Six weeks until Thanksgiving.
Two weeks until Halloween
And a partridge in a pear tree.
Something that Laura J said on my Neighborhood: Home post from last week really stuck with me. In the face of toy recalls and the like I find myself suddenly more comfortable with what I consider to be my hokey habit of making gifts.
I love making gifts. I love it, right up to the point where the kid opens the gift. Then I start to feel cheap. Like, why didn’t I just buy the dumb action hero doll. What three year old wants a tie dyed shirt?
Just because my kids like it, doesn’t mean others will. All the parents…they are looking at me…like why are you such a cheapskate?
The thing is? I know the value of a homemade gift. When I look at this on Etsy…I know how much time went into making it. And it’s a bargain. Considering the time it took them to make. How much do you get paid an hour? Are you willing to pay someone that much, to make a gift as groovy as this one?
With ten weeks until Christmas I’m certainly feeling the homemade Christmas pressure, along with the Summer of babies quilts turned fall of baby quilts still in full swing…(stop drinking the water people!) but I’m feeling a lot better about my homemade gifts.
So much better that I declare this Christmas? Make your own gifts Christmas!
What your not crafty? You’ve hot glued your delicates to the toaster before?
We have a solution for you! (Stay away from the toaster..and) You can go to Christmas bazaars or …dun dun dun…the internet!
Have you heard of it?
Spend the money you would spend on Christmas at Etsy.(Please note, Etsy is a dangerous, dangerous place to lose all your money.) Some of your favorite bloggers have Etsy shops…like me! What you don’t have a baby? Well how about Beki? She sells bags at her Etsy shop. My husband and I opened a dual Etsy shop that is currently featuring his pottery (and someday my quilts if I ever get one done.) Bloggers everywhere have Etsy shops.
And if you need help. Here are a few of my favorite places to browse.
Ducks in a Row.. Wait. don’t go there. If you go there, you might buy something and then there won’t be anything left for me!
And you know how I am with the turtles...
And wouldn’t this look fabulous on my soon (in the next year) to be painted sewing room wall?
And this one makes me laugh.
Look. Rain.
Obviously I could go on all day. And I probably will, but I’ll end the post here.
Okay one more…
Merry Christmas (in ten weeks)
4 Comments
Why, oh why, did you have to tell us how many weeks until the next three major holidays? Some of us are in a state of denial and are still waiting for the elves to magically deliver all the hand made creations deemed necessary by each special occasion
I love the etsy idea. And I love your husband’s gold stoneware bowls. And I so have a problem with having to make all my gifts, worrying all the time that other’s are saying WHAT? she sanded some of her wood scraps, put them in a bag made of fabric scraps and called it a gift? (Actually, they were a popular gift, they cost me nothing, and my whole family got in on the creative action.) Happy holiday crafting!
Love this post, although I’m not sure whether to thank you or not for all those great Etsy links…I fear it may involve a transaction or two!
Geez, only 10 more weeks? At one point, I thought it would be neat to handmake all of the gifts I give this year, but now that I hear it’s only 10 weeks away, maybe it’s better just to make a couple key gifts. Thanks for the links – I love etsy.
(By the way, the link you put for the dual shop with you husband doesn’t work.)
10 weeks, for real???? Oh do I ever have work to do! We’ve declared it to be a pared down, make your own, put some real heart into it Christmas too… that is until the grandparents show up with the Wish Catalogue and start talking about writing letters to Santa. Sigh.
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[...] “Ten weeks till Christmas” by Running Stitch. I wish I had one iota the talent that Brit has for homemade crafts. She talks about how sometimes she feels cheap giving her creations as gifts and how we all need to treasure those things made by hand. She suggests we all indulge in a homemade Christmas, even if just buying from one of the many Etsy shops out there. She gives us a great list of shops to check out for starters and I’m thinking this is a fabulous idea. [...]