Hydrangea No. 2
Pine Needles
Hydrangea No. 4
Fern
etsy finds: time to shine
Written by Emily Bidwell for Spotlight   
Saturday, 03 July 2010 03:00

The health hazards from the buildup of chemicals in cosmetics, lotions, shampoos and such has gotten a lot of play in the news recently.  I hope it leads to us giving more thought to what we put on our bodies.  I also hope it leads to us buying more indie products made in small batches by real people with names and faces and email addresses.  Anyway, Emily Bidwell has pulled together a nice Storque sampling to get you started.  And you find plenty more in Handmade Lookup Bath & Beauty:

Made to order skin scrub

Perk up your summer beauty routine with today's Etsy Finds for the freshest, most fetching makeup, fragrances and mood-setting candles of the season. This batch of handmade bath and beauty products is sure to stir the summer senses and put some plucky pink in your cheek!

Today I had a little help from my very stylish six-year-old friend, Caroline, who reports that we should be on the lookout for very pale pinks, translucent beige tones and anything that smells like popcorn. Scroll through to see her picks at the end!

Don't miss out on Etsy's Bath and Beauty category, where you"ll find a wide selection of handmade products using organic, natural, and vegan ingredients.

 

Bath and Body

 

 

 

 

Care Kit French Lavender

By sweetpetula, $38.

Organic Baby Dew Baby Body Oil

By GardenofHolly, $12.50.

Rose Peppermint Bath Bombs

By ElegantRoseBoutique, $9.75.

SUGAR SCRUB

By naturalblendings, $22.

Violet Belladonna Lily Rose

By opheliasapothecary, $7.50.

Bergamot and Pink Grapefruit

By pipertate, $14.

Milk and Honey Lotion

By aromaticbodyoils, $8.95.

Neapolitan Bath Bomb Cupcakes

By bathbombconfections, $11.25.

Sushi Soap Sampler

By BunnyBubbles, $10.

Off the Grid Sugar Scrub

By SoulSisterSoaps, $9.

Lychee Red Tea Olive Oil Soap

By CleanQueenSoapCo, $8.50.

Lucky Purple Lotus Body Wash

By TheSteadfastSparrow, $8.

Coffee Foaming Scrub Whipped

By herbalmineral, $6.

French Lavender Soap Bouquet

By SatinandBirch, $14.

Sea Salts - Oats, Milk, and Honey

By MookaSoap, $8.

nourishing carrot and apricot

By VirtueNatural, $13.50.

Black Raspberry Shea Butter

By SpaTherapy, $7.25.

Crafted Soap Four Pack

By TallulahsSoaps, $12.

 

Candles and Aromatherapy

 

 

 

 

Scent Sampler Gift Set

By CurlewSF, $36.

Custom Color Votive

By Mireio, $15.

PINA COLADA SOY CANDLE

By purbliss, $16.99.

3-Pack of Soymade Scents

By SimpleJoyStudios, $39.

natural soy wax candle

By ImagoDRIFT, $23.

Soy Candle - Elegant Pear (12oz)

By anthologyorganic, $13.95.

Thimbleberry Soy Wax

By FireflyCandles, $14.99.

ODOR RX

By soychology, $18.

Orange Mint Soy Candle

By CottageGardenTherapi, $7.50.

FOSSIL IMPRINT Peppermint

By SOYpoetry, $10.

ASIAN SANDALWOOD

By JenSanCandles, $11.50.

Honeysuckle Jasmine Soy Candle

By thegoodearthcandleco, $15.

Lavender Soy Candle

By swagalot, $18.

Moroccan Lavender Candles

By SmallGirlDesign, $29.

Pure Essential Oil Aromatherapy

By 1820house, $14.95.

Travel Tins You Pick

By gabrielsaunt, $37.50.

 

Lips

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Mint - Lip Balm

By BalmBox, $2.50.

Vanilla Ice Crream Lip Balm

By sakurabathandbody, $3.50.

Mineral Lip Gloss

By PatinaMinerals, $6.

smoothie. lip gloss pot

By orangethyme, $2.

Lemon Sugar Lip Balm

By FlourishBathBody, $3.50.

cocoa butter - Chai Tea

By swanmountainsoaps, $3.

Sultry Lip Lush - Hint of Shimmer

By DressGreen, $5.

Ananda Organic Vegan

By jewelalchemy, $8.

Natural Vegan Lipsticks

By justpureminerals, $9.

