Stuff I Love: Travel Photography

There are so many places in the world I would love to see and have yet to travel to, but quite a few people have captured them already in perfect images, the kind that trigger a daydream when you see them, here are a collected few, all available for sale on my favorite shopping site, Etsy, of course.

Paris is a feeling

Paris is my number one destination city I have not yet been to, and this photograph from Irene Suchocki captures it as I've always imaged, dreamlike and serene.  By looking at it, one feels all the romance and mystery the city could hold.

Copenhagen Street

Copenhagen is the number one travel destination I have been to and would to back to in an instant.  Every street of this city is as beautiful as this one taken by LaFayette Photography, even the crowded squares, the parks, the castles.  I fell in love with the city while I was there and it will always be a part of me, until the day I return and am a part of it, again.

Literary Walk, Central Park

Would you believe I've never been to New York?  I suppose the city should be first on my list to travel to, as it's the most easily accessible.  Here, Tim Schultz Photo has managed to capture the softer side of a city all too often thought of as harsh. 

Buon Giorno Venice

Truly a city of fairytales, this Venice photograph from Serantoni Designs captures a bright spot in the city of water. The picture is so soft and subdued, the reflections so deliberate and colorful, it appears to almost be an Impressionist painting.

London Silhouette

If you're going to go half a world away, why not go somewhere the language is the same?  This skyline of London has been beautifull captured by TCapone Photo, showing us in silhouette all the majestic architecture of the classically beloved city.

Where would you go and what memory would you want to capture on film?

Stuff I Love: Telling Tiny Stories

Guess you should have seen it coming, eh?

I never really had a 'real' dollhouse as a kid, not even a Barbie Dreamhouse.  I remember lusting after every dollhouse I'd see and often buil them out of things I had lying around: small furniture and cushions and other toys.  Even now, when I go the craft store and see those boxes of dollhouses to assemble, miniature Victorians and Queen Annes and Cape Cods galore, I still want them but am (a) too poor to afford them and (b) know I have nowhere to put one.  Perhaps the reason I always hope we'll have a little girl one day is so I have a genuine excuse to get one.    Here are a few (and their accessories) I'd consider.

Ravenwing Cottage Witch's Dollhouse

I know this is called a witch's dollhouse, but if I were the little girl playing with it, it would be one of those stories about an orphan who goes to live with some distant aunt or gets adopted by some old lady (very L. M. Montgomery) only to find her true home.

Modern Dollhouse Ikea-style bookcase

A bookcase that looks like something out of an IKEA catalog, right next to what appears to be an Eames chair.  This tells me I'm not the only adult out there with a desire to decorate in miniature.  With doll furniture like this and the dollhouse to match (probably one of the ones I posted yesterday), you could actually display it in the open and just tell your friend your an architecture and design fanatic (then bring out the actual dolls when everyone goes home)!

Tudor Lady Porcelain Doll

This gorgeous creation makes me wish I had a doll castle and a doll king.  I'd name her Anne for the queen she closely resembles, but I would make the story end up happily, without any sorts of beheading or divorces.  Then again, there was always drama amongst the dolls when I was little....

Decorative Interior House

This house isn't so much a dollhouse, as a yardhouse, meant to sit in the yard and be a place for faeries to live.  But then, I don't think you really need to be able to stick dolls in it to use it for what dollhouses have been assissting in for so many years: the art of storytelling.  This one, with it's vintage looks and ability to light up a night outside, would be the inspiration for a lot of stories.   And, as I said, just because we can't get in, doesn't mean the faeries can't.

Stuff I Love: Ancient Egypt

It all harkens back to sixth grade, when we spent half the year studying the whole of Ancient Egypt, from mummies to pyramids to the gods and the Nile.  We even went to the Egyptian Rosacrucian museum in San Jose (I grew up in the Bay Area) and to this day it still remains one of my favorite museums.  The beauty and the mystery of that long-gone civilization has always stuck with me and it's my dream to one day go visits the pyramids and Nile.  But until then, here are a few Etsy finds, that will keep both you and me in the spirit of all things Egyptian.

