Etsy!

My sister first told me about Etsy. One Christmas, she bought presents for each of us from the site.

Now, one of my favorite Sunday afternoon time wasters...I mean spenders...is to peruse the shops that comprise Etsy...looking for a little bit of anything and everything. Earlier this year, I bought some super cute vinyl labels from a shop called The Vinyl Wall. I love the way they look on my kitchen canisters!

My Etsy experience was so positive, that when I got my new job, I purchased a lunchbox from Take it Personally and I love it. Might as well eat in style, right?

I couldn't believe it when I found out Lynne had never visited Etsy in her whole life! I talked about it so much that she decided to do a whole show about Etsy. (That was one of the shows I got to research in great detail during her week of vacation. Talk about a fun job!)

So yesterday, we had our Etsy show! (You can hear it here if you missed it.) I was SO excited for that show! We started the show by hearing from Adam Brown, who is the Press Manager at Etsy. It was fascinating to hear how quickly this website took off. (It only started back in 2005, and now it has 800,000 shops!)

Then we heard from five shop owners, and each was an absolute delight. I wanted to link you to their shops, in case you need to do a little shopping!

1. Newbie Noggins and Twysted Yarn with the lovely Morgan. These two shops specialize in crocheted hats and accessories - for babies and adults! She has this one purple hat that I must have. It's so stinkin' cute!! I don't think anything in life could make me LOVE shoveling snow, but I might be slightly less bitter shoveling in that hat...

2. Red Letter Words with the delightful Dee. This shop has beautiful faith inspired wall art, well crafted on canvas. My favorite is the one that says "She knew that she was here for such a time as this." That comes from the book of Esther and really encompasses how I feel about where God has placed me in life.

3. Next Door to Heaven with the very sweet Amy. This shop features postcard ornaments and burlap pillows/doorstops/bookends/message boards. I love the uniqueness of her products and my favorite is this monogrammed message board. I adore hanging things on walls and I'm recently addicted to monogrammed things. I could put it in any room of my house and it would fit adorably.

4. Bugga Bugs with the wonderful Annika. A whole shop featuring patterns for felt toys and play food. The lovely Julie Crandall made some of these for her kids and they are SO cute. I think my favorite is the hair salon set. I remember when I was a kid...always wanting to "fix" Mom's hair. I bet these would have hurt her a lot less than playing with the real stuff like I did!

5. Ritzy Misfit with the talented and creative Brooke. Very cool wax-looking pendant monogrammed jewelry! I had no idea these were made out of metal (because I didn't read the description closely enough) until the interview...I really thought they were made of wax! Oh goodness - SO cute!!! I think this was my favorite...I just love how one-of-a kind it is...

So there you go! Some great gift ideas from fabulous shop owners who were an absolute joy to work with as we put together the show. Thanks, ladies, for being so wonderful!