I’ve got to admit, I’m usually a bit of a scrooge when it comes to the holidays, although over the last few years I’ve found myself looking forward to them more and more. I think I’ve always been sort of put off by the mass consumption and excessiveness of it all, but as I’ve begun creating some of my own traditions I’ve begun to look forward to the holidays more. The boy and I will be throwing our 4th annual Zombie X-mas party this year, which is always a great escape from the holiday madness for us and all of our friends.
I’m also looking forward to the many upcoming shop local initiatives and local art markets and events around town. My fellow New Orleans Craft Mafia members are busy planning our annual Last Stop Shop market. It’s always such a blast, and something I know we all look forward to each year. It’s just great to hang out with so many of my favorite local artists in a cool laid back atmosphere.
Once I hit my teenage years, I sort of got tired of decorating for Christmas - probably because my mom tends to go all out with decking the halls and I thought it was a little much. But decorating the Christmas tree is something my boyfriend really enjoys, as his dad was a bit of a scrooge about the holidays when he was young, so I’ve gotten more excited about it because I see how happy it makes him. I love the new holiday ornaments by my friend Heather Elizabeth because they’re all inspired by classic New Orleans imagery.
I think the stockings designed by Jen Hopwood of MyPerennial and available at Mahar Drygoods are pretty amazing as well. Each one is created from layers of appliquéd wool felt by a small cooperative of female artisans in Hungary who specialize in felt work traditional to their country.
I also love the new line of 2008 holiday cards from Redbean. The designs are just beautiful and they’re all printed on high quality FSC-certified 100% post-consumer recycled cardstock with environmentally responsible inks. I’m usually really bad about sending cards, but a design as gorgeous as this one makes me want to give it a go.
Oh yeah… and it’s hard not to get into the spirit of the season when I come home to a “late birthday/early Christmas” present from my boyfriend - a freaking air hockey table! Sure it’s a tiny cheaop-o, but still, so awesome! And I even beat him in the first game we played on it!





















































I had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie of
Speaking of Craft Congress, one of my other new friends from that event, Autumn, is currently busy organizing the second annual
I just discovered a pretty cool blog called
I love shoes, I love sending and receiving snail mail and I LOVE this
I was so pleased to see
Yesterday I had to run to Office Depot to pick up a couple of things in preparation for my San Francisco trip, including a small notebook. I was looking for something cute, but made with recycled paper. I was delighted to discover exactly what I was looking for….it’s called
The designer, Erika Walker, contacted me recently. She’s a Mississippi native, just like me, though she now lives in Boston where she creates cool stuff like this, all while working on a PhD in economics. What a busy lady!
I’ve just discovered what is possibly one of the coolest Etsy shops ever.
Another great recycled Etsy find that would be great for gift giving are these
Etsy seller Allison Strine also offers a fabulous personalized and recycled product that makes an affordable gift for both guys and girls. 