Tag Archives: Etsy

3D Pet Portrait

Posted in For the Home by

I stumbled upon a roundup of awesome custom portrait artists on Design*Sponge the other day and just had to share what I found. You know how obsessed I am with Baxter, and after perusing a few of the shops on Etsy, I noticed that one of the artists, sian, does custom 3D pet portraits! Check this one out…looks just like Baxter! I want one!

3D pet portrait by sian on etsy

The Design*Sponge list of artists is a great roundup. I’m sure you can find more in many different styles from cartoonish to whimsical, line drawings to watercolors. I had a custom family watercolor portrait made (see it here) by Heartshug on etsy. Her shop was called something different before and it might have something to do with getting some negative reviews. I didn’t see any when I ordered and I will say that I was very pleased with the end result but the communication was frustrating and the finished piece didn’t arrive until months later (luckily I wasn’t in a hurry). And, it came in handy for our big “we’re having a baby!” announcement, so it all worked out in the end, right?  Right.

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I’ve Been Busy…Buying

Posted in Beauty & Fashion, For the Home, Thoughts & Stories by

Lately, I’ve been buying a lot of stuff. A lot. What can I say? I’m in a good mood, it’s spring and I love clothes.

A lovely lady I know named Lyndzee (I love alliteration!) has fabulous style and is an incredibly impressive thrift shopper. Lucky for me (and you, though I’d rather you not like her stuff so that I can keep scooping up her fun pieces without as much competition), she has started selling some of her finds on Instagram in a lovely shop called Thrift Archaeology. It’s been quite fun following her posts, albeit a bit distracting as I anxiously refresh my Instagram feed all day. Last week I was the lucky winner of this plaid skirt, this vintage bag, and an amazing beaded cocktail dress that I cannot wait to wear! So excited. And feeling the buzz of finding good thrifted clothes but not actually wanting to go out and hunt myself (though it is one of my favorite things to do), I hopped on over to Etsy and discovered a darling vintage shop called secretlake, which just so happened to be having a moving sale with all the merchandise marked down 30%…yay! I picked up this fabulous cobalt dress (you know how obsessed I am with cobalt. see here and here) and this wool coat (what I like to call “grandma chic”…read: totally my style).

But I haven’t just been thinking of myself! My mom loves to wear lace tops with skirts to work — they’ve gotta be comfy and simple like throwing on a t-shirt but chic enough to look like a smarty pants at the office. I got her two from Banana Republic, though I’ve also been swooning over this one from Madewell (found via DesignLoveFest).

And, wait, there’s more.

I haven’t just been buying clothes. I promise. I bought my Dad some awesome dog books for his birthday, I got my mom some lipstick in a totally fierce shade (which I’ll wrap up with those blouses for mother’s day just around the corner), and picked up some of my favorite loose mineral powder (which now reminds me I need to invest in new makeup brushes…).

Lastly–and maybe my favorite–I scored an awesome dresser on Craigslist that is in such great shape I can hardly believe it. The guy I bought it from said it’s been in his family since the early 60’s! Love it. It needs to be cleaned up a bit but I think I’m going to keep it just as it is for now before I do anything drastic like painting it.  It’s made of real wood (read: it’s heavy), has a beautiful color tone and wood grain, original hardware with an awesome patina, dovetailed drawers, and the larger drawers have built-in wood dividers which I think are just so neat. I was going to say “they definitely don’t make furniture like they used to!” but that’s probably not true. I bet a lot of places and people make furniture of such great quality, it’s just I can’t afford any of it. Thank heavens for Craigslist, right?

Here’s a closeup of the hardware and details…

vintage craigslist dresser.jpg

 

 

P.S. How quickly I forget…I also bought this adorable dress from Madewell and wore it to a bridal shower on Saturday. The colors are so pretty and it fits like a dream. Even the girls at Anthropologie asked me where I got it when I stopped in to buy the bride a gift. Best compliment ever, I’d say.  And I’m super excited for our trip to Havasu in two weeks so I splurged on this gorgeous paisley swimsuit top from my favorite, J.Crew (found via A Cup of Jo). Goodness me, that’s a lot of stuff I’ve been buying.  Please don’t judge me. And don’t tell Mumbles. 😉

madewell silk floral dress.jpg

Sweet Find: Amber Alexander on Etsy

Posted in For the Home by

Etsy is a magical, magical world. I’ve been trying to figure out what to put on the walls in our 2nd bedroom/office/Mumbles’ closet/guest room.  I wanted something whimsical and fun and I’d been eyeing watercolors and illustrations for quite some time.  Then, I somehow stumbled upon Amber Alexander’s lovely Etsy shop.  And that’s the magic of Etsy. I want just about everything she makes — beautiful florals, feathers, and furry friends. I simply adore her work.

I ended up purchasing three prints from her shop so that I could put them in these wood frames I found at Target (I love that you can see the grain and knots in the wood).  Meet my three new mates Byron, Duncan and Looker the Alligator.  Mumbles likes Duncan enough to want to take him to work but I’m not quite sure if I can give him up.

Art prints by Amber Alexander on Etsy

Art prints by Amber Alexander on Etsy

Also, Amber was sweet enough to send a few cards in my package which was such a fun surprise.  I was delighted to gift them to some friends later on and even more excited to show them the cute little stories Amber has created for each of the characters on the back of the card. For example, I said “Happy Birthday” with this fabulous card for my wine-loving friend.  The caption read: “I don’t know what could have been ‘hard’ about her day. She’s a cat! not enough catnip? lost her toy? bad fur day?”  I just thought it was darling.  So did my friend.

Super sweet stuff.

What are your favorite Etsy shops?  

P.S. I thought Byron, Duncan and Looker all needed to be a foursome (you know, in case they wanted to play golf or something) so I happily scooped up this darling fox by Eastwitching.  Now I’ve got a happy bunch of furry, sophisticated friends!

Introducing: Stick Girl JAM on Etsy!

Posted in Inspiration by

Remember when I asked you to Write this Down and answer hard questions like what brings you joy and happiness?  This has been on my mind a lot in the past year.  I had some goals like starting a blog – check.  Getting a dog – check.  Exercising regularly – check.  Crafting more – check.  Opening an Etsy shop – whoa, whoa, whoa.  That’s a little scary.  And it was. Until I just sat down one day and did it.  So now I’m happy to say it’s checked off the list and I can proudly introduce Stick Girl JAM on Etsy!  I have some sweet stuff (see what I did there?  That’s cute, right?!) and would be so thrilled if you head on over to Etsy, check out my shop and let me know what you think. I imagine that I’ll keep moving from one craft to the next and updating the shop as I go – I always tend to overdue it, get obsessed with something, make more than necessary and then have nothing to do with them so Etsy has been a perfect place to put this energy. 

I’ve been plugging along, filling orders and have found that I just adore working with Etsy shoppers – so nice, so fun, so inpsiring!  My first order shipped to a lovely lady in Singapore, no less!  (Hey, when they talk about diving in head first, it’s always in the deep end, right?)  I thought to myself, we’ll give this a go, try it out, ease my way into it…and then my first order is international?!  Just goes to show you that you shouldn’t put limitations on yourself due to fear.  What’s the worst that could happen?  In my case: you end up at the post office three times in one day.  Hey, I can tell you, not as bad as you’d think! Ha!

Go big.
Jump in.
Dive deep.
Give it your all. 
Do it.

What do you have going on in your life that you need to get to, try more, pursue harder, or celebrate?  Please share!