Get your ad in front of thousands! IndieHolidays.com, the foremost Indie Shopping Gudie, is celebrating our one year anniversary! In one year we have achieved a Google PageRank of 4! Visitors have located the website via all of the following search engines: Google, Yahoo, AOL, Ask Jeeves, MSN, Earthlink, HotBot, Excite, InfoSpace, and Dogpile.

IndieHolidays.com has a daily average of 1,215 page loads and 266 unique visitors.

Below is the schedule of fees for the 2006 Holiday Shopping Guide, along with a brief description and the number of slots available in each category.

• Stocking Stuffers: $10.00
Items under $20.00 only. 20 slots.

• The Little Things: $20.00
Items under $50.00 only. 20 slots.

• Green Goodies : $30.00
Gift items that are environmentally friendly or support a cause. 20 slots.

• The Big Gift: $30.00
Gift items over $100. 20 slots.

• Handmade Holiday: $30.00
Gift items for crafters and/or items for those who want to create their own handmade gifts. 20 slots.

• Featured Item: $50.00
Featured Items are available on a first come, first serve basis. There is one Featured Item slot for each category.

Check out the new IH Media Guide for all the information! Applications are due by October 13th, so get your ad submitted today!

I’m a sucker for all things that have faces. These cute stuffed dolls take the cake.
Each doll, according to Claire from Thistletown Studio is “named and no two will ever be alike!”

Special mention goes out to the illustrated 1 inch pins!

-Amanda

Well, maybe not without ALL guilt, but without the majority of it! Rumor has it that these fat free delights are also only 4 carbs per cupcake, which is pretty sweet. I can’t verify the information, but I can tell you that the kids love them, even without adding frosting - or sugar!

What am I talking about? Raspberry Cupcakes. Yup, you heard me right! I learned this one from my mom (thought I’m not sure who SHE learned it from, you know how these things go. Here’s what you need:

* 1 Box of Angel Food Cake Mix
* 10 Ounces of Raspberry Diet Rite Soda
* A mixing bowl
* Cupcake Papers
* Cupcake Pans

For this go-round (making these for my youngest son’s Pre-K class) I opted for little star shaped mini pans instead of full cupcake pans, which only shows how creative you can be. Ready to bake? Great!

Instructions:

Mix Angel Food Cake Mix and Raspberry Diet Rite Soda in a mixing bowl with a wisk until there are no lumps and the color is even.

Turn into cupcake pan (which is lined with cupcake papers, right?) filling each cup 3/4 of the way to the top.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they smell done.

That’s it! A simple, sweet recipe that registers almost zero on the guilt scale and that your kids won’t be able to get enough of. Life is good!

My mother loves to show anyone who comes to visit pictures of me when I was a baby. The most embarrassing thing about these wouldn’t be the the excess of drool, or the unfortunately large spot I had that seemed to give me the air of a prematurely bald male- oh, no!- they’d have to be the horrible garb of the 80s. Oh, to think that there was a time when neon jumpsuits were attractive!
Sometimes I think that just to get my mother back I’d dress my kids in the coolest, most irreverent wear I could find. Something that’d express me, as well as something that wouldn’t make my baby look like a glorified cushion. And finally, I think I’ve got it!
Mamamonkey makes some really adorable and funny onesies, that are pretty inexpensive(The one featured below’s $11!).

Also featured are t-shirts for moms and toddlers’ clothing, as well as jewelry for adults and other odds n’ ends.

-Amanda

These gorgeous flowers are made from vintage kimono fabric by New Zealand-based http://Spangle.etsy.com.

The blooms can be attached to a hair clip - “tsumami kanzashi” - or put onto a brooch.

Kanzashi are hair ornaments used in traditional Japanese hairstyles worn by geisha and maiko, apprentice geisha. These ones are called “tsumami” (which means “pinch”) because they are made using a particular style of pinching and folding the fabric to form each petal.

Gorgeous! Prices range from $5 to $17.50…

- Posted by Victoria from www.OriginalJewels.com

For a bargain $1, Lisa of http://nerdbomber.etsy.com will create an improvised drawing inspired by any word you care to suggest to her.

Of course, we spent our buck asking for her interpretation of ‘Craft Revolution’ and this is what she came up with! Oooh, watch out for the scissors…

Nerdbomber is the creation of sisters Karen and Lisa, who are based in Dallas, Texas. (Apparently ‘nerdbomber’ is a word meaning one who has “excelled to the point of specialization at being a dork.”)

Check out their shop not only for the drawings but super cute clutches - like the $20 Bright Book Clutch below - as well as wristlets and more.

- Posted by Victoria from www.OriginalJewels.com

This tiny, classic vessel - designed to be a component in jewelry - is one of many wonderful creations by Indianapolis-based lampworker, Julie Miller.

Julie suggests the one-inch tall vessel can be dressed up with a silver chain or down on leather cord, but my jewelry-making mind is racing with even more possibilities!

You can find Julie’s vessels in her new www.etsy.com shop at http://indyjules.etsy.com and see her other jewelry at www.jewelrybyjules.com.

She is currently experimenting with incorporating shells into her glass work! Watch this space…

- Posted by Victoria from www.OriginalJewels.com

Natalie Dee and her husband are both really good artists. They make their own comics together and individually. They publish their work online everyday. They’ve also got sweet merchandise displaying illustrations from each comic. Why didn’t I know about this sooner?

From Married to the Sea, which Natalie collaborates on with husband Drew:

From Toothpaste for Dinner, Drew’s comic on his own:

From Natalie Dee’s comic:

Each t-shirt is $15, but if you order larger quantities you can mix n match from each store!

Sweet.

Keiko Lynn of Postlapsaria has got to be one of my most favourite designers, ever. I usually have wordy posts but today I’ll let her new items speak for themsleves.

$55

$65

There’s something really inspiring about wearing an article of clothing that someone’s made by hand. And I just love the way you can trace her development as a designer through each article of clothing she makes.

Every season has it’s perks, and one of fall’s most admirable traits is found in one word: PUMPKIN. The carving of pumpkins is a tradition, and many enjoy raosting the seeds. I am here to tell you that there’s a new tradition on the block and it comes in the form of “Yummy Pumpkin Dip”.Not only is it simple, quick, and quite inexpensive - it’s DELICIOUS! I took a serving to school this week and shared it with at least ten people and not one of them withheld their “mmm”s and “oh my”s and “can you give me the recipe for this?”.

Almost anything would taste good with this dip, I don’t hesitate to say it would make a dog biscuit taste great. I tested it with many “dippers”, including pita chips, cinnamon sticks, and wheat thins- but apples took the prize. I am anxious to try more fruit dippers - grapes, oranges, pineapple, bananas.

At Easy Kid’s Recipes there are multitudes of recipes for the kids and for you.

Yummy Pumpkin Dip
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 large 30-ounce can of pumpkin
4 cups powdered sugar (note: i did not need anywhere near this much)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons gingerWhip together and serve in hollowed out small pumpkin. Serve on a plate covered with black licorice “worms” or any Halloweenish candy such as candy corn. On the side place ginger snaps for dipping.

Here’s the deal:
[1] Print this recipe
[2] Drop everything
[3] Go to the grocery
[4] Make more copies of the recipe (see #5)
[5] Invite friends over

-Taylor (Taylor@craftrevolution.com)