Generally I find wall decals to be pretty uninspiring, but these are adorable.
They would be great in a brightly-painted kitchen.
Or, of course, in a baby’s nursery.
By Six Under a Tree.
Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.
Generally I find wall decals to be pretty uninspiring, but these are adorable.
They would be great in a brightly-painted kitchen.
Or, of course, in a baby’s nursery.
By Six Under a Tree.
Sugar and salt are naturally occurring exfoliants. Consider peppermint scented salt scrubs for tough knees and elbows. And more gentle sugar scrubs to soothe chapped lips.
If you like Heathen’s Hearth then you’ll love Little Heathens natural bath and skin care for kids.
Little Heathens: All products are as close to natural as they can get. I use only paraben free preservatives and pthalate free fragrances. These products cost a little more, but they are worth every penny to avoid over exposing children’s delicate skin to more potential allergens and chemicals.
Cinnamon candy individual soap hearts, black licorice soap, and Smores (!) soap. There are lots of other scents and products coming at the grand opening next month, but stop by today and ooh and ahh over these great kids products.
McComsey Designs is a shop full of silver and gemstone jewelry with an organic feel. Julie’s passion for making started when she was just two years old and drew on her kitchen wall with a red crayon. While her parents weren’t happy, from that point on she was always obsessed with making things with her hands. Drawing, painting, building things with scraps of wood from her dad’s workshop, ceramics, she was always looking for a way to keep her hands, and mind, busy creating.
It was a ceramics class a couple of years ago that led Julie to jewelry. She was inspired to create big chunky ceramic beads for jewelry and after some more research and a few trips to the local jewelry supply place, she got hooked. Now her life currently focuses around all things jewelry – tools, metal, stones, designing and learning new techniques. There is just so much more she wants to learn to do and not to mention the designs in her head just waiting to be brought to life.
It wasn’t until just recently that she realized that she could actually make a business out of her creativity and so Julie took the leap into selling because she loves knowing that someone else is enjoying something she made with her own two hands. Stuck in a corporate 9-5 job, she was able to break out and start her own business with the support of her family. She feels incredibly luck to be doing something she is so passionate about each and every day!
I believe in supporting handmade and being a part of a renewal of the forgotten handcrafted arts. I always thought it would be fun to start a company that preserved and taught people how to do all the traditional crafts and skills that are slowly disappearing in our society. Be it blacksmithing and metal work, stone cutting, fabric weaving, fresco painting, or building a gothic cathedral from the ground up. Seems like these days everyone is more interested in speed and cost rather than craftsmanship and making something they can truly take pride in.
Like all of us artists, Julie’s favorite piece changes all the time. For now her Rock Pile ring is her favorite, inspired by the beautiful walls she discovered on a trip to Greece she took with her husband that were made made by piling up rocks in a slightly organized way. I love this interpretation in ring from. My favorite, though, is her Blue and Green of the Sea Necklace (so much so, I almost didn’t post it so that I could save it for myself).
If you happen to live in the Portland Oregon area, you can find Julie’s work at Paseo Artisans. While some day she would like to do some art fairs right now she is focused on learning new techniques. She is mostly self-taught and has taken a few classes but mostly has learned through reading and experimenting. Her many areas of interest and her background in fine art, art history, architecture and graphic design have led her to creating pieces often using organic, simple, clean lines.
I have always had a strong interest, ok, obsession with all forms of art, design, and architecture – all of those elements along with just ordinary items and places I have traveled to are all influences. Everything I see gets my mind spinning. I can’t look at anything without analyzing its design, color etc. and how I could apply it to something I am making. I once came up with a great design idea when I looked at the pattern on my bathrobe one morning. I put my heart and soul into every item I make. Mass produced items are a bit soulless to me. There is nothing behind them but a machine. And in this age of technology I feel that humans are becoming less connected with each other. Buying something handmade in a strange way gives you a bit of a connection with its maker. The handcrafted object is something of great value that we have forgotten in our society.
You can find out more about Julie on her website.
My step-sister, Kate, is back in Pennsylvania this week for some visiting before she starts graduate school in the fall. She might be in between “homes” right now – aren’t all students? But she’s called Maine home for the last 5 years. So in honor of her and her own fabulous creativity, “Shop Local” is coming at you from the land of moose, snow, and trees!
Anabelfuzz creates delightful children’s bonnets, clothing, and accessories. They are quite obviously inspired by the climate of Maine. Some bonnets are lined with soft and warm cotton sherpa. Others are meant to keep ears warm on cool spring mornings. There are also apparel items with a distinctly New England shore feel. [Read more…]