Hand-drawn map of Ancient Egypt

KZieglerDesign has shown up here before and will show up here again, but right now her beautiful map of Egypt really fits the bills.  Hang it on your wall and fantasize about how far your reign would spread if you were a pharaoh in Egypt (and yes, women can be pharaohs too).

18k White Gold Anubis Ring

This ring from Arosha is an absolutely stunning interpretation of the jackal-headed god Anubis.   A beautiful melding of the present with the past, this clean, elegant ring would look good on a man or woman.

Cleopatra Silk Bolero Shrug

Okay, okay.  This shrug from Spicy Toast is also going to show up again tomorrow on Treasury Thursday, but I loved it so much I had to put it here, too.  It is so different and yet so wonderfully simple.  I would wear this in a heartbeat on a cool autumn night over a black tank and a pair of great jeans, with some super-high copper colored heels.  

Aqua and Gold Egyptian Earrings

This earrings from TheSolarium are perfectly styled like an Egyptian cartouche, which is a royal name encapsulated in an ellipse, and I have no idea what these earrings actually say in hieroglyphics, if anything, but they are sure to make you feel a but more regal in their wearing.

Stuff I Love: Seaglass

Sea glass is a part of the tradition of going to the cottage.  Every piece that is found is considered good luck and is saved in a great jar upon the mantle.  I don't know how far back it's been collected but I look at that jar and imagine one of my husband's distant relatives strolling along the shore in a bustled skirt and wide-brimmed hat, bending gently to grab a found piece and take it back up to the house.  Here are a few beautiful things made from simple, soft-edged glass.

Keychain from LiliDMagpieCreations

Fine Art Photography from QuercusDesign

Earrings from SeaFindDesigns

Necklace from SeaFindDesigns

Less Talk Tuesday: Lake Michigan

From Pinterest

From my personal photography

Also mine.  Sunset at the lake.

Another gorgeous sunset.

Stuff I Love: Art

I wish I had more room to put art on the walls and the money to put it there, and perfect frames to put it all in.  Here are a few of the things I'd get, given the chance.

Pearl by AmberAlexander

Anyone who's seen one of my sketchbooks knows I love drawing Rococo era ladies in their tall wigs and gorgeous gowns, so of course this lovely Marie Antoinette-style woman with her friendly rodent companion, by Amber Alexander, hits me right where I art.

Steam and Sails by EllyMackay

Okay, anyone who has ever read my blog has probably seen Mackay's work before.  I love her stuff and actually already own two of her prints. Recently, though, she came out with a new series featuring steamboats which I love just as much as her other stuff and which somehow seems just as magical even though its a simple city and water scene.

May by ErinTyner

Erin Tyner's work has shown up here before as well, in the SIL about miniature.  I find her photography of train model figures in little landscapes slightly surrealist, breathtaking and beautiful (and yes, photography is art).

Winter Rains by Kecky

This print from Kristin Kemper was one of the first things I favorited once I got into Etsy, and even now I still love it. It evokes everything it is supposed to.  I look at it and think of winter and coldness and rain and stillness.  It moves me in a way there aren't quite words for.  As a matter of fact, every piece I've selected today, evokes emotion in me, invokes a part of me.  After all, isn't that what good art should do?

Stuff I Love: Repurposed Books

I love books and read often.  But some books are just too boring to keep or aren't the stories you hoped they'd be or are simply too old too and falling apart to be of much use.  These Etsy sellers have taken book that weren't good for much else and made them into art.

This book purse from Bibliobags could hold your keys, cell, wallet and perhaps even a small paperback!

A folded sculpture from RecycledReads is a great reminder to be crafty and wonderful inspiration as to what to do with an old book.

Bringing new meaning to the term 'bookmobile' this one from  TheShophouse is just too cool to hang over a babies crib.  Put it in your workspace and watch it drift lazily in the light.

Can't decide if you want to read the massive tome, "War and Peace"?  Have a drink instead.  Then, hide it in this book safe from SecretSafeBooks.

