20 Days of Handmade: Black and Green Games

Black and Green Games is the independent game publishing imprint founded by the great Emily Care Boss in 2005 and my pick for this 11th day of handmade. I highly recommend following her on the Twitter where she talks about gender issues and re-tweets a great diversity of voices in gaming.

If you’re in Massachusetts or nearby, check out Jiffycon, which she founded in 2006. You can also check out her shop site to peruse and buy her own RPGs such as Shooting the Moon and Remodel. If you’re interested in gaming or learning about gaming, spend some time link hopping at Black and Green Games. Stereotypes begone! There’s a whole world of gaming out there waiting to be discovered.

20 Days of Handmade: Vegan Food Gifts Giveaway

If I’m talking handmade, I would be remiss to not mention Joni Marie Newman’s great book Vegan Food Gifts. I love this book! It is chock full of great handmade food items and ideas for gifting them.

There are instructions for easy to make envelopes and bags, templates for gift tags, and tons of recipes for both ready to eat items and mixes.

Mashed Potato Candy? Peanut Butter Balls? Chicken Noodle Soup in a Jar? You bet. I’m looking forward to trying the lavender lemon curd next.

There’s also an entire section on canning with detailed instructions for beginners. So if you’ve been afraid to start, you can finally get your pickle on.

I am thrilled to be giving away a copy of Vegan Food Gifts! To enter just leave a comment below describing a favorite handmade gift memory. It doesn’t have to have been successful, just memorable! I’ll choose a winner on December 13th. US only, 1 entry per household please.

20 Days of Handmade: Vtopian Artisan Cheese

If you know me, you know I am particular about my vegan cheeses. And I am very pleased that a new Eugene, Oregon, based company started this year so I can get good local vegan cheese. Vtopian Artisan Cheeses did a sampling at Food Fight Grocery and I was hooked.

Pictured is their new chive and dill wedge, which is my current favorite but I also have a maple seitan cheeseball waiting in my fridge now. I love how creamy their products are without so much of the lemon flavor I taste in a lot of other vegan cheeses.

I’m also thrilled that Vtopian will be tabling at the Handmade Holiday Pop Up Shop at Herbivore on December 18, from 4-8 pm. Stop by to try some of their product!

20 Days of Handmade: Jessica Scofield Jewelry

I discovered Jessica Scofield Jewelry at a craft show I did last December and fell in love with her work. My undergrad concentration is in metalsmithing and I have a huge appreciation for the time and skill that goes into making fine jewelry.

I own these spark earrings and wear them constantly. They are etched by hand and are absolutely fabulous. I’ve been writing a lot about detail in my 20 Days of Handmade posts and I can’t emphasize that enough. It’s that wonderful attention to the small elements that makes a piece, be it earrings, carved wood, or a large sculpture, work.

Take for example this enameled triple octagon necklace. It is hand etched sterling silver that is then enameled and assembled. One of my favorite things about Jessica Scofield Jewelry is that her work just seems to glow. If you think her work is too expensive, please think about the time that has gone into a piece like this. She isn’t buying finished components and then putting them together. She’s spending hours doing intensely small work and the finished prodcut is worth every penny.

20 Days of Handmade: TwoFour Manufacturing

Today’s featured artist is TwoFour Manufacturing based out of Portland, Oregon. Woodworking is one of the few art techniques I have almost no experience with (my undergrad required a large number of intro classes to arts and crafts, and I’ve even done stained glass, paper making, and architectural drawing) so I’ve always admired people who do it well.

I am a fan of owls in general and especially Kenn’s forest guardian. I love small details like the bright green eyes within the distressed and dark wood of the body. Or the red flame on the all black body of his Goat Forest Shaman.

Kenn also has a great blog post up at TwoFour Manufacturing that shows the process he goes through in the making of one of his pieces. Creative people often get a lot of comments about the prices of our work without a lot of knowledge about the time that goes into creating our works. Add in the photographing, listing, packing, shipping, and marketing of ourselves and you start to realize there is no answer to the question “how long does it take you to make something?”.

TwoFour Manufacturing will be at the Handmade Holiday Pop Up Shop at Herbivore in Portland, Oregon, on December 18 from 4-8 pm, so stop by to check out his work and enjoy some homemade baked goods.

20 Days of Handmade: CAT Adoption Team Calender

The 2015 CAT Adoption Team calender is available now! Each is just $10 and chock full of cat photos to make your whole year better. All proceeds go toward the CAT mission of taking in cats without homes, giving medical care, and finding them a new place to live.

They are also featured in the Give Guide this year and you can donate to them there as well. We found our George through CAT Adoption Team and highly recommend them. Just look at that belly! 27% mood betterment guaranteed!

20 Days of Handmade: Zuckerguss Zine

This is not to be missed! The fabulous Mihl from the long running vegan blog Seitan is My Motor has released her first zine!

Zuckerguss Zine: 15 Free baking recipes for your Vegan Holidays is available for download at her site now! If you’ve been following her site for any time you know that Mihl is a baker extraordinaire.

Coconut Spice Mini Cakes? Spekulatius Tiramisú? Lebkuchen (Pepperkaker)? Sign me up! I’m hoping to find the time to make one or two of these this month.

Mihl is kindly releasing this zine for no cost, so please head over to check it out. Her photography is gorgeous and I know this was put together with love and care over the past months. Enjoy!

20 Days of Handmade: Black Cat Soap Company

I couldn’t do a month of handmade without mentioning my favorite soap maker, The Black Cat Soap Company based in Portland, Oregon. I was lucky to find this company at the House of Dreams cat shelter’s annual holiday sale in 2013 and have been buying through her website ever since.

This year I visited the Black Cat Soap Company booth at the Mountain View middle school holiday fair and stocked up. I’m currently using the home for the holidays bar and highly recommend it. It has a great fruity scent without being overpowering and gives a great lather.

I also stocked up on two bars of the winter woods soap which I am looking forward to using. It has an evergreen scent that will be perfect for cold winter days and pretending I’m tramping through the woods on the Blue Ridge Parkway with my friend Carol the park ranger. If you are family reading this, there will be some surprise scents coming in your Christmas boxes later this month.

All of the Black Cat soaps are cold process soaps made in small batches, so if you see a bar you want, order fast. They do sell out and with new bars coming through the curing process you never know what will be listed next.

20 Days of Handmade: Mister Sister

Day three of 20 Days of Handmade brings up the amazing and delicious sweets of Mister Sister in New York City! They are your premiere source for vegan fudge and baked goods. Mister Sister is sold at a number of New York area shops but you can also buy through their etsy store, as well as some online vegan retailers such as Rabbit Food Grocery. You need more four packs of fudge in your life.

Mister Sister can often be found at the Vegan Shop Up at Pine Box Rock Shop in Brooklyn. Last time there they had four packs of seasonal fudge that included peppermint and ginger. Get on that!

Not in the mood for sweet, creamy, vegan fudge? Mister Sister also bakes chocolate chip cookies, raspberry bars, and more.

You can find a full list of their retail shops on their website, or stop by the vegan Shop Up to stock up.

Portland Craft Fairs this Weekend

Panda With Cookie will be at 2 Portland, Oregon, area craft fairs this weekend.

On Saturday, December 6th I will be at Lewis Elementary School from 10-4. There will be all handmade vendors as well as a tree sale.

On Sunday, December 7th I will be at McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse from 12-5 for their 6th Annual Holiday Market.

Stop by and say hello!