Wednesday Craft: Shopping frenzy

When I was younger, I had quite a collection of mail-order catalogs, and used to spend hours looking through them. They ranged from the American Girl doll catalog to a weighty, special-edition Neiman Marcus holiday catalog that I got from a relative. Since Tisha passed on, I seem to have reverted to this old habit, only this time my catalogs are virtual ones: Etsy shops. I guess it’s true what they say about retail therapy. I couldn’t stop Etsy-browsing for a week!

Most of my shopping has been of the window variety, but I have purchased some items for my office, restocked the soap, and splurged on some accessories. I’ve also discovered a prolific Treasury-maker whose aesthetic lines up really well with mine, so I’ve favorited dozens of new shops through her treasuries.

Here’s a selection of some of my new favorite items:

Spinthread makes some really original, stunning embroidered jewelry in geometric designs. I’m not usually a fan of sharp angles, but I can’t help but love the colors and edgy-folk feeling of their jewelry.

I love handmade books. This is a beautiful one by paperiaarre, and the key motif on the side reminds me of my first diary with a lock. So sweet. I wish bookbinders would make bigger journals, but maybe it’s hard to get big enough paper.

Cordavalera‘s felt flowers are works of art! I think I gasped when I discovered this shop. I wish I could afford some of the brooches (which are rightly priced for the amount of work that must go into them), but I’ll just content myself with admiring the amazing photos.

Don’t these slippers by onstail look like the perfect thing for just-gotten-out-of-bed toes on a wintery morning? I love the color combination too, and the thoughtful addition of nonslip latex on the outer soles.

I generally don’t spend too much time in Etsy art shops, since I already have all the pictures my walls can handle, but missouribendstudio‘s lovely little mixed-media pieces caught and pulled me in. I love the seasonal themes.

I have been looking for textile jewelry for a long time, and I’m really liking Cynamonn‘s braided linen necklaces. I’ve used up my accessory budget for now, but I’m keeping these on my favorites for future reference.

I need some new bowls in my preferred size for cereal. I did a lot of pottery browsing on Etsy until I remembered the RAC‘s holiday fair is coming up and they’ll have plenty of ceramics. But if I don’t find anything there, I love backcreekpottery‘s beautiful designs. Isn’t this zinnia bowl striking?

I’m completely in love with lindaworks‘s rustic wreaths, and I love that she has seven of them listed on her site, so you can see just how different each one is from the others. Our front door is on the side of the house so we hardly ever use it, but if I ever want to decorate it, I’ll order one of her wreaths.

Everything in Woodland Belle’s shop makes me want to skip around dancing. I love this model photo of the hydrangea hair pins, but I also favorited a pair of mossy twig hair pins and an adorable tiny terrarium necklace.

Seaurchin’s shop glows with color and gorgeous textures in porcelain. She has a wonderful dish-a-day project going on, and many sale items in the shop. Wallace & Gromit fans will also squee to know she’s a sculptor and model-maker for Aardman!

I am seriously considering these earrings by toolisjewelry for when I have some accessory budget again. I don’t like smooth metal but I really adore certain textured metals, and I’m also a sucker for hoop earrings that attach in interesting ways. This photo is lovely too.