Italian Sausage basil,anise,pepper

By soapopotamus, $3.

Natural Lip Gloss in First Blush Pink

By Blushie, $6.

Vanilla Rose Lip Tint

By PassionMoonPotions, $4.

Pucker Polish Watermelon

By GetLathered, $3.50.

Red Licorice Creamy Shea Butter

By BathLife, $4.

Rose Sugar Mineral Lip Tint

By FrenchGirlOrganics, $6.

FANDANGO (purple shimmer)

By skinbodyworks, $15.75.

 

Fragrances and Perfume

 

 

 

 

Jasmine Rose Natural Perfume

By BazilEssentials, $8.

Pumpkin Amber Perfume Oil

By wiggleperfume, $11.

Baby Fragrance Roller Stix

By forgoodnessgrape, $5.50.

Solid Natural Perfume Minis, set of five

By IlluminatedPerfume, $22.50.

HONEYSUCKLE PERFUME

By solsticescents, $8.

Kai and Gerda- Freshly Fallen Snow

By familiarlover, $8.

ORCHARD Roll-On Perfume

By LatheratiSoap, $5.

Kokeshi Perfume Oil

By BathLife, $8.

sweet olivander - lilac fields

By pixxxiepieandposie, $13.

TITANIA Fairy Inspired Perfume Oil

By MeenasMagickals, $18.

Berry Vanilla Roll On Perfume

By EpicallyEpicSoap, $7.50.

Patchouli Rose Perfume Oil

By scentbythesea, $9.

Fresh Ginger Hair and Body Mist

By bellaboogie, $4.50.

Waterlilies, dewy forest fresh

By themefragrance, $17.50.

Fresh Peony Petals perfume oil

By jadewicks, $11.

Linen - FRESH and CLEAN

By ToccarePerfume, $57.

 

Makeup

 

 

 

 

mica metallic FACIAL GLITTER

By LaLaBloom, $9.95.

jars eye colors

By EllaRoseMinerals, $19.99.

Fierce Smokey Eye Collection

By TheCopperBee, $25.

Skin Secret VEIL Pale Pink

By allurebyjen, $11.25.

Mineral EYESHADOWS FULL SIZE

By MuddMineralsMakeUP, $9.99.

Black Eyeliner Pencil

By PonyDustCosmetics, $8.75.

Bandit Black Eyeliner

By DancingFoxx, $3.

BLACK CHERRY GEL EYELINER

By NatureGirlz, $7.

Vegan Mineral Foundation

By theallnaturalface, $11.

Paradise Vegan Metallic Green Gold

By pinkquartzminerals, $5.95.

Dark Blue Jeans - Eye Shadow

By starshinecompany, $5.

Creature purple matte eyeshadow

By detrivorecosmetics, $3.

 

Caroline"s Picks

 

 

 

 

PB and J Soap

By sunbasilgarden, $4.50.

Very Berry Sugar Whipped Soap

By naiad, $11.

Rainbow Soapsicle - Glycerin Soap

By BodyBeautiful, $5.

MYSTERY KIT -  Gift Sampler Box

By PatinaMinerals, $30.

Soft Radiance Illuminizer

By MyBeautyAddiction, $9.

Golden Sunshine Eyeshadow

By MyChaosbyDesign, $5.50.

Felted Organic Soap

By Engelfelt, $12.

Victorian Lace Heart Soap

By PureHeartSoap, $6.

Pink Nude Real Deal Lipstick

By GloryBoxCosmetics, $13.

2 JUICEE LIP GLOSSES SUGAR KISSES

By ErzulieCosmetics, $6.

Popcorn and Root Beer Lip Balm

By elladean, $3.99.

Caramel Popcorn Lib Balm

By elladean, $3.99.

Looking for more Etsy Finds? Try these links:

Guest Curators | Trends | Gift Ideas

Need a daily fix of Etsy Finds? Sign up for the Etsy Finds e-mail! Conveniently delivered to your inbox!

 
when life gives you lemons, preserve them!
Written by Administrator   
Monday, 21 June 2010 09:00

This excellent piece by mtraub at Etsy and Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City:  The Education of an Urban Farmer, speaks for itself and needs no commentary from me.  I'm running it here to provide us with inspiration to find ways to make use of, rather than waste, the excess in our lives. And it doesn't matter if that excess came from our gardens or from Costco. -marina

Urban Farming image

My parents gave me a copy of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer this past Hanukkah and I was immediately dreaming of fire escape beehives and personal reserves of prosciutto. Novella Carpenter is not just an inspiring force of daring urban farming, but also a captivating storyteller. So much of the sustainability movement is about connecting to the narrative behind our dinner, sweater, or morning commute. Novella"s emotional tales of agricultural experimentation led me to consider the greater picture of my consumption, and with it, the greater responsibility. For the Etsy Blog, Novella shares her story of preserved lemons, a lesson both delicious and resourceful. For more of her adventures, check out her website at novellacarpenter.net.

