Handmade | Your Traveling And Vacations Portal

Featured Etsian: Extraseed

Since I seem to be on a shoe kick lately (no pun intended), here is a new seller that I found on Etsy. What adorable, well-made shoes! They are handmade, using recycled car tires for the soles………very cool and green, too. I love the shapes, colors and fabrics. They look like high-end store-bought shoes!

See many more styles at the shoppe: extraseed

Shoppe Preview #1

Since temporarily closing my Etsy shoppe, I’ve been busy working on new inventory. Here is a preview of what will be hitting my shoppe later on this month (hopefully).

Featured Etsian

My featured seller for the week is dragonhouseofyuen. What funky, fabric animal sculptures! They would be so retro/mod hanging from a Christmas tree, strung on a piece of twine and hung around a window, or just sitting on your dresser. Btw……I just love how the artist community calls these “sculptures” now instead of plain old stuffed animals. It fits them better, since these really are pieces of art and not cheap children’s toys.

My favorite sculptures here are the squirrels, but there are so many different styles and patterns to choose from, that you’ll have to stop by the shop and decide for yourself. 🙂

Excerpt from dragonhouseofyuen’s profile page:

“Annette Tait of Dragon House of Yuen

I grew up in Zambia, the Highlands of Scotland and Outback Australia surrounded by animals. I am inspired by nature and have a great love of all animals. My art is animal oriented and comes from the heart. All my work is originals and has been designed and created by me. (Please see)My fine art website: www.dragonhouseofyuen.co.uk“

Necktie Necklace — copying curious finds

When I came across this adorable necklace last week, I thought, “Wow, that’s neat!” I had been in the mood to try wearing a necktie because I think they’re adorable and interest-sparking fashion accessories……..but I hadn’t quite decided whether one would look (or feel) right on me. So this seemed like the perfect compromise; fashion forward and boyish, yet with a feminine touch.

{So I shamelessly copied}

I really love the way this fabric looks with the skirt I just finished making (more on that later……) and I was trying to find a way to incorporate it into the finished outfit…………..this was the perfect solution. 😀 I have another fabric that would look great with the skirt, too. Maybe another necktie necklace is is order.

A photo of the back because I think it looks cool. 😉

Etsian of the Week – Silkiness

I’m proud to present the talented work of my friend Elizabeth. I recently found out that she has started an Etsy shop where she sells her absolutely gorgeous handpainted scarves and neckties. I have painted a scarf before, and let me tell you, it takes practice and a lot of talent to paint them like Elizabeth does. So please take a moment to browse through her lovely shop……..Silkiness, and if you like what you see, snap one up! They are one-of-a-kinds. My favorite is the green necktie………….now if only I had a man to wear it! 😉

The first GildedBee giveaway! :D :D

TheGildedBee

My good friend Sasha is hosting her very first giveaway on her own blog, iamthebee! Check it out and enter……you have 4 chances to win, but the giveaway ends March 27th, so hurry!

The Great Shoe Splurge

Well, I finally broke down and bought an adorable pair of handmade shoes from Etsy. I’ve been eyeing the shoes at three different shops for a while now, although the one I ended up purchasing from was actually a very recent find via the front page. 😉 I started admiring and thinking about the unique shoes from HydraHeart first, but after reading some of the feedback, I wasn’t quite confident enough to buy a pair. Also, the toes on their shoes are SO short…….which would be adorable if you have a smaller foot/toe area than I do. 😉

The shoes from SmartFish are really cool, and some of them are even embellished, but they are too far out of my price range.

So I decided to buy a pair from TheGeneration, my newest find. The shoes were reasonably priced, even if it is more than I normally spend, and they are SO cute! They had great feedback saying how comfortable and cute the shoes were, and how well they fit. I can’t wait until mine come, but it will probably take a month or so before they’re finished and on their way. That’s alright…..it will give me something to look forward to. Once they come I can blog my own photos and give a full report. So far I give TheGeneration an A+ for cuteness, perfect communication, and reasonable price. Plus she was even willing to work with me for a different size than is normally offered; I wear a size 11. 😉

This is the style I purchased:

And this is the color: pretty, muted lime green. 🙂 I think this color will go well with most of my outfits.

~ I love owls ~

monkeytravelclub

I love owls. Retro owls, mostly, with bright colors in orange, brown, & green, etc. So I thought it would be fun to post a bunch of them that I found on Etsy. Enjoy! 🙂

~*****~*****~*****~*****~*****~*****~

Delishbeads

brightcolorart

woollyfabulous

roseyposeybowtique

mamaslittlebabies

whileshenaps

sleepyking

yakarina

manicmuffintotes

marisolspoon

theblackapple

One of my favorite prints of Emily’s. 🙂

asecinc

tizzalicious

~~Velvet Strawberry Goodness~~

I LOVE velvet! Velvet fabric, velvet dresses, velvet jackets, velvet hats, velvet ribbon and velvet strawberries (to name just a few). 😉

I’ve been thinking a lot about velvet leaves and strawberries off and on……..as the urge for them comes and goes. One day I might be thinking about making a hat. And, “oh, velvet strawberries would look delicious on a hat!”. Or I might be searching Etsy and happen upon a vintage bag with velvet strawberries. “Oh, how pretty. I should make something like that.” So, recently I noticed these lovelies on Etsy at WispsGathering Beauty. I really, really love them, but I thought, “Why pay for these when I can make them myself?”

Enter my first attempt at velvet strawberry making!

I really love the way this one turned out. I used a piece of GORGEOUS (the prettiest I’ve seen) crushed pink velvet that I’d been hoarding for quite some time. I had originally gotten it to make a jacket for a doll, but since I’m more into little random oddities these days, I figured it would never end up as a jacket anyway.

The strawberry greens are made of wool felt, since I was afraid that green velvet might fray and look messy. Besides, felt is so easy to work with and I think it looks really nice paired with the velvet.

Most of the velvet strawberries I see out there have white seeds, but I prefer the black, as they’re closer to the color of the real thing. I am running very low on the black seed beads, though, so the following strawberries might have to conform to the trends. 😉

I hope you enjoyed viewing my lovely strawberry. 🙂 I enjoyed making it and love the outcome so much, that I’ve cut out 24+ more strawberries that will hopefully make their way to my shoppe in the near future. Wish me luck, as I never seem to finish what I start. 😉 This time will be different…………

ps. I’m still loving those vintage strawberries……….I may just crack………… 😉

My second apron order

I’d like to share my second apron order since the one I first made for myself several months ago. This one was designed around the vintage handkerchiefs given to me by the child’s mother. I was able to use pieces of the same hankies, both on the child’s apron and also on the matching American Girl apron. Aren’t they cute? And I think that I found the perfect fabric to match the handkerchiefs. When I bought the fabric at Hancock’s, I didn’t know if it would match or not……….but look how nice it turned out! I used handmade bias tape on the edges to give this apron a different look, and switched the placement of the pockets around. Another new thing for me was the creation of several yo-yo’s for each apron. Yo-yo’s have been my most hated embellishment in times past, but I have recently acquired a love for them via Etsy. 🙂 I think they add the perfect vibe to these retro aprons!

All of the buttons on both aprons are vintage, as are the hankies (supplied by the customer). Everything else was store-bought, but it all blends in quite nicely with the whole retro-vintage feel.

The photos don’t do these two justice, but……………

Thanks for taking a peek! 🙂

Click for larger photos!

Together: