Countdown to Christmas 2013 - Week 8

Looks like we are officially 2/3 of the way through the Countdown to Christmas 2013! It seems the weeks are flying by (my Mom in her wisdom said they would, going faster the older we get). Week 8 has come and gone . . . and in its wake, a record breaking 122 handmade and vintage items were shared - the most ever!!! This week's Countdown included a wide variety of items: jewelry of all sorts, vintage postcards, polymer clay, quilted and knitted beauties, decals, jewelry supplies, gift tags, handmade Christmas cards, antiques, wooden ornaments, lampwork, digital downloads, fun beads table accessories, dreamcatchers and more in the 122 items shared. There is something here in the Countdown for anyone, even your hardest-to-buy-for aunt! Mil grazie to Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions for hosting the Countdown collection!

Shop owners of ArtFire, Zibbet, Etsy, SupaDupa, a stand alone website and the like are welcome to share up to three gift items between Friday night at 12:01 a.m. and Monday morning at 12:01 a.m. Then a new collection of gift items will begin again the next Friday. This will continue until the second week in December. The items shared need to be G-rated.

If you share items, you MUST promote the collection and EACH item on at least one social network site, preferably Wanelo or Pinterest where the items can be easily seen and then saved again. It's only fair to promote each of the participants who have promoted you!

In addition to saving each item from the countdown collection on Pinterest and Wanelo, I decided to share one item from each of the ArtFire artists who participated. Since we had so many participate again this week, I know I'll run up against the ArtFire blog length limit so have divided the Countdown blog into two parts. Part 2 can be found here: Countdown, Part 2. Here are the items for Part 1:

Christmas wine glass markers with black square beads and silver wheel rondelles handmade by Mary Beth of TheTwistedRedhead

Handmade polymer clay turtle key fob / key chain by Nancy of Wyverndesigns

Rhinestone bling t-shirt for Boy Scout mom or Cub Scout mom by LilBitOLove

Pale emerald green and raku handmade lampwork lentil shaped glass beads by Charlotte of Covergirlbeads

Pink glass calla lily handmade dangle earrings with antiqued brass filigree by Kathy of Specialtivity

Antique postcard with Christmas holly branch and berries designed by Colleen of ButterflyintheAttic

Black and brown druzy agate bead embroidered pendant necklace, 21", handmade by Rose of ThaddeusRose

Christmas bell ornament with decorative cross handmade from ash wood by Kevin of KevsKrafts

Black Swarovski crystal and gold metallic seed bead net bangle bracelet by Nancy of jazzitupwithdesignsbynancy

Sterling silver concentric circle design granulated edge beads, 19mm, by Diane of BeadSouk

"Draco" dragon's eye focal lampwork bead with dragon's blood jasper and Swarovski crystals handmade by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions

Quilted flannel snowman with coat, scarf, hat and shovel wall hanging by Ann of PutmanLakeDesigns

Red and black crystal necklace cascading from an adjustable silver chain by Connie of Thesingingbeader

Tree of Life polymer clay pendant necklace with turquoise and stick pearls by Catherine of ShadowDogDesigns

I hope you have enjoyed this sampling of some of the handmade and vintage gift items that can be found in the Countdown collection hosted by Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions. To see all the items in the collection, please click here: Countdown to Christmas, Week 8. I hope that at least one, maybe more, items piqued your interest and made its way to your shopping list.

What will next week bring? MORE handmade and vintage beauties! I, for one, am looking forward to it!

If you are so inclined, please make my day and leave a comment (: Also any promotion will be greatly appreciated by everyone featured in this post. Thank you!

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