Happy Crafty New Year!

Wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year 

from all of us at Etsy Dallas!

Happy Crafty 2013!

May it be a year filled with creativity, friendship,  
and many happy makes.

Scenes from the Holidays with Bookmarks

The Etsy Dallas team believes in giving back to our community. Every year we put our creative talents together and select one cause to make a charitable gift to. This year we selected the Dallas Public Library, Bookmarks.

We were delighted to spread some holiday cheer while making holiday crafts with little ones and their families at the Bookmarks library inside NorthPark Center. This event was more than just fun. It was a chance for our team to give back to one of the special places that truly enriches our community with a contribution of $250. These funds will help provide additional children's programs at the library.

Weekend Guide: December 15 + 16

Making the Holidays

Date: Saturday, Dec. 15th

Time: 2-3pm

Location: Bookmarks Library inside NorthPark Center, Dallas

More Info: Bookmarks blog

Participating Etsy Dallas Members: Jenni20 Designs, Midnight Snack, Regal Cottage, Paper Beats Rock, Ferrochie, Miamaria Design

 Dowdy Studio & Napkin Art Studio Party 

Date: Saturday, Dec 15th
Time: 4-9pm
Location: 10025 Garland Rd, Dallas
More Info: Dowdy Studio blog
Participating Etsy Dallas Members: Dowdy Studio, Napkin Art Studio 


And...be sure to enter our giveaway, the Jammie Bash!

Making the Holidays at Bookmarks

Join Etsy Dallas this Saturday for a free make and take opportunity benefiting charity! We will have team members on hand to instruct you and your little ones with some very festive handmade crafts that you can take home to decorate with! 

We will be at Bookmarks--a Dallas Public Library inside NorthPark Center from 2:00pm-3:00pm, Saturday, December 15. Proceeds from this event will go towards the Dallas Public Library system. Crafts will be kid-friendly and range from easy to make ornaments, to more advanced colorful tape cards. 

NorthPark is a great stop on your holiday shopping and activity list, with lots to see and do for the whole family. Why not stop by Bookmarks between 2:00-3:00pm to spend some time with the Etsy Dallas team?

Gift Guide: 2013 Calendars

To help you along in your Shop Hop adventures, members of Etsy Dallas will be sharing with you their own personal wish lists. This one is from Dowdy Studio. 

To keep track of the days as they fly by with these beautiful wall calendars made by Etsy Dallas members 3 dot 4 and Honeycomb Print Shop. Function and art in one! bonus!!

Craft Blast from the Past: Puffy Paint Candleholder

Welcome to Craft Blast from the Past, brought to you by Esther from estieMade! When I think of craft supplies from my childhood, puffy paint seems like a staple. I remember making many puffy painted shirts from when I was young and even up to my high school days (for volleyball team spirit). I'm no longer glamming up my shirts with puffy paint, but I'd like to show you how an easy way to use it to make holiday candleholders. It's a fun way to dress up table settings during Christmas!

Materials -small jar (I used a mason jar) -puff paint -Ribbon -battery-powered tealight Steps Take your puffy paint and paint on a design. I found the paint came out most evenly when I squeezed the bottle gently. My mason jars already had X's all along the middle, so I just painted on top of these in different colors. I I alternated between a sparkly gold puff paint and a white one, and ended up with this design. Once you're done with your design, let the paint dry, then cut out a length of ribbon that fits inside your jar. You can glue the ends together if you'd like. Place your battery-powered tealight in the jar, and turn it on. Now admire your new candleholder! Hope you enjoyed this Craft Blast from the Past. Good luck with prepping for the Holidays!

Weekend Guide: December 7 + 8 + 9

Pegasus Plaza Market

Date: Friday, Dec. 7th

Time: 11am - 3pm

Location: Main & Akard in Downtown Dallas, TX
More Info: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pegasus-Plaza-Outdoor-Market/218742588189295?fref=ts
Participating Etsy Dallas Members: Dowdy Studio

Happy Holidays Gift Market

Date: Friday, Dec. 7th and Saturday, Dec. 8th

Time: Friday, Noon-7pm and Saturday, 10am-4pm

Location: Maverick Activities Center, 500 W. Nedderman, Dr., Arlington

More Info: http://817artsalliance.blogspot.com/p/happy-holidays-gift-market.html

Etsy Dallas Member Participating: DCimaginations

White Rock Local Holiday Market

Date: Saturday, Dec. 8th
Time: 9am - 3pm
Location: 702 N Buckner Blvd, Dallas, TX 75218
More Info: http://www.whiterocklocalmarket.com
Participating Etsy Dallas Members: Dowdy Studio, ReGEARED

