holiday shopping issueMaking your list and checking it twiceFinding the perfect handmade gifts for everyone

Healthy LivingINcorporate MaTcha tea into your holiday recipes

Eco crafts

UPcycled Holiday

ornaments

Handmade holiday pledge

Take the

PUTTING A PERSONAL TOUCH ON GIFT WRAP

dad sis

boss kitty

The Holiday Issue

Holiday Shopping Issue \ The Handmade Companion \ 3

C O N T E N T S ...

F E AT U R E . . .

Finding the perfect hand-made gift can be easy, fun and make those tough-to-buy-for friends, family members and co-workers glow.

. . . PA G E 1 2

E C O - C R A F T S . . .

Make your own upcycled ornaments out of scrap pieces of fabric, sweaters and old books!

. . . PA G E 6

L I F E S T Y L E S . . . MAKE HEALTHY HOLIDAY RECIPES INCORPORATING MAtCHA TEA.

. . . PA G E 1 0L E A R N I N G T O D I Y . . . Making quick, easy and charming gifts and wrapping them to look like works of art.

. . . PA G E 2 0

\ Editor In Chief ... Anne Hayman . . . anne@thehandmadegif tguide.com

. . . www.thehandmadegif tguide.com\ Photo Editor ... SARAH REED

. . . sarahreedphotography@yahoo.com. . . www.sarahreedphotography.net

\ Lifestyles Editor ... Phuong Le . . . www.konitea .com

. . . www.theteachick.com\ Eco-Craft Editor ... Michelle Stolz

. . . a is le3@comcast .net. . . www.upc ycleyourl i fe .com

\ Sewing Editor ... KAREN LEPAGE . . . r ingmaster@onegir lc ircus .com

. . . www.onegir lc ircus .com

4 \ The Handmade Companion \ Holiday Shopping Issue

C O N TA C T U S . . .

A N o t e F r o m t h e E d i t o r

Taking the Handmade Pledge

I decided to go handmade this year. {kinda like last year, right?} To my friends and family: I pledge that my holiday gifts are made for you with love by my two little hands or those of a super-talented artist/crafters. I am very conscious of where I spend my money.

I like the idea of keeping it in the hands of small businesses.

Especially those in my own community. I am very lucky to live in Metro Detroit, surrounded by amaz-ingly creative folks. Never a shortage of cool stuff around here! These days there seems to be some kind of handmade holiday shopping event in every big city. I’ve compiled a list on my blog {thehandmadegift-guide.com} of some of the larger events in the U.S. If you can’t attend shows, online shopping is the next best thing. {You can wear jammies!} I have a bunch of links to cool Etsy shops on my blog too. It really is a great visual guide to discover new crafters. Check out my make a gift section as well, a resource for finding tutorials for some DIY-ing.

I hope you enjoy our holiday special issue! The Handmade Companion will be a quarterly print maga-zine, with the first actual edition out in January 2012.

We wanted to give everyone a taste of the vibe of the magazine, with the launch of the first annual holiday issue. In these pages, our firecracker team of DIY-ers shares seasonal recipes using fantastic natu-

ral ingredients {like tea!}, cool upcycled ornament projects and we share some super awesome handmade finds from our fave online shops in our gift guide that makes buying handmade for everyone on your list a breeze.

The magazine will regularly feature hand-made lifestyle articles such as: healthy cooking/baking; sewing Q&A and projects; crafty ideas, how to’s and patterns; a ton of upcycling ideas, tutorials and projects for your home and The Crafter’s Business Association will share tips for those of you that sell your crafts, and more! {Yes, more!}

love, Anne• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Holiday Shopping Issue \ The Handmade Companion \ 5

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Saturday:\

Sunday:

Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday:

C R A F T Y C A L E N D A R , We e k O f : Dec. 17 to 23

* g

roce

ry shop

for

party

men

u stuff *

* p

ut finish

ing

touche

s on g

ifts

* m

ake

gift w

rap

*

** W

rap

gifts * *

* m

ake

gift tag

s *

* make scarflette for mom* plan party menu

•* make ornaments for tree* shop on Etsy

\ Style Editor ... Sophie Fenby. . . sophie@thehandmadegif tguide.com

\ STITCH Kitsch ... Amy Cronkite . . . acronkite@gmai l .com

. . . thesmal lcraf t .com

\ Marketing/PR/Advertising ... Jennifer Scott

. . . info@thehandmadegif tguide.com\ COpy Editor/Design ... Jodie Fletcher

. . . jodel laf le tch@gmai l .com

\ \ Don’t miss our next issue of The Handmade Companion, coming in January \ \

A Very Handmade Holiday

Check out our Where To Shop Guide on Page 18 to find the gifts from the party.

