Book Report: Bookish Gift Guide 2

Image by Coffee Stains and Cigarettes on Flickr

Just in case you didn't find the perfect present in last week's post, here's the second round of bookish gifts for the book lover in your life...

Book Report: Bookish Gift Guide 1

Image via Local Milk

As a total book nerd, I'm always keeping an eye out for excellent bookish items. All of my shopping is done for this year, but here are some gifts I'd happily give my favorite book lovers...

Found: Bunches of Bangles

A couple weekends ago, Mom and I did a little estate sale browsing in Puyallup. We came away with six or seven amazing Mexican paper lanterns (I should really take a picture of them--they're quite pretty) and these vintage sterling silver bangles, also from Mexico. And silly me, I almost walked right by them. They were all in a jumble together inside a basket. Good thing that I had Mom with me because she started looking through them and brought about my Wait just a minute! moment. Oftentimes Mom finds the treasures because she's the one with the patience to look in unlikely places. Good job, Mom....

Handmade Home: Ugh! As If!

Clueless Cher Watercolor, by Oh Gosh, Cindy!

On August 23rd Catherine and I received a text message from Christine that said, "I know two sisters who will be receiving a treat in the next week!" It was partly a lie because it didn't arrive until two weeks later, when Catherine was visiting, but it was amazing! Christine got both Catherine and I a watercolored print of Cher from Clueless, by Oh Gosh, Cindy!

I had only taken it out of the envelope a couple times because I didn't want anything to happen to it prior to me getting it safely behind glass, and I finally did...

Best of: Little Notebooks Under $10

Target letterpress notebook, Pistachio Press on Etsy, $7.00

I love a good notebook and always have one in my purse or pocket. As someone who is a bit absentminded, I find it incredibly important to write everything down. Besides, you never know when you'll need to make an impromptu list, leave a quick note, sketch out a map, take or give a phone number, or get an important idea down on paper. I mean, yeah, you could use your smartphone for all that, but there's just something about the act of putting pen or pencil to paper that will never go out of style...

Best of stacking rings

images via Soft Gold Studio

There was a time when I wore absolutely no jewelry because I felt incredibly self-conscious about any kind of adornment. Yup, much of my teenage to semi-adult life was dedicated to not being seen. Then for a time it was all chunky cocktail rings and dangly statement earrings for me. Like after all that not being seen I needed to be doubly seen. But the pendulum is swinging the other way again, and I haven't worn my cocktail rings or dangles to the office. It's little post earrings and simple brass rings for me. Which is why I love all these slender, simple stacking rings. Honestly, what an elegant, no-fuss way to dress up a naked hand...

WANT: Datter Industries

tiny golden hand necklace

OK, I'm just going to say it: whenever I don't have money to spend on handmade trinkets and unique adornments, I want them even more. Get a clue, brain. You'd rather have soy milk and grapenuts over letterpressed posters and digitally printed silk scarves, right? Priorities! So, I've decided that until I'm able to make these lovely items my own, I'm going to quietly covet and visit them online and profess my admiration for them here, there, and everywhere. Today I have an object crush on the delicate jewelry by artist Kaye Blegvad of Datter Industries. Everything she creates seems to exude a magical quality, almost as if each item were a little spell...

Make: Me Feel Like Fall

Rusty Foks by Celapiu

It's always a nice change of pace when one season starts to falter and let another in to give us some relief. I am so excited for autumn. It makes me think of bright red and yellow leaves, and the smell of dirt and earthen decay. I am ready. You can be too-- make sure you wear your scarf and put on some flannel, drop the temperature, bundle up, enter fall... 

little friends

One of Those Days

Totally dig these prints by Portland, OR artist, Ashley Goldberg. I love the grumpy, serious, petulant, skeptical,
sad expressions. Makes total sense because those are my main expressions. And I love her etsy profile!
Here's a quote, so you can love her, too. 

I strongly believe in what you're happiest doing at five is what you will be happiest doing your entire life.
Growing up, I endlessly drew and embroidered onto washcloths that my grandma gave me little creatures
and animals that I desperately wanted to live in the woods of my backyard.

Oh, Ashley, how I wish you had been a part of our sister cadre! We could have played pioneers in the woods together.
Take a stroll through her prints...

let's get mystical

Chrysoprase pet rock necklace

It's true. Pet rock necklaces have the power to change you in ways you wouldn't believe...especially when they're

imbued with the mystical properties of various rocks and minerals. Who is the behind these bundles of happiness, confidence, and prosperity, you ask? Why Ms. Darbie Nowatka of Field Guide Design. 

