If you’re looking for some easy, crafty holiday gifts to make this year, some of my favorites are beaded drop Solo Earrings and the star of my book cover, the Vintagesque Necklace! Both projects are very beginner-friendly and a lot of fun to make.

You can find the video tutorials for each of them right here on my site, and I’m excited to announce that I have just added some new kits for making them to my Etsy shop, too… they come with vintage beads, wire, findings and complete instructions all in one little package. The necklace kit ($10) comes with smoky blue vintage Lucite beads, and you can choose from wine red, lavender or hot pink for the earrings ($5).

To celebrate the kits arriving in the world, I’m offering free shipping on any kit for the next week, and a free Solo Earrings kit if you order a signed copy of Bead Simple, too — both offers are good through December 2. You can also find my earrings and necklace kits in blue, brown and orange over in the Maker Shed, thanks to CRAFT: magazine. And I’ll be adding new colors of both kits to my Etsy shop for the holidays next month — I’m thinking black, silver, gold and sparkly!

A huge thank-you to Ivy Manning and Sunset magazine for featuring me and Bead Simple this month, and spotlighting some of my favorite craft classes, shops, and resources, too! I got to talk about some of my favorite local-and-everywhere resources for holiday crafting ideas, including DIY Lounge, Cool Cottons, Crafty Wonderland, and CRAFT: magazine. I’m on page 30 of the Northwest edition, and the interview is also right here on their site. Hooray!

And an extra thank-you to their fantastic photographer, John Clark, who was kind enough to include some of my favorite things in the picture with me and my Solo Earrings: our prized Justin “Scrappers” Morrison painting, my modern heirloom quilt, and my Cathy of California flower brooch and pincushion.