November 7, 2007

It's all made by hand on some level

How nice of Tory to sign us up for Handmade Holidays. I can't wait to see what all the projects are going to be. A few will find their way under my tree for certain. Handmade all the way - woot, woot!

OK, I have a confession to make. While Tory was so virtuously crafting I was shopping. My Tuesday night class was canceled at the last minute and, since Target was on the way home, I had to stop by after viewing Hilary's recent finds. Sadly, I didn't find the Amy Ruppel bag that I really wanted. I did manage to come home with fabulous green wrapping paper and a few gift bags and tags. And then, since I was already out, I went to Michael's to check out the MSL Christmas line.

It is generally pretty good, in my opinion. Much of it can be found elsewhere, but there are those truly good things that are worth all the hype. I bought these, these and some of these. And then there was this amazing ribbon - embossed velvet that looks like woodgrain. It will find it's way onto a few projects I have in mind. The piece de resistance was these acorn boxes which are to die for. It's a box that looks like an ornament or an ornament with a secret compartment depending on your perspective - how could you not love that? I'm thinking about covering them with fabric.

I was a little surprised to see these. Not that they aren't nice, but we totally made them in second grade using recycled Christmas cards that we brought from home. And this is where my "hate to love her" feelings about Martha are exposed. People, if a craft is literally so easy that a seven year-old can do it with snub-nosed scissors and Elmer's glue, you don't need to buy the $15 kit. And if all the MSL empire is doing is rebranding elementary school projects with shiny packaging and nicer materials, why do we buy them? Believe me, I too feel that tractor beam pull of shiny magazine page perfection. But I also like to get messy and figure stuff out for myself. I say we channel our inner seven year-old selves and go for it this year. Handmade Holidays, let's do this thing.

2 comments:

icicle said...

Hey, welcome to Blogger!
That ribbon is a must-have! We've pretty much given up on printed wrapping paper around here since it's soo hard to find the recyclable kind, so I splurge on good quality reusable ribbons instead. And those gingerbread houses, oh yes, I'm definitely checking those out this year.
Congrats on the blog, it looks great.

Anonymous said...

Hello & Happy Crafting Holidays!
Your comments about trinkets and just stuff that doesn't evoke some level of thought or effort are spot on! I Enjoy the blog because it reads very doable, positive and the ideas can be easily followed... while still allowing flexibility for personal choices! Keep up the nice work and uplifting conversation!