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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Making the Holidays Handmade


Fretwork angel ornament.
Each year we pledge to make most of the holiday gifts we give away to family and friends, but we usually end up way too busy to get everything done. We do however always find time to make new ornaments for our tree, sometimes creating keepsakes from items saved from our vacations.

Sea shell angel ornament - shells from out Cape Cod vacation.
If you don't have the means or time to make gifts yourself, there are several online shops that have many talented artist who sell their handmade items.

Some of my favorite places to shop for unique gifts are:

and 

Carved snowman ornament
We also prefer to buy at local shops rather than at the big box stores or malls. We have several shopping villages close by like Old Mystic Village and often take day trips to Quechee Gorge Village in VT.
One of our favorite places to shop for food gift items is The Woodstock Farmers Market in Woodstock, VT. They also have an on-line store which makes it easy to send gift baskets to out of state family, friends or my business clients.

Carolina snowflake ornament.
We are looking forward to the day when we finally have our farm and can give more gifts like canned tomato sauce made from our heirloom tomatoes, or dried herbs, herb infused oils, and other items grown or raised on our farm!

Dried hot peppers from our garden.
Do you prefer handmade gifts for the holidays?

Shared at:

The Backyard Farming Connection
The Chicken Chick 
Deborah Jean's Dandelion House

5 comments:

  1. Your ornaments are so cute! I love the snowman. It's so neat that you use items from your vacations. That makes the ornaments so much more meaningful and special.

    I do love to receive handmade gifts. I'd be thrilled if someone gave me herb infused oil with herbs from their garden!

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  2. I enjoy food items especially. I don't bake much anymore and it's fun to get cookies, muffins or bread. I think we've given lots of homemade gifts over the years...herbal vinegars with a dressing recipe are nice to give and many herb blends and spice mixes.
    Your ornaments are super nice and a gift item that holds a lot of meaning...thanks for sharing your ideas!

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  3. Your Christmas ornaments are gorgeous and beautifully created. TFS. I am now a follower of your blog and look forward to return visits. I invite you to join me as well on my blog at http://atastefultouch.blogspot.com
    Hugs, Gayle.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I am headed over to check out your blog!
      ~Rob

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  4. hi. i'm new to the blog hop. my husband and i have a cattle farm in alberta. i also own and operate a small paper shop from the farm. the shop like my blog is call Black Ink Paperie. my blog features stories about the farm and growing up in small fishing village in nova scotia. i would love for you to visit my blog and follow if you like it. i did a guest post last week called "a cow's tale" which tells the story about one of our cows and her exciting life.

    http://www.blackinkpaperie.blogspot.com

    thanks and i can't wait to visit all the other blogs
    new follower bev

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