indelible studios

I’ve wanted a Shabby Apple dress for a long time – they’re so pretty and ladylike.  And look – the ever-generous Grosgrain is holding a giveaway for one beautiful dress.  Now to do some more window shopping…

It’s time for an imaginary shopping spree.  I couldn’t sleep and remembered that I never wrote a post today… so this is something fun and semi-mindless to do.  Whittling down a list of jewelry I like on Etsy is a near impossible task, though – this list could be five times as long, and these are only things that were already on my favorites list.

Meadowflower bracelet by cserdan

lemon topaz & pink tourmaline necklace by prunuspersica

Green vintage lace earrings by modesign

Cipher necklace by tinctory

Summer dusk necklace by envejewelry

Artisan forged pearl and sterling hoops by LisasLovlies

Pink and Green Pendant by SarahsSky

Nouveau Pearl Necklace by MiaBeads

Tourmaline Peacock earrings by aloka

Garden Gate earrings by Katinkapinka

Peacock Bird’s Nest Pendant by StarryDesigns

Birch Bark Ring by esdesigns

Bohemian (Blend) Necklace by milaradesigns

Twirlies necklace by neawear

I think it’s fairly easy to guess what kinds of jewelry I gravitate toward from this list: fiber and needlepoint pieces, things that look like leaves, trees, plants, bright colors, tourmaline, non-standard pearls, and jingly-jangly earrings and necklaces.  Actually in real life I rarely wear jewelry these days and am pretty picky (I feel like my glasses frames compete with too much jewelry), but I like to dream.

Edited to add: all images are from the sellers’ etsy shops on the pages I’ve linked to.

I think I’ll indulge in some randomness and show you some of my favorite things, handmade and otherwise… mostly otherwise… today.

The dala horse mug I bought in Door County.  It makes me happy to have a little shot of happy red folksy animals in my mornings.

Three Maj Lindeman books I bought for M in Door County – they have wonderful old-fashioned stories and the most adorable illustrations.  The shop had many more books but I settled on three, about things we love – kittens, cake, and strawberries!  I can’t remember where I saw these books online, but I recognized them when I saw them.

Another adorable book.  I recognized this one from Soulemama’s blog ages ago – the shop had more Elsa Beskow and I wanted to buy everything they had.  This particular shop also had a bunch of Carl Larsson prints and things – which I recognized from Loobylu – and my sister bought a truly gorgeous poster of this image for her living room.  I loved all of those.  My family was surprised that I recognized all of these Scandinavian artists – blog education!

On the Scandinavian tip, by the way, I’m loving these Scandia embroidery patterns at Pimp Stitch, by Lauren Brandy of Goody Goody Handmade.

Now a couple of vintage things, because I just love them, both belonging to my daughter but scored at great prices (I’m not even a hard-core thrifter but I couldn’t resist these):

A sweet doll cradle from a garage sale, can you see the little sailor dollies on the head and footboards?  It came with a pink floral mattress that was literally caked in dust.  I threw that out.  I intend to make another one eventually, maybe with a more nautical fabric.  But right not the “girls” don’t mind sleeping in there with just a blanket underneath.

And this sorta minimalist/mid-century rocking horse – I can’t believe he’s vintage, he looks so much like something you’d buy in an expensive online organic toy store.  M is close to outgrowing him but I just like him SO much I want to keep him around.

Now for the handmade:

A tunic for my daughter!  I designed and sewed it myself – definitely a learning experience but really fairly easy and quick once I got down to it – basically some trapezoid shapes with casings for elastic at the neck and sleeves.  This was a case where the fabric (part of my Freecycle score) inspired the top – it’s a quilting cotton but I knew I needed to use it for a summery tunic.  And the major bonus was that I’d forgotton about the little border print, and was able to incorporate it into the hem – it almost looks professional!  Now, to find something my daughter can wear this for (um, I won’t let her wear it to daycare, too messy).

Now, to figure out what to do next -

• work on a banner for the feeling stitchy contest
• start embroidering my nephew’s birthday present
• start sewing my nephew’s birthday present
• make coasters
• try to find a free wallet pattern online
• work on the rag rug I started
• read the old craft and gardening books my mom gave me
• clean the house
• ???

Inspired by an idea of Hillary’s that she posted about long ago, it’s stayed in my mind for a long time – here are the dolls I’d buy if I were rich. I’d pretend to buy them for my daughter (but would really be buying them for me)…

1) A Bamboletta! My current favorites are at Natural Pod and are the ones below:

Sienna

Lucy

2) The Mayfly’s cute dolls available on Etsy, love the curly pigtails ones:

3) The teeny little bug dolls from dreamalittle7 on Etsy:

4) Poseable babies from Bella Luna Toys:

5) The Evi Blossom Fairy dolls at the Wooden Wagon:

6. Kathe Kruse doll in little leaf wagon, from Blueberry Toys:

6. Boogaloo dolls from BlaBla, available at Oompa Toys:

7. Uncommon Grace’s dolls (love the fairy ones she made for Emily for Hanukkah):

I have so many Waldorf style dolls on here, really I like other dolls too… Obviously I’m not big into the creepy dolls but way into cute.  So, more doll wishlist suggestions are welcome!  Actually partly I’m seeking inspiration – I want to make dolls this summer too.

**All photos from the sellers, the ones I linked to here.