10 Handmade Gifts for Men for under $30

Handmade is good. But who says it has to be your hands?

It may sound like I'm just trying to get out of shopping (which on some level may be true) but I struggle to buy gifts at Christmas each year. I always end up feeling like a sell out. I can't stand the commerciality of Christmas (which is about as far from the spirit of the Holy Day as it could be) and I hate to feel that gifts are in anyway required, contrived, or obligated. I mean, it's a gift! It takes all the generosity out of it if you felt like you were forced to give it.

On the other hand, giving gifts is a love-language of mine. The more unique the better. I prefer greatly to spend $15 on a gift that is specialized and lovingly-selected than $100 on something they asked for. Yes, even if it's someone else's money. A handmade gift puts money back into the artisan marketplace, and it speaks to how you really feel about the recipient. I have had a lot of luck in the past finding unique and specialized gifts on etsy.com. As I surf the proverbial sea of etsy-handmade, in search of the perfect gift for my husband, I thought I could share a few of my best finds. No endorsement of the vendors intended - just good old fashioned shopping fun!

Here's my 10 favorite handmade gifts for men, all $30 or less.

$26.90 - Dark Blue Herringbone Tweed Wallet (7 pocket billfold)

My man loves a good wallet the way I love a good purse. Soon, our growing collections will need their own room in the house. Classic herringbone in navy.

$16.50 - Guitar Pick Case Keyring (hand-stitched leather) 

Guitarist are notorious for never having a pick when they need it. They're also known for chunky leather accessories. Perfect.

$15.00 - Grey Fingerless Mits/Arm Warmers 

Outfit those fists in the manliest of gloves. As Benjamin Franklin is rumored to have said, "When a man's wrists are encased, he need not triffle with the fingers." (Ok, I made that up)

$30.00 - Silkscreened Hops, Barley and Wheat Necktie (in Dove Gray on Black) 

Deck your neck with the trinity of beer-making grains. Artfully printed onto black, or many other colors.

$15.00 - Personalized Silver Tie Bar (hand-stamped to order) 

Maybe he already has too many ties, so outfit all that neck gear. I flippin' love tie bars. They make me think of my Grandfather, a personal icon of the greatest generation. I wonder if she'd engrave "Tie Master" on there for me...

$24.00 - "Write Drunk Edit Sober" Quotation Print (Original Illustration) 

This artist makes some of the best "man-friendly" art prints out there. Each one is a quote from a famous writer or historical figure, and there are some great ones for men. Feeling Romantic? He's got a great illustration with the quote, "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." (Emily Bronte).

$18.00 - Upcycled Jack Daniels Torch 

I can think of at least 3 men that would probably hang this outside within 20 minutes of unwrapping. Enough said.

$15.00 - Art Deco Hunting/Pocket Knife (Laser Engraved)   

I just can't believe how great this product looks for the price. Art deco, a truly manly art style, in black metal and polished wood. Cut with lasers. And it's a knife. Can we say testosterone pleaser?

$22.00 - Gift Packaged Old Fashioned Shaving Set (Cup, Soap and Brush) 

If he hasn't yet experienced the difference of an old-fashioned shave, he hasn't lived. Classic shave soap and a beaver hair brush are a great start. This kit, barely more than 2 bits (anyone? anyone?), is a great value.

$24.00 - Wren Pint Glasses (Set of 2, screen-printed) 

This vendor offers several unique designs of charcoal sillouettes on pint glasses. Wrap them with a holiday craft beer, and expect the Christmas stress to wash away in front of your eyes. Luckily, there's a glass for you, too!

Valentine's Day Printables

Hello friends!

My 2 year old is going to her first Valentine's party on Monday, and I'm sharing my project for you to use!  In the spirit of love, enjoy these Valentine's for free. Click the link at the bottom of this post to download the .jpg or .pdf and print away! They are designed to fit 9 to a letter-sized piece of paper. If you do something creative, be sure to send me a picture.

Happy Valentines!

