WoodlandBelle

I just came across the shop WoodlandBelle and am completely smitten!  I love all of her woodland themed accessories, especially the twig hairpins:

I might actually do something with my hair if I had those to put in it :)

Her succulent accessories are super cute also, you can carry your little plants with you! And they'd be easier to take care of too hehe.  And this little butterfly necklace was in  my Favorites FOREVER, its so cute and perfect:

What's your favorite?

Laser Cut Necklaces and Accessories

I came across this super cute shop early this morning while I was having my wake-up tea (Early Grey with a hint of honey this morning - I switch is up on occasion ;) ) and I knew I had to share it with you all!

VectorCloud is based in New York and produces some of the cutest wood laser-cut designs that I've seen!

Don't we all just need a little more Peace and Love?

I like that you can customize this one, changing out the picture everyday or week to suit your mood.

Which one is your favorite?

Miniature Painting Jewelry

I came across HeatherKent the other day on Twitter when she posted pictures of her new work (proof Twitter does work!).  I fell in love immediately and am >this< close to giving into my inner desires.

She does custom pieces, so you can get your very own, personalized piece of wearable artwork!

Which necklace is your favorite?  (I'm loving that green tree one, personally :) )

The Cutest Necklaces I've Ever Seen

I love animals, I love silver jewelry. marymaryhandmade puts the two together and she does it in such a cute way!

How can you not fall in love with these critters?  That baby sloth has been in my favorites for ages! 

I love the way she uses simple but colorful backgrounds, it really makes the pieces speak for themselves.  Not to mention, she also makes inanimate objects cute and smiley!

Lockets

Lately I've been crushing on all kinds of lockets.  I like the fact that a pretty pendant can be more than a pretty pendant, there's something on the inside.

I like the big ones with long chains, the small ones with short chains and everything in between, check out some of my faves from Etsy.

1. Rose Locket with Watch from amazingcollection4u
2. Turkish Treasure from Sparklepeach
3. Honey Bee from Cosmicfirefly
4. Bird, Moon, Swirl from MStevensonDesigns
5. Butterfly Vintage Pocketwatch from trinketsforkeeps

A Cute New-to-Me Jewelry Shop

I stumbled across redchuckstress yesterday while checking out my Twitter (don't follow me yet? you should ;) ).

I not only think the designs are cute, but I also really like the backgrounds!  They give the pieces in her shop some personality and make it stand out from other, similar jewelry shops.

How Adorable Are These?

I'll take one of each please!

Hand painted Locket Necklaces from kharaledonne

I think these necklaces are so stinkin' cute, it is so hard for me not to impulse shop in this store, but I really need to save moolah for my trip :/  Promise me you'll save some lockets for me please?

Lovely Things from Helpful People

In case you don't know, the sellers on Etsy are some of the most helpful, generous people around and this post is to celebrate the wonderful things some of these people create :)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/42351013/lucite-glass-brass-necklace-margot

 'Margot' by Balanced

http://www.etsy.com/listing/42820595/handcrafted-sterling-silver-organic

Handcrafted Spiral Nest Ring by amyjoavnet

Musical Notes Necklace by ellesbeads

These lovely Etsians helped me to get my blog to post directly to my Facebook Fanpage and fix a little problem I was having last week.  Do you have any stories of Etsians helping Etsians?  I wanna hear 'em!

Food-cessories

I have a confession to make. I like food. I really like food. I am particularly fond of salty popcorn, spicy tea, carbohydrates, and sweets of all sorts. I really enjoy organic goat cheese with a glass of dark red wine, or a semi-sweet biscotti with rich, spicy hot chocolate. Food is a big topic with me, I love to cook, I love to eat, I even enjoy going to the grocery store and doing my foodie shopping.

Here are some phenomenal and adorable Etsy Finds that incorporate food into your accessories.

Spaghetti Stiletto by SoleSensations

Tea Ring by SouZouCreations

Cookies Dangle Earrings by PetitPlat

Banana Cream Pie Necklace by Roscata

Friday Feature - SissysArt

I decided to do today's feature on SissysArt. She creates all kinds of artistic works in a variety of mediums and each piece has sentimental value as she is most inspired by things that are going on her life. Read on to find out where she got her start, her dreams, and her hero (and, as always, simply click on the photos to go to the listing in her shop ;)):

1. What is the first craft you remember making?

I remember my grandma teaching me how to make apple dolls just like she used to make when she was a child. We would carve out the faces and then sit them on the window sill to dry. I remember how amazed I was that they looked like little old people the more they dried and shriveled up. Then we would use cotton (she saved the cotton from her vitamin bottles) for the hair and make little stuffed bodies and clothes for them. I had the best time making these!

