New Craft Shows at Handmade Market Chicago

I applied for 2 new craft shows at Handmade Market Chicago and got accepted! Both shows are at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. The first show is January 11th and the second show is February 8th. It's been a while since I've done a craft show so I'm excited.



If you're in the area, come and say hi.

Personal Holiday Photos

These are some photos I took this holiday season:

These are some photos I got playing around with light paintings with my Christmas lights: 

Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Houses

Here are some creative and fun gingerbread ideas. You can find a recipe here and vegan one here.













Click the photos to see sources. Do you make gingerbread houses for the holiday season?

Food Gift Ideas

Food makes great gifts. Here are some fun food gift ideas to try:

Make a food themed gift basket with a theme like chocolate or herbs  This herb garden basket pictured has flavored oil, dried herbs and gardening gloves.

These creative cookies look like melted snowmen. Try making caramels to give out during the holiday season. 

Make a DIY s'more kit.

Have you ever given out food as a gift?

Christmas Crafts and Decorations

Want to try some Christmas crafts this year? Here are some ideas:



Try making a winter themed wreath.



Use silver spray paint and glitter to make these easy sparkly branches.

Add pine and a floating tea light to a mason jar filled with water for a simple Christmas decoration.



Use craft foam sheets and wrapping paper to make a snowman on your fridge.

How do you decorate for Christmas?

Christmas Beauty

If you like to dress up for the holiday season, here are some beauty ideas

Try these cute nail art ideas. Both these nail art designs were inspired by reindeer and Christmas sweaters. Click the photo to see the sources. 

How about wearing a tacky Christmas sweater like the ones above from collegefashion.net?

How do you like to dress up for the holiday season?

Holiday Gift Wrap

I started selling gift wrap in my shop. You can buy the gift wrap alone or have your purchase from my shop gift wrapped. You can see the gift wrap section here. Here is some gift wrapping I offer.

This gift wrap uses upcycled newspaper with a gold bow.

This gift wrap is made with mull (also called "super" or "tarlatan") that is painted with acrylic paint.. This unique material has a transparent texture.



This gift wrap uses pink fabric upcycled from a scarf.

This gift wrap uses black postal wrapping paper with silver stamped snowflakes that look like snowflakes at night.

I am going to continue adding more gift wrap to this section. Do you shop for gift wrap?

Christmas Wishlist

Here is my wishlist for 2013.

Some books I want this year are the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book and Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr.

I love trying new makeup products. This year, I wish for the Too Faced Pink Leopard Bronzer, Tarte Concealer in Bisque and No Room for the Blues OPI Nail Polish. I love the design of the bronzer.

Some misc. items I want are new earphones like these MEElectronics A151 and anything from my Pinterest board.

What do you wish for this year?

Holiday Gift Guide ($30 and Over)

These items are $30 and over if you have a little more to spend. Items in my shop $30 and over are mostly boxes and journals that use more expensive or rarer decorative paper. Here are a couple items:

Blue Marbled Coptic Stitch Sketchbook

Green Iridescent Star Shaped Journal

Bonus: Here are some items to purchase that are over $100 if you have a little extra to spend for that special person.

Extra Big Book of Abstract Patterns



This extra large sized book contains paintings with abstract patterns. I did this for an art class, but it is up for sale in my Etsy.





These aren't from my Etsy shop, but I have my paintings for sale at Found Myself.

Do you like to splurge on gifts for the holiday season?

Holiday Gift Guide ($25 and Under)

For $25 and under, a journal is the perfect gift to give in my shop.

Silver Squares Coptic Stitch Journal



This pretty journals uses a decorative paper with silver squares and is bound together using the coptic stitch method.

Map of San Francisco Coptic Stitch Journal



This journal is perfect for travelers or people who love San Francisco.

Purple Paisley Journal



Do you like journals?

Holiday Gift Guide ($15 and Under)

For $15 and under, mini journals are great to give out during the holiday season because they work well as stocking stuffers.

Turquoise and Black Paisley Mini Journal



This mini journal is horizontal and uses a pretty turquoise and black paisley decorative paper with gold details.

Orange Flower Garden Mini Journal



This mini journal uses a pretty orange flower decorative paper. This journal is also available for wholesale and bulk ordering.

Ray Conniff Upcycled Record Art Journal



This isn't a mini journal, but it's cheaper than larger journals because it uses less paper. This journal is perfect for art or music lovers.

What do you like to buy for under $15?