Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . and Christmas gets closer! According to the Christmas clock, there are 54 days, 13 hours and 15 minutes from when I posted this to when Christmas comes rolling around again. Week 6 of the Countdown to Christmas, hosted by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions, has come and gone. Lots of fabulous gift ideas were shared, 62 to be exact! Knitted and sewn items, jewelry, lampwork, dichroic glass, vintage postcards and digital pictures, cards and tags, dog apparel, holiday serving sets and much more were shared. When you do your Christmas shopping (hopefully from on of these Countdowns), remember to BUY HANDMADE!!!
Pink and gold spiral dichroic glass necklace with pearls and crystals handmade by Mary of PrettyGonzo
Shop owners from ArtFire, Zibbet, SupaDupa, Etsy, stand alone websites and the like are welcome to share up to three gift items between Friday at noon (12:00 p.m.) and Monday morning at 12:01 a.m. Then a new Countdown to Christmas collection will begin again the next Friday, same time, same place. This will continue until the second week of December. The items shared need to be G-rated.
TierraCast tree spirit charm earrings with green garnet and 14K GF handmade by Kat of KatsAllThat
The rules for participating in the Countdown are easy: if you share items on the Countdown, you MUST promote the collection and EACH item on at least one social network site, preferably Pinterest and/or Wanelo where the items can be easily found and saved again. It's only fair to promote the artists who promote you!
Oak leaf and maple leaf filet crochet coasters, set of 2, handmade by Ruth of RSSDesignsInFiber
In addition to saving each item for the countdown collection to my Pinterest board and Wanelo collection, I decided to share my favorite item from each of the ArtFire artists who participated. Fabulous for backlinks (and we all want and need those!). Here are the rest of my picks for Week 6:
Dark sage green hand knit neck warmer in a shield pattern handmade by Nancy of jazzitupwithdesignsbynancy
Classic red tartan plaid bandana collar slipcover or scrunchie bandana handmade by Donna of SewAmazin
Fuchsia Brazilian agate pendant necklace with multi color mother of pearl rondelles handmade by Diane of DianesDangles
Hand beaded purple agate slice and purple sea glass necklace handmade by Kathy of Specialtivity
Black and bronze pearl beaded bracelet handmade by Cathy of CraftingMemories
Laser-cut cherry wood pendant necklace with copper chain handmade by Connie of Thesingingbeader
Shiny, lipstick red handmade lampwork glass beads by Charlotte of Covergirlbeads
Red and green hand beaded and wire wrapped holiday serving set handmade by Mary Beth of TheTwistedRedhead
Pink lampwork and Swarovski crystal handmade necklace and earrings set by Julie of BlueMorningExpressions
Fringed scarf hand knit in yellow and green Italian wool blend yarn by Nancy of Wyverndesigns
Happy Holidays gift tags with a bird on a branch, snowflake and chevron designs handmade by Nat of adorebynat
Dog rescue copper paw print earrings with lampwork beads handmade by Catherine of ShadowDogDesigns - 1/2 of purchase price donated to Humane Society
So there you have it, my picks for this week. All of the amazing items shared above are just a sampling of the gift ideas that can be found in the Countdown to Christmas 2014 - Week 6 collection hosted by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions. To see all of the shares, please click here: Countdown. I hope at least one . . . and possibly several . . . of these handmade items caught your eye and found their way to your shopping list. Shop early - shop often!
MANY, MANY thanks to Julie and Blu for hosting the Countdown to Christmas again for the third year!
If you would love to make my day and the day of the artist's featured, please leave a comment. And any promotion that can be done will be greatly appreciated by all. Thank you so much!
Here are the links to the other four collections in the 2014 Countdown:
My contact information:
Artfire studio: ShadowDogDesigns
Blog: ShadowDogDesigns' Blog
Facebook: ShadowDogDesigns - Jewelry
Twitter: ShadowDogDesign
Pinterest: Shadow Dog Designs
Wanelo: ShadowDog
SocialBliss: Catherine Waterhouse
Rebelmouse: ShadowDogDesigns
Google+: Catherine W
Zibbet: ShadowDogDesigns
SupaDupa: Shadow Dog Designs
Flickr: Shadow Dog Designs' Photostream