Drum Roll Please!!!!

Ahh, Thanks to jury duty, wifi, and an impending sense of guilt, here I am posting about my fav Etsians again! Thank you very much folks! Glad to be back. So I have something feisty to return with: In the right corner we have..(drum roll please!) tinkerer extraordinaire Mike Burnett and his masked toy Men!!!
WOW... well..ok, they aren't all masked. They are an odd assortment of Mexican Wrestler, old man on the corner, and Atari figure gone mad. They are wonderful.. so go.. put your dukes up and take a look-see!

And don't forget to take a look at his packaging.. that makes me even more of a smitten kitten!

Family Love

I know, Its probably not the best idea to do a post about someone in my family. The chances of being blinded by love and not seeing poor quality are great, but in this case I know family love has no influence. My sister has started her own Etsy site and it is great! Full of photographs with a vintage aesthetic. The prints are lovely and affordable. And as quite a few wonderful people out there in the design blog world have mentioned recently....She is one Talented Chic!

So without further ado: Raydel Photography

ps- a little birdie told me there will be some originals in the shop soon too! So be sure to check back!


Oh, and take a quick look at what some other people are saying:
Decor8
and here

reduce, reuse, recycle: remake

It's late, but it's still blog action day and since we could use some serious street cred I thought it only appropriate to do a quick green post. It helped that I knew exactly what I was posting about too... remake who's philosophy is quite simply "to create beautiful things using mainly salvaged and recycled materials". While I keep my fingers crossed for another round of font mini notebooks there are still plenty of fresh used paper products to tide me over.

PoppyTalk Handmade! Our first -Out of Etsy- Post!

We certainly aren't the only ones loving all things Etsy. With more than a million users Etsy is a force unto itself. One of the problems with searching through a million users is the amount of time it takes. Thats why we started Heavens to Etsy. To talk about our favorites and share our love of our favorites with others.

Well, Jan over at PoppyTalk took that idea one step further this month when she opened PoppyTalk HandMade, an online collection of some of the best artisans and crafters out there. You don't actually buy work though Poppytalk Handmade, it's more like a gallery with direct links to the artists themselves.. Now how nice is that? Oh, Most of the artists are Etsians (although not all) and Jan has a wonderful eye for the most lovely items.. so check out her site and her blog and be sure to go back again and again because she'll be changing it up every month from here on out!

..and in the spirit of full disclosure I have to mention that my little shop is in the mix as well.

campfire and scary story optional

Well the cool weather has finally kicked in here and I'm finally feeling fall again. Witches got me thinking about Halloween! I think Owly Shadow Puppet's are a much better treat than candy! The angry bat pack will add the perfect touch to your front door 'spook'orations.

Quiet Hushed Voices

That title is from the lyrics of a song, isn't it? Well, those were the first words that came to mind when seeing these lovely prints by isofoto. This might date me, but I have to say: they feel like vignettes from my childhood. Beautifully curated groupings of polaroids of everyday objects from the 70's. One look and I am in the back seat of my Grandparents Dodge Aspen, riding cross country on a soft focus road trip. My Grandmother is whispering, 'look Jenny, look out the window, isn't it beautiful?"...


To see more, take a good look at the work of Ally and Rob right here. Oh, they also have a site outside of Etsy with many more images: Robert Reader Photography

Glühmonster, Glow!

I'm not sure how I overlooked NuitBlanche - one of my first Etsy favorites. Well friends Caroline Gaedechens art is all up for sale on etsy and I can't get enough of it. Illustration, sculptured magnets, and dolls that are all beautifully creepy together. The plush dolls and monster magnets glow-in-the-dark (hence "Glühmonster")

Her astesthic is fringe, but contains a mythology I'm always a sucker for: strange European folk lore with dark fairy tale twist (and no happy ending). For instance of the Mandragora doll she writes:

The mandrake or mandragora is a root dating back thousands of years, which was covered with mysterious and wonderful legends over the ages. The plant grows natively in southern and central Europe, especially on uncultivated fields and stony wastelands.
The belief was, that the mandragora would hide when men approached it, and it was very dangerous to pull the plant from the earth, because it would let out a horrible shriek, that could deafen or even kill somebody.
To avoid that fate, a black dog should be tied to the plant and lured with some food to pull the root from the earth.
The person, who wanted to possess the root, would plug his ears, and the scream would kill the dog instead.

