Things to Check Out IV (Etsy)

This week's Thing is a website called Etsy.  I had Etsy described to me once as Amazon for the hand-crafted soul.  Check out this cool journal, for example.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/51825422/10-12-x-7-12-leather-vintage-look?ref=cat1_gallery_8

It's made by an Etsy user called crearting and ships all the way from Latvia.

There's also an option to shop local.  Here are a few Chicago-based shops on Etsy:

Teal Monkey EarFlap Hat

from LeafLee

Vintage Sterling Silver 3 Rolling Rings

by ueberkunst

Vintage copper cookie cutters, witch, scotties, lion and more

by Sunny Day Vintage

(extra exciting is that these cookie cutters are only $10)

Etsy's search options aren't just hand-crafted there are also filters for "vintage" and "supplies," just in case you were planning on making your own jewels.  So, while I don't think I have the budget to shop Etsy a lot, I will definitely add it to the gifts-for-a-friend list.

Things to Check Out II (Cake Pedestals and Martha Stewart Living)

For this week's Things I wanted to share Martha Stewart Living magazine.  It's highly commercialized, I know, and I don't love Martha herself all that much, but if you like cooking, entertaining, and/or design, you simply must check out this magazine.

I honestly don't know how much of this magazine is due to Martha herself and how much is due to a very talented team of editors and designers, but the ideas are completely divine.  There are recipes and organization tips and landscaping and so on and so forth.  However, the one article that especially caught my eye came from the February 2010 issue.

It's called They Take the Cake, and it's a feature on cake stands and cake pedestals.  I don't have one, but my mom has a clear glass one, which I have used maybe twice in my life.  I do like the rare moments in which I get to use a cake pedestal, so this article just sucked me in.  It's not so much the information as the pictures, as you can see in the picture above.  The elegance of entertaining is, in some ways, a lost art form (kind of like calligraphy), and this article whisks me away to that time.

Which is to say, I have designs on owning a cake pedestal or two.  Colored glass, anyone?