Visiting Old Friends

It's been too long since I've gone handmade shopping, and too long since I've spent time with old friends.  So today I will do both...let's see what new creations my old friends have to offer.

Isobell Morrell loves giving old teddy bears new life, and creating adorable new animal toys for kids of all ages.  Her shop on Etsy is Coldham Cuddlies.  You'll love it there.

Percy Penguin is the newest member of the Coldham Cuddlies family.  He stands about 7.5" and would make baby (or big baby) a great forever friend.

Isobel makes each animal by hand, and made to order.  So you are getting quality and unique toys.  And like I said, she also can take your old best buddy and infuse them with new life.  Check out her shop, and follow her adventures living in the country side in jolly old England by reading her blog,

Coldham Cuddlies Calling.

I don't know about you, but I love lists.  Notes.  To-do lists.  And while I've tried all those fancy apps, nothing beats a clean page and a new pen.
And that's why I love Blue Highways over at Handmade Artist.  Take this Heart of Nature handbound journal. You will never find something this amazing and personal at Amazon.
Andrea drew the old Victrola and painted the flowers on this fabric cover.  She cut the 200 lined pages and sewed (yes, sewed) them into the journal and then added a small frosted red bead for an accent on the spine.  I have watched videos of how books are made (minus the machines), and the amount of work is unreal.  The best part?  These journals are not that expensive.  And they would be the best gift you could give your favorite word nerd.  She also has art journals with unlined pages.







Lastly, I met Teena at a local craft show last fall, and then she joined me over at The CraftStar.  And she is the perfect choice for what I wanted to share next...wire wrapped jewelry.
Check out this amazing Amber Wire Wrapped pendant.  The color and wrap of this copper wire accents this genuine amber stone perfectly.   There has been a push lately of some $5.00 jewelry company, I've seen their direct marketing booths at local craft shows, and let me tell you, that jewelry can not compare to handcrafted jewelry.  This pendant will be something you'll pass on down through the years to your children, and their children.  Teena's business is Serendipitini and not only does she offer jewelry, but pet items, and beautiful glass artwork.

So ends my shopping trip for today.  Remember, the holiday season is not far away, so support your local small business and shop handmade.

Be blessed,
Debbi

Feature Friday - Papyrusaurus on The Craft Star

Today's artist feature is on Ashley Mankoski from Papyrusaurus on The Craft Star.  She makes the coolest stuff from recycled books and paper.

Isn't this adorable? A sci-fi love story, this I Love You. I Know. is a print of Ashley's original artwork and comes matted and ready for framing.

Ashley also has tons of these, cute sayings on book pages.  This Tardis print is one I really like, since I just started to watch Dr. Who, and I'm enjoying it.

I got a real kick out of this Polish Porcupine Ball Decoration.  What I also got a kick out of was her description, "Please keep in mind that though they look like they could take an eye out, they are made of paper and don't do well in the hands of small children or your drunken uncle Joe."

I have quite a few of those Uncles in my family. hahaha

Ashley also has a second shop where she showcases her natural jewelry designing creations.

Isn't this a totally awesome necklace???

Yep, that's rolled paper with glass beads.  So cool.

This last piece I just had to share because of the colors.  And yes, those are handpainted twigs at the bottom.  This Neon Mixed Media Necklace would look great at a summer party.

You can find Ashley and all her creations here...

Papyrusaurus / SticksandTomes / Facebook 

Twitter / Pinterest

Until next time...

Be blessed,

Debbi

Hello to Handmade!

Hello 2014...and Hello to Handmade.  Let's make this year the year of handmade because buying handmade is buying quality...and family.  When you shop at your local small businesses, or purchase handmade at craft shows and on-line, you are supporting family.  Let's see what I can find today....

...according to Pantone, the color of this year is Radiant Orchid.

Isn't that just GORGEOUS!!!

So, now let's go shopping...

I generally don't shop at Etsy anymore...but I thought today, aw, why not.  I was so pleased to find this handmade Kumihimo bracelet in the shop of Sparkleez Crystals. 

 If you love bling like I do, you'll love this shop.

Over at Handmade Artists the first thing that popped up was this beautiful Orchid Lavender Knit Headband created by my friend Sandi at iKnitQuiltSew.  I especially like the flower, and with the cold weather across the nation, this looks toasty and warm. :-)

Now on to The Craft Star, and these very pretty Layered Heart Tags in the shop of Cards and More by Sheri.  You can find so many uses for these cards, gift giving, scrap booking, or string them together for an awesome banner.