Jingle Bells Bazaar on Bishop

Date: Saturday, Dec. 8th
Time: 11am-8pm
Location: Bishop Arts District, N. Bishop Ave. and W. Davis St.,  Dallas
More Info: http://makeitindiegenius.com/urban-street-bazaar/
Participating Etsy Dallas Members: K8Made, Regal Cottage

Hometown Glory

Date: Saturday, Dec. 8th
Time: 9pm
Location: 2720 Elm Street, Dallas, TX.
More Info: http://centraltrack.com/Culture/2792/Hometown-Glory/Celebrate-Local-Fashion-Art-and-Music-at-Central-Tracks-Next-Awesome-Party
Participating Etsy Dallas Members: Dowdy Studio

Gift Guide: For the Kiddos

Are you feeling stumped on what to get your kids (or nieces and nephews, neighbors or friends’ little ones) for the holidays? Don’t wander aimlessly around a big box store for another tired present. Instead, support handmade retailers and give the kids a gift that could inspire their budding creativity with these picks from Meredith of mere designs. Meredith has found great gift ideas for babies to teens. Today we'll see what she has in mind for babies and toddlers. Check back soon for her picks for the older kids.

Infants

Baseball Onesie

By Nest Designs

Batter up! Dress your little Rangers fan in this cotton onesie decorated with red felt stitching. Tennis and football fans can also find similar onesies for their athletic offspring.

Wooden Toy Teething Rattle

By Regal Cottage

This ViewMaster Teether has the retro styling of the original ViewMaster reels, and it's safe for the youngest of babies, as it is made of smooth maple wood sealed in natural beeswax.

Modern Nursery Mobile

By mere designs

Delight your little one’s eyes with high-contrast, bold designs of these paper mobiles, hanging from above. They may also buy you some extra time on the changing table once the little one starts to resist your diaper-changing efforts! Custom designs are available to coordinate with any nursery theme or color scheme, as well.

Toddlers

Tiny Ice Skater Reversible Pinafore

By Three Yellow Starfish

Get your little girl ready for a photo with Santa in this lovely, reversible pinafore. Available in sizes 6 month, 9 month, 12 month, 18-24 month or 2T; or, for an additional $3 for extra fabric, order sizes 3T to 6 as well. Matching bloomers are available (of course!)

Custom Russian Nesting Doll Playset with Pockets

By Regal Cottage

Soft enough to nap next to or bring along in the car on the trip to grandmother’s house, this set of Russian nesting dolls is bright, colorful, and sure to make your toddler happy for hours of play. Regal Cottage also sells the dolls individually or in smaller sets. Each doll is made from organic cotton, designer fabric, premium hypoallergenic Ingeo fiberfill, and eco-felt with hand-stitched faces.

Perfect 10 Giclee Print

By 3dot4

As your little smartiepants learns his alphabet and numbers, reinforce it with this colorful print made from an original painting of the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. The design is 10”x10” but fits nicely in a 12”x12” frame.

*Don't forget to register your Etsy Dallas purchases in our Shop Hop: Jammie Bash to win Etsy Gift Cards. Enter the Giveaway here. 

Holiday Crafts: Around the House Edition

Jenni from Jenni20 Designs gets crafty on the cheap. Here's how inspiration struck her and how you can create your own holiday glitter tinsel wreath with things you already have at home.

You know I've never met a piece of glitter I didn't like. In fact, my favorite colors (aside from the perennial favorites, pink and green) are glitter, plaid, and stripes.

I pulled out a vintage-style swing coat the other day in preparation for a holiday get-together. (Of course, that's before I realized it was going to be 80+ degrees the first weekend of December.) It is a shimmery, creamy, gold and silvery confection and the second I saw it hanging on the back of my bedroom door*, I had this glitter tinsel craft in mind.

Actually, this is a two-for-one tutorial because you can make either of these glittery holiday decorations using the techniques and materials: 1) the giant Christmas ornament 2) the sparkly holiday wreath.