Ps: I'm a little reluctant, on the heals of yesterdays view into my medicine cabinet, to share another side note, but here goes: if you dig this mandragora mythology momobo, you should check out a movie by Jan Svankmajer called Little Otik (Otesanek). Enjoy!

Mothers Little Helpers

It's not news to my nosy house guests, but since you probably haven't been over to my apartment you might not know that I'm borderline OCD about the way my medicine cabinet looks. I pretty much have a strict rule about no labels in the bathroom (serenity now) so if I can't coax the label off at Target, it's usually not coming home. Now, personal neurosis aside, I have to say I would make the happiest of exceptions for byreed's etched pill bottles. They come with such drug appropriate quotes as: Mothers Little Helpers, Heartache, Someday I won't need these anymore, and many more! Placebo or not, I feel better already!

Heavens to Betsy! We've gone shopping!

Yup, it's true, we're both going to be gone all this week for some much needed R&R (and of course that includes a little shopping). Check back next Monday, October 8th as we get ready to kick off the early bird holiday shopping season with new posts! See ya soon!

Ode to Fall...

Oh Fall how I've missed you.
Your crisp air and fresh apple pie.
The brilliant colors your bring to the trees.
The friends you bring back to me...
My Office staff.
My doctors at Seattle Grace.
I don't thank you enough and I'm sorry.
Summer gets most of the glory,
but you bring so many wonderful gifts!
Like your early darkness
so I can see my TV glare free.
I wish I could celebrate your return
with a lovely flat screen
and this cabinet from MeliaDesignUK.
But alas,
only my avatar can afford either!

Pot Luck

As Kit mentioned below, our posts have been influenced by some recent personal events. In keeping with that theme I'd like to focus a little on the things that people do to help those in their times of need. As long as I can remember the first thing to be done when someone had a family tragedy was to cook: casseroles to be frozen for later- for the those with loved ones in the hospital, rolls for the table after a funeral, sandwiches for the road- for those traveling for family matters. As my husband made a wonderful beef stew for my Grandfather the other night, I searched for something to place it in for the trip. My gladware container though...well, they just left me with a bit of a extra sadness on a rough, rough day.

So here I am, filled longing for the potluck containers of days gone-by. Vintage is alive and well on Etsy, and those lovely old containers can still be found. Buy one, or two, and connect with the ones you love in tough times.

You can find them {and an old time sense of connectedness} here.

Fractured Vertebrae

It seems lately our posts are very influenced by everyday life and this one is no different. It goes straight out to Jens grandmother, who's fractured vertebrae has landed her in rehab (Get well soon Mary Jane!). While most of Tresijas work seams geared towards the cute crowd, I find the 'LP's Remastered' jewelry to be quite lovely. I think the Twisted Vertebrae Recycled LP Pendant would make a nice protective amulet for Gram — don't you!

interconnectedness

The amazing thing about the internet is that sometimes {although very rarely} the very thing you are looking for finds you, just when you take a break from looking. I've had a tough time lately, finding specific items on Etsy: I go looking for something (say, a really modern looking quilt) only to find that I am searching for hours. Well, imagine my surprise when out of the blue someone comments on a post here on Heavens to Etsy, and I decide to take a look at their site only to find it is PERFECTION.

Working Class Heroes is a team of 2 from Austria who make THE most lovely utilitarian objects. Leather and felt Laptop wallets, Compact camera bags, ipod cases.. all are lovely and {from the photographs} the quality is impecable. To top all that lusciousness off their Etsy site is incredibly well put together and their personal site is Amazing.

GO, Shop, let us all be working class heroes..

Thank You! {the flu has left the building}

Well, by now you all know I've been sick for the past week and a half or so. ITs been a miserable, miserable time. Get your flu shots kids! Do it NOW! Well, to celebrate my first night to actually sleep 4 hours straight without getting up to hack my lungs out I have a little something special for my friend KIT. Most of you might not have heard this little~known secret about my counterpart: he LOVES fonts. His nickname for the first four years I knew him was FontBoy. And yes, you DO have to say that with a special lilt in your voice ... ugh - huh.. you know the one. Just like SUPERMAN. FOnt BOY!

