Good Afternoon.  Hope you have had a great day.  Today’s Etsy Friday find is from Florida based artist Barbara who makes lovely things from polymer clay.  (Is that not the new name for Fimo??).  I know, I thought it was porcelain too.  Barbara’s shop on Etsy is called Floridity, meaning an ubundance of flowers.  You will find lovely nature inspired jewelry designs with a little subtle colour.  I suggest you go and have a look as the prices are very reasonable.  Everything is nice and wearable.

I love the joy pin.  Joy is my middle name.  The next post is number 100.  Wow.  Who would have thought.  Must be time to launch a new something!

Oh, and happy voting. May the right (or left) person win.

Today’s Etsy Friday find is by Eight Hour Day.  Designed by Katie and Nate who are based in Minneapolis, this letterpress print is a Stationery lovers dream.  Also perfect if you love yellow and grey.  I hit the buy button straight away when I spotted this on the front page of Etsy earlier this week.  (I am hoping it comes under the handmade class in Dotti’s pledge which I am still on by the way!!).  I will hang it on my office door with that little open sign there in the middle.  There are lovely letterpress prints of jars of sweets in the shop too.  In mint and pink.  Be quick though, there is a notice that they will close shop for a little while in September.

Tea and Ceremony

I love, love love Sandra Igbodo’s Etsy shop Tea and Ceremony.  Great name.  Why do I love it?  It is bright.  It is colourful.  And it has a very distinct Scandinavian feel to it that I just can’t resist.  There are lovely prints, cute tags and a very sweet tote among other delights to be found here.  My pick is the I heart Tea card.  Because I do heart tea.  Lots.

Designed and crafted by Sandra in Manchester, UK and ships worldwide.  Most reasonably too.

Hello!  Just popping in to say hi.  I have quite a few orders on at the moment (and a busy family life) and I am not the most disciplined person when it comes to regular posting.  The thing is, I believe that is what people like.  Regular posts.  Do you agree – put you hand up if you do.   I would love to know what you think.

So, this is what I plan to do.  And why.  On Fridays I am going to showcase a fellow Etsy seller that I have some connection with.  Mostly because I love their things, probably because I have stepped over the line and made a purchase from them and have been super satisfied.  You are welcome to make suggestions.  The Etsy platform is amazing.  It’s customers and sellers have been truly grand to me and I just think it’s nice for them to be recognised for all that creative inspiration they give us.  I am also hoping this feature will keep me on a good blogging path and that you might be interested in sharing my finds.

Firstly, I would like to share Ormolu.  A very sweet stationery shop run by Kaitlin in California.  I first contacted Kaitlin before our wedding last year to ask if it was possible to do some custom signage for our tables.  I was looking for a vintage scroll frame with our table names in the centre.  Our tables were named after the places that the Viking and I have lived together (from Bondi to Jolimont, Frederiksberg to Coogee).  They were perfect.  Kaitlin also did a little sign for our table centres.  The idea was to have a small posy for each lady at each table arranged to look like one centre piece.  The sign was to let the ladies know to ‘take a posie before you go’.  We were very happy.  So I often check back to see what Ormolu has in store.  I always find pretty gift  and journalling tags, paper buttons, and even DIY paper chains.  And great shipping prices.  I am a repeat offender here!

I have been doing some thinking (and creating).  I have been reading Dottie Angel’s blog.  She is all about handmade in such a nice way.  She does it very well.  Dottie has just reached the half way point of buying only vintage and handmade for her home/self for a year and has invited us all to join in (if you are so inclined).  Well, I am.  And I have decided to commit to it for the next six months.  I am growing tired of the big stores and mass production when so many lovely things lie in wait in our charity shops and online via Etsy and Da Wanda and Madeit.  So I will be showing off my finds as we go along.  I am a little nervous about the clothing, but I have made vintage work in the past (there was a shop on Glebe Point Road that I was a regular at for a long time – anyone remember it’s name?)

I have also started the great declutter (mostly of children’s things as they grow, grow, grow).  On the weekend I removed every single toy from our lounge room.  They have found new homes in the owner’s bedroom, or have been passed on to our little cousin or donated – 2 bags gone this morning – yay!  It is such a good feeling.   Any strays are going into this lovely basket via Brin and Nohl.

I am really enjoying the holidays.  Swimming in the pool (well, watching the kids mostly), eating banana splits and sneeking peeks at Etsy.  I found this lovely paper collage here by an Etsy artist called moline.  Isn’t it a sweetie.  It is called ‘Fall in Istanbul’.   There were quite a few to choose from so go have a look.  Oh, and this is my 50th post – yippee – so I might do a little giveaway next time.

A nice dress on Etsy.

I am loving this dress on Etsy – just not sure if I can pull off the keyhole back!

Have you found something nice on Etsy lately?

Mel xx