And now for some self-promoting...here is my Radiant Orchid Lilac Beaded Handbag.  I have lots of other stuff too in my shop...

Yankee Burrow Creations,

and

Yankee Burrow Vintage.

So, what do you have that's Radiant Orchid?

Be blessed,

Debbi

It's a party...a real, old fashioned, face to face, party

Who remembers Tupperware Parties?  Or Sarah Coventry parties?  Or more recently, Pampered Chef parties?  Well, the big brains over at The Craft Star  have come up with a new way for their vendors to show off, and sell, their handmade products.  It's a come to the house and eat some chips and check out the goodies we have to offer party.  

antiqued copper pendant

black fedora hat

watercolor cards

This is just a small sample of the totally awesome products that will be for sale at the party.
Connie Bush will be hosting the party at New Beginnings Church in Pickens SC, and there will be samples from each shop represented at the party, for her guests to handle and admire. :-)
And after the party, all the samples will be for her to keep as a hostess gift, pretty cool.
The party will be held August 28th, but you can visit the party on line anytime between now and then to place your order, before anyone else.  Remember, doing your gift giving shopping this way not only supports small business, but you also receive quality handmade products, and most of them are original one of a kind items.  Great for gift giving, and for keeping to yourself. lol
So come on over, let's party hearty!
Be blessed,
Debbi

let's do a Friday finds...new handmade items I found

I've been a bit MIA from my second home this past week, so today I'm looking to see what I missed in the land of handmade.

Let's start with The Craft Star, my new home sweet home...

Here's a sweet idea, a crochet necklace from the shop of Thread Headz.  She has actually listed 3 new crochet necklaces, and is having a crazy good sale going on right now in her shop.  You need to check it out.

Oh....I need to get this for Quintin.  How adorable is this crochet cowboy boots and hat? And I've seen regular baby booties, roller skates, and so many other great baby items in this shop, Handmade Gifts by Barb.

Look what I found in the vintage section!  An amazing turquoise pendant. This was in the shop of Retro Sideshow, whom I featured just last week.  Amazing shop with amazing items.

Now I'm off to visit some old friends at Handmade Artists.
This handbound book would be a great gift for any student in your life. You can find books of all sizes and kinds in the shop of Blue Highway.

Cari from Crochet Hooked makes these amazing bracelets.  She somehow crochets them.  I tried this, and let me tell you...it ain't easy. lol.  I love the warm brown color of this braidlet bracelet.

Well, I'm running out of time, and need to go and start dinner, so my shopping time is done.  But you can continue to discover the beauty of handmade just by clicking on any of the links above.

Be blessed,
Debbi

Handmade Artists feature...looking for some peace

Everyone needs a little peace in their lives, and to me, nothing give me peace like my faith in Jesus Christ.  And peace is the theme for the blog ring over at Handmade Artists.  One of the great items there is the ability to create beautiful highlights so we can love and share several items at once, and here is a highlight I created that speaks peace to me.

It's titled "my soul shall sing" and if you click on that link, you can visit the highlight for a closer look and the direct links to each item.

To me, blue is a calming color, and brings me peace, so I would like to share 1 item from each of the participating shops of our blog ring.

Starting from the top left corner and moving clockwise we have...

a Sprite Aquamarine chainmaille Bracelet from
The Alchemist Vessel.

a Turquoise Cats Eye woven beaded ring from abeadthing.

Life is a beach wall plaque from
YankeeBurrowCreations.

Arrabelle aqua blue necklace by
Collette Collection.

a deerskin bag with a blue beaded center by ThunderRoseLeather.

sparkling waters bracelet and earrings by
Trusk4u.

cowboy baby booties by
IKnitQuiltSew.

blue layered butterfly card by
Bethies Cards.

Now you go ahead and click on any link and get some peace for yourself.

Be blessed,
Debbi

I need supplies...for scrapbooking

My friend and I went to a crop last night.  The group we belong to meets about twice a month, and we have a good time, sharing tools and stories.  But last night I discovered...I NEED SUPPLIES!  I have plenty of paper, so that wasn't a problem, but I do not have the embellishments I need to finish my pages.  Like last night, I finally got around to scrapping my sons wedding (they got married in 2008), and after placing the photos, I could not find any "nice" wedding embellishments.  I had stickers, so I used them, but the pages didn't look as nice as they would if I had some nice embellishments.  So, let's go shopping...

