Heartful Handmade Blog

lovely earrings to change your outlook on life

Kerri Hale loves working with crystals, especially sparkling faceted ones.  And prehnite is clearly a favorite of hers because she has lots of beautiful designs that make use of this wonderful green stone.  Prehnite is thought to have protective and healing qualities, and the ability to help in a search for inner truth.  Rose quartz is thought to help open the heart and to bring more love into one's life, and both stones are supposed to help you move beyond old hurts and pain.  If there's any truth to these beliefs, then these lovely prehnite and rose quartz earrings carry a great deal of mystical power to bring the wearer more harmony, peace, and love.  But, even if it's all hogwash, their beauty alone is well worth their $38 price.  You'll find lots more beautiful (and possibly life changing) jewelry in Kerri Hale's online shop. 

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Kerri Hale is also in Handmade Lookup.

craftsbury kids has fine handcrafted toys

Craftsbury Kids, in Craftsbury, Vermont, is an online provider of high-quality handcrafted toys, games, furniture, and clothes for children.

Click here for more info. 

unmatched solemates

Marianne Wakerlin is the Socklady.  She makes colorful, whimsical, artistically inspired pairs and sets of happily unmatched socks.  She should sew soles onto them because they beg to be worn without shoes.  Using recycled cotton yarns that are dyed and spun in small family-owned U.S. businesses, the Socklady's uncommon socks are created at her home in central Vermont.  

crafty penmanship

David and Leah Gessner give new life to distressed and discarded Vermont lumber remnants by transforming them into useful everyday items—high quality pens and pencils. I visited their website, Handmade Maple Pens, and instantly fell in love with their colorful thick barreled Artist's Sketch Pencils. With their 5.6 mm 4B leads and $75 price tag, these objects of beauty are also practical and reasonably priced drawing tools. They come in natural or black Vermont Tiger Maple, but I find the brightly stained (red, blue, green, orange, purple) finishes artistically inspiring. These are happy pencils.

lamps your way

G. Scratchard has been making pottery for over 50 years, and he set up shop in Vermont in 1960.  Somewhere along the way, he settled on the specialty of lamps. And now, with two helpers. makes about 2000 a year, most of them made to order.  It's nice to be able to order things the way you want them.  

Scratchard offers several contemporary styles, sizes, and glazes that you can mix and match to your preferencess.  You can also add on an optional dimmer, and a white or clear silver cord (brown is standard).  His lamps come with one of two basic lamp shade styles.  There's no shipping charge within in the United States, and he offers multiple lamp discounts.   Prices range from $99.00 - $500.00.