Etsy Treasury Time Again

It's that time again when I share recent Etsy treasuries either made by me or featuring one of my items. Feast your eyes and appreciate handcraft, OOAK, handmade, original artwork, unique gifts, once-off, one of a kind......need I say more?

 To Market To Market

Here's a treasury I made featuring only Crafty Ireland Team members when I should have been preparing for a craft market.

Can't Help Thinking In Black and White by La Creature and You
(a blend of Crafty Ireland Team and  A Printmaker's Revival Team)

And this sleek treasury in black and white was made by fellow team member, Raphaele of La Creature and You. It is a cross-team collection featuring 50% Crafty Ireland team and 50% A Print Makers Revival Team. A special thanks is due to Raphaele as she regularly makes cross-team treasuries to introduce the Irish squad to other, international teams on Etsy and faithfully posts them on the team blog. Thank you too Raphaele for including my black lava earrings, Dark Moon.

Thank you to all these lovely Etsy peeps around the globe who featured my work in their stunning treasuries this past week or so:

 

Shades of Purple by Treazured Designz

Extra by red road DESIGN

Fathers Day Gifts Under $20 by Lynn's Creative Crochet

USA based, Lynn Corrigan, deserves a special thank you from me as she regularly features my items in her well-thought out treasuries.

Handmade for First Communion

Handmade, First Holy Communion bracelet

 For many Irish children, May is the month for First Holy Communion. I remember my own, at the age of 7. It was possibly one of the most important days of my young life, next to losing my first baby tooth.

Yes, I was heavily schooled in the religious significance and cultural meaning of the ceremony, but for many a young Irish girl, the social implications are not to be ignored either. We all know too well the pressure that kids can be under to have the right look, the right dress, the right accessories.  And of course,  the pressure is on the parents too then.

Though I felt a bit hard done by at the time, thankfully, my pragmatic parents would not enter the race for the most extravagant outfit or lavish gifts and celebrations. My Mum, adept with a sewing machine, made me a simple, knee-length, white dress. I yearned for a maxi so I could be a princess for the day and I wished I had tonnes of relatives living in Dublin so I could visit and collect 'Communion money' like my schoolmates. My dress may have been simple but it was in fact, very pretty and my mother hand-sewed little white flowers on the end of my veil. It was more than enough. In fact it was very special, even if I didn't fully appreciate it then. I did get a special silver charm bracelet though, which I treasured forever.

Simple seaglass pendant from Ireland

 I'm proud that I grew up with handmade. I'm lucky that my mother in particular, nurtured our creative side and sometimes ignored our desire to have 'the latest big thing'. (click here for a blog post about my handmade childhood posted on Etsy Ireland Blog in 2010).

Is May The Start of the Irish Summer or Not?

Teal seaglass pendant with flower detail (sold)

 Here's a real Irish conundrum for you. May is here, and in this corner of the world it is officially the start of Summer...right?? Well, according to Met Eireann, our national meteorological service, in line with the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, the summer months are June, July and August. Yet according to the Irish calendar (and popular, local understanding it would seem,) Summer is indeed May, June and July.

Celtic, Connemara marble keychain

 I don't believe we're just being awkward or trying to confuse the rest of the world. Nor are we exercising our very Irish sense of individuality...hmmm, well, maybe there is a bit of that.... But the Gaelic calendar dates back to the Celtic system of time keeping.

Butterfly button pendant

Click here for: the full story from good ol' Wiki but in  simple terms, in pre-Christian Ireland, the solstices (longest and shortest days of the year,)  fell bang in the middle of Summer and Winter, not at the start. Likewise the two days of the year where we have 12 hours of daylight and 12 of night, the equinoxes, fell in the middle of Spring and Autumn. Hence, from a cultural stance, with the Summer solstice falling on 20th or 21st June each year, the month of May heralds the beginning of Summer.

So be it. Summer is here! In fact the sun even came out today to prove it.