Dear etsy,

I like you. Especially your art, handmade treasures, and vintage textiles & knick knacks. I just want you to know that you’re appreciated.

xo,
Dana

And now for some stuff I recently bought on etsy…

1 – vintage indigo jar ($20) I store garlic bulbs in this lil’ cutie and keep it next to the stove.

2 – red sliced wood garland ($30) This crazy cool garland is going in the boys’ room. (An update on their room is coming next…) I probably could have made one for less but who has time to paint a wood dowel, cut it into a million pieces, then string and knot each slice? Apparently, not me.

3 – hanging planter ($57) The boys requested more plants in their room. To optimize floor space, I thought a hanging planter would be the way to go. Again, I decided to leave the tedious task of knot-tying to someone else. WHO AM I?

4 – vintage Hmong fabric ($35) I bought two Hmong pillow covers a while back for the mudroom and ever since I dream of covering my house in Hmong fabric. It has the best patterns and patina in a denim-like indigo color. I’m going to sew more pillow covers and fill my house with them. Because I do have time for sewing but not for knot-tying??

5 – vintage kilim pillow ($55) I put this beauty in ‘my favorites’ weeks ago and would stop in daily to gaze longingly at it. Then I decided life was too short to love a pillow virtually when I could love it in real life.

6 – New Zealand panoramic photography print ($145) I’ve slowly been adding black and white photography prints to our home. (I spy three from my desk right now.) I guess I’m into them. The scale and orientation of this panoramic should be perfect for what I have in mind.

I go through phases of browsing etsy and curating ‘my favorites.’ Then every once in a while I pull the trigger on items I’m especially drawn to. I have to have a clear purpose or spot for each item. That’s the one caveat. There’s no room here for buying first, thinking later.

What about you? Any recent etsy purchases? Any etsy shops I should know about?

images: polyvore collage by Dana Miller

I’m in the middle of some serious {a.k.a. not really that serious but fun!} nightstand styling over here. I have high hopes for a his & hers nightstand post later this week. Fingers crossed.

We have swing arm wall lamps – as opposed to table lamps – flanking our bed and there are pretty substantial visual gaps between our nightstands and lights. To fill in {or as Emily would say, “engage”…I love her!} the empty space I knew I wanted to add framed art just below the swing arm lamps / just above the nightstands. I bought a pair of these driftwood picture frames weeks ago. Maybe months ago? Yep, they’re the same ones I sprinkled throughout the galleries in the mudroom. {This is not sponsored, btw. I adore these frames and bought ’em myself.} They’ve been leaning on our nightstands waiting for me to make up my mind on art.

Last week whilst trolling etsy, I discovered Printwork and it was love at first sight. I was looking for something simple, modern, gender neutral and the abstract tribal patterns fit that bill. I bought two different 5×7 prints for $22 total during a 50% off sale. They arrived over the holiday weekend and I framed them up yesterday. They look amazing {!} and have stolen this week’s etsy crush spot.

The shop’s creator, Toni, is an architect by trade and describes her block print work as an exploration of scale, proportion, texture and pattern. I love the depth and imperfections found in the prints. Each print is unique and the pieces feel more alive than your run-of-the-mill two-dimensional print. Toni donates 5% of her sales to charity. Good stuff all around.

If you’re interested, there is a free shipping sale going on at this very moment. Happy coincidence. Score free shipping on all U.S. orders with the discount code SHIP4FREE. Score free shipping on international orders with a subtotal of $45 or more with the discount code SHIPFREE45INTL.

Happy etsying!

PS – Etsy crush posts are NOT sponsored in any way. I just love sharing my finds.

images: 1) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking 2) printwork 3) collage by Dana Miller using printwork images