A Grateful Giveaway

I am so touched by the many responses to the post I wrote last week expressing my pledge to buy handmade. Thank you so much for your comments and emails. I am constantly amazed at the warmth and kindness of the blog community.
At my job on Monday I received some pretty sobering news about possible budget cuts that has myself and my coworkers nervous and keeping our fingers crossed. It's been a stressful week, but as I settled down into bed last night and looked around, my heart was utterly overwhelmed by gratitude. We are safe, we are warm, our house is filled with love.
This next week in the USA we celebrate Thanksgiving. While there are many things I have to be thankful for, there are a few (in no particular order) that I want to mention specifically here:

• My family- As mentioned in this post, it's been a rough past few months for our close knit family. I am so thankful that I get to spend Thursday with my beautiful sister in law who has her last chemo this week!!! Woohoo!!!
• This little space- It was a chilly fall afternoon when I was sitting in a messy unused loft/landing space in my creaky, drafty beloved old house and was blessed with the idea of turning that space into a long coveted "room of one's one". A little bit of planning and small storage furniture purchases later, I finally had my own little studio. It's perfect for pixie making, and nobody cares how messy it gets. Here, paint spills and glitter catastrophes are encouraged!

• You!!!- Although I haven't posted as much as I would have liked to this year, and definitely not have commented as much as I should of, I am so grateful that I have this blog and for my friends that visited it. I am especially grateful to Jenny, who encouraged me two years ago to "go get a blog", and when I did, she posted about on her blog and sent lots of lovely people over here to welcome me. If you are reading this and you haven't started a blog yet I really encourage you to do so.

What are you grateful for? Please leave a comment and you'll be entered to win a custom mini Polka Dot Pixie Snowman like the tiny ones displayed below. I'll chose a random winner next Saturday. Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

This holiday season.....

I have made a personal pledge this year for gift giving. Handmade (meaning made by another Artisan), Homemade(made by yours truly) or Vintage ..... (and cash for the teen set, the 15 year olds in my life just don't appreciate vintage hand crocheted potholders, for some reason).
Here's my why...

1. The Economy: I have grown so tired of the talking heads on T.V. blathering on about how bad the financial crisis is, I have decided to turn it off altogether. I am not sticking my head in the sand, but I am not letting any more negativity into this house which is my family's sanctuary. Everything happens in cycles, things are going to get better, Call me an optimist, but what else can you expect from a doll maker who pours her salt and pepper out of a pair of angry grapefruits.
2. Artists and vintage vendors need our support: So buy handmade. You will not regret this. Everything I have ever purchased from an artist has arrived beautifully packaged, with a sweet note thanking me for my business, and it makes me smile every time I look at it....triggers a happy memory. You can't get that kind of service from a big box retailer.
3. The Globe:Handmade goods are typically produced in a fashion that has little environmental impact. In fact, many artists recycle goods to create their fabulous wares. And purchasing vintage is the ultimate in recycling.
4. The Love: I have nieces and nephews ranging in ages from 5 to 25. I know my sweet little niece will be delighted with her hand felted bear (waaaaaaaay cuter than a Bratz doll) and my 25 year old bachelor nephew will probably enjoy my homemade chocolate chip cookie dough better than he would a boring baseball cap that I picked up for him at "Whatever"-mart.

I will be posting a few tutorials over the next couple of weeks to share some handmade ideas for ornaments and gift giving (including a handmade stress management kit!). Next week I will also be having a giveaway, in honor of Thanksgiving, and in honor of how much you all have blessed my life through your encouragement and support.

I hope several others will join me in buying handmade and vintage this year.

Where I have been and Why glitter is never coming out of my hair......

www.flickr.com thepolkadotpixie's New for November photoset

Theres 34 more to see here... These guys will all be available for sale very soon.

Still here....

Happy belated Halloween.... The cold I mentioned earlier this (now last) month turned into a nasty case of bronchitis. Also, it's craft show season so the studio has been in overdrive mode. Even my DH has been getting in on the pixie prepping action. Check back in a few days for photos :-) In the meanwhile, here's a little glimpse of our spooky decor. Our house was built over 100 years ago, so she dresses up well for all holidays, but especially Halloween! (iF you click on the mosaic below, it will pop up with a much better quality view... not sure why it looks so blurry in the one below) And for those of you have asked, yes those are Disneyland Haunted Mansion Portraits from the Streching room (reprints, of course). They used to sell them at a Disney-owned Art Gallery outside of the park, but we purchased them from ebay). We leave them up year round. They lend a sense of humour to an otherwise stuffy Victorian parlor. :-)