Shopping Daze

*THUNK*

That’s the sound of me falling out of the blogosphere. Eventually, this will become a habit. If only a blog could give me a caffeine boost – then I’d be posting every morning like clockwork!

The holiday season has been on my mind lately, especially all the stresses that go along with it. Only 16 shopping days left – but is anyone shopping? Not me! Or I should say, very little. Partly because I’m one of those annoying people who have the bulk of their Christmas shopping done before Halloween each year. But also I’m making some of the gifts. (And still needing to carve out time to finish them – yikes!)

I took the pledge to buy handmade earlier this year and I’ve stuck to it very well. I have the most AWESOME themed gift for my kid brother – and I thought he would be the second most difficult to shop for. I’m tempted to tell more about it since he doesn’t read my blog. But I swear he has some kind of radar about this type of thing; he’s probably reading this right now… Anyway, his gift contains items from four different Etsy sellers, plus a small piece that I altered myself. And that’s all I’m telling for now.

However, I’m still stuck on a handmade item for my dad. I always find gift guides for dads to be baffling – they never include anything MY dad would want. Oh, wait, I take that back: there’s some BBQ sauce included in the Etsy Gift Guide for dads. But that’s one of my staple buys for Father’s Day… Yes, he is so hard to shop for, that my fall-back present is food. The real problem is that Dad is such an expert at his hobbies and interests that you need his direct input before buying anything. And where’s the fun in that? Dad may prove to be the handmade conundrum.

Etsy in Wonderland

I finally had the opportunity to create an Etsy Treasury! I just happened to take a look at the list when it was down to 338. (There has to be less than 333 lists before anyone can create a new Treasury.) So I hovered like a vulture for about 15 minutes. :)

Giveaway Going On Now!

What better way to celebrate Friday than with a giveaway! Head over to the Black Box Review Blog and follow Kim's directions to leave a comment. It's that easy to enter the drawing for one of my art zines! This blog has started doing giveaways on a regular basis, so it's one to watch! :)

Good luck!

Giveaway Alert!

Attention, zine lovers! Kim of The Little Black Box will be hosting a MATERIAL zine giveaway on her blog this week! I'll update when the giveaway starts!

Kim's blog is a great one to follow, with lots of giveaways and reviews of great indie finds on the net.

(Fyi, September boxes are on sale right now!)

An Etsy Treasury

I've been included in an Etsy Treasury (2nd row, 1st on the right):

Thank you, VampVintage, for including me!

(Update: Unfortunately, Etsy treasuries only last a few days, so the one above has already expired. But you can browse other treasuries here.)

I'm in the box!

Who's in the box?


That's right, I'm in The Little Black Box for September! Okay, not me personally, but my samples are! I contributed 50 buttons (each with a valuable coupon for my Etsy store and a mini moo card) of vintage images - these buttons will be feautured in the next issue of MATERIAL zine that will be coming out around the end of the year, so it's a bit of a preview.

The Little Black Box goes on sale this Friday (9/26)! Mark your calendars, because each month the boxes typically sell out within a week of the sale date. And the line-up for the September box is looking good!

Shell Beach

I've been taking a much needed break this week at the beach. And so quickly, it's come to an end.