Since I wasn’t able to post one of my etsy favourites last monday, I thought I’d share something extra etsy special today. What could it be? Well, it’s something that has flood those little underwater cables that link us all to each other, in the last 24 hours. Something that totally rings my bells, and makes me jump up and down with sustainable, creative giddiness. Something that says, “this story totally ROCKS!!”. What, who, and why, you ask? Here is a clue:

I’m talking about this Handmade Portrait on Susan Gibbs from my etsy favourite Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm.It is an incredible sneak peek into the life and love of Susan, a brilliant little short piece on her new life raising sheep and goats for the yarn she sells in her Etsy Boutique.

So make yourself a cup of tea and take a few minutes to watch this wonderful video here, read more about it in The Storque here, read the blog here, and visit Susan and Patrick’s etsy store here.

I hope you enjoy this segment of…

Author’s note: Um, French Boy, change of plans - forget the hustle and bustle of our city life… fancy starting a farm with me out in the middle of nowhere: just you, me, and some gorgeous creatures like the ones above? No? Oh.

Any other takers?

I am completely smitten with these handmade pocket fairy tales created by the new etsy boutique of Apol Lejano-Massebieau, crafter extraordinaire from la pomme…

..featured above is the story book of Busy Mary from the imagined history collection of stories Apol has written after finding old notes and postcards…

..this one is called Rosenda “who pours two cups of coffee every morning - although one always grew cold - and at dinner she sets out two plates - although one always went back clean into the cupboard”…

..and this one is called Lulu Leloup Turns Blue. How gorgeous! Click here to have a read of all the fairy tales, and have a browse through Apol’s two stores, you will find so much inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by for this week’s installment of…

do you? today i’ve found some black and white lovelies for those of us with heavy leanings toward the monochromatic…

A carnation from photo graffiti on the left, and the vanilla truffle bag from morelle’s boutique on the right. Both = yum.

these gorgeous black beads are a little over a buck. just a buck! who finds something these days for so little? me, apparently. They can be found at Blue Lady Studios. And on the right, are you wondering what it is? It is a handcrafted porcelain magnet that looks just like a beautiful piece of coral. I love it. Its from New York ceramicist Kim Westad.

I adore this silk cushion from Pamela Tang. Oh it would look perfect on my sofa.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this selection of…

I promise I did not forget. Here are my picks for this fine Monday…

Above, a little patience in a bowl, from the very sweet Paloma’s Nest.

this eight petal flower pinhole piece from heather smith jones. stunning.

and i love these delicate slim lined pouring vessels from up in the air somewhere.

Well, I made it back onto my bike over the weekend, but not without trepidation. Thank you for your awesome ongoing encouragement, it has helped so so much. This morning I was on my way in to a meeting - in a taxi - and I can tell you, my heart was in my throat every time we passed someone on a bike. But this driver was a good one and was very cautious. Phew.

I have so much to share with you this week, but it is also a frantic week of productions so let’s see how I go. Right now I am moodboarding, tomorrow I will be sourcing, the next day cooking, the next day shooting, the next day… well, catching my breath I imagine. I will be back here every moment in between. See you then!

Oh yes, and as I always like to end, I hope you have enjoyed this installment of…

seems i’ve got a thing for teals and acqua’s today, and puffy clouds and birds. Perhaps this combo is all very soothing, and dreamy, just what i need to start the week! I love this photograph from Montreal photographer irene suchocki. She describes her works as creating ‘little poems for the eyes’, and i think she does this perfectly…

This Bird Has Flown by irene suchocki.

and you know I have a thing for the etsy boutique of Foundling. And I definitely have a thing for her phoenix necklace, crafted from a little vintage Cracker Jack prize from the 1930s or 1940s, dangling from a natural brass chain with a mix of stones and vintage glass, vintage lucite and semi-precious stone beads. wow. I love the way Foundling photographs her creations too - really thoughtful and very inspiring.

I have fallen in love with Ball and Chain’s quirky designs, and especially with this one: the cloud silver silhouette necklace.

