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Saturday, November 6, 2010

Having an online handmade Christmas

I am not a shopper at heart.  I can't stand crowds and queueing up at registers, the hustle and bustle of too many people crammed in one store, desperately trying to get THE Christmas present, you know the one.. that one that makes people think you are the best person in the world! I treat shopping like some commando operation - plan what you want, get in there, get it, get the hell outta there! And then go and have coffee.. maybe cake.

So, given I'm slightly lazy at heart and don't get anywhere near enough time to sit in my very comfy armchair, plus given my already discussed shopping grrrrrrrrrrr's, I decided two things this year ... 1) I'm doing it online baby and 2) It's all going to be handmade.  Well, seriously, how could I not buy handmade seeing as I make my own handmade items. 

So, already I've bought some lovely candles and I'm going to be making a few things myself too for gifts.  I mentioned on Facebook last night that my ever loving hubby had bought me some soap and other wonderfully fragranced items - well he did click the Pay Now button (yep, I make soap, I buy soap... I am an addict).  Then one of my Facebook friends, Claire, said it was a great idea but she wouldn't have a clue where to buy handmade items so I thought... I'll show her! So, here's my first post about some handmade goodies you can buy this Christmas!

Etsy is a huge international website dedicated to handcrafters of all sorts - the majority are American which is fine except the delivery charges can mount up a little when ordering from the other side of the world, plus Irish people may have to pay customs charges.  However, there's a whole Etsy Ireland team and I've decided to feature them today - after all, in this economy, why not buy local.

So, here are my choices for some fabulous handmade Irishmade Christmas gifts:

Kyanite Earrings by AMOR based in Dublin - Kyanite is a shimmery stone with most unusual properties, it is also highly sought after for both healing and meditation purposes as it is considered to be very powerful energetically and metaphysically.


Mother & Daughter Aprons by A Room in The Cottage based in Kildare - I love the idea of these! What a cute gift for someone - I remember helping my Mum to cook years ago and I think it's such a lovely bonding experience to cook with your mother.

Grá Wrapper Paper by Placed - Grá (pronounced graw) means love in Irish; I thought this would a lovely wrapping for gifts for your Irish friends who live abroad

Peacock Clutch Bag from BagNoir from Dublin - oh I adore this! It's a beautifully embroidered peacock feathers on pure dupion silk topped off with an antique gold purse frame

Cupcake Scarf by BeeLicious based in Cork - how cute is this?! For those friends of yours who are cupcake crazy (and who isn't to be fair)

Photographic Print by Paul Beattie based in Coleraine - amazing images in black and white and colour

Christmas Ornament by Rainbow Stained Glass based in Mayo - handmade, stunning

Amazonite Bracelet by Balanced from Dublin - fantastic aqua blue green Amazonite chip beads and dark brown wood rondelles strung onto memory wire to create this beautiful wrap bracelet which fits all sizes - this is on SALE too!

Red Berries Christmas Ornament by AMI Designs in Belfast - this Christmas ornament was made to look like the bright red holly berries and is made from handwrapped cherry red glass pearls on memory wire and secured with red ribbon

These are just some of the fabulous gifts you can find online - I've seen a few I really want to get for myself (yes, the pressies for yourself are just as important!!!)

2 comments:

  1. I can't like it on FB, so I comment here. That's a lovely article and it is amazing how talented some people are, isn't it. We are also doing a handmade christmas, so Etsy, Folksy and Misi will be high up the list this year.

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  2. I think we, as handmade crafters ourselves Sabine, really should do a handmade Christmas too... mostly cos there's such fabulous stuff out there, such incredible beauty. My post took max of 30 minutes to write, imagine what you could find if you spent more time looking! Hooray for Handmade I say!!!

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