Christmas is so close, have you got everything under wraps?

The build up to Christmas this year has been interesting for me as the previous 5 or 6 years have been consumed by Christmas fever at what was my little home and lifestyle store here on Mount Tamborine. As I sold it in July I didn't even have the buying frenzy to stock up the shelves with essentially Chinese and Indian made imports.

This time has given me the opportunity to look outside the square when it came to Christmas presents this year. I made a deal with myself that everything I bought was to be handmade, well  I must admit I only partially reached this goal (nevermind), but I did manage to buy some wonderful gifts from amazing crafters and artisans.

For example I got these gorgeous dolls from Sharlzndollz, Sharlene (the designer) makes a world of Paper Dolls and I say world because she has Babushka Gals, Fairies, Dancers and even Hero male paper dolls. These are just stunning and I know my little girl is going to love them.
Go to sharlzndollz.etsy.com to see all of her goodies.

Speaking of presents for her, this is another present we, well I mean my son, got her for Christmas. It's from another Brissie designer Epheriell and when it came I was so delighted. Unfortunately for us they have now taken off for a holiday for a year but have a look anyway.

http://www.epheriell.etsy.com/

I would go on with more but the other members of the family have access to the computer and the potential for them to discover the gifts is rather high.

I would like to add though other designers I really like are anna ruby king ( I used to sell these in my shop and they walked out), the vintage delights of ruby2gogo, cute little stiches of edward  and lilly, cool recycled crockery of art decadence and to be honest so many more. If you have the time to have a look at some others go to BrisStyle and scroll down the page to see heaps more. There is just so many designers doing amazing things out there and trust me as someone who for the last 6 years has scrolled, searched and bought for a living its really worth taking the time to have a sticky at what local designers are doing.

Happy shopping!
PS. don't forget to get to have a look at my store too. http://www.cloudsevendesigns.etsy.com/ ;)