Yo Peep This-Easter Basket Ideas

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[Click here to buy this find]

[Click here to buy this find]

Oh, Peeps. You glorious, flourescent food product. Even when you're days old, harder than petrified wood, fossilized with plastic strands of fake grass imprinted on your forehead, you still make me  smile. I don't even really like eating you. In fact, you make me sick. Regardless, your presence signals springtime, and you make one hell of a holiday projectile. Get that same "PEEPS!" feeling sans fossilization with today's featured chickie babies:

Lavender lemon shea butter felted soap, by Engelfelt $12

Hand-made Madagascar vanilla marshmallow mini stickie chickies: by MiniMEBakery 3 dozen for $12

Felted wool all-natural toy: by BossysFeltWorks $15

Down the Rabbit Hole

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The time has come, my little friends, to talk of other things 

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings 

 And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wigs

Calloo, Callay, come run away

 With the cabbages and kings.

-Walrus

I have a few wonderfully Boho friends who with what seems like zero foresight, are able to layer their jewelry like they've been collecting for years and generally look like they just rolled out of Ryan Goslings flea market Moroccan day bed.

This piece by BeautySpot  reminds me of these friends, and belongs draped around one of their tragically hip necks, peeking out from behind a few Roman coins and a braided chain made for them by some poet they knew.

So buy the ticket, take the ride, and swallow hard with this whimsical little necklace.  Beautifully packaged and just $22.  

Featured Artist: Samantha French

Dive in; Float

At the edge stripes and flags

Coming up for air

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Witty one-liners and clever quips aside for a moment, Samantha French is one of my favorite all-time artists, Etsy or otherwise. Her original work is oil on canvas, but for those of us who aren't professional collectors just quite yet, she also offers prints via Etsy.

I personally own two, and I HIGHLY recommend you check out the entire collection at her Etsy shop. I don't often "connect" to the feelings that art lovers often say they feel towards certain pieces, but imagining myself in her underwater scenes is one of my favorite personal pastimes. I've never seen water look more beautiful or want to be in it more desperately. Enjoy!

Whale Wars

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[Click here to buy this find]

[Click here to buy this find]

Call me Ishmael (for bringing you these latest Etsy finds.) For starters, I love the concerned look on the whale bookend's face from KnobCreekMetalWorks. Its as if he's got the Nishun Maru on his tail and is fast losing confidence in his bumbling, be-dreadlocked protectors. (See: Whale Wars; Eye-rolling). $40.


For the baby Ahab in your midst, check out this hand-printed onesie from TheMattButler. After a voyage or two in this outfit baby Ahab will be carving his very own scrimshaw pacifier. $14.


The blowhard on the end is included because this tissue cover is, well, adorable. The Charlie Brown of bathroom fixtures. Oh brother. $40 by GnomeSweeetGnome.

West Egg Wedding

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If Jay Gatsby and Peter Rabbit got married, these would be their wedding invitations, with the whole lavish affair thrown covertly in Mr. McGregor's garden.

You have seller One Little M to thank for these hand-drawn art deco illustrations in the  perfect springtime palette. And while my dreams of dancing the Charleston under a moonlit West Egg garden party all hopped up on bathtub gin may never come true, this invitation set gets me pretty close.

Lets Spoon: Nicole Porter Design

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Able to leap tall buildings and brighten the dullest table in a single bound,  these Nicole Porter Design napkins are environmentally-friendly and handprinted with colorfast pigments.

Emily Post might spin in her tastefully appointed grave when she finds out you forgot proper silverware placement, but c'mon, take a walk on the wild side and pick a few of these beauties up!

Pretty Enough to Eat

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[Click here to buy this find]

[Click here to buy this find]

A personal pet peeve of mine is plastic produce bags. Less durable and therefore more useless, these transparent little baggies endlessley taunt me from the cart, "You used us for a SINGLE lemon? Sucker!"  

Enter: Slidesideways. These hand screen printed and hand sewn baggies are attractive, durable and muy muy cool.  So up your street cred at the farmers market a pick a few up for $8 a pop at the Slidesideways shop.

Rope-a-Dope

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Spring fever has me desperate for summer and ready to hop in the outdoor shower, 30 degree temperature fluctuations be damned! This towel ring from  TheLandlockedSailor was born to be bolted to your cottage kitchen or bathroom (indoor or outdoor, no judgments here). 

Made of manila rope, hemp twine and finished with a marine sealant, they even throw in the hardware for you. $55.

Need a Little Neon?

I'll admit, neon makes me happy, like a moth to a bright blue...ZZZAP! And just like a moth, you'll get burned if you overindulge this trend. So add a little neon to your life this Spring, with these positively electrifying Etsy finds.

Pillow, $33.95, Paleolochic -- Necklace, $20, Plaitknot -- "Totes Magotes" Shopping Tote, $10, Luxe and Lavish

Here Fishy Fishy

Meet Popeye. I found this watercolor gem while attempting to pull together an age and gender-neutral baby nursery. Yes, yours truly is expecting, so expect a flood of "SQUEE!" worthy posts in the coming months.


Outside the bounds of pink and blue, its a baby decor wasteland, but Popeye opened my eyes to the possibilities of a tasteful and reusable piece of nursery art. After his work is done making fish faces at Baby Detective, he'll be retired to a sunny white bathroom wall with plenty of room to swim.


You can find Popeye and other watercolor animal prints on Etsy at Heavenly Creatures Art. Don't be thrown by their use of satin-finish paper, it has a photo quality to it that really works when framed. I recommend a white-on-white matte/frame or class it up with something muted, thin and gold.

Crafterall-Hand Cut Paper Art

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Lets kick this off with a personal favorite, Crafterall. The first time I stumbled upon Crafterall's mind-blowing work, I was desperately searching for a unique but affordable wedding gift for a friend. After plumbing the depths of Etsy for something "San Francisco-y" for the bride, Crafterall revealed herself to me in the form of a layered paper masterpiece of the Best Coast. 


Totally unique and remarkably affordable, the colors and depth pop off any wall they attach themselves to. From $20-$150, you can find yourself the lucky owner of your very own Crafterall paper cut art. Mom and Pops live on Cape Cod, and I scooped the featured piece above for them as a Christmas gift. Check it out: Crafterall


And please folks, don't try this at home. Crafterall put the crazy idea in my head that I too could wield an exacto-knife like a crafting plastic surgeon. When I asked my operating theater nurse (Mr. Etsy Detective) to fetch me the scalpel, he came back from the basement with a Home Depot-issue box cutter. Le sigh. 

Welcome to The Etsy Detective!

So glad you could join us. Etsy.com is an amateur designers dream come true. With thousands of sellers and infinite creative possibilities, Etsy has become my go-to spot for gifts, art, and vintage finds. Have a brilliant vision storming inside your head but you've googled yourself silly and it just. doesn't. exist? Etsy has it.


The Etsy Detective is scouring the site daily for our favorite artists, flea market treasures and people who (gasp!) know how to WORK a sewing machine.  So check back often, and save yourself from falling down the proverbial crafting rabbit hole...