Feature Friday: Handmade Holidays Rock!

When thinking about our feature for Black Friday, I thought immediately of two of my favorite Etsy sellers. Okay, I’ll admit, both are dear friends, and while they’re not paying me to feature them, if they want to send me a treat, I won’t try to stop them. Because I love what they do.

Why are these my go-to girls? They are both terrific artists, both want the recipient to be overwhelmed by the loveliness of their purchase and both take time to make things just the way you want them. And I love the idea of more handmade lovelies for the holidays. I mean, I do my share of retail consumption, but I’m working on improving the handmade/mass-produced purchase ratio. And these women both make rock(in’) jewelry.

First, Kelly Vivar Fine Jewelry.  I have a beautiful pair of earrings and a custom-made necklace with birthstones for each of the members of my family. My daughter loves to snuggle up to me and point to each stone and ask me to tell her again which one is her, which is Daddy, and which is me. And she knows that little sister isn’t on there yet and that she will be soon, as soon as I can surrender the necklace long enough to have her added.  Really, what’s not to love about all of the sweetness in this?

Or this?

And if you really want to rock around the Christmas Tree, you need to check out Strange Little Girl’s shop. There’s so much variety. So much beauty. Like this:

And a disclaimer: I haven’t highlighted my very favorite pieces. They’re on my Dear Santa list, and if you get them first, that means I might not get them…. and this decision not to share, admittedly, has me between a rock and a hard place. But I can roll with that.