I Have Moved... This weekend I moved my Wooden Creations shop to ArtFire and closed my Etsy shop. I wanted a more artistic friendly location to sell my buttons and wooden creations. I hope everyone will come visit TheHickoryTree on ArtFire. I will be listing rustic furniture within the next two weeks too. My husband and I are evolving to include Home Décor items to our product line.

Candy Bar Card

A friend of mine at work had a birthday last week that he kept a secret from us all. He loves chocolate and candy bars so the logical choice for his birthday was a candy bar card. My friends and I use to make these years ago and it seemed like it would be a fun way to tell him he's our buddy.

My husband and I ran out and got candy bars on Saturday and I wrote a little story and attached the candy bars in the appropriate places. Here is a picture of the finished card. I attached a picture so everyone can see it too. These are great for birthdays, graduations, missing you or even you are my friend cards. They are always fun to make as well to read.

So if you are feeling a little creative and someone you know is celebrating a special day. Make them a candy bar card.

Winter has finally arrived in Michigan. It was 0 degrees when I left for my day job today. I have been putting off buying gloves and mittens because the weather has been so nice. I found some great mittens on Etsy that I just love in Ruth Ann Hawley's Etsy shop:

etsy.com/shop/Francisjennyremember
Although I'm a Sparty Fan, U of M comes in a close 2nd.

Charlie's Dawg Stick

My english setter Charlie loves fetching sticks. After a suggestion from my daughter I made a customized stick for Charlie, complete with his name wood burned into the Red Maple Wood stick. My daughter has a business selling Dog supplies and agility training equipment. at www.dogbonedog.com so she's always giving me suggestions for making dog related items.

I decided to start making them for my Etsy shop and they have turned out to be extremely popular this Christmas season. They come in a hand sewn bag too (yes I made the bag too) complete with paw prints.

Featured Artist Creations

For October through Nobember I'll be featuring some fantastic items from Etsyians as well as non-Etsyians.

I was on Etsy yesterday looking for gift ideas for a friends newborn gift basket. Although my girlfriend is having a girl, I fell in love with the Owl Beanie Hat from a lovely Etsy seller -

www.etsy.com/shop/swankystitchs

This Owl Beanie is perfect for that sweet little boy. Crocheted in blue, green, black and gray the artisan has titled it "Bright Mr Hoot". Please check out her shop for even more chrocheted creations.

Autumn Leaf Tree Branch Buttons .... Some of my fall buttons are featured, Autumn Leaves made out of Black Cherry Wood then hand wood burned so they resemble leaves.


The weather is getting cool and along with coloder weather come an increase in requests for buttons. I have had a ton of requests for instructions on how to care for tree branch buttons:


If a button is sewed onto the garment or pillow, hand washing and drying is recommended in cold or lukewarm water, than lightly dry with a soft cloth. If the button has lost it's satiny shine there is a simple fix:

To restore the sheen to the wood button a light polish finish with melted wax on a soft cloth or even furniture polish will restore the button to it's former self.

With the new craziness of relevancy going around Etsy lately, I've been recommending MikesSEOShop on Etsy. http://etsy.com/shop/MikesSEOshop He has some great ideas for making your shop get on the front page. I met him in Chicago a while back and he specializes in marketing your Etsy as well as online business. He has some great tips and pointers to help your shop become more relevant.

Tree Branch Button Giveaway and Featured Artist

Visit me at http://etsy.com/shop/thehickorytree to order some of my earth friendly tree branch buttons, wood gift tags, wedding decor or earthy jewelry.

For the month of October/2011 I'll be having a fantastic button giveaway for a couple of lucky blog followers or those that heart my etsy button shop.

In addition I'll be featuring some fantastic Etsy Artists that specialize in Knitted, Crocheted as well Sewing and Fiber creations. Be sure and check them out and if you are interested in being featured please email me at www.thehickorytree@gmail.com. It should be a fun month.