Fontboy has been extra special nice to me over the past week, so this post is for him. I think I might have found someone who likes fonts just as much as he does...

caution: pigeon sh*t

Living in New York I deal with my fair share of pigeons. I guess it was the blend of the iconic "I (heart) NY" logo with one of those things you hate about new york (pigeons) that immediate drew me to Kate's Shop's "I (heart) pigeons" pins. Kate's Shop (by UK illustrator Kate Sutton) doesn't have a mess of items, but the dozen or so that are up are pure genius (i mean come on: stuffed pirate pigeons!).

Ps: Pigeon's aside how cute are the 1" monochrome camera pins mounted on a kodak photo lab card! ADORABLE!

I've been ill..

And the best thing I can think of when I'm sick is a good quilt to curl up under, so I can concentrate on the cozy business of resting to get better. So, while sniffling in my bed I thought the perfect thing to do would be to search Etsy for some comforting covers. Etsy would be a hotbed of crafty quilts, right?? Surprise! Would you believe I had to search through hundreds of pages until I came across these? So I'm putting the shout-out too all you Denise Schmidt style quilters... Etsy is a nearly untapped market!

In the mean time, check out these lovelies from Shelece's Etsy shop. Now these quilts are so beautiful they could force out even the nastiest bug. She only has 3 in stock at the moment, but aren't they beautiful?? I know I'm going to be checking back to see what else she comes up with in the future...

Better than jello and ginger ale

Jen's been a little under the weather lately and I think I found just the thing to cheer her up: the paintings and prints of Portland artist Betsy Walton. Her paintings remind me of two artists I know Jen (and I) love: Charlie Harper and Henry Darger.

I Don't Cook!

But my husband sure does. He is one mad-scientist in the kitchen and I love to outfit him with anything that supports his crazy cooking ways. After-all, we do need to eat around here. All I ask is that we do it with style. And Purpose Design is the place to go on Etsy. I love all their sets and might consider them as a gift someday soon!

Mid-Century Home Sweet Home

Well, I am so happy Kit is back from vacation that I am celebrating with thoughts of home too. Even though my version of home lacks a mustache and the bitter sentiment (Which I SO LOVE, btw) I have some great ingredients to throw into the mix...

Now its no secret that my favorite home-furnishing aesthetic is mid-century modern with good dose of nature included. Well, no one depicts that better than Jill Dryer. Her paintings are a treasure: full of beautifully designed furniture and charming creatures. I already have two up in my studio, but can imagine a grid of 8 or 12 as being a wall of perfection. You can see more of her work here at her Etsy Shop, and be sure to check out her personal site too.

A little added note for those of you in the LA area: From Oct.6 ~ Jan.8 the Orange County Museum of Art is presenting an Exhibition called:"Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Mid-Century". Focusing on Mid-Century art, architecture and design, it looks to be a wonderful show. If you are in the area be sure to take a look, and don't forget to browse the Museum store where several of Jills Paintings will be for sale!

home sweet home

I'm excited to be back from vacation and finding new Etsy treasures. But does a trip home really ever count as 'vacation'? If you're like me, a week at home is more than all it takes to remind you why you don't live there anymore. I guess that's what drew me to these hand panted vandalized vintage plates by trixie delicious. They're so "Multi-family Yard Sale" it hurts (and it hurts so good). It's like Apartment Therapy meets Mom's dinning room walls.

Link warning: Mullets

baby food

I can't believe I get back from vacation and my first thought is "what no baby posts". After Jen's shout out on apartment therapy I thought that she'd be all over the other delightful baby makin's on Etsy. So if Jens modern design isn't your cup of tea, peep these crocheted cuties... i hate to say it, but Chet and Dot's sweetly crafted "happy cappiccino" and "happy/sad creamsicle" are so cute I want to eat them up!

Embodied Grace.

Sara Palomas vases are perfection. I know what you are thinking: What a bold, bold comment! How can you be SO sure? Well, I reply, just LOOK at them! Look at the lovely forms, the tall tapering necks like swans, the rounded bottoms. Graceful and elegant, yet somehow fertile and very very womanly....