November 03, 2008

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!



17 comments:

Jenn Maruska said...

Man, those monkeys are super cute!

My names are: Flurry, Cocoa and Pip.

Travel on, little monkeys! : )

jodie said...

Thanks for all the GREAT links! As for those monkeys how about:

Chip, Hazel and Ella.

Kathy-Catnip Studio said...

Ahhh, hazelnut soy latte in the morning! The only thing better would be a hazelnut soy latte with a monkey smiling back at me! Adorable!

Christina J. said...

They're so cute.

Let's see...Klaus, Noel, and Celeste.

:)

Felicia said...

Holy crow, 430 monkeys?! Wow, that's a lot of monkeys :) I love monkey season!

LeeAnn said...

I love your monkeys. All your captions are so cute. :)

How about Dottie, Chap, and Leon.

Anonymous said...

These monkeys are just too much fun!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Awww...such cute little monkeys! How about Hope, Peace and Charity for names?

Barbara said...

Hello, I found you through Sue's blog and I love your monkeys! How cute are they? So I asked my son what he would name them and his names are:

Bob, George and Bill :)

Peace!

(my names would be Peace, Hope and Joy)

Lisa Gallup said...

Cute, CUTE monkeys!!! I name the Christmas monkeys Klaus, Evergreen, and Sparkle! :)

Cascade said...

Oh wouldn't I love love love a little Christmas monkey for my monkey-loving sister-in-law? My name suggestions are:

Marguerite, Maxwell, and Mabel

Anonymous said...

Love the monkeys!! They are sooo cute!! elma2179@yahoo.com

Judy said...

Well since they're traveling holiday monkeys I think donner, Blitzen & Comet. They sure are cute!

Linda Summerfield said...

I have never seen anything like your wonderful monkey cup holders, so creative and cute!
Larry, Moe and Curly.

Deb said...

Following links from Julie @ farmer julie and enjoying todays home show. Such a great idea. Your monkeys are adorable!! Three need names? ... how about Pearl, Merle & Earl :-)

sugarcreekstuff said...

I love your monkeys! How about,

Funky, Chunky and Hunky Monkey

Kathy said...

I finally got a chance to look at everyone's pages and the amount of creativity is staggering! Now I'm going to have to go spend some money..

3 names:
Terry, Lena, Lisette