I purchased the above Chrysoprase necklace as a graduation gift for Catherine. Not only does it encourage prosperity and success, but it also "protects against negative energies and facilitates happiness." You can see it right there on the card that comes with the necklace. Believe me, Catherine needs all the protection against negative energies she can get. No offense, sister, but you're constantly inundated with that stuff. I hope you're wearing this necklace like every single day. 

But if you're not surrounded by Negative Nellies, there are definitely other pet rock options. 

So many lovely choices!

darling deerface

Little Bear Giclee Print

I'd like you to meet Devon Smith, the artist behind the darling Deerface. (Psst...I added the darling because she is!) This is a brief sampling of her illustrative work. Pretty pretty, right? I love how all the girls look either really petulant or really suspicious. And isn't petulant an excellent word? Petulant. Pet-u-lant. Sorry. This is how I amuse myself.

Double or Nothing watercolor & ink

beastie badges

grizzly bear brooch

Look at these cutie pie badges by illustrator Elizabeth Pawle! Which do you love the most? The shifty-eyed grizzly? The startled badger family, all in a row? The snoozy kitty, wrapped up tight? Or the tiny-legged inquisitive corgi? I can't single out just one because they're all so precious. Well, if I were forced to choose, I think it would be the grizzly because something's going on there. He has a secret for sure, and he thinks you're onto him. Why can't you see his paws and claws? Because he's hiding them...a precursor to attack, I bet. Dangerous badges are the best badges--that's badges, not badgers. You don't need to specify that badgers are dangerous. I mean, that goes without saying. Same applies to bears. 

parade of badgers brooches

porcelain pretties

Take a gander at these stunners by Yumi of and O Design. Yumi, a Japanese ceramicist working from Melbourne, makes brooches, necklaces, earrings, and dear little porcelain dishes. I wish it were autumn right now, because I'd love to pin one of these beauts to my jacket, wouldn't you?

ceramic hot air balloon brooches

hello speech bubbles porcelain brooches

Cat lockets!?!?

Yeah, you heard me--CAT LOCKETS! What's better than wearing a cat locket with a picture of your cat inside the locket? Answer, nothing.

Head on over to Cheap Frills to pick it up!

Cats not your style? What about a really sleek fox necklace? (You should probably work on liking cats more too.)

Etsy store found here.

I would like both, thanks!

cat tatts!

via Harriet Gray

The cuteness! The unbearable and unending cuteness! I just found out about these a couple days ago when Anabela of Fieldguided pinned them on her catsss board.  Pure wonderment. These cat tatts were created by Harriet Gray, an illustrator hailing from Telford, England. Harriet makes all sorts of delightful goodies. Take an online stroll over to her etsy store here. Or poke around her blog: Harriet Gray Illustration. Thank you, Harriet for existing in this world. 

via Harriet Gray

via Harriet Gray

Why didn't I know about these in time for Catherine and Monika's birthdays? Total misstep on my part. Apologies, sisters. I'll try harder next time. Also, please note: This was all written with a cat laying on a fourth of my keyboard and part of my arm. Matilda is just so happy to have me home!!

SPACE:

The final frontier. You knew that was coming, right? Well, I bet Monika did at least. She could probably feel me typing those words through the invisible sister tether the three of us have. (Monika's activates when I engage in nerd activities, Catherine's when I think about knitting and making cookies.) Monika is probably pausing right now, thinking: Something's up. I wonder if Christine is watching Battlestar Galactica... Oh I will be, sister, soon enough.

Not the point though--the point is: SPACE. It has everything, right? Science, mystery, danger, energy, darkness and light, and the essential components of all life (let's just call it stardust). Oh, and a dash of romance. Wait, you say, romance? Ugh, yes. Any time you have that combination (science, mystery, danger, energy, darkness and light...stardust), you're going to have romance in there. I don't care whether it's space or sewers. OK, maybe not sewers. But then again, maybe sewers.

The secondary point is that I'm way covetous of any space-related item. Is it stellar? Is it cosmic? Love it and love it even more. I'm a super nerd that way. Here are a few of my current outer-space needs/wants/desires/obsessions:

1. This meteor silk scarf by Anabela and Geoff of Fieldguided

2. This Crab Nebula quilt by Jimmy McBride of Intergalactic Transport

3. This full moon stamp by Stephanie of Extase

4. This astrological necklace by Julie of Julie Nolan Jewelry

5. This star projector from Infmetry

Le sigh. To all of it. 

