Handmade Olympics 2010

Have you heard about the Handmade Olympics yet? It's a fun and fabulous idea from The Rikrak Studio. There are competitions in 8 categories. In each category readers can nominate one thing made by themselves and one thing made by someone else. Judges narrow the nominees down to ten and then readers vote on the winners. Fun, no? So, after careful consideration, I made my nominations for the first category - Our Favorite Handmade Goodie with an Innovative Design.

From my own work I nominated my Triangle Toys. I made the first of these ages ago and I'm still really proud of the design. I wanted to make a baby toy that was really simple - with a super-clean design. In this case, all the animals are the same triangle-based pyramid shape - you can tell what kind of animal it is by the color and by a couple of very simple details.

My favorite is this dinosaur. Jo immediately saw it as a dragon, so I made one for her in magenta velvet with back ridges in raspberry tissue lame. Ooh la la! These are pretty time-consuming so I don't make them often, but I have one set in my shop right now. I also sell a pattern for DIY folks who want to make their own.

From one of my favorite Etsy shops (KraKra) I nominated Miss Gertie Porket - this absolutely adorable little pig. I love that she is made to play with. And the design is so clever - just the kind of thing kids love. See that cute coat with the handmade (!) buttons?

Turn it around and it's a pretty flowered dress! And she doesn't skimp on the details. Even without her clothes, little Gertie is pretty fancy.

Don't you want to nominate someone? You have until January 31. Go play along!