Photographs

by Sarah Reed

holiday shopping Mom auntie

bestie cousin

Southern wood

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Southernwood

Patsy Fine

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PatsyFine

Red Leaf Bath and Bodyhttp://www.etsy.com/shop/RedLeafBathand-

KooKooCraft

http://www.etsy.com/shop/KooKooCraft

from cover: Dad’s getting: Sweet Pine Soaps http://www.etsy.com/shop/Sweetpinesoaps

Holiday Shopping Issue \ The Handmade Companion \ 15

holiday shopping holiday shopping brothernanny

co-worker me

The Macaron Queen

http://www.etsy.com/shop/

themacaronqueen

Sovereign Sea http://www.etsy.com/shop/SovereignSea

Irene Suchockihttp://www.etsy.com/shop/IreneSuchocki

Creole Shahttp://www.etsy.com/

shop/CreoleSha

from cover: Sis is getting: Shirasela http://www.etsy.com/shop/Shirasela

holiday shopping auntie

Knock Knocking

http://www.etsy.com/shop/knockknocking

other

Nia Crafthttp://www.etsy.com/shop/NiaCraft

Urban Heirloomshttp://www.etsy.com/shop/

UrbanHeirlooms

Sugar Me Desserterie http://www.etsy.com/shop/

SugarMeDesserterie

Mom

hubby teacher

from cover: BOSS is getting: Urban Eye http://www.etsy.com/shop/UrbanEye

Eclu

holiday shopping holiday shopping bestieother

niecegrandma

son

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GlitzGlitter

Little Sapling Toyshttp://www.etsy.com/shop/Littlesaplingtoys

Eclu http://www.etsy.com/shop/Eclu

Sea Pinkshttp://www.etsy.com/shop/

SeaPinks

from cover: Kitty is getting: Jenneration Fixx http://www.etsy.com/shop/Jennerationfixx

Glitz Glitter

. . . W H E R E T O S H O P G U I D E . . .

Here’s where you can find the gifts from our Handmade Holiday party!

Clockwise, starting in the bottom left corner:

\ http://www.etsy.com/shop/mamamayi\ http://www.southernyankee.com\ http://www.etsy.com/

shop/2beescreations\ http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetsapling\ http://www.cupcakesforclara.com\ http://www.etsy.com/shop/zemphira\ http://www.tlk-designs.com/\ http://www.etsy.com/shop/comfortably-lovely\ http://www.tierraverdesoaps.com/\ http://www.etsy.com/shop/loreleyjewelry\ http://www.unusuallyyours.artfire.com\ http://www.etsy.com/shop/3pearls

\ http://www.etsy.com/shop/metalsmitten\ http://www.lt3omg.com\ http://www.reviveyourbath.com\ http://www.etsy.com/shop/sunrisefibers\ http://www.100proofpress.com

Also check out the fun things at Soft Shell Crafts: http://www.etsy.com/shop/softshell-crafts

www.forgivingworks.com

boho

hippie

beautiful

colorful

free-spirited

freshfresh

modern

ageless

precious

loved

cherished

forgivinggiving

portrait . commercial . web/printSarah Reed Photography

www.sarahreedphotography.net

22 \ The Handmade Companion \ Holiday Shopping Issue

rapping gifts is the best way to use your DIY-

ish-ness. I like to use old paper bags from the mar-ket, but you could recycle any paper that you have. I like paper bags because then I can stamp ’em up and create my own pat-terned one-of-a-kind wrap. Experiment with group-ing together a few smaller stamps and using them together to make a neat repetitive pattern, paint the paper using stencils, use stickers, rub-on's, glit-ter and anything else you can think of to decorate an empty canvas.

I also love using fabric scraps or upcycled fabric to wrap my gifts. I tend to use old curtains in natural fab-

rics like cotton or linen, but you could find some amaz-ing shirt/skirt/sheets at the thrift store and cut them up to use. I wrap the gift just like I would if I was using paper, except I use a little drop of fabric adhesive to keep it together. {Be careful with this: a little dot really

will hold it together. You do want the recipient to be able to open it without a knife.}

Then wrap your gift! Use fun sewing notions like ricrac, pom-pom trim, lace, ribbon, fabric strips to decorate the wrapped pack-age. There is a link to tutori-als on The Handmade Gift

Guide that will show you how to make fabric flowers to decorate your packages. {Make sure you check out Snazziedrawers.com for the most beautiful fabric flower patterns.}

I also like to use natural elements like evergreen branches and pinecones {spraypainted silver or gold}.

The care and love that went into making the gift, reflected in... the final handmade touch ...

Wrap!

It’s A

B y A N N E H AY M A N . . . T h e H a n d m a d e G i f t G u i d e

W

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