Etsy Feature - Blue Marbles

Crystal: Shameless...I know....but I had to take the opportunity to promote my own Etsy shop on here since I've finally got it up and running....I have much more stock to come, but I wanted to start getting the word out, so figured I'd use the resources I had at my fingertips!! :) :)  Hope no one minds!

Blue Marbles on Etsy

So my Etsy shop, Blue Marbles, mainly houses these awesome frames I've been creating...I am a photographer, so it was only natural that my products would relate to pictures...they are really basic black frames, but they're matted with some great looking fabrics which is what makes them stand out.

Brown and Pink Flower Fabric Matted Frame - $12.00

 

This idea started because I remember being at my aunt and uncle's home a few years back around Halloween, and they had all these cute Halloween themed frames everywhere with past pictures of their kids in their costumes.  It was so festive and such a great way to remember past years every Halloween.

So I built on that idea and figured that it would be great to have this concept every holiday....Christmas,Valentine's, even summer/winter vacations, etc.  I LOVE frames and I love displaying pictures around my home.  I also have a short attention span and so I like to change what I'm looking at a lot...so being able to rotate my frames and pictures every month or so is such a tempting idea!  And I figured there had to be other people out there who shared this little quirk of mine. :) :)

Christmas Holiday Matted Frame - $12.00

In the next week or so, I've got some more Christmas/holiday frames to post, as well as a USC frame.  If you've got a favorite school or sports team you would be interested in getting a frame with, let me know so I can start hunting for the fabric! :)

In addition, I'm always going to start working on some fine art prints to post in my shop...I've only got one so far, but more will be in the future! :)

The Gap - Fine Art Print - 8x10 - $25.00

Sucre

Crystal: You know, I absolutely love finding unique gifts....stuff that isn't your usual chain items.....as much as I love Harry and David pears, and Popcornopolis popcorn, I also love sending and receiving things from little-known vendors as well....or at least little known to me and likely most of those I associate with.

So I was catching up on some old email and found some info about this yummy looking chocolate and goodies company. 

It's called Sucre - what a fun name! :)

http://www.shopsucre.com/

I saw these yummy looking chocolates which really caught my eye:

Just wanted to share in case anyone is looking for some fancy gifting options. :)

Kristabela - Etsy Feature

Crystal: Sorry everyone - slacking again over here....my turn for the Etsy shop feature. :)

So I'm tried out this "Pounce" thing on Etsy because I love things that are random (just another quirk about myself).  And so I chose "undiscovered" and checked out what came up...

So I'm also a fan of random knick knacks and gift items...things that you don't necessarily need, but that are fun to have....so this is what I came across and would love to get them as a gift for someone!  Or myself if I still had a baby around....

Kristabela (no shop logo...yet i assume)

She's only got a few things up, but I love what she does have!

These Fabric Wipe Cases are an awesome idea!  I would have been all over these back when my son was in diapers if I knew about it.

And I LOOVE diaper covers....especially monogrammed and personalized ones!  And look how cute her owl design is!!

And then of course, the awesome Tutu Dress....i love tutus :)

Happy shopping! :)

(#9 - May 21, 2010)

Hold My Bag - Etsy Feature

Crystal: I came across a super cute Etsy shop today...it's called "Hold My Bag" (also very cute!).

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HoldMyBag

She has some gorgeous fabric that she's used...

This little beauty caught my eye right off the bat!

Extra large Tote in Michael Miller Falling Leaves OOP fabric

Here's another one...I'm already trying to picture what I can wear with this. :)

Amy Butler Extra Large tote in Nigella Water Lotus in Forest

Ooh, and this one is super chic...love it :)

Amy Butler Tote Handbag in Wallflower in Sky and Oxford Stripes

Do you see anything you like??? :)

Jen: Wow, these bags are great! I like her Extra Large Amy Butler Tote in Lacework Brown. It feels so bohemian!

(#7 - May 10, 2010)

Doodlebugs - Etsy Feature

Crystal: Oops! For some reason I had thought yesterday was Jen's turn to post an Etsy feature, so I didn't post anything...but now that I'm looking back at our blog, I realized that was my miss! Sorry!!

Good thing though, because I just found this awesome shop....I'm a sucker for anything personalized....so this monogram shop is right up my alley, plus offers super cute items!!

Doodlebugs Personalized Gifts and Embroidery

Check out this adorable bib and burp cloth set for $14.00

A great gift in this personalized Travel Tumbler for $17.00

And this one is my favorite!

This beautiful photo album that can be personalized with various fabrics and lettering for $20.00...I'm fairly certain I'll be purchasing one as a gift in the near future...seeing as how I'm a huge fan of pictures!!

LOVE this stuff!! :)

Jen: I love personalized items, too! I have so many pads of paper and pens with "Jennifer" scribed on them. My grandma got me into the trend as a kid!

