Friday, January 23, 2009

I had an etsy birthday.

Let me begin by saying that there are many reasons why I requested that the more internet-savvy members of my family do my birthday shopping on etsy. One reason is the obvious, there are many amazing and wonderful finds on etsy. Things that you wouldn't see in a department store if you shopped until your feet were blistered. But another reason is that I know first-hand how much joy can come from having people purchase your work. It is very validating and encouraging to know that another human admires your creations enough to actually pay money for them. So this year, I decided that I definitely wanted to steer people toward my favorites list for my prezzies. And I'm glad, because it turns out my mom loves etsy. I'm pretty sure she ended up buying some stuff for herself too, which is great because that means that etsy has it's delicious little claws in her and won't let go now. Another thing that I was very pleased, but not surprised, about was the fact that each and every seller sent either a handwritten note/card/letter- or some other token of appreciation (such as freebies!).

The best part about it was that they all far surpassed even my already high expectations of quality/originality/all-around cuteness. And because of that, I'm going to show my appreciation by letting you guys know about some of the wonderful items I was lucky enough to receive for my birthday- as well as the sellers who made them!

I'll start with one of the best presents I got, because I was completely surprised. But this present was made by none other than mother nature. Mitch came home a little after I did, and he was carrying a bouquet of a dozen beautiful roses! It was really sweet of him.





Now onto the etsy stuff!! I got some prints, because the walls in my new apartment were needing some love and I just couldn't find anything that fit my style no matter how hard I tried. That is, of course, until I started looking on etsy. The pink and purple one on the left is the "Goddess Blessing" print by Emily Balivet. The "All you need is love" print on the right was done by dazeychic. And the adorable little hedgehog print may be found at Elegant Snobbery. The stack of brightly colored coasters came from HKExpressions. Also pictured are my vintage milk glass mushroom salt and pepper shakers, which did not come from etsy (in fact they aren't even new, I've had them for years) but I love them so much that I decided they were allowed to stay in the picture.


I was in need of a few rings for my middle fingers. They were feeling neglected because I've only been wearing rings on my ring fingers lately, and I can't have any of my pudgy little fingers feeling envy toward the others. So Mitch got me a garnet ring and two stacker rings to go with it from BirkaScandinavian which, by the way, has remarkable prices on sterling silver rings. The silver heart ring came from Lunatepetal


I GOT A NIGHTMARE SNATCHER JOURNAL!!!!! I've been wanting one of these since I first laid eyes on them. I was almost religious about keeping a journal when I was in middle school, and it starting to wane as I went through high school. Further into my adulthood, I've become completely out of touch with the idea of writing down the events in my life (as I'm sitting here doing just that, haha). I found some of my old journals and it made me want to start documenting the things I experience in my day to day life as they occur. And I figured that an extremely cute, fuzzy, hot pink journal might just give me a nudge in the right direction. This original (and very impressive) creation came from Spiderbite.



My good friend Lela aka glittersniffer is unbelievable when it comes to dreaming up things to make us girlies look hot. She makes mineral eyeshadows that will absolutely rock your world, as well as things like belly butter for the preggos out there and yummy smelling body washes. Her item descriptions are funny as hell too, so it's always interesting to have a glance at what she's up to in her etsy shop! This eyeshadow is appropriately named "Kush".


And carrying on with the toiletry-type-stuff, I also got some strawberry and champagne goats milk soap from soapdeli, a bar of pomegranate and star anise soap from Nickileigh, and some patchouli whipped body wash from GudonyaToo. They used the good essential oil patchouli too, not that crappola perfumey stuff that smells like dollar store incense sticks.


I've always thought terrariums looked so neat, the way they capture a little forest of wonder inside a container. And since there has been a sudden surge of etsy sellers who are venturing into the realm of flora, I thought I'd try out a tiny little handmade terrarium. And if it's dead in a month, I'll probably just make the decision to quit torturing innocent plant life. I'm really going to try my hardest to keep it alive though, because I don't think it's fair that someone who enjoys plants so much should suck so badly at caring for them. This one was purchased from UnicornDreamDsgn


Now let me show you some magnets, a rapidly growing obsession of mine. Here is a set of three little froggies sitting in a pool of blue glittery resin. They are nestled inside of bottle caps. I thought it was a really cool idea, and I'm a sucker for things that sparkle. Or have cute pond critters in/on them. These were made by YesYesDesigns.


It would appear that I have officially become a collector of magnets:


I tend to get on a kick sometimes when certain things appeal to me, so therefore I have about a billion different collections going at any given time. As of right now, I collect mushroom ANYTHING, records, vintage/antique valentines, beads, shells, buttons, books, shot glasses, killer whales, concert tickets, Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, coffee mugs, squished pennies, nail polish, the souls of unsuspecting young children (that one was just to see if you guys were still reading), and pretty underwear. Are there any other collectors out there like me who can't quite make up their minds?

7 comments:

CingleShaker said...

Holly, your such a doll! Look at you with all your cute birthday stuff! Looks like you got everything you wanted. :)

Holly said...

Thanks, Michelle!! I felt so spoiled, I have not be so excited about getting presents since I was a little girl. There are always so many things I want on etsy but can't afford to buy them, so it seemed to just make sense when I started hounding my mom and boyfriend to buy my b-day stuff there.

TMM said...

Awesome collection of etsy goods!
Love the little mini terrerium!
Y'know, crystals will help your garden grow!

Brigid said...

You got some kick-ass birthday loot! I always love Elegant Snobbery's stuff on there. I'm still working on my family's ability to purchase things from Etsy.

And the only things I regularly collect are dust and clutter. :)

Rheea said...

Haha.. cute post. Yes it's indeed a wonderful feeling when people like your work and purchase it. I'm still waiting for my 2nd sale though :( Hope you'll be one of my customers someday too!

PS: Thanks for the vote in my poll!

Cheers~
Rheea

Rheea said...

Hey, thanks for your recommendation on the Angel book. I'm going to check it out in the bookstore.
I've read this book, '101 stories of angels, miracles and healings' by Arielle Ford (Hot chocolate for the mystical soul series). Very nice book too. :)

Stela said...

You got some awesome gifties!!!
You have inspired me to do some etsy shopping

I'm so happy to see the little owl sitting pretty on your fridge!