Earlier this year – earlier every year – we help you get ready for holiday shopping.  Why earlier this year?  Because more than any other year thus far, you need to expect shipping delays.  So CRD has already ordered and received its annual calendar, to be distributed with every order over $200 or upon request while supplies last. 

Gift wrap is always free (ask for extra cleaning cloths or pads for gifts or for yourself and we’ll add some in).  Also, we will upgrade to free US priority shipping for all first-class orders starting December 10^th. 

Note that USPS no longer ships to Australia, it’s FedEx and UPS only, and we have signed up for all of those shipping services to make your life easier.

And for the most important part, our holiday sale is earlier this year as well so you can get stuff to your loved ones (or yourself) on time.  Starting Wednesday November 17 and ending December 5th, we offer 20% off the entire store (custom items and payment plans excluded).

We can also still offer some limited custom orders in time for the holidays, please contact us so we can guide you properly.

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As you may know, every year we put together a little Etsy gift guide with our own recommendations.  This year we have a theme: Partner and Home.

Gift Ideas for the Partner:

Foster Weld offers handmade leather belts.  I just ordered one for my boyfriend in blue, it came quickly and it really looks professional.  They also make belt buckles and home décor.

For a local recommendation, get some personalized cufflinks for the man in your life from Jersey City based Silver Sculptor.  Joanne also ships worldwide!

An excellent personalized gift for him or her could be an item of photo jewelry from Johanna at Metal Cloth & Wood: 

Johanna also produces some beautifully made, unique insect and skull-themed jewelry for your more alternative family member! 

Gift Ideas for the Home:

We love our Art Deco Style Clock from Golden Gate Wall Art for the office, because we love Art Deco and I love telling time even more.  

Delivery was quick, the workmanship is good, and it was a great buy for the money.

My aunt bought a pot with an owl from Carolynsjing in New York, a potter who makes wonderful animal-themed ceramics: 

My aunt said:

“This is the sweetest little Owl and she'll be watching over my garden bouquets soon. She also gets along very well with the Raven of my wishing pot. ☺️ The lovely vase came very fast and was securely packaged. Thank you very much and keep creating these sweet creatures.”

She also bought this bell from Forge and Flower: 

Forge and Flower makes lovely metal home and gardening accessories.

Her review:

"This is the perfect bell made of quality metal. The small one was just the right size I needed. It sounds pretty and looks great. Matches up nicely with our rustic black outdoor lamps. Shipping was super-fast! Thank you!"

The hooks and garden stakes are a nice accent for the yard as well. 

If you like nature inspired pottery, a mug, vase or bowl from Loretta Wray Pottery offers very fast delivery and great service.  

Their bird vase fits nicely onto a small ledge or fire place and holds cuttings from the yard or a few stems.

Finally, if you like having a picture of your favorite pet, a member of our staff ordered 2 customized pet portraits from Steph at WoofFactory. 

She was thrilled with the service that Steph provided; the portraits were beautifully packaged and everything that she had hoped for.

Happy Shopping! 😊

A Selfish Guide to Gift Giving: A Gift for the Boyfriend, a Gift for Me, One for Mom, One for Me... 

Have you noticed this trend when doing holiday shopping?  You start shopping for the holidays and before you know it, you’ve spent more money on yourself than on other people!  And all the shops out there that are luring you in with their advertising are banking on this, too.  I almost never do Black Friday shopping, but this year I got soaps, some new clothes, a new laptop (for the office of course), and a washer and dryer set.  The latter was an unplanned gift to myself; the result of the unfortunate yet not ill-timed demise of both machines within just two days of each other.  At least I got a $600 rebate on the new ones!

Back to the subject of gifting.  As you may have noticed, we created a section in the shop for gifts under $200 for you.  We tried doing “gifts under $100” but the section was too small to bother.  Not much by way of stocking stuffers – if “under $100” can even count as that.  In my family that would be the main gift!  

Stocking stuffer-wise, I do have a couple of suggestions for you though: our new cleaning product is great, and for those of you who faithfully read our blog and have gotten to this paragraph, here’s a bonus for you:  If you’d like an extra polishing cloth or pad, just ask us and we will throw in another one at no charge.  They are quite handy!  

Another somewhat underappreciated gift in the lower price point of our shop is our earring jackets which come in both silver and gold.  They are super cute and rarely bought – I have no idea why:

Finally, our gold chains are currently very well priced because when we initially set those prices up, gold was $900 per ounce... now it’s at $1500!  Next year we will have to change our prices on those, but for now, they're a steal!

We are still working on adding a few silver pendants and silver stacking rings.  They should go up this weekend, as soon as we are finished coming out from under the sale we just had, which was quite successful if I may say so myself.  

Now, on to some recommendations I have from “not my shop,” a few of which fall squarely into the “gift to self” category, ahem.  

First off, let me flag the Etsy shop of my new graphic designer, Johanna Wood (her shop is Metal, Cloth & Wood), who makes lovely bug jewelry like these copper earrings with an etched ant motif:

I own one of her hand carved moth pins, which I pinned on my cloche hat, purchased from Artikal NYC, who also sells locally and offers hat making classes. 

Since I love art deco anything and everything, I purchased this clock for the office when the previous one bit the dust (it’s probably old fashioned to be into clocks but I love them):

Shipping for this item was very fast, and the seller also has this cat clock which I almost got instead:

I love all things cats!  Like I would totally buy these if I didn’t lose gloves too often: 

For a stocking stuffer that’s truly priced as such, I’ve purchased this shampoo soap:

I did stuff my own stocking though, as I am a frequent traveler and this soap beats having to put your shampoo into the suitcase or using those travel packs which I think are wasteful (they're more plastic than shampoo!)

My all-time favorite clothing seller on Etsy is Xiaolizi.  She lives and makes clothes in China, and will tailor anything to your size.  I’ve bought so many clothes from her that she has all of my information stored.  (There are periodic changes to size though, mostly upwards…).  Some of you may have seen me in my Tucson video wearing this dress in a red-orange color scheme: 

Or, for an LBD (little black dress) that would flatter almost any body type (it did wonders for mine), how pretty is this one?!

Xiaolizi’s dress care instructions suggest hand washing, but I toss them into the washer and dryer and so far they’ve all lasted better than a lot of commercially bought stuff!  They have even outlasted the washer and dryer itself, it appears...

On the more comfy side, I’ve gotten lots of use out of these cotton Gaucho pants; they wash well, they don’t shrink, and they are both flattering and comfortable: 

And I have been staring at this listing for weeks; I love it but I am not sure it would love me back: 

Actually, while we are on the subject of weight, I haven’t bought this but I got a kick out of it: 

For my philosophy friends, this one would make a great gift too: 

And I was thinking of giving this to my dentist Dr. Marian Farag, because I see her so often that I have suggested we should try having dinner sometime instead, it would be all the fun without the pain.  

I could go on, but I don’t shop as much for real handmade stuff on Etsy as I should, and I'm sure Amazon doesn’t need my help!

Happy shopping!