PDF (.pdf) file
JPEG (.jpg) file

Finished Custom Project: Lotus Ring Design

Several months ago, one of my favorite people and best customers asked me to come up with a creative way to display some small rings she received as a gift from Spain. She had some great ideas, and we put our heads together and came up with something we both love. After a tumultuous holiday season (is there any other kind?), I finally got to finish up the project and send it off to it's new home.

This lotus flower design features the spanish words for 7 well-wishes in a radial design: Amor (love), Suerte (luck), Vida (life), Amistad (friendship), Salud (health), Dinero (money,) and Felicidad (happiness). Inspired by the art-nouveau movement, I first designed a color-block style, 7-part floral radial design, then I used some of my own photography to add some interesting texture to the design. Once the design was finished up and the proof approved by the customer, the final art was printed on Linen-Cotton Canvas from Spoonflower, then stretched inside a quilter's loop for a unique, wall-ready display. The final size was 14" in diameter. After I sent the art to my friend, she hand-sewed each ring into the right spot and hung it on her wall.

I did all the design and production here in Texas, and my friend finished the project in Germany! Proof positive that the world is shrinking thanks to the web. Here's some pictures of different parts of the project as it progressed:

The Lotus Flower design, sans-couleur 

Here's one of the unedited photographs I used to add texture to the design

The original design as it appeared on the screen

Printed and stretched into it's frame, ready for shipment to Germany

Finished art, complete with rings sewn in place.

If you have a very special custom art job you'd like me to work on, let me know! Depending on supplies and shipping, we might be able to get exactly what you want for less than you expect. Thanks for reading!

New Process for Less Expensive Canvases

I love art. I hate that it's so expensive. One of the biggest reasons I started making art digitally and finding ways to print it on the cheap was so that I could offer my art for a reasonable price. I don't think that the average person should be forced to shop at Kirkland's to have art on their walls - not that their art is terrible. But it is massed produced, making it highly impersonal. I think you can know the name, and maybe even the face, of the artist who's work adorns your living room walls.

Because of my mission to sell high-quality art at a real-life price, I am always looking for ways to keep my costs down and pass those savings forward to my customer. Recently, I revamped my printing process so that I reduced the prices of my prints up to 40%, and took all my shipping costs down by nearly half. But I'm not done yet.

Thanks to an amazing start-up company called Spoonflower, I have a better way to print my canvases. They offer top-notch printing on textiles, and one of the standard fabrics they print on is Linen-Cotton canvas. It's beautiful - I kid you not. The texture on this stuff is phenomenal, and there's no detail lost in the printing either.

So if I print on this canvas directly, instead of onto a traditionally pre-treated canvas, and then stretch and finish the edges of the piece, I can cut my cost. Then I can cut your cost. And maybe someone who wouldn't normally choose a canvas for their home can spring for the big painting instead of the small print. Thanks to this new process, my canvases are $45. That's down $20 each. And I'm excited about that.

Here's the first one off the presses: St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer. It's for sale here, or you can do what I do and just look at that pretty texture in the close up. Oooh, pretty.

Update to our Store!

Just in time for Christmas shopping, the online store got a serious make-over. Changes? Glad you asked!

New 10x13" Pillows in 6 designs

• Shipping on 'flat products' (photo prints and other envelope fare) has been cut by 40-50%
• All finished 5x7s were $10, reduced to $7
• All finished 8x10s were $6, reduced to $4
• NEW! 10x13" Throw Pillows available! $12 each
• NEW! 5x7 Wooden Plaques available! $8 each
• Easier to navigate listings show each individual design and size as it's own item
• Items now sorted by theme (Christian, Heritage, Military, etc.)

New Wooden Wall Plaques in 7 designs

There are somethings that don't change - like using high-quality archival materials (meaning that your purchase will last forever) and handmade processes (meaning you're supporting American-made artisan products).

