Holiday Marketplace is Keeping Me Busy!

This is my first holiday season as a vendor! Both online in the world of Etsy, and in person in my hometown of Guelph, Ontario. Keeping up with orders in the shop while making product for both the shop and my craft table, posting updates and pictures on the February Jones Facebook Fan Page, and constantly creating upcycled gift envelopes and product tags (not to mention assisting in my household with my regular duties like getting Abby off to school in the morning, getting through the laundry, keeping the apartment clean, AND making a crapload of Christmas gifts to keep up with our 'handmade gift' policy) has kept my life so busy that finding the time to get a blog post up has been tricky. But here it is! I've been taking advantage of my weekdays in Old Quebec Street Mall by testing out some new items that I haven't listed on Etsy yet. Would you like to see some?

Chaos Bracelets with toggle clasps, silver wire 

These gorgeous bracelets are crocheted strands of wire and beads carefully woven together and finished with a toggle clasp. I love the way that the colours mix with the pearly beads for a kind of controlled chaos effect. Hence the name "Chaos"!

Wordsmith Earrings - wooden shapes collaged with recycled encyclopedias and finished with shiny gloss

The first items in a new line called "Wordsmith". I absolutely love words in general, so the sophisticated, bookish, and yet oh-so-fun feel of these earrings definately makes them a contender for one of my favourites. I'll be exploring how different shapes work with the process of collaging- let me tell you, creating those stars was tricky work! But I'm so happy with the result that I'm sure I'll endure the goopy fingers and frustrations of dealing with so many angles many more times in the future :)

Quantum Squiggle Tree Ornaments

I love my Quantum Squiggles so much that I had to have at least one on my own Christmas tree. What a cool way to bring Quantum joy into the holiday season!

Jingle Bell Earrings

And last for today, but certainly not least, the Jingle Bell earrings. There's nothing that will do a better job of reminding you that the holidays are in full thrall than to have gentle jingles dangling from your earlobes.

And so I shall leave you now, with these fun images to show you a little bit of what I've been up to. I have miles of yarn calling my name that need to be transformed into a plethora of fun and cozy things and judging by the calendar, my time is quickly running out! Wishing you all a wonderful, happy, and handcraftaliscious holiday season...

*Maria