This black paper die cut border would have looked stunning on the silver paper I used last night.  I found this in the shop of MyGrandpasPen on Handmadeartitsts.  There are tons of great paper items in this shop, not just scrapbooking supplies.  You can also find greeting cards, invitations,  and gift tags.

Every good scrapper uses flowers, and the bright colors in this variety of red paper flowers  quickly caught my eye.  These come in a set of 15 flowers, and you can find other colors in the shop of creativejem also on Handmadeartists.

If you're like me, you enjoy instant gratification...so here is a beautiful, colorful DIGITAL scrapbooking kit from Cottage Craft Digitals.  I found this at TheCraftStar site. 

Now I'm ready to do some more scrapping....are you?

Be blessed,

Debbi

Before I forget, I wanted to share with you this photo I took last week, of my forever young hubby. :0)

my clean studio

I finally got some time yesterday to clean my studio from the mess I made at Christmas.  I had cleaned the downstairs shortly after my son and his wife left (my studio doubles as a guest house), but the upstairs?  Wrapping paper, ribbons, boxes, glues, holiday trimmings, beads, wire, what a mess.  But yesterday I got it all put away, and now I'm ready to get creative.  So today I decided to go shopping for supplies, because you can never have too many beads, paints, and yarn.
So let's run on over to Handmade Artists and see what we can find to play with... 

Wow...what amazing pieces of jewelry I can design with these beads.  The first is a Pink Flamingo Porcelain Cabochon from Abella Gifts, match this up with pretty pink and green beads for a very feminine statement piece.  And then I saw this cute little girl at My Craft Basket, a polymer clay dragon pendant that would also look great with pink beads.  HEY, look...I found some pretty pink and green beads!  You'll find these organic lampwork beads (with spacers) in the shop of Gaby.

 

Next I found this bag of handrolled paper beads at Jsouza's Shop.  Sure, these beads are something I look at and think "I can make them", but I never do, so it's time to just buy them.  And it's a great price for 100 beads.  You can get these adorable Sock Monkey Felties from Lil Bit Sassy.  Great for an added touch on anything, from quilts to scrapbooking.  Plus, if you ask, she can change the size and/or color.  And for more scrapbooking ideas, how about these die cut hearts from Creative Jem?  They would be great to use as a mat for your photos.

 

Yarn...yarn...I need more yarn.  Love the color, love the feel, love the fiber.  I found these on Etsy.

First the beautiful blues of this Iceberg handspun yarn from Cool climates.  You know what I love about handspun yarn?  The challenge of matching colors.  Not at all like what you can get at the "big" stores, where most every skein is the same.  I like the slight change in color and thickness in the handspun yarn.  Check out the differences in this amazing Siren Song yarn from Spincycle Yarns.  And I could just lick this Creamsicle Merino yarn from the shop of Sleeping Beauty.  Heck, I even love the name of her shop, lol.

Ok, my muse is now awake and raring to go.  Is yours?  If not, click on a link and visit a shop, and get creative!

Be blessed,

Debbi

Yankee Burrow Storytime - Remembering #5

Today I present to you the final chapter of our fictional story "Remembering".  You can find #1, #2, #3, and #4 here or at the above tab, "Yankee Burrow Storytime".

custom party supplies

First I run to the party supply place...crepe paper, paper plates, cards, games, everything you would need for a 10 year old's birthday party.  As I walk up and down the aisles I see a similar theme that we used for Alyse's 1st birthday, bright colored polka dots.  So I grabbed everything that even remotely had polka dots on them and threw them in my cart.  Next stop was the bakery....a cake, and cupcakes to share with the nursing staff.  Perfect.  Now back home...

family cabin

I grab our wedding album and scrapbook and rush back to Al.  I rush into his room, all out of breath, and smile when I see what the nurses did while I was gone.  Al was out of bed, freshly showered and shaved, sitting in the chair by the window.  My heart still melts whenever I see him, and the excitement inside me builds.  I put the scrapbooks on the table next to Al, and pull out the wedding pictures first.  "Remember this Al?  We were so young and so nervous.  But we never doubted that we were meant to spend our lives together."  I grab the scrapbook and show him the pictures of our cabin.  "You built this with your own two hands so we would have a place to escape together as a family when life got too stressful.  But even our cabin on the lake couldn't stop the flash backs, couldn't keep you from leaving me."  I reach out and grab his hand. " Look at me Al, look at me.  Today is our daughter's 10th birthday and we will celebrate it together, as a family, again."  Suddenly I feel it, Al's fingers wrapping themselves around my hand.  Subtly, but firmly.

