I am not big on Christmas shopping. Don’t get me wrong I love me some Christmas, but I try to avoid the shopping bit. The stores are crowded and claustrophobic, the people are all crabby and wanty, and no one ends up liking what you bought them anyway. For Christmas I usually make cookies and candy for everyone on my list, but every once in a while I want to give someone something that lasts.

Enter the perfect present: the solar-powered rainbow maker. The mobile makers did not contact me for this post, they do not sponsor my blog, they don’t even know I exist. I just think that everyone needs a rainbow maker in their life. Your sister, your friends who just had a baby, your kid’s teachers, your mail carrier,  your crabby grandpa, they all need more rainbows in their life. They might not know it yet, but they do.

We received the double rainbow maker as a gift years ago.  You can hang the mobile up with a wire or stick it to a window with the suction cup. We stuck ours to a sunny window and the room exploded with rainbows. I couldn’t believe how magical it was–for my kids and me.  Not so magical when I slammed it over and over again trying to get the window open, but we got another. Then someone very sneaky stole the crystal and hid it (forever). Not only will we be giving rainbow makers this Christmas, we’ll be getting one for ourselves too.

though this post is not sponsored by the mobile maker, there are affiliate links (to amazon) in this post.

I’m having a little obsession with himmeli lately. Yeah, I didn’t know what they were either. I only found out what they were after I made one. Well sort of made one. Remember my geometric straw ornament? A himmeli is made out of those basic shapes, but some are big, some are small and it is strung together as a mobile.  I fell in love with them after I saw this picture:

The photo comes from the home of Momo Suzuki a Japanese designer who has more style in her little finger…

These are various himmeli from around flickr (click on the photo for sources). The red one is made from coffee stirrers! Elizabeth Abernathy has a tutorial for making them out of handmade paper straws.  There is an amazing thrifted traditional straw one on puhti. Himmeli are so perfectly airy and light–just right for the new year, though mine might not get done until the next new year.

If you’d like to know more about things I like (and hate) you can head over to Smile and Wave. Rachel so kindly asked me to do an interview for her Handmade for Kids month. And who says no to an interview? Be warned though, I am verbose.

When I said I’d post the sign up on Monday morning, I of course meant Tuesday evening. Sorry. But it’s here! the 2oo9 Mobile Swap! I started this last year after putting away all my holiday decorations and feeling that my house looked so sad and empty. Well, it’s taken a little longer to get the decorations down to the basement this year, but the house is looking bare now and a pretty mobile would be just the thing to bring it back to life.  If you’d like a mobile of your very own (and try your hand at making one too) please email the following information to  elsiemarleyblog@gmail.com (edited to correct address)

Please write “mobile swap 2009” in the subject line, if you don’t I could lose your email in spamland.

1. name

2. email address

3. website (if you have one)

4. mailing address

5. favorite colors

6. whether the mobile you’d like to receive is for a baby’s room (and his or her age probably would help). If you would particularly like to make a mobile for a baby’s room, say that here.

That’s it! The mobile can be out of any kind of material using any design you can think up. Sign up by Friday January 30th and I’ll send you your partner’s information the following Monday. I’ll try to arrange it so you send to one person, but receive a package from another–just to mix it up. Packages should be sent out by Saturday February 28th. There is a new flickr group for this year,  but be sure to visit last year’s group to see all the awesome mobiles! I made two different mobile swap buttons so you get to choose between a classy lady and a dapper dude. Please copy and paste them onto your blog (or click on the pictures and it will take you to the link to use) and spread the word! Now I really need to pack up the rest of those christmas decorations.

This is a Martha idea from a few years back. Super simple and it makes the whole room smell like gingerbread. My reindeer are pretty wonky (one somehow became a boy reindeer in the oven and one gained some christmas weight) Martha would not approve. If you make this, the gingerbread dough’s best quality should be sturdiness, not deliciousness.  There was an obscene amount of butter in these, so we will be eating, not decorating with, the rest. Though I’m sure these reindeer will have their feet nibbled off in no time.

I just realized I never posted a picture of my finished mobile I made for the swap.  My partner was very patient while I got it done. From top to bottom it goes: big house, cabin, barn, ice house. I explained how I made it here and there are more pictures here and here. I’ve received some lovely comments about it on flickr and a couple requests to sell them, but I’m not sure about that. I couldn’t find my X-acto knife when I was making these, so I used a box cutter–a sharp one, but a box cutter nonetheless–so it took longer than it should have. If I get an itch to make something with paper again, maybe I’ll put one or two up for sale.

A couple of you are concerned because you never received a mobile from the swap and I’m sorry for that. It could have gotten lost in the mail like mine, or maybe your partner’s life just got in the way. I try to think of these swaps as an impetus to make something different and try not to focus too much on what you might get. I’m going to host another mobile swap next year, so hopefully it will go better (I was a little lax when it came to managing it this year–I didn’t think it would be so much work!).