Countdown to Christmas 2014

Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . and Christmas gets closer and ever more closer! According to the Christmas clock, there are only 29 days, 2 hours and 24 minutes from when I posted this to when Christmas comes rolling around again. YIKES!!! Less than a month away!

Tribal giraffe and Czech glass double leather wrap bracelet handmade by Kat of KatsAllThat

Week 10 of the Countdown to Christmas, hosted by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions, has come and gone. Lots of fabulous gift ideas were shared, 63 to be exact! Knitted and sewn items, jewelry, lampwork, glass art, digital gift tags, wooden ornaments, dog apparel, jewelry supplies and much more were shared. When you do your Christmas shopping (hopefully from this or one of the past Countdowns), remember to BUY HANDMADE!!!

Christmas poinsettia earrings with sparkly Swarovski 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.

Cooper brown and cream crochet centerpiece with two smaller doilies handmade by Ruth of RSSDesignsinFiber

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!

Purple glass and pearl Victorian style beaded necklace handmade by Kathy of Specialtivity

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 10:

Frosty the Snowman fused glass Christmas pendant in red and white handmade by Kellie of ResetarGlassArt

Blue lily polymer clay bracelet with glass beads and pearls handmade by Nancy of Wyverndesigns

Pink rose polymer clay bead ladies watch handmade by Julie of polymerclaybeads

Black crystal 12 mm lampwork beads with aurae metallic band handmade by Charlotte of Covergirlbeads

Ladies hand knit earwarmers in your choice of colors handmade by Nancy of jazzitupwithdesignsbynancy

Peppermint candy garland necklace handmade by Eve of Evezbeadz

Blue robot baby rattle, made to order, handmade by Nina of ninascorner

Holiday quilted table runner with applique and homespun fabrics handmade by Sue of QuiltTops

Blue polar bears scrunchie style / collar slipcover dog bandana handmade by Donna of SewAmazin

Puffy heart pendant with eighth notes pendant with wings necklace handmade by Connie of TheSingingBeader

Hand knit vintage rose lace shawl handmade by Cathy of craftingmemories

Gemstone beads in smaller packages by Diane of BeadSouk

"Holiday Jewels" red and green fused glass dangle earrings handmade by Jo of Umeboshi

Copper dog paw print and blue lampwork dog rescue earrings handmade by Catherine of ShadowDogDesigns

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 10 collection hosted by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions. To see all of the shares, please click here: Countdown to Christmas. 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!