Week 3 of the Christmas in July Weekend Showcase flew quickly by with many wonderful handmade and vintage items shared. The Showcase is generously hosted by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions, making early Christmas gift shopping very easy. There were nine more shares this week, making 69 total items. Many of the artists are running sales and/or free shipping in their studios. When you buy from one of these artists, you support small handmade or vintage sellers. Take the "Handmade Pledge" and buy that perfect, quality handmade or vintage piece for a loved one instead of buying mass produced stuff from a mega-huge store.
By the way, according to the Christmas Clock (www.xmasclock.com), there are only 156 days, 8 hours and 24 minutes to go since I hit the "submit blog post" button.
A crochet tapestry tile with a jaunty cardinal on a branch design handmade by Ruth of RSSDesignsinFiber
If you have a studio/shop on ArtFire, Zibbet, SupaDupa, Etsy, stand alone websites and the like, you can participate in the Christmas in July Weekend Showcase. You are invited to share up to three Christmas gift items between Friday around noon MST until midnight the following Sunday night. Then a new collection of Christmas gift ideas will start the next Friday, and so on, until the four weeks are up and Christmas is closer! The items shared need to be G-rated.
Earthy rhyolite, amethyst and wood bracelet with a sun toggle clasp handmade by Mary of PrettyGonzo
When you participate in the Christmas in July Weekend Showcase, important back links that we all want are provided back to your items. This will help make you more easily found by the Google gods. If you share items, you MUST promote each item in the countdown collection. That is only fair! Pinterest and/or Wanelo are preferred since everyone can see the items and it is easy to save off of them. Twitter, Facebook and G+ just do not provide the ability to find items easily to share again. It would be great if you would provide your Pinterest and/or Wanelo links in the comment section on Julie's blog or on the ArtFire thread.
Soft green leather double wrap bracelet with gray and pink crystals handmade by Kat of KatsAllThat
In addition to saving all the items shared in the Weekend Showcase onto my Christmas in July Pinterest board and Wanelo collection, as in showcase's past, I decided to share one item from each of the ArtFire artists who participated. I also share the blog post to numerous other social media sites, such as Pinterest, Wanelo, Google+, Amazine and Facebook.
This will be a perfect time to pull out a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil (or get your computer bookmarks ready) and begin your shopping list. Above all, however, have fun!
Here are the rest of the picks for Week 3:
Purple and turquoise blue crossbody purse with pockets handmade by Kathi of kathisewnsew
Vintage gold Swarovski pearl and turquoise beaded bracelet handmade by Julie, Nicole and Linda of jnldesigns
Elegant Victorian style hand knit red neck warmer handmade by Nancy of jazzitupwithdesignsbynancy
Embroidered Boston Terrier hanging dish towel with hand knit topper by Sharon of hollyknittercreations
Green tree soap with a spruce, pine, juniper and balsam scent artisan soap handmade by Irena of Gingers_Garden
Southwest colored Hawaiian clay red and ivory lampwork beads with a silver band handmade by Charlotte of Covergirlbeads
Bowling pins and wreath Christmas ornament with Swarovski crystals handmade by Julie of BluemorningExpressions
Druzy agate gemstone pendant necklace with gemstones and sterling silver handmade by Diane of BeadSouk
Owls and other woodland animals Christmas holiday gifts tags handmade by Nat of adorebynat
Delicate frosted glass flower earrings handmade by Nancy of Wyverndesigns
"Wild Cherry" fused glass dangle earrings with sterling silver handmade by Jo of Umeboshi
Set of 4 bold orange coasters with beaded napkin holders handmade by Mary Beth of TheTwistedRedhead
Navy blue pearls, crystals and sterling silver chain handmade necklace by Connie of Thesingingbeader
Custom color knit lace cowl neck warmer handmade by Susan of SusanKnits
Copper flower dangle earrings with blue and copper Czech glass and Swarovski crystals handmade by Barbara of SolanaKaiDesigns
Old fashioned chocolate sundae candle handmade by Vicki of shymouseecrafts
Patriotic Santa Claus padded device case, gift holder or zipper pouch handmade by Donna of SewAmazin
"Blue Bayou" dichroic pendant necklace with Hubei turquoise and sterling silver handmade by Catherine of ShadowDogDesigns
This is but a small sampling of all the creations shared in the collection. Be sure to click out this link: Christmas in July Weekend Showcase to see all 69 handmade and vintage items that were shared this week. Hopefully one (or more!) of the items will make its way on your list to be in the mail shortly to you!
Many, many thanks to Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions for all their hard work in putting together the Weekend Showcase and for providing a place where we could promote each other and ourselves! THANK YOU!!!
If you would like to make my day and the day of the artist's featured, please leave a comment. Any and all promotion you can do for this blog post will be benefit us all and will be greatly appreciated.
My contact information:
Artfire studio: ShadowDogDesigns
Blog: ShadowDogDesigns' Blog
Facebook: ShadowDogDesigns - Jewelry
Twitter: ShadowDogDesign
Pinterest: Shadow Dog Designs
Wanelo: ShadowDog
Amazine: shadowdogdesigns
SocialBliss: Catherine Waterhouse
Rebelmouse: ShadowDogDesigns
Google+: Catherine W
Zibbet: ShadowDogDesigns
SupaDupa: Shadow Dog Designs
Flickr: Shadow Dog Designs' Photostream