Doodlebugs has some really cute things- good find, Crystal! I love the albums, and for $20, not bad at all! They would make great baby books ;)

By the way, the wink was because Crystal's cousin will be welcoming a baby boy into the family in the near future! Crystal is very happy!

(#5, May 4, 2010)

Baggino

Crystal: Jen - I feel like you've posted something similar to this in the past, or maybe another product from the same company? Either way, I just came across this site for Baggino, a diaper-bag-changing-pad-thatyouweararoundyourwaist-MacGuyver-looking-thing...at first I was like, wow - this is weird looking...and way overboard for my personal taste...but as I watched the video play and saw them start pulling out the items in the little pockets, I started to think that although it's completely silly looking, and I'd totally walk out of a public bathroom laughing to myself at anyone I saw wearing one of these, it actually was kind of handy.

Judge for yourself. :)

Baggino (http://www.baggino.com/CombinationDiaperBagChangingBelt/)

Jen: How funny! I actually blogged about them last year here. I love this company, even though I don't have any children yet. The owners are so sweet! I'm glad to see their business is catching on!!!

New Beachy Keen feature!!! Daily Etsy Shop feature

Crystal: I just talked this over with my trusty partner, Jen...and we think this is going to be fun! She absolutely loves Etsy and is constantly browsing through the shops....I don't get on as much as her, but when I have the time, I find myself perusing as well.


We always find such fun stuff, but don't always have someone to share these great finds with....so we decided to do a new feature on this blog - Daily Etsy Shop Feature (maybe we'll come up with a more creative title as this goes on though!).


Each day, we'll take turns posting some of our favorite items from an Etsy shop...it should be interesting to see what we post too, because Jen and I, while very similar in many things, are also very different in terms of what interests us. You'll probably notice a trend as the days go on. :)


We hope that you'll like this new feature and find some awesome new stuff for yourself from our finds as well! :)


So I'm going first - Jen will post her feature tomorrow. :)


Etsy Feature #1 - April 27, 2010
DreamspunKids
I actually came across this site yesterday as I was researching how I could make my own tutus for my photography business...I came across these pettiskirts and loved the photos.....and the pettiskirts! Aren't they just beautiful??

I love all the fluff in them...they look super soft and just completely girly. I don't have a little girl, but if I did - she would be wearing one of these just for the fun of it!

Sweetheart Pettiskirt (you choose the color) - $65.00

Check out all the colors!

And if you'd like to venture into your own pettiskirt making (which I let that idea go pretty quickly once I realized that I couldn't even keep up with the directions on one site I read)...she also sells pre-cut strips of chiffon (the super fluffy part of the pettiskirts!).

Pettiskirt Lingerie Nylon Chiffon Fabric Rolls - $17.50 for 60 yards



Happy shopping! :)

Jen: Umm, can I have one?! I'd happily clean my house in one of these! Perhaps my little niece, Zoey, will have to have one ;)

How cute would it be to have a tutu party for a little girl??? I'm keeping my fingers crossed my own little girl one day!

Question of the Week 8-11-09

Crystal: Better late than never I say :) :)

Hopefully by the end of this week and then for the next couple of weeks I will be able to keep up on this blog a lot more than I have been!! I should have a little more downtime....I'm looking forward to it!!

So the question this week is:

What is your favorite Etsy shop and why?? (Yes - it can be your own!)

Mine...currently, besides Jennifer's lovely lomo shop, is BeeLoveLee. I just got my pouch in the mail the other day and I am in love with it!! I use it for my makeup and it just makes me smile when I pull it out of my purse...I posted a blog about it before, but I hadn't seen any of the products in person til now...not to mention her prices are absolutely affordable!!! :)

Jen: I love The Black Apple shop on Etsy! I adore the art and they have periodic sales that keep me coming back for more!

This shop has had over 24,000 sales, so I'm not the only fan!

Crystal: Wow - that's a neat shop! It seems like it's right up your alley in terms of style. It reminds me of those books...uhmmm...what are they called???? The 3 little kids with all the bad luck or whatever....oh! A Series of Unfortunate Events....yea - the style reminds me of the art in those books. Very neat! :)

EasyBloom

Crystal: So I've developed this great love for plants and flowers and just anything that grows over the years....as some know, we redid my grandfather's backyard and memorialized it as "Avery's Garden" about 3 years ago. We dug everything up, replanted grass, flowers, trees, shrubs, etc.