* * *

Novella_bio.jpgThere’s this lemon tree in an abandoned lot a block down the street from my house (and urban farm) in Oakland, CA. For months I’ve walked passed and thought, “Damn, that’s a lot of lemons!” Meyers lemons, I could smell them — sweeter than regular lemons. But they were behind a razor wire fence and so that was the end of that. Two nights ago, my partner Bill and I set off on a walk. I told him about the tree and suggested we bring a ladder and get some lemons. Or a bolt cutter to cut the lock that secured the fence. Bill said we should scope out the tree, and consider our options.  

Before long, we stood in front of the gate, the green tree with yellow lemons dangling secured behind the fence. “This fence?” Bill said. I nodded. Then he pointed to the mechanism that kept the door closed: a frayed shoe lace. “Yippee!” I yelled and in a few minutes we were scruffling under the tree, gleaning every lemon we could reach. Passers-by didn’t even notice us, they just shuffled by, headed to the liquor store. I thought at least one person from our down-and-out neighborhood would want to join us (free food!), but they didn’t. Some of the lemons were soft, some had fallen and started to mold on the ground. If we didn’t pick them all, they would have gone to waste. It’s also good for a lemon tree to have its fruit picked. Harvesting stimulates it to make more fruit, to flower and go on doing its job. And so we picked almost all of them.

bucketsoflemons.jpg


We ended up with four buckets of lemons, and they filled our kitchen with a sweet tart smell. After scrubbing them in the kitchen sink, I thought about what to do with this sudden windfall. I didn’t make lemonade, I made preserved lemons. I touched each lemon at least two times — once to wash them, another to score them and stuff them with salt. I culled the ones that weren’t perfect, I juiced the softer lemons, squeezing them into the jars to cover the salted lemons. I tossed in some black peppercorns and a bay leaf into each jar.

preservinglemons.jpg


As I worked, I thought about how I would use these jars of lemons. After five weeks, they would become tender and salty. The rind could be used in cooking — stuffed into a roast chicken, diced and sprinkled over a salad, tossed into olives. The juice — salty, essence of lemon — can be added to jars of tomatoes destined for the water bath. It’s a delicious way to adjust the acid levels of canned tomatoes.

donelemons.jpg


I made 24 quart jars of the preserved lemons. Too many to use all for myself. They’ll make good gifts, but I also plan to sell some of them at my pop-up farm stand. It took me several hours to span time with these free lemons, and now, they were worth money. That’s where the term value added comes. Lemons that were worthless, disregarded, suddenly looked beautiful. After time, they would be delicious.  

This is what we do as a farmers. When I harvest — carrots, beets, greens — the last chore is to clean the vegetables or fruit, to pick off any bad leaves, to wash them, then to display them in a way that makes them tempting. As a grower of food, I worry about the sun and soil, the water and air, as most people would expect. But then there are the moments at harvest when the choices are made, the jewel is polished, and the produce suddenly goes from dirty undesirable to culinary delight. These lemons reminded me of this life lesson again: a little know-how, some luck, skill, and hard work, can make real change.

paperbackFC.jpg

 

Thanks to Novella for the inspiration to use unexpected resources. You can get a copy of her book, Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer from an independent bookseller or Amazon.

Do you know of a nearby urban farm? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Earth Tones Series | Alice Waters" Edible Schoolyard
Preserves on Etsy

 
etsy finds: just released
Written by MaryMary in Spotlight   
Thursday, 17 June 2010 04:10

MaryMary has curated another fun Storque article on undiscovered Etsy shops. There are some real gems here, and you'll find more by browsing the shops these came from.  ~marina

I think it's safe to say I spend the majority of my time on Etsy. One might think I've seen it all, yet I never seem to tire of scrolling through the ingenious creations each time I sign in. Today I've put together a collection of the most recent undiscovered Etsy shops I've come across that gave me pause.

Find even more hidden gems when browsing through Etsy's Undiscovered Pounce feature and take a look at your personalized Suggested Shops.