Of course, I can't justify spending $112 on a scarf right now, or dropping $13,000 on the most amazing quilt ever. Which is definitely not to say, on the off chance that one of the artisans of these lovely items happen to stumble across this post, that I don't think those items are worth their price tag. I do think Jimmy McBride's quilt is worth that much, and if I had tens of thousands of dollars to play around with, I would sure as hell buy that badass quilt. Know that. So, what is the point? I'm not entirely sure I have one, but I would like to note that I'm inspired by all these items. I think it's time to make something! 

SPACE: an infinite source of inspiration. 

tossed and found

Green bottles and containers 

Oil, Alcohol and Drugs

I ran across these intriguing photos on The Etsy Blog yesterday. They're the work of Barry Rosenthal, a photographer out of New York, who creates collage photographs of found items. From his website: The Found in Nature series is created using plastic objects, garbage, plastic waste and detritus found on beaches polluting our water and land. 

You probably know by now, I'm always game for plucking interesting items from around the high tide mark, and if it helps clean the beaches...well then, that's a terrific bonus. Way to tidy up, Mr. Rosenthal! 

Disposable Lighters, Beach Haven, NY. 

Tampax, Brooklyn, NY.

Combs, Beach Haven, NJ.

There's something about these photographs that makes me feel very quiet. Does that make sense? I just think about all the things we've created and discarded and how they've had a life beyond their intended purpose. The unexpected life of objects beyond us. It's like getting a glimpse at a secret world. And really, everything that comes out of the ocean is mysterious, yeah?


View more of Rosenthal's mesmerizing work on his website: Photobotanicus. 

coin purse

pink suede coin purse with orange Vs

pink suede coin purse with small blue triangles

Lovely, yeah?

By Blackbird and the Owl on etsy. Blackbird and the Owl is the brainchild of German illustrator Peggy Wolf. You can find her illustrations, collages, and prints here. And I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you poked around her blog here.

bunches of brooches

bunny brooches

Harriet Damave is the artist behind these adorable bunnies and horses and goats and kitties. I feel like
I wouldn't be exaggerating if I were to say I loved them. After all, don't you love them? Let's just agree that we all do. 

horse brooch

siamese cat brooch

goats brooches

Harriet hails from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and she creates and paints each exquisite piece and fires them all
in her kiln. Uhh yeah, she has a kiln. And I bet she never used her kiln to make an alien head in her after-school ceramics class, located in the basement of Collins Elementary. (Many years later, I tried to smash that alien head
in the driveway but was thwarted by Mother. Said head is probably still in the garage, along with all my other
teenage weirdness. Don't tell anyone.) Back to Harriet. I'm impressed with anything involving several skill-specific steps, and to me, sculpting, painting, and firing clay in the tradition of Delft Porcelain all while creating sweetly
expressive animals loveliness definitely falls into the This Impresses the Hell Out of Christine category.
Really, who could fail to be impressed by Harriet's work? Only a crafting Scrooge. 

Here's Harriet hard at work in her studio. 

Please visit Harriet in her...

Delft Porcelain esty shop

or her ceramics shop...

House of Harriet

Look at this mug. These mugs, I mean. Plural.

I can't quite remember when I first heard about Kin Ship Press, but I must say that I'm all for the series of mugs they've recently produced. I almost wish that I drank coffee, just so I could have an excuse to add a couple to my kitchen cupboard. Also, the lady and gent behind KSP list among their likes & dislikes: napping hard and making a ruckus. I like them more by the minute.

Add a Nip and Sip ceramic mug

Time to Get Things Done ceramic mug

His & Hers...Ax and Spade ceramic mugs

The only thing is that I would waaaaaay rather have the cool ax mug than the less cool spade mug.
Agree? Course you do. Wouldn't it be nice if you could pick? 

Good Night Moon pillowcases

Their pillowcases are also pretty sweet, see above. But I have a confession to make. I don't like new pillowcases. 

I like old pillowcases, like from Mom's linen closet...like the pillowcase that came with our Sesame Street sheets, which I effing hope Mom did not give away because I told her not to, and my bed in the apartment is a twin bed, and I could be using those sheets right now and would if I had them in my possession. Know that, Mother, know that. 

And I like old pillowcases from thrift stores. Not gross, nubby, childhood nosebleeded pillowcases. Cleanish ones that have Transformers or cowboys or Indiana Jones or vintage prints of kitschy embroidery on them. Don't worry, I conduct a thorough examination before purchase and am quite diligent about their washing routine before I lay down my head. 

I do not want a 12 year old boy's skin cells from 1978 all up in my sleep business. 

So, Kin Ship Press.

on etsy

on their blog

and somewhere in Louisville, KY.