Ah, the combination of hi-tech and handmade. It makes me happy. Our family just welcomed another member of the i-family to our home and our brand shiny new iPad mini needs a case, so I went Etsy browsing!
Bonspiel Creation – Victoria, BC
One-of-a-Kind sleeve style case, made from a piece of an oil painting that has been sealed to be weather resistant. Upcycled buckle and leather trim as well. Created by Bonspiel Creation from Victoria, BC.
Princess Tree Accessories – Toronto
Charcoal and lime green iPad mini case from Princess Tree Accessories, based out of Toronto. (on sale for $30.14 CAD with a free iPhone 4/4S case, too!)
downgirl – Guelph
Handknit Sock Monkey iPad Mini sleeve by downgirl, from Guelph, ON. ($29.11 CAD)
Vintage Fabric Finds – Annapolis Royal, NS
Padded iPad Mini sleeve in grey chevron with velcro closure by VintageFabricFinds from Annapolis Royal, NS. ($22.00 CAD)
BoutiqueId – Montreal, QC
Felt Fox sleeve, with small front pocket and included D rings to turn it into a small messenger back from Boutique Id in Montreal, QC. ($64.46 CAD)
Molipop – Quesnel, BC
Padded cotton sleeve with velcro closure from Molipop in Quesnel, BC. ($28.07 CAD)
Zenok Leather – Vancouver, BC
Hand stitched leather sleeve with snap, and option for monogram. By Zenok Leather in Vancouver, BC. ($88.37 CAD)
Shibang Designs – Montreal, QC
Cotton sleeve with screen-printed branches and a bright cobalt blue flower appliqued on the front. Shibang Designs from Montreal, QC. ($46.78 CAD)
All of these makers and designers have lots more product available in their shops! Colours and sizes to fit lots of different devices. Enjoy :)
~Sarah
I discovered NeededWanted a little while ago, and fell in love with the idea of Megan’s custom neighbourhood street maps. Honestly, how fun to have your own local world to play with your cars and build Lego villages around?!
Custom play map, designed to match any neighbourhood of your choice!
The NeededWanted play maps come in 3 sizes, with streets the perfect width for matchbox cars and hours of enjoyment. Now, as I investigated further, I realized there was much more to Megan and her products – there are also little custom-knitted monster critters, as well as her adorable little village pieces made out of cardboard and perfect for any kid to make their own!
This "Starter Home" comes with the required suburban tree and can be decorated however your child would like!
I love the little Starter Home, and that it requires no glue/staples/adhesive of any kind. Your child can decorate however they’d like, play with it, then fold it up and put it away until next time! Beautifully simple.
Also? The little monster guy? Perfectly sized to live inside the Starter Home, or the Bungalow or the Barn that are also available!
Needless to say, I was intrigued so I contacted Megan and she graciously agreed to answer a few questions for us, to give us a little more insight into her product and her process.
Canadian+Handmade: What does the name of your site, NeededWanted, mean for you?
NeededWanted: If something is both needed and wanted it is often loved in return.
Hours of fun, and easy to pack away when the cars (or the kids!) run out of gas!
NW: My husband is always my sounding board whether he realizes it or not. I don’t think that he is always listening to every detail that I tell him nor do I think that he needs to. Sometimes you need is to say your thoughts out loud to get the ball rolling or to find a solution to a problem.
~Sarah
It is supposed to be relatively warm-ish in Ontario this week. Everyone I know is pretty excited by the prospect of maybe seeing those temperatures climb into some positive digits, (so much so that my dear husband is already planning to dig the bbq out of the snow to have some steaks on Friday!).
Maybe it’s a bit of pessimism due to a long sleepless weekend with the toddler, but I can’t help reminding myself that we are not out of the wintery woods quite yet. I expect that once this little warm spell passes, we will still have a few blasts of frigid arctic air to contend with before the *real* warm-up starts to happen. So, instead of being sad, I have decided to celebrate our Canadian wintery-ness by sharing some sweet and pretty cold weather gear from Knittles.
Baby can look this adorable *and* have warm ears? Win-win!
