Coasting Through Summer

[click here to buy this find]

[click here to buy this find]

As I sit here watching Mr. Etsy Detective watch game one of the Stanley Cup Finals, the excitement is palpable. 

His beer, in this sticky DC heat, is beading...The drops break away from the glass and accelerate towards our antique trunk...THEY...COULD...GO...ALL...THE...WAY!!!! Boy do we need some decent coasters...

Cue Pinnacle Patchworks, comin' atcha from Clayton, GA.  I love these coasters. The fabric is perfect (-ly absorbent) for a summer coffee table composition. And the bowl, while most certainly not cereal safe, is going to give you a much-desired pop of color, as the 'zines are wont to say.

Set of four coasters and small basket.  $20.

Large Basket. $25. 

Etsy Detective for Curio Road: Lovely Leaping Leopards

Good morning! And now, another very special post for an amazing online boutique, a "shoppable Pinterest" if you will, Curio Road.

For years, I've been gathering the pieces to execute my dream Halloween costume: Margot Tenenbaum. I have the hair, I've got my grandmothers fur. I'd like to think I reflect Margot's casual malaise. I've even seriously contemplated how to reproduce her prosthetic pinkie. Papier mache? Beige sharpie cap? GIVE ME A SIGN!

So my Wes Anderson synapses started firing when when I saw Rifle Paper Co.'s Leopard IPhone Case. Reminiscent of Scalamandre's iconic zebra wallpaper that frames Margot's pouty mug, Rifle Paper Co.'s leopards look rich and whimsical against deep teal.

[Click here to buy this find]

If only Rifle Paper Co.'s design existed as a fabric, I'd upholster everything I own in lovely leaping leopards. But until then, carrying this little slice o' Margot in my pocket will have to do.

Leopard IPhone Case. $30.  Curio Road.

Etsy Detective for Curio Road: Laalee

[Click here to buy this find]

 

Wedding jewelry is tough. Do you begrudgingly respect tradition and go with Aunt Judith’s pink pearls?  Or stay on-trend and wind up looking like an Aztec warrior fresh from his local 50 Shades fan gathering.  Imagine those photo’s twenty years down the line. No regrets. Nope, not one bit…

 

Personally, I don’t think you can go wrong with pretty. And these Laalee aquamarine earrings are the prettiest little things I ever did see.  I wish I could get married all over again just so I could wear them as my ‘something new+blue.’ I can see it now…

 ~~Dream Sequence Commencing~~

Mr. Etsy Detective and I are freshly post-vows, hamming it up for the photographer and running in slow motion through a field of tall grass/wildflowers/puppies, these beautiful blue babies glinting in some hazy Instagram light…And, SCENE.

(Disclaimer: Mr. ED says no matter how pretty the earrings are, he will not be running through any fields with me to satisfy my latent wedding part deux fantasies. Sigh.)

 

Laalee Aquamarine Earrings. $28. Curio Road.

Etsy Detective for Curio Road-The Incredible Bipedal-ble Bungee Bag

 [Click here to buy this find]

Ever notice the woman on the sidewalk looking like a Himalayan sherpa? Purse, gym bag, lunch cooler, yoga mat, bundle of pelts…whatever. A girl can get weighed down.

Enter Po Campo’s Umber Pilsen Bungee Bag.  Weather resistant, reflective and downright attractive, the bag comes with its own built-in bungee cords for secure attachment to your two wheeler.  Even better? The design.  I love a good piece of waxed cotton canvas. Always have, always will.

Now I just need to shake the rust off that vintage Schwinn cruiser I spent months locating but never ride because I live at the top of a hill and hit the road in streamlined style with my incredible bipedal-ble bungee bag!

Po Campo Pilsen Bungee Bag. $65. Curio Road.

Etsy Detective For Curio Road: Leatherwraps Indian Sun Leather Bangles

{Click here to buy this find}

As a new mom, my style has become, shall we say, relaxed.  I’m rocking ‘ombre’ hair, a ‘natural’ face, and jeans so distressed they need a tissue.

So it makes me giddy to find accessories that elevate an outfit without a whole lot of effort.  Stormy Baker’s leather bangles in Indian Sun check this box for me.  You get a wrist full of delicate leather bangles in two thirds of my favorite color combination- white, camel and gold.  Pair the bangles with a slouchy white tee, white jeans and a killer tan and you’ve got  yourself a nice little Saturday.

Indian Sun Leather Bangles. $23. Leatherwraps for Curio Road.

Teaming Up with Curio Road

Hello fellow Etsy lovers! I'm happy to announce that for the next few weeks, yours truly will be teaming up with Curio Road for a blog series on some of my favorite things. Curio Road describes themselves as an "ever-changing online boutique of jewelry, accessories, and home décor; a highly curated and evolving version of a shop-able Pinterest."  

Needless to say, their site makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Viewing their collections struck me like a happy little Eureka! light bulb,  and I also love that they are promoting independent young designers from across the Etsy universe and beyond. Curio Road is like the coolest little shop that never existed, except that it does (you lucky dog, you.)

At the end of my rainbow

 [Click here to buy this find]

 

[Click here to buy this find]

 

[Click here to buy this find]

 

[Click here to buy this find]

Christmas, Halloween and Easter get all the play when it comes to child-friendly holidays, but a sleeper celebration is out there, biding its time in a tidy little bed of four leaf clovers. (Editors note: my wedding calligrapher "farmed" four leaf clovers in her backyard. Not my preferred way to break the tedium, but hey...)

Mama Bean executed these sleeper celebrations beautifully,  and when we were little, my siblings and I would wake up each St. Patricks Day to a scene straight out of Lilliput. Leprechauns had visited my room in the middle of the night, and they had left their stuff everywhere. Tiny tea sets. A dinette with breakfast half-eaten. Slept-in sheets in miniature. It was magical and mischievous and awesome, and amidst their mess the leprechauns left little satchels of chocolate coins.

Todays finds will elevate your parental game to JV holiday all-star. Tiny furniture of the non-Lena Dunham varietal could occupy a window sill. A kaleidoscope of nano-candy might park itself in a sneaker. Before an evening of hijinks can commence, a leprechaun's gotta eat. A tiny Irish breakfast is a predictable but satisfying choice. Finally, if you are looking to blow some pre-adolescent minds, go full-on terrarium.

People say parenting is about the little things, and this one particular little thing was so big that this excited little girl is blogging about it 25 years later. Slow clap, mom.

Retro furniture. $20. Lynne+Marie. 

Candy curiosity jars. 3 for $20.  Starfirewire.

Teeny tiny Irish breakfast. $20. Petite Creation Miniatures.

Live moss terrarium. $45. Gypsy Raku.

Hello, Sailor

[Click here to buy this find]

[Click here to buy this find]

[Click here to buy this find]

"Guard the sailors tossing" is inscribed on a piece of driftwood that dangles off our garden shed at Le Cape. Its also a lyric in literally the only hymn I know, thanks to the after-dusk sermons and compulsory post-"get your worship on" ice cream trips of summertime nondenominational chapels.

So even if you pushed yourself a little too far into the wind, don't know a jibe from your jib, or sometimes think that great big ocean could just swallow you right up, these salty little finds will strip you of that invisible "Hello! I'm Landlubber" nametag you've been sporting down at the docks.

Sailboat Technical Diagram. $15. Vintage and Nostalgia.

"Regatta" Original Oil Painting. $100. Carol Schiff Studio.

Sympathy Card. $4. Crumple and Toss.