The votes are in, and although I loved all our entrants, here are our top two vote getters in the Dabbled Upcycled Holiday Challenge.
1 – From She’s Crafty (shop here)
This cozy sweater bag… it even has pockets! What a great gift!
2 – From Chica & Jo: Make your Own Snowglobes! Such a fun little project with tons of possibilities! And a tutorial to make them yourself!
Since you can only win with one entry, third goes to Laurienrick‘s adorable Corduroy Trees.

Congrats to the winners… !

Check out all the entries – some really great stuff!
1. Mini Snow Globes (more, and tutorial, here),
2. Christmas Trees for a Mantle,
3. Purse from Sweaters,
4. Snowmen: Tink and Estelle (and The Colonel),
5. Retro Plaid Crossover Bag,
6. Wine Bucket Cozy, Coasters, and Table Topper,
7. Tree Skirt from Bridesmaid Dress (tutorial here),
8. Recycled Tree Stump Snowmen Ornaments (tutorial here),
9. Santa wooden centerpiece,
10. Forest Wool Hip Bag

The top 2 winners receive the following little nifty prize, a set of 4 art postcards. Please email me at Dot[at] dabbled (dot)org with your snail mail. All winners get an award button, below.

PS – I’m just trying out Artfire (linked above) – I like it thus far, no listing fees like Etsy (though the free monthly option is limited). If you’re thinking about getting your feet wet with a shop, but not wanting commitment, I think it’s a good option. If you sign up, you can go through this link and I’ll get credit for sending you! Register on ArtFire.com (Buy these as real big prints here)

Related:
Holiday Roundup – all the cool Dabbled stuff for the season in one place!

Watch this space… over the next few days we’ll have some great project how-to’s from some terrific guest bloggers!

The Holiday Contest entries are closed, and we have 10 lovely entries, consolidated here. Check ’em out! I’ll pick a winner, and we’ll also have a people’s choice award, so vote for your favorites below.. (Grab a nifty robot santa contest button below, too!)

You can see more views of the entries in the Dabbled Flickr Pool, and be sure to click through the links below for more information about the item creation, and for tutorials on some.

1. Mini Snow Globes (more, and tutorial, here),
2. Christmas Trees for a Mantle,
3. Purse from Sweaters,
4. Snowmen: Tink and Estelle (and The Colonel),
5. Retro Plaid Crossover Bag,
6. Wine Bucket Cozy, Coasters, and Table Topper,
7. Tree Skirt from Bridesmaid Dress (tutorial here),
8. Recycled Tree Stump Snowmen Ornaments (tutorial here),
9. Santa wooden centerpiece,
10. Forest Wool Hip Bag

Vote for your favorite 2 items in the poll, below!

laurienrick enters several cool items! You can also find her etsy shop on the Shopping Links page!
Rows 1&2:
-a retro plaid crossover bag: “It began as a vintage wool dress that was all sewn together except for the hems around the skirt and sleeves – very Mary Tyler Moore. I appliqued some little flowers cut from a wool skirt over a few little moth bites, and it’s lined with a lovely brown bed sheet. “
–forest wool hip bag: “This little hip bag is made from a repurposed forest green wool sweater, a discontinued upholstery remnant, and an olive green woven belt. It has an interior pocket made from olive green corduroy.”
Last Row:
–Tink & Estelle: Their bodies were a tablecloth, the hats were a sweaters, and the scarves are a remnants of a red sweater and a piece of vintage fabric.
-The Colonel: The Colonel’s body was a tablecloth, his hat was a sweater, and the scarf was a remnant of flannel fabric… decorated with some cute little vintage buttons.
–Cute Cordoroy Christmas Trees: “They are made from a green corduroy shirt I found at Goodwill, and I strung some sparkly beads on them to dress them up a bit. “

Row 3 (Pic 1) and Row 5, from She’s Crafty (shop here)
Love this cozy sweater bag… it even has pockets!
Wine Bucket Etc: “Using 2 sweaters that were left over from from other projects, I created a wine bucket cozy along with a table topper and matching coasters.“

Rows 3&4, from Chica & Jo
Tree Skirt from a Bridesmaids Dress – So Clever! Check out the tutorial..
Make your Own Snowglobes! Such a fun little project with tons of possibilities! Check out the tutorial..

Links to all the pics above:

1. plaid crossover bag , 2. forest wool hip bag, 3. forest wool hip bag, 4. plaid crossover bag closer, 5. forest wool hip bag strap detail, 6. plaid crossover bag detail, 7. purse from sweaters, 8. Dabbled Holiday Contest – Tree Skirt from Bridesmaid Dress – 1, 9. Dabbled Holiday Contest – Tree Skirt from Bridesmaid Dress – 3, 10. Dabbled Holiday Contest – Tree Skirt from Bridesmaid Dress – 2, 11. Dabbled Holiday Contest – Mini Snow Globes – 2, 12. Dabbled Holiday Contest – Mini Snow Globes – 1, 13. Dabbled Holiday Contest – Mini Snow Globes – 3, 14. After: Upcycling Wine Bucket, 15. Detail: Upcycling Wine Bucket, 16. Tink and Estelle, 17. Colonel closeup, 18. Trees for Erin

So, taking a quick moment today to you guys how thankful I am for all of you, the Dabblers out there… I wouldn’t write this stuff if I didn’t have you to read it!
THANKS!

… Tired of just hanging out with family? A little bored? Turkey coma? Go Try Something New and enter it in the Dabbled Holiday Contest!

I’ll be featuring the entries here on Dabbled as they are entered. Remember, any handmade holiday project — from gifts to decorations, or whatever — , which has some element of recycling/upcycling to it, is eligible. To enter, just tag your photos ‘dabbledholiday’ on flickr! Full details here.

Since everyone who has sent me links to their shops have been Etsy sellers, I’ve decided to try out doing it using the Etsy Mini feature. I’ve created a starter page with some of those who have sent me their shops. (Sellers, if you don’t like the items I picked, just email me)

Check it out here!

Wanna participate? Just put one of these nifty buttons on your site*, and send me the link to 1 or 2 of your favorite items in your shop. (Let me know if we need a different size-these are 200 wide) Send to holiday (at) dabbled (dot) org. I’ll at least link to 1 item, and 2 if we have room.
[*Don’t have a website or blog? Link to the page in your etsy shop, or promote on craft forums instead. The idea is to promote both your shop and the shops of other cool indie crafters!]

Don’t forget! Enter the Contest!

I’ll be featuring the entries here on Dabbled as they are entered. Remember, any handmade holiday project — from gifts to decorations, or whatever — , which has some element of recycling/upcycling to it, is eligible. To enter, just tag your photos ‘dabbledholiday’ on flickr!

Full details here.

Tree Skirt from a Bridesmaids Dress – So Clever!

Make your Own Snowglobes! Such a fun little project with tons of possibilities!

All Holiday 08 Posts

Add this button to your blog to promote the holiday contest!:

More to check out – The Gift Guide from Artisan Beaders — Too much cool stuff to link it all on this page.