Holiday Accoutrements

Christine's Beadworks

What's On Your Body

Get it?  Not what's in your wallet but... Okay, I guess if you have to explain your witticism it's not that witty.  I thought it would be fun to see what you wore over the holidays.  Over on Anne's blog  I saw holiday socks my mom would love and some fuzzy flannel pants Anne wore outside taking pictures, and thus was born the idea for this post.  

I support handmade and treated myself to a few items before the holidays which I wore proudly over the week long celebration that occurs between Indiana and Michigan.  Someone asked me why I buy jewelry when I can make it, and the short answer is I get more enjoyment supporting another artist and proudly stating this is an "insert name here" original.  I don't get to splurge often, but I've enjoyed every piece given to me or purchased.  Of course, I wear my own creations but there is something special about wearing a piece from someone you admire.  This blog piece may come across as one giant advertisement for Etsy, but I don't recommend shops unless I've purchased from them, and I don't recommend them unless I've loved what I've purchased.

Underneath the Layers

Don't worry, I'm not going to show my undergarments, this is not about that type of accoutrement (what a fun word, you may see it again).  When I first joined the Etsy community, I also joined a team or guild.  The first was Micetsy and its members are Michigan artists with shops on Etsy.  Each year I try to purchase from this team in my gift giving to support handmade and the local economy.  I stumbled across Liana and her shop, MarmaladeHills through the team and purchased soy candle tarts and gave them to my daughter's teachers and beer soap samples for the men's stockings.  I sent her link to a friend who loves artisan soaps and she told me how wonderful Liana's products made her skin feel.  Long story short, I purchased a few of Liana's products and love them.  

Marmalade Hills

 So, under it all I wore Dark Ale Beer Cold Processed Soap (actually a gift from Liana, thank you again!); Coffee Butter Sugar Body Polish, Tea Tree Blossom Ultimate Body Butter, and for the face; Tea Tree Cucumber Complexion bar, and her Facial Serum.  My skin glowed.  My daughter loves the sugar polish and on her list is the Gingersnap scent (maybe for her birthday).  

Jewelry

WondrousStrange

Wait, what about clothing?  I did receive a very special Christmas present, but I'll save that until the end.  The item I wore every day during the Michigan holidays was the bracelet that you see above (since it's for sale I can't wear it to Indiana and around the smokers in the family).   It is one of my own creations and complements just about everything I own.  Although it's my piece, I did support two Etsy artists in making it.  The first is a shop called WondrousStrange.  She makes lovely ceramic pieces as well as other artwork.  The buttons above are what I purchased, the one in the bracelet is one she threw in the box as a gift, wonderful!

The leather is from an Etsy artist from Montreal, Santosleather. I purchased this leather from her to make a cuff for a good friend and I've been back to her shop several times.  Exquisite leather and excellent customer service. The cuff pictured above is Loretta's and features this gorgeous leather and the Druzy stone purchased from Beadsaddict, another favorite shop.  Unfortunately, Loretta didn't get to wear her cuff for the holidays.  I was late mailing it and she left to visit her mother before it arrived.  Her husband has the box safe and sound waiting for her return.

GypsyMoonArt

The piece above is from GypsyMoonArt, another Michigan artist. I've been a huge fan of Shannon's for sometime now and a sale allowed me to purchase one of her pieces for myself.  It's so easy to wear, and looked fantastic with the earrings below.  I'm also in awe of Shannon's photography; jewelry is not easy to photograph and the picture above would look as good on my walls as the pendant does on my neck.  

BlackWaterSiren

These earrings are from BlackWaterSiren and are my favorite earrings.  They were made by shooting through sheet metal and are my nod to my brother's passion for guns and his own talents as a non-practicing artist (the art really never leaves your soul).  

On Top of It All

I was fortunate to make a few sales that made these purchases possible.  I'm very thankful to my customers both near and far who've discovered me along the way.  I'm also blessed with a wonderful family who supports my passion and a husband who works so very hard in this economy.  When he found out how much I loved Santos Leather, he purchased this wonderful jacket for me for Christmas.  It's been waiting in my closet for New Years, when I will wear it proudly and try to keep from stroking the leather all night long.  I just recently discovered DH stands for Dear Husband.  All this time, I thought there were a lot of men out there with the initials DH (I can be quite dense sometimes).  My DH is thoughtful, caring, and has been the light of my world since I met him.  So I close this posting with a picture of his wonderful gift. 

SantosLeather