2.Are you the kind of person who enjoys teaching yourself or taking classes with groups to learn?

I like to do both. I enjoy taking classes for the social aspect, plus I always feel like it is so much easier to learn from someone who has been doing it for a long time. However, I'm mostly a self taught artist simply because I can't find a class for everything I want to learn. I would love to take a soldering class from Sally Jean Alexander but she is a few states away from me, so I've taught myself from books, you tube videos and internet sources.

3. When you are not creating, what can you be found doing?

Housework! It's a never ending battle and I'm never caught up. Seriously though as far as fun things to do, I love working in my flower beds, spending time with my family, going for walks. I live a pretty simple life and I like it that way.

4.If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?

My husband and I would love to travel to Europe some day. My son went and back packed through Europe with two of his friends a couple of years ago and I just love looking at all of his pictures. Especially the ones from Italy and Greece.

5.Who is your hero?

My Mom without a doubt. She was a creative woman who had such a kind heart and was so giving to others. She always worked hard all of her life and it wasn't always easy, but she still found time to be there for her family.

Thank you SissysArt! Don't forget to check out her blog to keep up with this amazing woman!

Friday Feature - maxsworld

I sort of stumbled upon this shop the other day just browsing Etsy and procrastinating and I haven't been so amazed by a knitting accessories shop in ages! I asked maxsworld if she would be willing to answer a few questions for me and she very graciously accepted. Here are her answers to some of my random thoughts:

How long have you been knitting?

About 3 and a half years. I started when my mum got me a pair of needles and some wool for my 20th birthday and then a good friend gave me a copy of 'Stitch N Bitch' and I haven't looked back! Pretty much everything I do is yarn related now.

Do you have any advice for beginning knitters?

Once you've learned the basics don't be afraid to go off road! Once I realised I didn't HAVE to have a pattern the fun really began and I started knitting all sorts of crazy sculptures...!

If you were to be transformed into a knitted creature, what would you be?

I'd like to be Tiny Clanger so I could hang out on the moon with and have soup from the soup dragon! (If you don't know it - The Clangers is a British animated tv series from the 1970s with knitted characters) http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/clangers/


Were you able to travel the entire world, where would you go?

That's a tough one. My travel wish list is a bit epic... I actually really want to go to the Maker Faire in San Francisco one year, I've not been to the USA before. But I want to get to Japan and also India at some point. I'm sure they'd be amazing! I guess I need to start saving up my pennies...

Tell us something random about you that we otherwise might not know.

name is Max... Ok, you knew that but it's not short for anything, not even Maxine :-D I get asked that all the time so now you know!

Check out her other website where you can read her blog and see what kinds of sculptures she has been knitting lately :)

Monday Color - Goldenrod

As many of you know, yellow is my favorite color. It didn’t come to me naturally that this was my favorite; I had to figure it out. Everyone is always (ok, maybe not "always" but often enough) asking what your favorite color is and while I would usually answer “Anything but pink” I just didn’t know for sure what my one favorite actually was. I realized one day, looking around my small abode at my things I noticed that many of my belongings that saw the most use were yellow and it kind of dawned on me.

Anyways, enough with the random color explanation, here are some neato things I found browsing Etsy by searching the term “Goldenrod”

Indoor Outdoor goldenrod cushion pillow from mustlovehomedecor

Black and Goldenrod Triple Floral Pendant from TheReFORMatory

Magnolia Pleated Bag – Golden from SweetgumHandbags

Solid Yellow Gold Handknit Sunshine Scarf from CricketsCreations

Goldenrod Merino Yarn from Shamdoogle

Mother's Day

So I couldn't post before about what I got my momma for Momma's Day, but I can post it now! She reads my blog *hi mom!* so I couldn't spoil her surprise. After my recent trip back home for the art show, I was wearing my favorite necklace which I got from MiaBeads on Etsy and she commented on it, so I knew that a necklace from the same shop would be perfect!

I decided to get her this locket:

I almost didn't get her the necklace because I didn't want to get her something cliche, but I just knew she would love it (and she does I think) so I went ahead and had it shipped to her with a little note from me :)

MiaBeads is a wonderful shop, run by a wonderful person, very conscientious of her customers, personable and is always very prompt with her communications, I recommend her!