Handcrafted Delights

I just discovered this book I bought like two years ago has been translated to English! And our library has it! I love the Columbus Library. So soon I hope to start on these projects for real!

Some adorable prints from My Little Shoebox:

This year we made a postcard for our holiday cards. Walker is so good at translating ideas to computers!

If you are looking for a darling fabric for holiday projects, check out this super cute Nutcracker print from ReproDepot! Adorable!

I like this little bear family!

Adorable little owl card. This one is Christmas/Wintry themed. From Hello Lucky Blog.

Here is a link to the template from their new book Handmade Hellos.

Since Valentine’s Day was on a Saturday this year, I thought it would be fun to host a dessert & champagne punch party the night before. I made an assortment of pink or heart shaped desserts. I think the best thing I made though, was a heart chandelier made of wax paper hearts. It turned out so pretty.

Lots of pink on the table!

Tulips:

Crème brûlées with Vanilla & Raspberry Cream Ben Heggy’s Chocolates:

Homemade Marshmallows:

Raspberry Coeur a la Creme and Chocolate Crown Cakes:

Strawberry Macaroons:

Heart Chandelier:

Here is an article I wrote on Columbus Underground about the new toy safety law that is going into effect on February 10 and the effects it can have on the handcrafted toy community. I hope this law does not cause people to be put out of business.

The past few years have seen a huge surge in handmade crafts and toys, especially here in Columbus. The rise in people crafting has lead to the birth of shows like Tiny Canary and Craftin’ Outlaws. Tiny Canary was created to support the spirit of the handmade community and to give consumers a chance to purchase a locally made and safe toy instead of mass-marketed toys which have been facing frequent recalls.

All of the recent recalls on toys brought strong action from Congress. On August 14, 2008, President Bush signed into law the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act. This toy safety act was put into place to protect our children younger than twelve against lead and phthalates in toys. It also put into effect things such as: mandating third-party lead testing and certification for all toys and requiring toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number. The law is written so broadly that it also includes the people crafting handmade toys who were originally providing safe alternatives to unsafe toys. 

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I had a fun weekend. Friday night Katie and I went to Kelli Martin’s Current Anti.Label Collection Fashion Show at Black Market. She showed two collections and it was all so pretty! It was really fun going to see a fashion show. And it was great to see her creations in person instead of just on Project Runway. Here are a couple of our favorites:

Then today I finished two of my holiday crafts, a wreath for our front door and a Santa tree topper for our Christmas tree. I think they turned out great!

In the grocery store today, I saw a Christmas tree display so I came home inspired to work on my Christmas cards. Here are the results from our photo shoot. Enjoy!