no idea felt could be so beautiful.

Then it was time to cut and design ornaments!  I love a little in-front-of-the-tv project, so decided to sew the layers of my felt ornaments by hand.  I know there are probably some great alternate options out there using different adhesives if you're short on time.

And that was it!  Hang the tree on the wall, give the little guy the ornaments and encourage him to "decorate"!  Happy kid, happy parents ... and a happy holiday!

There are more than 20 great Etsy paper artists participating in this blog hop!  To visit the next blog in the hop, just click the right arrow below!  To see a list of everyone that's participating, click the round logo to be taken to the EtsyGreetings blog.

Holiday Knitting is Underway

So many stockings, so little time. Though small (2.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches tall), these little guys are knit on tiny needles - each one takes about 2 hours to complete. But they make such great little gift toppers, tree ornaments, silverware holders on the holiday table, and gift card containers ... I can't seem to keep them in my shop (admittedly, a good problem!). I've knit over 50 so far this season, and I'm still loving every stitch - a fun little project to have on my needles this fall.

My First Printable!

So I've been starting the holiday shopping and crafting, and was so thrilled to put some fresh tags, holiday cards and my first printable file in the shop!

I'm very excited about my first interactive card as well! When you pull the tab, the tree "lights up" with colored bulbs, and the sweet holiday message appears from it's hiding place. Very fun to design (though admittedly, quite time-consuming!).

I Heart Custom Orders

Much of my time these past few weeks has been devoted to filling custom orders. Though always a little complicated, I love these projects. They often give me an opportunity to try new techniques, or stretch my design ideas just a little bit. And my Etsy clients are always awesome. Here are a few of the custom projects I've been working on lately.

Pretty Paper Garland

I've been wanting to play with some paper garland for a little while now. The design I had in my mind was much more delicate than what my sewing machine could handle, so I ended up hand-stringing these .5 inch white flowers. The result was really pretty - light and airy. And it was a nice, short project to contrast that ever-present long one (my dissertation). Nothing like some paper art to make you feel like you've made an accomplishment for the day!

Butterflies

Our little one is fascinated by the butterflies in our backyard, so I made him a little butterfly mobile from "found things" around our house (unused knitting needles, thread, bits of ribbon, some beads) and some free clipart images from the web. The breeze from the air conditioning vent across the room gives it just enough motion to keep things interesting (and not too tangled).

Love Coupons are Back {again!}

I was fortunate to again find some time to make a limited run of my newly redesigned handmade love coupons. These little lovelies are completely customizable, and special text requests can be made in the notes at checkout. Stay tuned to the shop - I have some delightful new papers from Scotty Girl Design that I'm planning to use for additional sets.

The Always Lovely "Lovely Clusters"

I always enjoy the selections at Lovely Clusters. And it's a thrill to have a few of my knitted items there as well. Stop by to see the pretty spring catalog:

Bunting Fun

So I've been wanting to put together a little bunting for our holidays. I know it's only April, but it's always Christmas craft time around here - especially with all the custom stocking orders I'm still filling!

Today I had some time to pull out my fabric stash and play with some of the reds a bit. Though the photos aren't terrific, I think the little bunting turned out pretty well!