Creative Collective: Handmade Christmas Card Swap

Have you heard of Creative Collective?  It's a group of crafty bloggers who have joined together to host monthly craft challenges, fund raising events, swaps and more.  

You may recall a few months ago I joined in on their Spring craft project?   Well, this month I signed up for the handmade Christmas card swap.  I decided to try my hand at some slightly more traditional paper crafts (as opposed to my usual make-it-up-as-you-go-along paper embroidery adventures).  So it was out with the scissors, paper punches and glue, and this is what I came up with.  I was pretty darn pleased with the results, I do hope my swap partners like them too...

And today I got the first cards from my swap partners in the post and they are gorgeous - each one is so unique and beautifully made, it's quite inspiring to see the different ideas and interpretations.  I can't wait to get the next three!  (I'll be posting about them once I have all five.)

Oh, and you could (and should!) get more information about Creative Collective here.

Etsy Spotlight: Raw Bone Studio

I love felt and I love embroidery and I really really love the work of Raw Bone Studio.  I stumbled upon this shop while researching for this post on Handmade Spark and I had to get me some of those ornaments right away.  Don't you just adore the patterns and the detailing?

Robin is the talented (and funny!) lady behind Raw Bone Studio.  Here is a snippet from her Etsy profile:

Living in southern CA as a fair-skinned redhead, I've learned to spend the 8 month summers indoors creating. Kind of like Portland only opposite. If my hands are idle I can't think. Once I made a 12 foot gum-wrapper chain in one sitting.

Etsy Spotlight is the Good Things* seal of approval!  Read more here.

Etsy Spotlight...

As you may have noticed, I am a certified Etsy addict.  I buy a lot of stuff from Etsy.  Most of the time it's stuff I was going to buy anyway (that is, stuff I 'need' if you use a fairly loose definition of the word...), and I just choose Etsy to buy from.  Sometimes it's something I chance upon, fall in love with and buy on the spot.  Either way, it all adds up to a lot of purchases.

I know Etsy isn't perfect and that there are too many re-sellers, and that some people think it doesn't allow for enough customisation, and that sometimes it puts pressure on artists and crafters to discount the stuff they make.  But I love buying on Etsy because you can find almost anything there, and more often than not you end up with something that's lovingly made and unique (or lovingly preserved and unique, in the case of vintage items).  And you also get to help someone make money out of doing the thing that they love, which is pretty darn cool. 

All this is just a long winded way of saying I buy a lot of things off Etsy so, from here on in, Etsy Spotlight will only feature sellers who I have personally bought from.  That way it's not just about me loving the look of something, but it's also about the quality of the actual product in real life and of the customer service.  Think of it as the Good Things* seal of approval.

[Etsy Heart button by Bauer Designs]

Death by Doxie: The Snow Edition

We had a bit of snow in Seoul the other day, not a blizzard by any means but enough that a good inch or so was still in the garden when we woke the next morning.  How could I possibly resist the temptation to deck the dogs in their finest winter coats and drag them outside?

I had to use a bucket of dog treats to lure them out.  Perhaps not surprisingly Elfi (she's the short hair for you new comers) seemed to quite enjoy herself once she got over the initial shock. On the other hand, Ferdi (the long hair) spent most of the time glued to one spot - apparently unable to move - with a look that said 'you have got to be kidding'.

Ostensibly I am 'training' them so that they get used to the cold and ice and snow and continue to go outside to 'do their business'.  But you and I both know I'm really just using them for my own amusement.  Those outfits!  Ferdi's tentative steps!  Elfi's romping!  That's what pets are for, right?

The View From Here: Red

Today I'm taking part in the weekly photo challenge over at Gogovivi.  Gogovivi is a one of my very favourite blogs at the moment.  It's written by Kiley, an expat living in China, and it's full of really gorgeous photos of her day-to-day life.  

This weeks The View From Here theme is red and the sight of these red berries with a dusting of snow motivated me to join in.  We had a bit of snow in Seoul yesterday (and yes, I still get way too excited about it - give me another month, I might be over it by then...), and the garden looked so gorgeous this morning.  Blue sky, sunshine and a coating of crunchy crispy snow. Lovely.

[ps. stay tuned for a Death by Doxie snow edition coming up very soon.  Elfi's apres ski outfit is adorable...]