I jump up and grab the bag of party supplies and get to work to make this sterile room into a party place.  And I finish just in time as my mother and my darling Alyse walks in the door.  At first Alyse hesitates, then she runs to her father.  As she hugs him I see a tear roll down his cheek.  The nurses join us as we sing to Alyse, and I can hear him...softly but clearly, Al says the words to the song.  He's back.  Finally, he's back.  I walk to him and reach out, and he takes my hand and he looks at me, really looks at me.  And the past 10 years just don't matter anymore.  Because Al is back.  From now on we will live...

word plates

I hope you have enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it.  Let it be a lesson for all of us, love still triumphs.

Be blessed,
Debbi

HAF artist spotlight....Blue Highways

The road less traveled...

the scenic route...

that's the road I love to take because who wants to be like everyone else?

And that's what I like best about the Handmade Artists shop of Andrea...

Blue Highways.

Andrea also enjoys traveling the back roads, and as far as originality goes, her hand bound books are true originals.  Because after 3 books, the fabric is retired, never to be seen again on any other book.

When my family takes a "ROAD TRIP", we not only take tons of pictures, but I try to keep a journal to jot down our itinerary, and memories of all that we did, and the fun times together. 

 Now here's a great journal for your next family trip...

Beautiful Chaos.  I love the bright colors on this 5.5" x 8.5" book, hand bound with 200 lined pages.  Being left handed...I cannot journal on unlined paper, otherwise my words just slant down, down, down.  And check out the detail of the threads on the spine.  All her books have beautiful spines.

Another great part of taking a vacation is the time I get to just doodle and sketch.  And for that I will need another kind of journal....like this one.

Papillions Azur.  The fabric cover is amazing!  And with 96 pages of 90# natural white watercolor paper.  Watercolor paper is also great for soft pastels, which is my medium of choice.  This book measures 6"x9", just large enough for some great sketches, and small enough to carry around with you.

Andrea lives in Ohio with her husband and boxer dog, and is a full time book binder and artist.  Book binding is a craft I know nothing about, and I have the highest appreciation of those who can create such beautiful places for the ideas and sketches of the rest of us.

My last share with you is another unlined book, for us doodlers.

This Songbird Book is covered with birds, and swirls, and flowers, and colors, to get your creative juices flowing.  And inside this 6" x 9" book you'll find 200 pages of premium white acid free 80# drawing paper.  Great for pencils and inks.  And if you can write in a straight line, this would also be a great journal for your thoughts and dreams.

Seriously...if you would love a special book like these, rush over to Blue Highways and talk to Andrea.  She loves to make her customers happy, and will do all she can for you.  So if you see a fabric you like, but want a different inside...just ask.

Andrea is setting up a website...Blue Highways Books.  It will be up fully by June 30th, but go there now and bookmark the page!  You can also follow any of the links below.

Website / HA shop / Etsy shop / Blog / Facebook / Twitter

Be blessed,

Debbi

Andrea will be on vacation until the 29th of June,  so you have time to browse.  Just be sure to bookmark her pages!!!!

Valentines Day is for children

Remember when you were little (way back in the day) when you didn't go to the store for those boxes of Valentines card, but instead you got out the construction paper and paste?  I thought those days were over, but our youngest boy proved me wrong.  Sunday evening we picked up the cards for the kids school parties and then spent last night tearing them apart, and signing them all.  This morning, our youngest foster son gave this to our daughter.

On the outside he wrote in pencil "Happy Valentines Day Hanna". (yes he spelled her name wrong, but he usually called her Anna, heehee). And on the inside he wrote "I hope you have a good day". Now how sweet is that??? It helps me to forget the bickering, and Hannah was so touched, she stuck it center-stage on the fridge.  So go on,  tell the special people in your life that you love them, and do it everyday, not just on Valentines Day.

Debbi