I know, I know..it’s early, but I’d like to give you some ideas for Christmas presents or even upcoming birthday presents.
I really like supporting local artists and these all are within a couple hours from where I live in Southern Indiana.
The first is my new fiber artist friend Katherine Sands, who lives an hour from here. She creates such lovely work. Check out this beautiful Turquoise/Purple Hand Dyed Cut Velvet Fringed Scarf in her etsy shop. What a beauty! She has other beautiful things too and supplies for the artist in you. Check her out.

Scarlet Fields, Katherine’s friend, makes these cute texting mittens. She loves to create jewelry and now mittens by repurposing stuff including antique items. You can check out Scarlet’s etsy shop here. She doesn’t have any mittens in the shop right now but I’m sure if you contact her she’d love to make you a custom pair. I’m not a texter, but they’d be nice on those cold mornings in my craft/woman cave.

Mary and Tracy from Soap Solutions make the most wonderful handmade soap, salves, butters, lip balms and more. Here is their Cocoa Lossal soap. If you check out my blog post you can see how wonderful it lathers.

Do you have an old family bible or a cookbook that needs to be repaired? Master Bookbinder Steve Cochran of Bound to Be Around Bindery does excellent work restoring old books. He also sells handmade books and teaches classes.
This was one of the books I made in his class last year.

Mandy’s drawings and cards would be great gifts for those special people in your life. Check out her art in her etsy shop.
This is my favorite which I bought and it sits here on my window sill.

Claudie Parson of Sunshine Broom Shop makes brooms the old fashion way. These are a great housewarming gift or just a great replacement for the worn out one.

Claudie will be demonstrating her broom making at the Master Gardeners’ Fall Demo Days at the Display Gardens on Saturday, October 21 at noon. You can contact Claudie on her facebook page or email her at parsonhaus@newwavecomm.net
Who doesn’t need a purse? I absolutely love these and have one of my very own. Cathy Martin has been making these purses now for a couple years and sells them locally. You can read about her here. She doesn’t have a website but you can contact her at catherine.martin@insightbb.com or 812-963-8481.

Then there is Linda Gee’s beautiful metal art clay jewelry.

Linda’s jewelry is sold at Michelle’s Salon and Wildflower in Evansville, Now and Then in Tell City, Wildflower Boutique in West Baden, and Chastain’s in the French Lick Resort. Linda makes special order pieces including bridal party jewelry that can be worn long after the wedding has passed. She also repairs jewelry. You can reach her at (812) 319-9913.
Another local jewelry artist is Sarah Thomas. Her polymer clay creations don’t look at all like polymer clay.

Check out her etsy shop for some of her creations or email her at info@imaginethatevansville.com.
These are just a few of the wonderful talent we have locally. Of course, if you aren’t in my area, they would welcome your business.
Come back next week for a giveaway – something we all like to have around the house. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
I hope you took those black beads from Sara Thomas home with you!
And thanks for the plug! And for Scarlet too!
Whee! Thank you so much for the plug!!!
Kathy, I wanted to but didn’t.
Scarlet, You are so welcome! Lynda
People can also visit my FB page too at Katherine Sands – Textile Art to see things I don’t have on etsy yet.
Thanks for the tipps. I love the dyed fabrics. I guess it’s never too early to think about christmas presents 🙂
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Lynda, I love that you are giving ideas for Christmas already and especially since they are all from our area. I know 3 of your recommendations and can attest to their beautiful work (Kathy, Scarlet and Mandy). I’ll have to check out those others, thank you!
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Lynda, that’s a great idea to shop local for Christmas too! I usually do most of my Christmas shopping when we vacation or go to an art show. Then I store the things away and decide who will get what at Christmas time (unless that was decided upon at purchase).
Great artists that you have listed!
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Lyndah, Thank you so much for including my artwork in this roundup of local talent. Handmade soap makes such a lovely gift and Soap Solutions is hand down the best soap I’ve ever used. And I hadn’t heard of the broom maker before. I’m absolutely going to look into commissioning three little brooms for our little boys for Christmas; they love helping me work around the house.
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Mandy, You are so welcome. Claudie would certainly make cute, cute brooms for the boys. If you can make it, she will be demonstrating at the Display Garden and she loves showing the kids how the brooms are made.
Thank you for including Soap Solutions in your blog!!! All of the artists have WONDERFUL items for Christmas gifts!!!