daily filckr-Inventors Wife

Inventors Wife
Originally uploaded by Opulent Oddities

This amazing necklace is from Opulent Oddities. Her collections are simply breathtaking! Check our her flickr and her etsy shop for lots of jewelry goodness.

The title 'Inventors Wife' just seems so perfect for this. For Christmas I was lucky enough to get a collection of H.G. Wells novels and I just finished reading 'The Time Machine'. I can just imagine the Time Traveler's wife (if he had one) wearing this necklace.

Steampunk Secret?

So I know it is sick and wrong but I was totally captivated tonight by the Victoria Secret 'fashion' show. I know, I know, I am a feminist, I should hate it and everything associated with it...and I do...up to a point. For as much as I can't agree with the insanely narrow range of 'beauty' portrayed by this company I was kind of jealous. Jealous of the people who got to MAKE some of those super awesome outfits. No not the underwear, I am talking about the angel wings made out of balloons, or the corset dress made out of balloons, and the diamond encrusted everythings. ( I really had a strong urge to bejewel something.) But the section I was most surprised by was the 'enchanted forest' which to me looked more like a steampunk extravaganza. Now I am no expert in the style but when you incorporate some nice tweeds with your lingerie, add a bustle, and throw on some gear filled angel wings I am pretty sure you are nearing what it generally considered steampunk and I thought it was pretty cool. I would love to see an independent group of female designers throw a lingerie fashion show- just scoot on over to etsy to see how many talented designers are out there!

Olga _2(Family Portrait Series #2)

Olga _2(Family Portrait Series #2)
Originally uploaded by spes.craft

Olga is finally finished! She is embroidered on light gray cotton and backed and framed with black felt. She is available in the shop now.

Walther (Family Portrait Series #1)

Walther (Family Portrait Series #1)
Originally uploaded by spes.craft

I have always loved old photos. I am not quite sure exactly what it is but I have always thought that they are the best. I even find myself going back and using them as inspiration again and again....so...

This is first in a series of embroidery portraits I am doing. They are inspired by old photographs. Not all of them are going to be people actually in my family but maybe some of them will be if I can find some old photos. This portrait was inspired by this picture of Walther Nernst. Walther is embroidered on a light gray cotton and is 'framed' with black felt so he is ready to just hang on the wall or put into a bigger frame.

agatha

Agatha and Mabel are now in the shop!

agatha
Originally uploaded by spes.craft

mabel

mabel
Originally uploaded by spes.craft

I am this excited right now!

(image via flickr)

I am pretty excited right now. I have just had my first sale on Etsy! My little Eglentine doll is off in the great big world now and I am so happy she found a good home. Thank you!

I started this blog partly as 'promotion' for my shop and partly to keep myself on track. I feel like when I am actually expected to write things down and do things I am a more productive person. So although I am excited I have a few goals for myself

1. more items for my shop- i need to sit down and work on stuff!

2. take better photos- some inspiration from flickr and some quality time with my new-ish camera should do the trick

3. create better packaging- i would really like to spend more time on this

Also in exciting news my good friend Sarah took me to see 'Rent' last night. (Thank you Sarah!) And one of my other good friends just bought a car. I have been looking into getting a car but I get a little overwhelmed by it sometimes.

In sadder news I am remembering 'Grandma' Della. She passed away this last week and I just found out about it. She was one of those amazingly spunky/adorable 90-year-olds that you just hope you will be cool enough to be some day.

Mickey Rourke and Etsy.

The Oscars last Sunday were pretty epic. My friends and I had a little party with too many sweets (see the Oscar Cupcake post) and silly costumes (High School Musical 3 anyone?) But all fun aside I became very upset when Mickey Rourke lost Best Actor to Sean Penn. Now I loved the movie 'Milk' and I also thought that Sean Penn was amazing but not AS AMAZING as Rourke. I also thought that 'The Wrestler' was one of the best movies I saw this past year and was sad that it was not nominated for best picture.

Maybe it was latent anxiety over the awards show but I had this pretty crazy dream last night about zombies taking over the world so all the humans left were evacuating the major cities. As I went to get on one of the buses that were supposed to take us somewhere safe I see Mickey Rourke walking towards the same van. It was weird because it seemed like me and Mr. Rourke were good pals just about to embark on a road trip. Everyone was scared but it was sort of comforting to have him on our side. When I woke up I pondered this feeling and concluded that at the time it may have been comforting but in real life I don't know how much help he would be in an actual zombie situation.

To get to my actual point of all this though is the awesomeness that is Etsy and the fact that Mr. Rourke's sad but sweet necklace with his dog Loki on it was made by an etsy seller. You can read the article here for yourself. I just really feel like that proves how awesome both Mickey Rourke and Etsy are!

Thrifting 2.16

So yesterday (President's Day 09) I decided to head over to my local Savers to get my thrift store fix. For one scary moment I thought that it might be closed because of the holiday, but my fears melted as I saw a full parking lot. And I mean FULL and I was there at 9am when the store OPENS! Mondays are usually a good day to go because their oldest merch (with a certain color tag) is $.99! Today was even better - ALL used merchandise was 50% off- and the place was already a madhouse!

I don't ever use a cart but I did grab a shopping basket because I was ready to go a little wild. Soon my little basket was almost too heavy for me to drag around so I headed for the check out. On this trip I got

1 button down shirt
2 skirts
1 pair of pants
suspenders
1 wooden tray (perfect for a craft project I have in mind)
1 punch bowl (with ladle, 8 cups and the little plastic things to hang them on)
and........ A SNACK SET!!! 3 plates, 3 cups, total awesome-ness

grand total= $22.93.

All in all a really good day.

Hello punchbowl. My sister said I would never use you, but she is wrong, oh how she is wrong.



My new perfect snack set! Well, I am still drooling over some over at etsy but for $2 for 6 pieces I couldn't be happier!

Etsy Gift Guides - Carnivalesque

So my favorite thing on etsy is the gift guides. I just love the little groupings of objects and I always find something that must be added to my favorites list. Today there were new gift guides and it was amazing! I am especially in love with the "Carnivalesque" guide under 'The Hot List'. They describe it as "Circus Chic" and I am inclined to agree!


HaveANiceTripSeeYouNextFall Archival Giclee Print By LealandEve (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19822861)



CiRKUS KUFF - cute goth punk cloth bracelet by SugarPickle (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15877424)


Bespoke Alphabet Circus Cushion from Hoolala (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20336064)

All of these things are super cute. Also if you are into circus history I highly recommend checking out "American Sideshow" by Marc Hartzman. Although it is written like an encyclopedia it is a fascinating look at sideshow performers throughout history.

















And if you are really into the carnival/circus thing I would check out the movie "Freaks" (1932 Tod Browning) which features many of the performers from the book. It is a really interesting little movie and you should check out the 'alternate endings' which in this case shows the different ways in which the movie was released (and there were several) because the public was so shocked by it.

Vintage Snack Sets

I have not been very good about getting pictures up on the blog yet- but I will be getting on that shortly.

Recently through my Etsy searching I have come across these vintage snack sets (or luncheon sets, or hostess sets, etc.) that are just so adorable! I am trying to figure out which set I want....and dreaming about how cute they will look with little treats on them for when friends come over for movie night!


This set is from chookchookchook (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6255089)

Doesn't this set from 'a touch of vintage' just make you wish for spring? (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19685604)


So cute! From rosecottageemporium. (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19408410)

These are just a few of my favorites!