Wheelbarrow Chair

By karlsanford, $49

SALE Vintage Fabric Strapless Dress

By cristinapires, $80.

Draped cotton Sack Skirt Olive Green

By JoDemontis, $100.

Heart-Shaped Banana Bread

By PecanSandys, $15.

Georgie Sexy Red Balconette Bra

By Lalilouche, $130.

Recubed Stools

By AcronymDesigns, $800.

Queen Size Headboard - Feathers

By holleyandgill, $950.

diamond accented Maine lobster

By itsgeorgeholmes, $1175.

Tall Abstract Sculpture Set

By celestebouvier, $650.

Shopping Small Block Puzzle

By betsyarcher, $30.

Fuschia Raw Edges Sheath Dress

By HomemadeBags, $38.

Modern Storage Box

By modgrain, $525.

Family Dog Rocking Toy

By rockingfrog, $365.

Bear, and woodland creatures

By ChasingtheCrayon, $19.

Patchwork Hide Rug - Tricolor

By arboldesigns, $685.

Vintage Pedal Car 1967

From sc1232jp, $165.

Fishing Lure Necklace Jewelry

By hooklinesinker, $35.

Custom Stacked Book Side Table

By janedandy, $1800.

sitting waiting

By MiniMemoryWorlds, $25.

Silver & Human Teeth Knuckle Ring

By vanderglas, $930.

Cutting Board

By JRWoodworks, $150.

Ibiza coral lampshade

By Emilybucknell, $38.

TWO FEEDER SET

By vurvdesign, $229.

ECO FRIENDLY LEATHER FLATS

By extraseed, $55.

Marlon Draped Zip Front Top

By annapopovich, $395.

Cherry Blossom Bioluminesence lamp

By wastenotdesigns, $150.

Corduroy Apple Coat

By bugduds, $30.

Canister Wine Table

By WheelersStudio, $2000.

Vintage Muriel Babies Cigar Box Set

By odelae, $105.

Cottage Bag in industrial wool felt

By aikafeltworks, $128.

Coin Zippper Purse

By carinalovehandmade, $15.

Lavender Layer Cake - Lemon Cream

By thetinykitchen, $25.

Upcycled Inner tube Framed Mirror

By nufangledwalldesigns, $450.

Textured Ruffle Bowl

By madebyher, $25.

Baby Moccasins

By elkstalker, $25.

RAJA Beaded Statement Necklace

By CindyCaraway, $400.

Oversized Wooden Glasses

By EcteteraWhatever, $600.

Fat Chimera

By EvaFunderburgh, $240.

Gypsy"s Necklace - Free Shipping

By Chariot90, $20.

24 Assorted Petit French Macarons

By sparkleskitchen, $17.99.

Natural Log Coin Bank

By nealbrand, $34.

purple felt bird necklace

By belokrinitski, $64.

Vintage style mesh flower shoe clips

By lemonring, $15.

ORGANIC BODY BUTTER Cream

By anthologyorganic, $13.95.

Handspun Singles Yarn

By FlaggHillFiber, $23.

Twin Vintage Birds

From thevintagewife, $24.50.

Chalk Board Whale Table

By peterandgrove, $250.

Basic Survival Tool

By survivaltool, $12.

Recycled Fabric Beach Bag

By Ascizi, $49.

Greeting cards

By tokketok, $8.50.

Felt storage basket

By happyaslarry, $19.

Placemat Set in Bird Textiles Fabric

By ambespokebelle, $45.

Tea Bowl Porcelain Copper Glaze

By BrucesArtStudio, $90.

Wine Bottle Tote Industrial Wool Felt

By PearWood, $20.

Looking for more Etsy Finds? Try these links:

Guest Curators | Trends | Gift Ideas

Need a daily fix of Etsy Finds? Sign up for the Etsy Finds e-mail! Conveniently delivered to your inbox!

 
father's day gift picks
Written by Marina Flournoy   
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 21:05

Here are my Father's Day gift picks. Prices range from $15 - $175, with most under $60. And there are lots of other items in the shops these came from.  So you should have no trouble finding something handmade, cool, and affordable for the men in your life. ~Marina


Wooden Picture Frame, $55
10% off with coupon code 4you
Ceramic Mug, $38
15% off with coupon code SUMMERX


Metal Wine Rack, $55
15% off with coupon code SUMMERX

$ 150

Chocolate Money, $20
10% off with coupon code GIFT4DAD




Tyvek Map Wallet, $15


 
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