Recent Favorites

I'm pretty much addicted to checking out the latest Treasuries on Etsy.com (updated every hour!).  This leads to a lot of browsing other peoples' shops.  Lately I've been trying to add shops to my Favorites that really stand out to me so I can add them to my own Treasury when I make one eventually, and of course so I can buy from them in the future.  I wanted to share a few that I've really enjoyed enjoyed browsing.  

IMOTIME

This guy makes clocks out of everything!  I swear my mom had this same pumpkin-colored tupperware when I was a little kid.  I love his Scrabble tile shop banner, too!

3dots

Beautiful, handmade wooden jewelry.  This artist's work is quite unique.  There's even a listing for a surprise necklace for only $12!  That's a great deal, since most of her pieces are $18-$40 (still a great price).  Her photos make me want to use color-coordinated backgrounds for my pieces, rather than plain white.  

Hmm... I must be in the mood for orange.  Here's one more cool shop, and a non-orange object.

BeauAndStella

Beautiful jewelry designed by a preservation architect.  I tend to really love the work of artists whose background is in something other than what they are creating, because their work tends to be a marriage of their training and their passion.  These earrings stood out to me, but her shop is filled with beautiful gold and sterling silver designs that are quite different from these.

So, check out these shops and support handmade!  And if you ever want to get a gift for me... hint hint...

Bookshelf Inspiration

While organizing the 2nd bedroom in my house from a dumping place for the unpacked remnants of our move to a functioning workroom, I came across this old book belonging to my boyfriend.  His parents emigrated from Hungary to the US in the 1950s/60s.  This book was given to him by a Hungarian friend of the family.  The original copyright is 1949.  Some of the pages have the Hungarian names for the birds written in marker.  While I have disassembled books for art projects before, I couldn't possibly tear up this one that does not belong to me, so I am currently photocopying pages to collage into resin jewelry.  I also used the illustrations as inspiration for a few ceramic necklace pendants that I painted.  Birds have been an increasingly popular motif in decor and fashion for the past few years, and I hate to just jump on the bandwagon, but this book was too interesting to pass up.  Stay tuned for more work inspired by this unique treasure!