Unfortunately, the soil at my grandfather's house isn't great, it gets really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter (for Southern California standards at least) and my fiance and I know know little to nothing about plantlife....so more than half of everything we've planted has died, including the grass :(

I just came across this awesome product which I will hopefully some day own...it's not a huge investment, but on top of everything else we NEED right now, this is towards the bottom of the list...but eventually..........................I sooooo could use this product:

EasyBloom http://www.easybloom.com/buy/overview.html

You basically stick it in the ground where you want to plant something, leave it there for a day or two (gotta read the directions), it measures the air temperature, moisture, drainage, etc.....then you plug it in to your computer and it tells you what kind of plants to grow there based on your location and the data it collected...and I think I even read somewhere that it alerts you when you need to water!

How handy is that....? I might never kill a plant again with this thing. :)

Oh - unfortunately for our global readers, it says it only works in the U.S. :( But maybe there's something similar already out there for your country....

Jen: I think this is about the best thing I've ever heard of! I'll pull out the handy cliche and say it might be the best thing since sliced bread!

It's funny that I should read this now, because I'm currently watching my mom through her window as she's trying to salvage her garden. One of the downsides to living 5 miles from the beach is that the soil is very sandy- not a good growing environment.

Easy Bloom sounds like something to put on your Christmas list ;)

P.S. I just found this from one of the founders of EasyBloom:

Hi,
I’m one of the founders of Easybloom. I wanted to answer your question about working out side of the United States. One of the thing that the sensor does, is ‘normalize’ lighting conditions based on cloud cover. For instance a cloudy day might look very “shady” to a plant. So if the sensor detects shady conditions, but it is actually in the middle of a field, then the reading would be inaccurate. For that reason the website checks the cloud cover for the area where the sensor was in the ground and ‘normalizes’ the data based on actual cloud cover.

We do not yet have a feed of the cloud cover by postal code in Europe, which is why it wouldn’t work well there.

I hope that this helps.

Best,
Matt

Katherine Plumer Fine Art

Crystal: I just came across this link on another blogger's site (alis grave nil) and was just checking it out and I'm amazed by how nice this product looks....

Katherine Plumer Fine Art: http://www.katherineplumer.com/index2.html

She can draw a picture of your pet by hand...with either colored pencils, graphite, charcoal, etc. depending on what you want, and it looks so realistic and beautiful...price doesn't look too bad either although it's priced per square inch and my math ain't so great....so maybe it's more than I think....but either way, an artist's work is invaluable. :)

I don't have any pets (nor do I want any) but it would make a great gift for someone who does have a pet...or maybe someone who lost a pet as she'll draw them from a photograph....

Jen: I was just about to give you grief for not wanting pets, but then my cat hacked up a fur ball, so I guess I get it ;)

This woman's artwork is phenomenal, but I just can't see myself paying $350+ (starting price!) for a portrait of my pet. My digital camera works just fine ;)

Crystal: I didn't do the calculations...that is a bit hefty, but for an artist's time I think it's reasonable. :) I think of it like the portrait of Avery that someone had commissioned an artist to do for me....a drawing, painting, etc. is so much different than just a picture....it just adds a different element to it. :)

Plus, if your beloved pet has passed away, you can't take any more photos of it...so like the drawing of Avery...it kinda just gives you something new to look at, even if it is a rendition of an old photo. :) That in itself is priceless. :)

Tooth Fairy Kit

Crystal: OK, how cute is this??

http://www.fawnandforest.com/categories/203-notion-farm/products/1920-notion-farm-tooth-fairy-kit

A tooth fairy kit for your child's first lost tooth.....talk about convincing your child that there really is a tooth fairy....

adorable. :)

Jen: This is so awesome!!! I've actually seen kits before, but none this extensive! I was obsessed with the Tooth Fairy when I was little. I always left her a note asking for her to leave me a photo of herself.

One night, my request was filled! I woke up next to a drawing of her, colored with my very own markers, and a note saying that I should tell my mom that I needed new markers! I was ecstatic!!!

Once I had that "in" with the Tooth Fairy, I thought I'd get a picture for every tooth I lost. Not the case! I wonder what ever happened to that drawing ...


Crystal: That is so cute...your mom is the best, seriously. And I love the comment about getting new markers! Did you get some???

You should totally find the picture and scan it and post it here...that would be awesome. :) :)

MotionBox

Crystal: So you know how much I love pictures obviously.....and I love things that can be personalized...and I'm always looking for unique gifts......and so I came across this company in my old emails today that I was going through (I'm still in early December for email reading!) and it sounds pretty awesome!

MotionBox

So basically, you upload a short video clip (15 sec.) and they make it into a pocket flip book for you....you know like those old school things I remember from when I was a kid where they'd have the Mickey cartoons on a flipbook and it looks like they're moving....pre-Pixar and all. :)

Super neat idea and super cheap as well (on sale for $7.99 right now!).

If anyone orders one, please let us know how it is when you get it!! :)

Jen: That is such a neat idea! Too bad my anniversary is just around the corner, otherwise I might order one for Joe. How cute would it be to have a flipbook of a date night?!