get back to nature.

Beautiful beautiful jewelry from Mushka Designs. Here's what owner and creator Sarah says about her craft: "Mushka is a body of work that represents a fusion between functional jewelry and the art of metal sculpture." She does that so well! Just love it. You can find Mushka all over the web. At Smashing Darling, Etsy, her own site, Make My Tags {for the cute tags in the picture above}..and on Muska's blog. AND, if that's not enough, she's offering a fantastic discount! Enter the code MUSHKA2559 at checkout and receive 15% off you entire order. So, get shopping people!

unlocked: vintagey goodness.

Urban Heirlooms offers exquisitely crafted leather wallets, purses and cuffs for sale in their etsy shop. I just adore the vintage keys! Here's a blurb from their homepage {I love it!!}:

"If this were a storefront, it would be on a sunny, tree-lined street behind plate glass windows, with a wooden swing in front trailing sweet honeysuckle vines. Ella Fitzgerald would be singing from the Cole Porter Songbook, and I'd offer you a glass of sweet tea."

{Oh, and I'm pretty sure that vintagey isn't a word!!}

travel in style.

In my quest to be a little greener {collecting rainwater, composting, recycling, driving less, etc...}, I realize that there are folks out there who take things to the next level. Preserve Industries is the perfect example of that. I'm blown away by their commitment to the environment. All of their products have had a previous life....their repurposed luggage is my favorite! {I swear that my parents have the exact same brown suitcase in the closet back home somewhere...it's just not as cool without the little gold airplanes all over it!}. I'm officially inspired to do more.

show some love.

I love Soapy Love's soapsicles. They are great to have on hand as hostess gifts, they look adorable in your soapdish, and kids absolutely love them (even surly teenagers)! So...I was really excited to learn about The Soap Lab. Each month, Soapy Love's creator, Debbie Chialtas presents mini sets of soaps to purchase through her blog (which has fun finds on it as well). Her writers block soap is shown above, left. I'm smitten!

get some steely looks.

Aran Gallagan from The Bittersweet Project uses mostly recycled gold and steel for her beautiful jewelry. I just love the way the steel looks so feminine...and mixed with gold, it's fantastic! Love her stuff!

have mad mud skills.

Let's see...how can I adequately express just how much I love the ceramics by Rae Dunn?! Her work is simple & wonderfully imperfect. It has been featured in plenty of magazines and big-name catalogues. But if you check out her etsy site, she sells work only made by herself! Love it!!

handbag-alicious.

Kristen Aronsson is the designer of these absolutely fabulous purses. My favorite is the roomy "vessel" bag (above, left). I'd happily dig for my keys at the checkout through one of those...Really quite fabulous! Her goods are sold at various boutiques throughout the US....or drop her an email to arrange a sale: ka@kristenaronsson.com

paint a pretty picture.

My business partner and I were fortunate enough to work at an art and craft show with Erica Hunzinger for a few years in a row. Not only is she super sweet and fun to have around while we were working our booths, but she is an incredibly talented artist. Every year I'd look forward to seeing her new pieces. The show we worked together is no more...so I'm glad that I can keep up on her amazing paintings on her website!

live in full color.

My kids are way past the baby blanket stage, but I just had to write about colorHIVE, an Etsy shop that has some of the most adorable baby blankets. I love creator Jessica's mix of fabrics and colors. Everything looks so cozy and soft too! I also love her motto "live life in full color"!

be casually elegant.

Fresh from Baltimore...lovely silver jewelry by Beth Pohlman. I love the organic style and modern shapes of her pieces! Her mix of oxidized and shiny sterling silver is so chic. Love it!

be green.

I've totally switched over to cloth bags. The reason why I love Baggu bags so much is that I can keep one in my purse for the times that I forget by ginormous bags at home (I so VERY often forget). One of these bags holds 2-3 plastic grocery bags worth. Great colors too. Buy yourself a few!

become vegetarian.

These are so freakin' cute, I can hardly stand it. AnthroPoMorphCo makes these whimsical wine charms, buttons, jewelry and things with sassy veggies "drinky-poos" and "gourds of goth". She also sells her illustrations at her Cafe Press and Zazzle shops.

cushy.

Such sweet personalized pillows! incy wincy stitches is based in Leicestershire, UK...but no worries...you can have your pillow sent internationally. She also sells fabric buttons and clothespin doll kits on her site. Adorable.