Calgarians Mavis and Olga create these cozy and cute pieces, along with an occasional “guest designer” named Marcy.
Eeee! It's a Baby Beret!
What’s that you say? Adult sized ears have been known to get chilly as well? Don’t worry, the Knittles crew have you covered (literally).
They call it a "wooly helmet"... it's like your personal armour against the icy air.
They also have a whole selection of neck warmers and scarves, some fingerless mittens, and even patterns for the crafty guy or gal who would rather DIY.
Visit Knittles at their Etsy shop, their icraft site, or follow along on Twitter.
Even if the weather is chilly outside, all Cupid needs is one of those precious little aviator hats!
Here’s hoping that your heart is warm with love on this Valentine’s Day.
~Jennifer
It’s that time of the year, my friends. The new year is almost here, and you need a new calendar. Yes, you do. And I’ve got a few lovelies to share today!
Hammypie’s shop at Cargoh.com is full of a beautiful line of 2011 calendars! My favourite is the long and elegant script style shown below.
Harmony, the designer and creator behind these lovely calendars, lives in Vancouver and works her day job as a graphic designer. Feeling a lack of stylish calendars in the marketplace, Harmony filled that void with her colourful and locally printed options. The calendars are large – 16-3/8″ tall x 5″ across – and there are so many ways to display them! Hang them with the silver bulldog clip they come with, clip them to a ribbon and spread them across your wall, pin to a corkboard or frame them (they are that pretty!).
Harmony is only half of Hammypie, though! Her partner Eunice chooses needle and wool to display her talents. According to the Hammypie.com website, Eunice has Harmony to thank for opening her eyes to her love of knitting. Now, she’s making lovely cozy-looking cowls, with unique button detailing and 3 sizes to suit! There are Itty-bittys, In the Middle and Big and Slouchy… head over to Hammypie to see Eunice’s work!
You can find the full line of 2011 calendars in their Cargoh shop, as well as on Etsy and their own website. Get ‘em now, before January 1st creeps up on you and you don’t have a new calendar to keep track of all those parties and date nights :)
Cheers!
~Sarah
P.S. Hop over to the Etsy shop for a 25% off sale when you buy 3 calendars! Steal of a deal!
P.P.S. Vancouverites, Hammypie will be at Shiny Fuzzy Muddy this weekend. Drop by and say hello to Harmony and Eunice if you get a chance!
Say it isn’t so! We had to turn on the fireplace yesterday because it was (ugh) COLD in our house.
The only thing that can make the prospect of winter’s inevitable arrival a little more bearable? Cute winter-wear accessories… for BABIES! Heather is a crafter and mom to 3 little ones in New Brunswick who discovered knitting after her daughter was born. Good thing for us, because her mittens, slippers and hats are adorable!
Perfect for little baby hands with stubbornly curled fingers, her polka-dot mittens are lightly felted for a little extra cozy-factor!
This baby acorn hat just made me grin when I saw it! How perfect for fall!
These tiny little slippers would be a perfect Christmas stocking stuffer (I know, sorry to break the news, but the holidays aren’t that far away!).
You can find Heather and her HandKnit Hugs on Etsy – she has plenty of colour combinations available and a couple of sizes to make sure that you can coordinate and fit to your little ones. Natural fibers are so lovely, and Heather makes them even lovelier!
Cheers,
~Sarah
Oh. My. Goodness.
Put a baby in a hat, and I turn to mush… so you can imagine the big grin on my face when I found CiteFuzz tonight! Lori, the driving force between CiteFuzz, creates these adorable hats in her “spare” time between raising her 4 children and supporting her musician husband in his endeavors.
She designs and creates all of her own patterns, so these are truly unique hats for your own one-of-akind little one! CiteFuzz offers a range of sizes from newborn to adult, although I think the wee baby ones are the most precious.
Really, you can’t help but smile when you see these!
Most adorable Flap Hat!
Baby with monkey ears!!
A cutie, made even cuter with a helmet hat!
CiteFuzz can be found all over the internet with a shop on Etsy and icraft.ca, as well as homes on Facebook and Twitter. I’m off now to decide which one of these will fit my daughter next winter!
Cheers,
~Sarah
