Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.

This year, I have done almost all of my Christmas shopping online (I really haven't had time to go to the shops) and mostly at madeit. I'm going to share with you the shops that I purchased from (but not the things that I purchased... that would spoil the surprise!).

I started my shopping with Christmas cards. Here We Go Loopy Lou makes fabric Christmas and greeting cards, as well as resin bookmarks. The cards that I purchased arrived promptly and were neatly made. On top of that, they came with four extra lovely little gift tags, yay! I realise now that I have more cards to write and I should have bought many more. This happens to me every year...

Set 4 Christmas Cards (pink stripe) by Here We Go Loopy Lou.

Little Angel Card Creations makes cards and invitations and some homewares as well. I got a lovely card that was very neatly and professionally made, with the edges sealed well. It was surprisingly heavy because of all the different kinds of paper and embellishments on it.

Dino Christmas Card by Little Angel Card Creations.

Jaclyn Guerin handcrafts jewellery using gemstones, freshwater pearls, glass beads, Japanese seed beads and lots of other materials. I bought some earrings and I wanted the hooks changed for a different metal, which Jaclyn did promptly and well. The end result was quite lovely and arrived all wrapped up as well (I unwrapped it to see what it looked like, but could have given it just the way it was).

Rhodonite bracelet by Jaclyn Guerin.

Cooshonz makes... cushions! The communication was brilliant (I was with only sporadic Internet access at the time and Andree was worried that I hadn't got her messages, so she tried another contact method) and the cushion was professionally and beautifully made. I went out myself for an insert, but you can also purchase them from Andree and that actually would have been marginally cheaper for me.

Duo of Grecian Chocolate/Chocolate Leaves by Cooshonz.

Bubble Lane is away on holidays at the moment, but makes some very fun soaps. I had a hard time choosing which ones to purchase and ended up getting three. I was a little disappointed with the colour of one of the soaps (I thought it could have been more realistic if it were darker), but it's for a child who won't worry about that kind of thing and all the others were fantastic.

Bubble Foody Soaps by Bubble Lane.

Dyani and I used to chat on the madeit forum before it was discontinued, so I feel a bit as if she's a friend, even though we've never met. This was my first purchase from Little Deer Creations and my purchase came well packaged, with a receipt and a discount voucher for my next purchase. And the item itself was great too, very carefully made and pretty.

A5 Notebook Recycled Spiral Bound Funky Flowers Red Yellow & Orange by Little Deer Creations.