And there is even more awesome stuff.  I'm going to have to do a two-parter and continue this another week.  One could probably decorate an entire house in things made from old books....and if I had the money, I just might.

Stuff I Love: Maps

I love maps, and am sorry to see they're slowly going the way of the GPS.  I remember, on road trips as a kid, I would always be the one to navigate my my mom, sitting in the backseat, tracing my finger over the curving lines in some Rand McNally atlas that was nearly as large as I was.  At least old maps are finding good reuse these days.

Map Heart Sticker Seals from InkWhimsy

Eire Ireland County Map by SummitRidge

United States Circa 1492 by Nickagin

Stuff I Love: Knitting

I don't knit in summer, because it is always so blessedly hot here in North Carolina, but today it's so overcast and feels cool (it's 76 Fahrenheit), I could almost pick up a knitting project and maybe start a scarf or socks.   So here are a few knitting related items in honor of the (slightly) cool weather.

Knitting Takes Balls Hand Embroidered Hoop

Police Public Call Box Yarn Bowl

Strong Leprechaun Sock Yarn

Hand-knitted Cream Aran Chair Slipcover

Less Talk, More Rock Wednesday, er...Thursday: Calendars

Because I need one.

www.littlebrownpen.etsy.com

www.pattern-matters.com

alittlehut.com

Stuff I Love: Bunnies

Okay, actually my husband loves bunnies.  Yes, I do too, because it's pretty much impossible not to think bunnies are adorable.  Everytime I find something really awesome that is rabbit-related on Etsy, I email it to him.  Now, I'm going to share a couple with you!

French Bulldog and Bunnies Letterpress

I love this card from BonVivantPress because I think Frenchies are almost as adorable as bunnies (and have the same ears)!

Velveeten Rabbit Handpainted Necklace

"The Velveteen Rabbit" is a wonderful book and this little pendant from tuckandmoocow is just as sweet.

Happy Encounter

This is just one of a lovely series from naokosstoop all featuring the little red-hooded girl and her white bunny companion.  I picked this one because I especially love sea turtles.

Action Bunny

This last one, from corduroy is so lovable because he looks like he really is in mid-tromp across the wood.  

Less Talk, More Rock Wednesday: Doors

From now on, on Wednesdays, I'll just be posting a couple images of something I love.  It could be an artist's work, architecture, typography....anything really.  From this week forward, there won't be much if anything written before hand--just pretty things to look at.  And I will always try to link where the image came from, to the best of my knowledge.

But before I shut up, I'd just like to inform you that I'm featured on Grace Louise's blog right here and that you should go read it and enter to win any four cards from my shop.  You know you want to.

Now. Where was I? Ah, yes, doors.

From http://aliceiswonderful.tumblr.com/

http://frommoontomoon.blogspot.com/2011/02/doors.html

http://vi.sualize.us/view/67460826deeccad9a2d898314fb89eca/

Stuff I Love: Little Bits of Green

Lately, I've been favoriting a ton of jewelry on Etsy, which is funny because, on the average day, I wear my engagement ring and wedding band and that's it.  On days when I remember, I'll put in the sapphire and diamond studs my husband got me for the anniversary of our first date.  They're my most beloved earrings, simple, classic, and sapphire...which makes it even more amusing that the majority of jewelry I've been hearting has been emerald.

I guess there is just something about that deep green stone that's so damn mysterious.  I have to love it, even when it's not my favorite.  It's just too alluring, the way it immediately reminds me of the green fields outside of Copenhagen, the Carolina mountains in spring, and a million other far-off places.  It's a stone that makes you want to run away to, or at least daydream about, a place that's magical. Here are a few of those pieces, for you to gaze into and think travelling thoughts.

Tiny Emerald Crystal Pendant Necklace by withlovemandy

Emerald Gold Hammered Ring by PetraCollection

Emerald Green Recycled Glass Antiqued Brass Necklace by GlitzGlitter

22k Gold Vermeil & Smooth Natural Emerald Bracelet by delezhen