Materials:
If you're like me, you have a few wire hangers in the back of your closet (I know, cue Mommie Dearest) and an attic and/or garage full of random festive stuff. Add in some scissors and, if you're really industrious, some fancy jewelry making wire shaper thingamajigs, you're all set!

I'm not an actual Mommie Dearest, but I imagine this would be a fun craft to do with kiddos once you've done the prep work and are ready to wrap.

(You can also use variety-store garland. Certain "dollar" establishments around town sell 9ft. of glitter garland for $1. Grab two or three to make the ornament. If you really want to be fancy, a certain Bullseye store sells really plush glitter garland for $6. One package of that will make a really lush wreath.)

Wire hanger (remove the spongy stuff), plier doo-dads, tinsel garland of choice, and a pair of scissors.

Steps:
There's really no official way to do this. You just bend and wrap. (Cue Elle Woods.)

For the ornament, I suggest bending your hanger into a mostly-round shape (the tinsel covers a multitude of geometrical sins!). For your wreath, you can play around with diamond or square shapes, but I found the traditional round wreath was the look for my door.

Bend the hanger until mostly circular; you can do this with your hands if you don't have fancy pliers. Leave the curved part--this will become your ornament's hanger.

 (My mom said it would be cute to wrap that part in a silver pipe cleaner--I didn't have any on hand.)

 

I promise it won't look like an acorn when you're finished.

Starting at the top of the circle, tie a loose knot (gently) of garland/tinsel around the wire, and start wrapping. You'll get into a rhythm pretty quickly and find what works best for you. I found that wrapping the tinsel around each edge of the circle before stringing it to the other side kept my tinsel where I wanted it.

You'll have to fuss a bit with it, but it takes almost no time at all to wrap. When you get to the end of your strand of garland, just tie the next strand to the first and keep wrapping. I used 3 packages of bargain-store tinsel, about 27ft. (!) for this little guy. But that was $3, so I thought that a pretty good deal.

To make the wreath, start the same way: tie your tinsel (gently--you don't want to break it) into a knot around the top of the hanger. I left mine on so I could hang it on my wreath hanger, but you can always bend yours down if you want to hang your wreath with a bow.

And then you start wrapping. Instead of going around both sides of the form, you'll just wrap, and wrap, and wrap all the way around. I counted this as a good arm workout.



If you have delicate hands, you might want to consider wearing gloves because
the tinsel can get pretty itchy after a while.

Don't worry about spacing it evenly around the circular form; you can always manipulate the tinsel once it's all wrapped and tied off to get the desired effect or cut off a few feet if you think you've got too much.

But my desired effect was a gloriously bushy, rich, and full wreath that is full of sparkle and pizazz, so I didn't cut one inch off.

I used the entire package of ridiculously full garland ($6 at the Bullseye store) and I love love how it turned out. I'd love to see how yours turns out!

Use skinny garland for a modern, streamlined look. Hang two or three together for even more flash. I'd also love to see one done up in green with a cute ornament hanging down in the middle of the wreath.

People, you have some wire hangers to repurpose!

Please tweet pictures to our Etsy Dallas Twitter account or post to our Team Facebook Page.

xxoo
Jenni



*Yes, the hanger was part of the inspiration!

Gift Guide: Handmade Season's Greetings

Today Meredith from MereDesigns shares her favorite holiday cards. 

Want to send a little something extra special to your friends and loved ones this year? Try a handmade holiday card, fashioned by artists right here in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Embossed Snowflake Cards

By Paper Beats Rock

No snow on the ground at your house yet? Send some in the mail, along with holiday cheer with this hand embossed card set! Cards come with kraft envelopes ready for mailing.

Merry Christmas Y’all Holiday Greeting Card

By Napkin Art

This is how we Texans like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  These "Merry Christmas Y'all" holiday cards feature a swell-looking retro style Santa, hand printed in red and black on French Paper's Sand Speckletone 80# cover stock. Ho ho ho!

Ornaments Letterpress Postcard

By Honeycomb Print Shop

What is more exciting than a Christmas card? A postcard! This design is hand-inked and printed one at a time with handset wooden blocks. We love the mint green and red color combo.

Screen-printed Holiday Card

By Paper Beats Rock

For fans of Christmas music or Will Ferrell – a card with a quote from the movie Elf that is sure to be a classic. Card is 5x7 and comes with a matching kraft paper envelope for mailing.