preparation

Last week I stumbled upon this super tutorial for an Advent calendar (with chocolate!) by the talented Allsorts. Since my husband and I have inhabited...shall we say--cramped living spaces for most of our two years of marriage, we have few holiday decorations thus far, and few holiday traditions as well. So we thought this year would be a good time to initiate some traditions--some involving decorations--what with us finally living in a space that could house more than the bare necessities. We took on Allsorts' Advent calendar as our first holiday project--and I must say it turned out marvelously! (We took a bit of creative license with it, of course. :)

It was so fun for me to watch my grease-monkey hubby painstakingly embroider small felt pouches--I learned that he knows a bit more about sewing than I gave him credit for! Crafting is usually solely "my" territory in our house, so it was a treat for us to do something creative like this together. I think the endeavor even inspired hubby to learn more about sewing and felting--and he's already moved on to making Miyazaki-inspired plushies!

Chocolates!! YUM.
I'm really excited about the holidays this year--beginning new traditions, getting a real Christmas tree (post & pics coming soon), buying handmade, seeing faraway family...December is already off to a great start!

Cheer to all....

new.

Introducing Avenue Handmade, the new name of what was formerly Cripple Creek! Over the next few months I will be transitioning all of my signature products to be sold through my Avenue H store (& offering some great deals on Cripple Creek items that will be discontinued!). I'm really excited about this chance to reinvent my creations, designs, & website...basically to start all over from scratch. But I'm also a tad nervous about that very thing: starting from scratch (again).

But hey, it's probably easier to (re)start from scratch after only 1 (fairly successful) year than to struggle through several years with a muddled focus and eventually be faced with the dilemma of whether or not to reinvent or just throw in the towel all together. I think the young handle growing pains more easily--probably cause we're used to them--so why not just dive right in while my company is still young.

Anyway, more to come in the next few days as I get everything set up...I'm excited to have a "table" at Poppytalk Handmade's November Market! You can check out my new wares there after November 5. I've got lots of new recycled silverware jewelry & plenty of adorable new (also recycled!) holiday cards.