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 III (A crafty earring holder)

This week's thing to check out is a craft project of my own invention.  I found myself in possession of many pairs of earrings and nothing but a box to put them in.  This caused them to get all tangled up.  Worse yet, I often was unable to find the 2nd earring of a pair.  So finding myself armed with an extra shoebox and some pipe cleaners left over from Christmas, this little craft was born.

Yes, those are Beatles-themed buttons on the bottom.

Simpy take a shoebox and poke holes in the sides across from one another with sharp scissors.

I would recommend off-setting the holes so that you can put more pipe cleaners in.

Then push the pipe cleaners through the holes and twist up the ends.  The fuzzy pipe cleaners keep the earrings from sliding or falling off.  Easy, right?

Granted, I also recently received a real jewelry holder from a friend.  And while it's lovely...

A little treasure from World Market

...I think I'll delegate it to my larger pieces.

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?

Things to Check Out, Introduction and Part I

Hey all--I've decided to start a series of Sunday posts called "Things to check out."  The types of "things" that I have in mind include:

• stores and specialty shops (such as today's posting)
• killer Chicago eateries (and not the kind that chase you with fork and knife)
• internet phenomena
• recipes of note
• etc

So, I'm kicking off the Things series with a tea shop in Forest Park, IL (Chicago).  Don't worry if you don't live around here; they do shipping.

The tea shop I have in mind is called Todd & Holland.  I discovered Todd & Holland when a friend was recently taking me to lunch for my birthday.  We went to a Cajun Restaurant/Irish Pub and had ice cream at the Brown Elephant.  Finally, while we were talking, she told me about this tea shop.  Since earlier that day we had been commiserating about being unable to find matcha (Japanese green tea powder, also good for a lot of baking), I suggested we look for it at Todd & Holland.

So we walked to the shop, and I saw that their windows were filled with teapots and teacups.  Unsurprisingly, the inside of the store was just as well-supplied with tea varieties, and indeed, they do have matcha.  It's not super cheap, but so far this is only place I've found matcha in Chicago-landia.

They also have cute little catalogs that are as informative as they are charming.

This particular page describes the differences between four of the major tea types.  I love it.  To check out Todd & Holland yourself, here's their website.