Virtual Home Show

I'd like to welcome you to the

Some friends and I have gathered together to show you some great handmade gift ideas to get the holiday ball rolling. I'd like to invite you to our two-day event, showcasing some lovely items from these talented ladies:

Sue Bleiweiss has some beautiful handmade notebooks to show you.

Felicia Haywood has been making the cutest toys around.

Lisa Jordan makes the sweetest felted treasures.

Jenn Maruska's sewing gifts are just the best!

Julie Thomas has some gorgeous pottery to show you.

Karen Wittkop will help you wrap things up with her adorable gift tags!

Stop in and check out the beautiful things these girls are working on, there will be prizes and lots of great holiday shopping ideas.

As for me, it's all about monkeys! Yep. It's monkey season so I decided to tell you a bit about how it all started...
Early in 2007, while on a trip to California (I was living in the UK at the time), Nick and I paid a visit to some friends of ours who live near Yosemite National Park. (These friends recently hosted our wedding at their home...I had to mention that.) Anyway, I'd just made the first ever official Gadget Monkey, seen above. His name is Randy and he was promptly adopted by Jim & Julie. We took Randy along on a trip into Yosemite and that's when we all came up with the idea for the Monkey Travel Club Flickr Group and shop. At first, I sold my monkeys out of my orginal Etsy shop, iSew, but later the monkeys took over and demanded their own space. So, on January 1st of this year, Monkey Travel Club opened it's virtual doors. And the rest, as they say, is history. At this point I've made over 430 monkeys!

When I started, the Gadget Monkey was the only style. Now there are pencil cups, coffee sleeves and whole lot more.

Anyone for a pumpkin spiced latte? I always get a smile when I bring a monkey along for a cup of coffee.

Isn't that sweet? Mick got Esther an iPod for Christmas. And Woody finally got the little brother he's been asking for.

I've just started working on some new Christmas monkeys for the shop. These 3 say they want to stay here, but I'm not sure I can put up with them. Leave a comment (by midnight on Tuesday night Nov. 4) and pick some names for them and maybe you'll win one! I'll announce a winner on Wednesday.

Now I'd like you to swing by and see my friend Felicia and her adorable little friends. Enjoy the home show!

Wow!

Well, last night I made my 150th sale on Etsy, a monkey of course. I'm so excited about hitting this milestone. I feel very blessed to have come across Etsy and been able to sell my little creations there. I've made so many great friends and learned a lot. What a treat it is to do what I love every day as well. It's a lot more work than a "regular" job, but a lot more fulfilling. Thanks for all the support on my blog and in my shop too. Thank goodness I came up with those Gadget Monkeys, lol.

And to celebrate my good fortune, I want to tell you about Pledge Handmade. I can't really put it into words well enough, but basically, it's a pledge to buy handmade for the holidays. Etsy and 8 of their friends have started a consortium to encourage people to buy handmade this Christmas. I think it's a great idea! You can go to the website and make the pledge yourself, then get a cool badge for your blog to encourage others. Support your fellow crafter this holiday season and buy handmade.