Tag Archives: handmade

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Pretzel Hug Pillow

pittsburgh-gift-pretzel-hug-pillowThe Pretzel Hug Pillow is the huggable pillow form of my feelings for The Pretzel Shop, which is quite possibly one of my most favorite places in Pittsburgh for snacks. Since snacks are quite possibly my most favorite meal, that makes the Pretzel Shop my favorite food establishment in the City of Pittsburgh. The Pretzel Shop opened in 1927 and has been serving soft pretzels ever since.

One of my many tweets about The Pretzel Shop:

Even better, this pillow is made right here in Pittsburgh by the artist duo Otto Finn. The pillow case is $45 or you can get the case with the pillow insert for $60.

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Shop: Pretzel Hug Pillow available at OttoFinn.com // $45 & $60

Shipping: Last day to order for Christmas delivery is December 20, 2015

Follow: @OttoFinn

Source: Thanks to Shannon of GiftBug.co for sharing her post on unique gifts.

Made in Pittsburgh: Gandy Bars

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dulcimer kit - ganybar.com

A Gandy Bar, is definitely not a candy bar – but is a whole lot of fun.  A Gandy bar is a three stringed instrument that is a cross between a dulcimer and a guitar.  Each gandy bar is made by hand by Gad and Andy right here in Pittsburgh.

You can purchase a complete  Gandy Bar or a kit to make your own Gandy Bar at home.

Visit www.GandyBar.com to purchase or stop my the IMadeIt Market today (Saturday, May 24, 2014 – apologies to our email readers who might not see this post till the workweek) at South Side works to say hello to Andy and try one out.

Here is a video of Andy explaining the instrument:

Details for the IMadeIt Market on Saturday, May 24.

Pittsburgh Craft Market SouthSide Works

Steel of the Week: Pittsburgh Magnet

This week’s Steel was found while browsing The Shop in East Liberty. Located on Highland Avenue (and conveniently around the block from our office), The Shop is a lovely place to find art, home goods, and jewelry handmade by artists in Pittsburgh and around the country. The storefront has been open for about ten months, and you can also shop online.

Something that caught my eye for SOTW while in The Shop was this Pittsburgh magnet.

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The laser-cut maple wood magnet was made specifically for The Shop by Kristen Shearon of Havok Designs. It does a great job of capturing the beauty of the cityscape as well as show the geographical location of our city within Pennsylvania. There are other magnets and also jewelry by Havok Designs available to purchase at The Shop.

I will definitely be going back sometime soon to look around more. If you are furnishing a new apartment or shopping for a gift, make sure to stop in The Shop!

If you have an item you would like featured as our Steel of the Week, submit to sotw@iheartpgh.com!

Steel of the Week: Yinzer Bingo

This week’s featured Steel of the Week is Yinzer Bingo by John the Craftist. Seen at Boutique 208, you are sure to get a kick out of this unique bingo card if you are from the Pittsburgh area. All the spaces on the card are relevant to the area, such as “Road Work”, “Pothole”, “Terrible Towel”, “Big Ben Jersey”, with some of the more culturally unique ones being ”Pgh Left”, “Jean Shorts”, “Confusing Intersection”, “80s Bangs”, and “Jagoff”. John the Craftist’s products mostly consist of PGH-centric/Pittsburghese greeting cards, along with magnets, keychains, buttons, gift tags, and other small paper craft items. Zodiac birthday cards are also available. All the products are handprinted, handcut, and hand-folded by John the Craftist, who is actually Thea Okonak of Aspinwall.Yinzer Bingo

 

Along with Boutique 208, John’s stockists include The Mattress Factory Museum, The Shop at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Wildcard in Lawrenceville, Koolkat Designs in Mt. Lebanon, and Nota Bene in Aspinwall. John also vends at he I Made It! Market events, and this past year sold with Koolkat Designs at the Three Rivers Arts Festival and with Steeltown Etsy at Handmade Arcade.

You can get a first look at new cards by checking out the Facebook page, http://facebook.com/johnthecraftist. This is where you can also find out the next vending location and interact to give feedback or stories about the products you’ve enjoyed!


Have an item you would like featured as our Steel of the Week? Submit to sotw@iheartpgh.com!

Shop Handmade at Bakery Square Dec. 2 & 3

Wow – we have been getting lots of visits from people checking out our posts on Small Businesses we love and Pittsburgh Cyber Monday Deals.  Be sure to take another look at the Cyber Monday Deals post – many of those shops are offering savings all week and all month long.

You have another opportunity to pick up some gifts this Friday and Saturday.  The folks who put together I Made It Market have partnered with Bakery Square to bring you a huge market this weekend.

Over 80 vendors will be at Bakery Square on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon – lots of great gifts – all handmade.

Holiday Market @ Bakery Square
December 2nd, 5 – 10 pm &
December 3rd, 11 am – 6 pm
80+ LOCAL artists (meet them here)
RSVP on Facebook

Here is a sampling of items we selected from some of the vendors who will be at the I Made It Market this weekend:


Owl & Leaves Cotton Sca…

$36.00

Black Friday Cyber Mon…

$78.00

Christmas Soap, Gingerb…

$4.00

i love you Pittsburgh P…

$1.00

Red Handmade Ceramic Mu…

$25.00

Antique Post Office Doo…

$59.95

Graphic Stencil Reclaim…

$8.00

Pittsburgh Steelers Ski…

$25.00

A Brick Wall – Zipper P…

$12.00

Custom Folded Book Art …

$40.00

Custom Gemstone Wrapped…

$25.00

Pittsburgh Stoffbuch

$25.00

Hammered Sterling Cuff …

$225.00

party dress celebration…

$4.00

Easy as cake earrings

$16.00

Deep Fuchsia Fabric sho…

$54.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.