I like to keep a selection of flower pins by the front door to add one to my bag, or jacket or hair before I head out the door. This one would be perfect for my collection: Teal Carnation Flower Pin made from a recycled t-shirt. It’s the handiwork of etsy favourite marang 97.

Hope you enjoyed this installment of…

What better way to spend a Monday morning than with a little browse through etsy. Here are a few in my favourite items list right now…

I used to stock all natural, handmade soaps in my store and I do miss having such divine bath and body products on hand. But look what I found: Birch Bark’s Star Anise Bath Bar. Blissssssss. This lovely batch is curing right now, and will be sent out at the end of the month. Handmade with love using only natural ingredients by Nova Scotian Sherrieg . She also recently listed me amongst her favourite blogs when she was an etsy featured seller, it was such a surprise, thanks again Sherrieg !

And if I could get away with it, I would label everything in my home. and now that I spotted these babies, my labeling fetish just got fed. I mean people, they’re just four buckaroos! (’buckaroos’ is aussie for ‘dollars’. well, i’m not sure about that, i actually just made it up.)

Who has not yet figure out that I adore repurposing, rethinking, and recycling stuff? But also that I have a very very picky palate for stylish, classy and well designed things? Well, the above find is your clue. These very sweet ivory poppies for your hair are made from repurposed blouses and are all hand cut by the very talented Betsy of foundling. She has a tonne more of the good stuff in her shop, so go check it out.

I have heaps more in my etsy favourites but good things come to those who wait. So I hope you enjoyed this segment of…

next up: have you packed your bags? have you got your sun lotion? sunglasses? your new lalesso hotpants? no? then get packing, I told you already we are off to my favourite island hideaway, chop chop!! plane leaves in a couple of hours…

…bloglines, blogcatalog, de.l.i.c.i.ou.s (where do all the dots go?!), or flickr. I don’t know how to rss feed something, and I have no idea what technorati is.

Are you surprised to hear this raw and awful truth? me too. it’s embarrassing to admit and right now my cheeks are flushed fuchsia.

BUT. what I have become familiar with is etsy. now i know most of you must be asking yourselves, “how ancient is this woman?!”, but look, here is the story…

Us stylists (any of you out there, lots of head nodding and “right on sista!” would be helpful here), we are more what you’d call “shop stalkers”: I mean, we have only just learnt that you can locate a shop by looking it up in the yellow pages on the internet, all this time we’ve been lugging the hard copy around on the front seat of our car along with our baby wipes, fabric samples, and multitude of tape measures (yes I’m looking at you jboo).

And, well, we have our faves (I’ve already mentioned this one and this one with plenty more to come), so we usually go straight to them when we know what we need, and then branch out from there.

My plan, I must reveal, has been to use the (blog)house as my branch. So as I find interesting items that I think will come in handy for shoots, I blog about them, for two reasons - first to support small businesses because g.o.d knows how much I know how much this is necessary; and secondly as a personal ‘pia’ pages (yes sorry ‘yellow’, you have been thrown out the window) for myself and my friends to refer to. Some stylists are known to hold on to their secret boutiques and craftspeople like it is gold, but I’ve never been one of them.

are you getting the gab of my gib now? good. so on and upward with who and what are among my favourites in etsy!

FOR ME:

I want this bag from Rome-based designer ninù. Check out her other awesome designs here.

The Lulu Satchel from Tennessee designer Erica Bazile. Beautifully made. Stylish. Classy. Funky. And all that.

FOR THE BUBS IN MY LIFE:

I don’t know what a windsee is, but I love Rita! and her friends Bettee, Bobee, and June - all handmade form vintage fabrics by Canadian-born, Melbourne-dweller One Girl. She also has a blog which is pretty cool.

Sofia Barão has added this sweet little number to her etsy shop. I think it would be perfect in a baby’s room.

& FOR ME, AGAIN:

Lovely Marie has just opened her very own boutique! It’s called Tissu and is fast becoming sold out with her first items (yes I left a bit of a dint after buying a couple of her beautiful crochet pins and garland, sorry guys but first in first served!).

So I hope you’ve enjoyed this first segment of:

You will also find an etsy category here now so you can check out my etsy favourites at any time. Happy Etsying!