Today’s holiday post is about hand-made coasters. As a host or hostess this holiday season, you will need some festive coasters for your guests’ drinks. Here are some of my favorites from Etsy crafters and designers.

Amy at Craftchi has these fun coasters. They are collage on tile and are $15 for a set of six. I like these four styles: Paris, Leafy, Tiffany and Victorian.

Sidney Ann has many different patterns to choose from. These coasters are glass with soldered edges and are $30 for a set of 4. Here are some styles in polka dots, flowers and paisleys and they are made from paper or vintage scarves or wallpaper.

The coasters from Mirrorgirl are designed by several different designers and are printed on mousepad material. See these fun designs by Susie Ghahremani of boygirlparty, Jill Bliss of blissen.com, Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane and one of my favorite Etsy artists, Ashleyg. They come in a matching tin and are 6 for $16.

Littletilegnome makes decoupaged tile coasters and has over 500 styles available! They are available in sets of 4 for $10.00. Here are a few of their holiday styles and their other fun styles.

It is almost 2008 and it is time for a beautiful calendar lineup. There are many gorgeous handmade calendars on Etsy and around the web, and these are just a few of the wonderful ones I found. They are a nice combination of art and practicality. Love them!

The first is a desk calendar from Modernarteveryday on Etsy. This calendar includes 12 different giclee prints in a jewel case and sells for $18. Each image is just lovely and makes me want to buy some of the giclee prints on canvas also available in the Etsy store.

The next calendar is from one of my favorite card artists Cecilyink. This is another desk calendar in jewel case and is printed on textured paper and sells for $14. Sweet! Don’t miss her paper stockings and cool card sets too.

Next is a letterpress desk calendar from Ilee in Seattle. According to Ilee, it is “a rich mix of old school letterpress, silkscreen, foil stamping, fine papers and handpainted accents.” It includes 12 monthly cards and one extra year at a glance card and sells for $20. Check out all the cool images.

The next calendar is a Gocco screenprinted limited edition wall calendar from Sarahparrott825. It is 5X7, is made using vintage images and sells for $20. It is both retro and fresh!

The next to last is a lovely letterpress wall calendar made by Satsuma Press in Portland, Oregon. It is also a limited edition and is hand numbered on the back and tied with a silk ribbon. What a lovely gift it would make! Quick! There were 200 printed and there are only 57 left in stock. Available for $39.

And lastly, I saw an amazing calendar on Buyolympia.com by artist Nikki McClure titled Things to Make and Do. Her art is unique and surprisingly she uses an X-acto knife to cut images out of a single piece of paper. This calendar is printed on acid-free paper using soy ink and sells for $16. You may also want to check out her cards and t-shirts on the same site.

Well, there you are…. now which one will you pick?

I wanted to do a post about all the sweet notecards I have purchased on Etsy. If you think they look cute in the pictures, wait until you see them in your hands. Some are letterpress cards and some are screenprinted and they are all of the highest quality. The colors and designs are gorgeous and I highly recommend them all.

A fun way to tag your gifts is to use these darling gift tags from everyjotandtittle. The set of 12 is only $3.50 and will cheer up any gift you may give!

These Pink cupcake birthday cards are from Sweet Bonny by malien00. They come in a pack of 6 for $7.95.

These are darling bird Happy Birthday cards from Noteriety Press. They came as a set of 6 letterpress cards for $10. They are not listed right now, but if you contact Noteriety perhaps they have some more they can re-list.

These are sweet hello cards from Armato Design and Press. These are also letterpress and come in a package of 6 cards for $12.

The lovely Thank you cards I got were from CecilyInk and she really wowed me with her presentation. The set of 6 letterpress cards for $12.50 were wrapped in tissue with her business cards and a special extra of coordinating jelly bellies! It was a feast for the ole eyes!

I purchased the Foxy and Winston Lovebug Notelet Boxset for a gift. These are hand screenprinted and come 6 in a box for $14. These are special because they are for a friend who loves ladybugs.

And lastly I purchased the letterpress flat cards in Sunshiny yellow from Pressure Letterpress for another pal. These are a set of 5 for $15. They are also no longer listed, but contact the artist and they may be able to make some more!

You just can’t go wrong with any of these cards! They will inspire you to correspond with all your long lost friends and relatives.

Here is another Etsy designer making something fabulous! Absoluut makes pillow covers out of vintage material that give your living room zing! She is from Amsterdam and yet her prices and shipping are very reasonable. The fabrics and vintage, yet seem modern and fresh. I’d say Absoluut has a great eye for marvelous patterns.

Imagine your couch with Apple Jelly

or Nairobi sunrise

or Yams in space

Pillows are 20 x 20 and are available with or without the pillow form inside. Shipping from Amsterdam is only $5.00.

These pillows are “absoluutely” fabulous! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

I am SO EXCITED!

I found out today that I am one of the winners of the Etsy poster contest! Etsy asked its members to create a grouping of their favorite handmade items to be printed into posters and cards to advertise Etsy and its fabulous shops.

This is my poster. If you follow the link and then click on the magnifier you can see the pictures clearly and see the names of the artists and designers.

I had such fun making it… choosing beautiful purses, notecards and jewelry in the killer color combination of lime, turquoise and orange. I’d like to have any of the items on the list, and in fact I did buy the gorgeous thank-you cards from Cecilyink. I have also already blogged about the sugar scrubs from SugarLips, and hope to be able to try one of them soon.

You can view the other winning posters here. They are really stunning!