giving: etsy

I hope everyone had a wonderful time ringing in the New Year! Our evening was very low-key, as were the rest of our holidays this year. A little visiting with friends and a lot of staying home and hanging out together. We're still feeling less than completely settled so the simpler the better for us this year.

This post will be the first of several in which I will show off all the very cool handmade stuff we found and made for our holiday gifts! I want to share these because I have been so thrilled with all the good stuff we found to spoil our family with this year, and I hope you will remember these Etsy shops when you are in need of a special gift for someone you love as well. The handmade movement is growing so rapidly- it's quite easy to find something for absolutely anyone on your list.




For our roller skating fan, Hazel, I found this cool t-shirt. Since pink is her current favorite color, she was extra thrilled.



We were excited to find these little activity bags for 2 of the cousins- my own kids could not put them down when we got the package! All sorts of little items are hidden among tiny plastic pellets and a list is included. Hours of quiet searching fun are guaranteed! These would be great for car trips, waiting rooms, or anywhere else a kid has to sit and be relatively quiet for an extended period of time. Try finding the items in order for an extra challenge!



A set of 3 of these reusable produce bags went to my dad, along with 2 shopping totes that I sewed out of fabric from some thrifted draperies (which I failed to take pictures of!) Now he is set for some super green grocery shopping! I picked up a set of these bags for us as well and have been loving them. No more plastic to throw away after we carry our produce home!

I also got some really great customized return address stamps for my mom from Sweet Papery- and I was completely impressed with them! I won't post the pictures of the actual images because they have my parents' address on them, but if you go to the shop you can look around. She doesn't have anything listed right now due to the holidays but there will be soon. And if you click on "items sold" down on the right hand side, you can check out some of the great designs she had created. Really high quality, and excellent customer service. She worked with me to get the design just right before she made the stamps.

And it turns out Santa shops at Etsy too! Lyle got this great ball and the girls each got a cute zipper tote, a set of stationery. Daisy got a little frog mirror to match her bag, and Hazel got some rockin' rollerskate barrettes! Those were some stocking stuffed to the brim with handmade goodness, I'm telling you.

If you haven't been to Etsy yet, you've got to go check it out. Just do a search for anything that interests you (or someone you love) and I'm sure you'll find something you can't leave without.

Coming Thursday: Handmade by Yours Truly! Hope you have a happy Wednesday- our computer will be off and we'll be attending Story Time at the library and then back home to bake cookies.