Special Feature Friday: Flora Sense

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Another Special Feature Friday on Saturday, my Friday yesterday was so hectic that I never made it to the computer. With Christmas coming closer, the list of things to do becomes longer, but I am sure the list will be empty before Christmas eve!

We will stay on the subject of Christmas one more week, with Flora Sense. Her collection of wreaths and ornaments is perfect to get any house into the holiday spirit. The wreaths are handmade by shop owner Kaleda, using a wonderful selection of natural materials.

These ornaments are made from maple leaves, angel hair and gold colored wire. The natural colors of the leaves and the gold wire make for a beautiful combination.  They come in a set of 3.

This advent wreath in traditional colors is made with wool yarn, different ribbons and decorated with pinecones apples. There is also a small collection of Christmas ornaments to be found. It comes with 4 candle holders. 

The items in Flora Sense will make great gifts as well, and to save time and shipping costs for the buyers Kaleda offers a service where she will ship the item directly to the recipient. It is possible to have a text written on a handmade greeting card! 

Kaleda was very kind to offer the readers of this blog a discount code for her shop: MERRYCHRISTMAS10 will give you a 10% discount.  

This is the last Special Feature Friday of 2014, I would like to wish you all Happy Holidays and a wonderful start of 2015!! I hope to see you back on the 9th of January for the first Special Feature Friday of the year.

Special Feature Friday: Koelnschaetze

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To stay into the holiday spirit I would like to feature another shop with holiday items. Koelnschaetze is a shop on Etsy selling table decorations. I know for many people who love to throw dinner parties, table decoration is just as important as the meal itself, and the preparations for a party often start weeks in advance. With the holiday season it is always a good idea to start early, and put extra care in a festive table. 

Koelnschaetze is the shop to go to, not only for holiday decorations, but also for decorations for weddings. Though I must say I find the decorations in this shop suitable for many different themes.

This beautiful centerpiece is a different take on setting a table. It is a real eye-catcher and the little scene in the middle of the gate gives a wonderful feeling of Christmas. 

I am stunned by the detail in this piece, it is gorgeous! Shaped like a pine tree, one can find the most wonderful wood animals among the trees. This will work well as a centerpiece on a table or a decoration on a dressoir. I can imagine this will also work as a replacement for a Christmas tree for people with limited space or a limited budget. 

Special Feature Friday: Ivory Mint Cards

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We have moved house, and gotten quite far with putting everything at it's place, so this week there is time again for a Special Feature Friday!

It is November, and Christmas is not far away. Etsy is home to many shops with wonderful Christmas items. This week I would love to feature a shop selling Christmas cards. 

Ivory Mint Cards has a wonderful collection of postcards, not only suitable for the holidays but also cards for the whole year around. Cards can be bought as singles but also in handy packages.

This reindeer card features a cute reindeer with a red hat. It is printed on thick creamy white paper and comes with an envelope of recycled brown paper. The cards are A6 sized and blank on the inside. 

Ivory Mint Cards are printed professionally on top quality paper. The card is packaged in a clear plastic envelope to keep it tidy and shipped out in a hard back envelope to keep it flat.

Not everyone you know might like the holiday season, but maybe you still would like to send your friends or family who dislike the holidays a card. Here is your solution, the Bah Humbug card, for those not in favor of the winter holidays! 

Special Feature Friday: built on branches

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Searching for items to decorate the house for the upcoming autumn and winter season I ran into Built on Branches. Erin is the owner of this shop and creates woodland animals with wool and felt.The sculptural animals are made using the needle felting technique, and her brooches and ornaments are hand sewn and embroidered from pieces of felt.Next to this Erin also creates greeting cards and customized gift bags.

Several years ago Erin discovered the wonders of needle felting in a small supply store in Vermont. She decided to buy the supplies and learn how to needle felt. The moment the green eyes where sewn to her first animal it came alive, and this always remained her favorite part of the process!


The items made by Erin are very lifelike, yet the little details give them a personality and make them unique!

This wonderful grey rabbit is hand crafted, his hind legs are reinforced with cotton cord. He is grey and ivory with a dusty pink nose, and his body is made 100% wool. His bow tie makes him a real handsome gentlemen! He comes packed in a paper box tied with ribbon, ready to be a gift, either for a loved one or for yourself.

A collection of felted acorns will make wonderful decorations for your house. A set includes 6 acorns. They can be placed in a bowl, put on a shelf or on your table. I also think they will look wonderful in any autumn or winter inspired wreath. They come in a reusable cotton muslin drawstring bag. These acorns are available in 31 colors, so they can fit into any house!

Erin is happy to help out if a different quantity or color is required.

Erin was very kind to donate a discount code. For any order above 20 dollars you will get 5 dollars off with this code: HAPPYFALL14

This code is valid until December 31 2014.

Christmas inventory

The end of September is nearing, and the list of things to do before Christmas is getting longer.

Along with gifts for family I am also making a lot of items for the shop this year.

I can hardly wait to see everything in the winter theme in the shop, but before that time arrives there is a lot to do. I have started with 3 patchwork pillowcases, using bits of fabrics I had left. 

Here is a little preview for one of the patchwork pillows, far from being finished though as I am planning on quilting the front.

I would love to tell more about the gifts I am making, but I cannot risk it, family might just read along ;)

All I can say is that it involves some knitting.

I might have mentioned before that I wanted to start crochet. This week I finished my first crochet ball, it took about 3 tries before it worked out well, that is with all the stitches on the right place and of course in the right amount. Especially ending with the right amount of stitches was difficult at first, but I get the idea now.

Cosmetically there is still a lot that I have to improve, but I am sure this will all come together eventually!

I have found some really nice patterns of a little owl, and I would love to make those!

However, with the busy season coming up I am not sure if I have time to work on the crochet any time soon.

Better be off to bed early, to be up and about on time tomorrow!