Thursday, November 20, 2008

More Christmas Goodness - etsy and homemade

I know it's still only November, but I've got the Christmas angst early this year.
Village by mummysam So cute! My girls would love this.
city mini blocks by fidoodle I want to sit down and play with this
nature babies by Baby Robots Don't you just adore them? On a similar note I CRAVE the custom families by Goosegrease
Pippi Longstocking by Isabella's Art Oh I love thee, how I do, and your little monkey too.

I dread to think how much of my life has been spent on etsy. Sometimes I think that on some level I am shopping all the time. *Shudder*. Oh that reminds me, better check my ebay auctions. Anyway, my trick with etsy is when I find something I like, I look at that sellers favourites and so on. It's a deliciously labyrinthine way to search and I've discovered heaps of little beauties I might not have otherwise found.

I find Etsy inspires me to make as much as buy (in fact I've never bought anything off etsy and now that the exchange rate is so ouchy, it probably won't happen this year either.) But I am very inspired by the beautiful things I find on there. I've actually bought some little wooden dolls to have a go at painting my own. And I've been knitting some toys for the gels from this book:
The patterns are incredibly cute (simpler and more 'stylish' than some knitted toys), and actually pretty easy. I've made a dog, which Fred has already claimed (so much for Christmas), and I've finished the knitting bit of a horse, just have to sew and stuff it. To give you an idea of how simple the patterns are, the chickens above are actually made from knitted squares, the shaping comes in the making up. Chickens are next on my list, when I've finished the sausage dog I'm making now. And big bonus, I got my copy from the library! So far I've been using yarn I already have, but I might have to get some fuzzy yellow yarn for the baby chicks. Though the thing I like about using 'stash' (craftlingo for stuff what you've already got from when you didn't knit other things you were going to) is that you end up with interesting variations.

15 comments:

  1. Christmas seems to be taking hold of everyone early this year! I'm just itching to put up my tree, but I just can't do it til Dec 1.

    I'm also have a crafty christmas this year - lots of crochet. Doing some rather unseasonable scarves and gloves, and am currently improvising my way through a Celestial dragon for mum. I am struggling with his nose.

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  2. etsy is so addictive. I've never bought anything there either, but it's given me an outrageous desire for grey felt.

    My son has three knitted toys of doubtful style. One is a clown called Bottomback (embarrassing, but true and his back does look like a bottom) and the others are called imaginatively Mr Knitty and Mr Knitty II. They were made by nice ladies who knit things for hospitals, but have not seen an actual child since 1948.

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  3. Very sweet, please take pics of the sausage dog when he/she's done.
    I love etsy too and do buy from there as i have absolutely no skills to make anything myself, at least I try to support those who do have skills.
    Where did you buy the wee wooden dollies from may I ask?

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  4. Christmas is coming? Please tell me that is not true. I am still catching up with my September goals.

    Gorgeous stuff. I look at etsy and feel all enthused, sometimes I even buy materials. That's as far as it goes.

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  5. Jo, the dolls came from winterwood
    http://www.winterwoodtoys.com.au/shop/scdcategories.asp?CatID=13
    They have more options in their shop in Park Orchards, plus some made up dolls. They have some lovely wooden toys too.

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  6. They are fantastic, thank you so much for the link!

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  7. Anonymous3:15 PM

    I love this stuff.

    I have been juuuust about to start to begin learning to knit for quite some time... But now that I know I can make chickens if I get good at it, I'm all over it...

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  8. Oh I love etsy and I love other people's etsy finds. Thanks.

    And fear not, etsy has been making some good money off me this xmas, so your window shopping is covered.

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  9. Gaaaah! I have done not one jot of a thing for Christmas yet. Terrifying.

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  10. Lili - Last year I had intentions to make that didn't come off so I was determined to be more organised this year.

    Penthe - grey felt, yes!! Oh how I long for grey felt. And linen thread.

    Jo - will take photos. He's looking like he might be a bit stiff. I have some birds to upload too. I think it's good to support etsy.

    Michelle - no Christmas isn't coming, not really. You've got ages. Ages and ages. Really.

    Jo again - go into the shop if you get a chance, maybe when the girls are with the outlaws in Tempy. It's just a hop step and a jump away.

    Marjorie - I taught myself to knit about two years ago, off the world wide web.

    blue milk - buying for the team - terribly noble

    Maria - please don't let me induce panic, after all it's not even December yet.

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  11. Hi Penn
    I gave Thomas a list of the stuff I want him to buy for ME from Etsy yesterday ;-)
    Have you checked out my favourites?
    I hope I start getting more Christmas sales too - have sold a fair bit but depending how much I need distracting I get quite obsessive about how many views/hearts/sales I have!
    Bought this for T (as he is a chemist) - hope he likes it (not cheap in AUD)

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  13. oops the link:
    http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17466566

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  14. Anonymous7:11 PM

    i'm too busy making things for other people's children to be thinking about my own. taking orders at markets seems like a good idea at the time (both creatively and financialy) at this rate willow will be getting her school uniform from santa. (now there is some culture jamming for you!)

    i agree on etsy. its a shopping quagmire although i find the search outcomes disorganised and unfocused. i wish they would refine it so i didn't waste so much precious life trying to uncover things.
    i want a painting for xmas, although i think we might have just bought a very small house on a very large block so we might be getting another mortgage instead.

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  15. Can you please stop finding gorgeous lovelies on the net? My sense of something creative to contribute to the worlds of stuff is dwindling in the face of "been done by people with better skills and better stash".
    Pooh.

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