Be excited! I know I am. There's also a couple new products in the works for the new year, including (hopefully) a new way to print my canvases that will cut the retail price significantly. I hope you guys like the change. The response so far has been very positive!

And of course, there's always a reward for reading all this: COUPON CODE! Enter "MAKEOVER" in your checkout to receive 15% off anything in the shop, old or new! Thanks everyone!

Check out the online store now!

What the heck is Upcycled Raw Cotton?

This information originally appeared on the Far Beyond facebook page, but I would like to re-post and elaborate now that I have this blog up and running. The post is backdated to the original date of publishing.

"UPCYCLING is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value." (Wikipedia)

Raw Cotton filled pillows in the making.

What exactly is that "upcycled, unprocessed raw cotton filling?" I'm using to stuff my new pillows? It's an all natural, 100% cotton product, rescued from an untimely death. Used as a sample of a cotton crop for buyers, it quickly outlives its intended purpose and needs to find new meaning in life. Soft, clean, and remarkably beautiful - how could I use polyfill when I can get my hands on this stuff?

For years I've been receiving packages in the mail from a good friend, all of them packed with raw cotton. It's an environmentalist's dream: toss those toxic styrofoam packing peanuts and replace it with the fruit of mother earth! My friend is a cotton broker in North Carolina (meaning essentially that he's the go-between for the farmer and Fruit of the Loom) and his company receives samples of a given crop of cotton for marketing purposes. Lots and lots of samples. Just saving what he's sent me since last Christmas, I had enough cotton to fill 10 pillows.

Close-up of decidedly non-gross cotton filling. Ain't it purdy?

When my dad saw the close up of the raw cotton, he said it looked like something "internal" and was quite grossed out. I honestly don't see why. I love that you can see the texture of the cotton plant, and even find the un-ginned seeds and natural abnormalities of this stuff with your naked eye. I also love that it's found a home and hasn't just been discarded. There's so much waste in this world, and this is the perfect re-purpose. It's not smelly, not harsh to the touch, and when packed in the muslin casing for my pillows, you can still barely make out the beautiful "marbling" through the fabric.


If, for whatever reason (allergies, etc.), you'd prefer me to use the standard PolyFill (polyester filling) for your product, I will be more than happy to oblige! If you're just being stubborn or a germaphobe, I might give you some grief. Buy a raw cotton pillow, make Mother Earth happy!

Name and Monogram Art Inspiration

This is another old post from facebook that I am expounding upon now that I have a blog set up. Backdated to original publishing date in March.

My daughter's nursery, with unfinished canvases on the wall

I had my first baby in Germany, while my husband I were stationed in a small town in Bavaria. Everyone always wants to know what Germany was like, and how the pregnancy experience differs in Europe. I have nothing but good things to say about my experience, even though it was a very rural town. I loved my doctor and my midwife. What I didn't love was our apartment! We lived on the US Military post in extremely small military housing. The rules for how you had to leave your apartment when you moved out were super strict, and rather than be subject to another horrible inspection from housing, I chose never to paint, including my baby girls nursery. But I had to have some color on her walls! 

Small star paintings that coordinated with my big canvases

Half the fun of setting up a nursery, especially for the first baby, is coordinating colors and patterns! To solve my conundrum, I bought 2 large canvases and pre-painted stripes and stars on them. I also painted some small canvases with matching stars. When baby girl arrived and we FINALLY named her (my husband and I are legendary for not picking a name until the baby has been around for quite some time), I painted her name and initials on the canvases.

Side-by-side with original canvas and digital image

When I started out on the journey of this little business, I knew I wanted to offer some truly customized products. I had been very pleased with how my little girl's canvases had turned out, and I wanted to make a product that was similar but economical. Starting with the colors and borders of her art, I created different backgrounds, borders, and monograms. This created nearly countless options for other people to decorate their own nurseries with their child's name or initials. I also created more "adult" art for family names and quotations. These products are available for purchase for as little as $10, and are guaranteed to be totally unique to you. You can see all the options and some more examples of finished art at our online shop.