Brr! It feels like the temperature dropped over night! According to the folks at EPA's Energy Star, about half of our home energy use goes to heating and cooling our homes, and we use the vast majority of that energy on heat during the chilly months. Luckily, those crafty Etsy sellers have all sorts of handmade options to keep your house a little warmer and help you cut down on your heating needs.

Feeling Dodgy?
We lose lots of heat through the bottoms of windows and doors. If you're not making your own, there are tons of handmade draft dodger options on Etsy.

These handy little tubes of fabric are stuffed with rice or sand and nestle right in the doorway or bottom of a window frame to keep warm air in and cold air out!

I'm particularly smitten with this draft dodger from seller Harriet's Haven (pictured left). Not only does she hand print those sweet little birds, but it has a removable, washable cover. Genius! I've noticed that along with catching those drafty breezes, my draft dodger collects a fair bit of dust.

Warm Your Walls
Even with good insulation, those exterior walls tend to let out a good amount of warmth. You'd be surprised at what a difference a wall hanging can make!

I know, wall hangings conjure up tie-died images of hippie hangouts, but there are lots of fresh choices. A pretty quilt in a modern colorway like this one from Happy Lil Camper would be perfect for adding some warmth!

If you're feeling crafty, you can make your own wall hanging with any fabric that you choose! Either hem the fabric all the way around or for an even simpler option use a no-sew hemming tape like Stitch Witchery. I'm really into this beautiful organic cotton print by Robert Kaufman (pictured right).

Cover That Floor
We keep a rug rolled up under the bed just for adding a warm layer to the floor in winter. If you've got a basement or crawl space especially, you lose a lot of heat through the floors. No only that, it's pretty unpleasant to walk around on chilly floors all winter.

This area rug made from recycled t-shirts (pictured left) looks so cozy, I think I got a little warmer just looking at it!

So do you have any favorite handmade items to warm your home this winter? We'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Image Credits:
Window Frost. Creative Commons photo by chrisroberge
Draft Dodger from Harriet's Haven
Organic Cotton Fabric from Talking Squit