An Etsy Valentine

I spend a lot of time on Etsy, obviously, what with my love for handmade items and my own jewelry shop. And while I'm not at all a fan of Valentine's Day, I do like a little love. Here are some fun things I've spotted recently.

Retro Love You by Vintage Scraps

Sign of Love by Hey Harriet

Valentine Greeting Card by Oh Geez!

Binary Heart by The Wallaboo Prints

Holiday Shopping

Um, so, some slightly shameful self-promotion here today. I'm participating in Etsy's Cyber Monday promotion by offering 10 percent off everything in my store until midnight. To get the discount, just use the code CYBERMONDAY when you check out.

Also, because so many of the items in my shop are made-to-order in your size or special color requests they take awhile to make. In order to make sure your gifts arrive by Christmas, I need to have your order by  Sunday, Dec. 12.

Sadly, and happily, I suppose, my favorite earrings already sold today even though I just put them up for sale yesterday. I was kind of hoping no one would want them so I could keep them. But that's ok. I won't tell you what my other favorites are so you won't feel bad about buying them!

And, you can follow me on Twitter or Facebook if you want more updates about new items or holiday specials.

Some New Jewelry

I've had some recent success (and some failures) lately with my jewelry business, Mischief by Loki. I've been creating a wholesale line of more simple, replicable, affordable pieces, while continuing to reveal my favorite one-of-a-kind creations. Here are a few of the things I've made lately...

Have you joined me on Facebook? I do giveaways and sneak peeks and discounts and other random things there.

Found: Lace Jewelry by White Owl

Normally I wouldn't have said this is my style. But oh. my. goodness. I can't even tell you how much I'm lusting after these lace necklaces on White Owl's Etsy shop. And the earrings. Oh, the earrings. (Husband, are you reading this? This is what I want for my next random gift!)

Two more things: 1) I wish I had been brilliant enough to think up something like this. 2) Am I the only one who hasn't seen or heard of this shop yet?



Photos via White Owl.

Why Can I Never Get Enough of These Baby Animals?

So you know how very much I love the baby animal prints, right? There's a new one. It's fantastic. And there's a video about it. You should watch. At the very least click through to about halfway and see this little guy:

I may have to add him to my ever-growing collection of these gorgeous prints.



Image via the ever-amazing Sharon Montrose.

Found: Etsy Bike Clock

Isn't this clock fantastic?

I just found it on the Etsy shop 1.by.liz. Liz makes all these clocks by hand from reclaimed bicycle parts. I am definitely getting one for my dad for Father's Day (hooray for planning ahead!).

My dad loves cycling. We used to go on long rides when my sister and I were kids. Then, he'd leave us at the house and continue on for a "real" ride. We grew up knowing more about cycling and the Tour de France than any other sport.

In fact, when I studied in London one summer I snuck away to Paris for about 30 hours, just to see the final stage of the the Tour and watch Lance Armstrong win again. I brought my dad back a shirt and a Tour pendant that I found.

He's going to love it--I hope!

Photo: via 1.by.liz's etsy shop.

A Delightful Day

I woke up early, but then lounged in bed for an hour while Husband ran to the store for bread to make french toast. He also took the puppies for a gallop by the creek and when he returned I had tired puppies to snuggle with and fresh Dutch Bros. coffee to enjoy.

Later I spray painted a bunch of random fixtures and hooks. The people he bought the house from must have LOVED gold, for it's everywhere. We're slowly changing it everything to brushed nickel, which seems small but has a huge impact--on the house and our wallets! So I spray painted a bunch of things a matte silver today and they look quite lovely. Hooray for thriftiness!

I made some changes to my Etsy shop and fashioned a few pieces of jewelry that I'm quite proud of. Trying to actually make something of this shop is time-consuming. But occasionally, like today, I make something really lovely!

And finally, I read a book and ate the homemade pizza that Husband made (and cleaned up after later!!!!).

And now, it's off to bed.

Paris Love Letters

In complete violation of our spending freeze I just bought* this beautiful print from littlebrownhen's Etsy shop. We've been patching and painting and fixing up our guest bedroom all week and this will look perfect right above the bed.

*Don't tell my husband!

My Etsy Store: Mischief by Loki

I've started up an Etsy store and I'm feeling both excited and regretful*. A couple years ago I started playing around with making jewelry. Then I took a class on metal work and ended up learning from an amazing artist who lived in town and worked at a local jewelry store.**

I've been making pieces for myself and my friends (who are all tired of receiving jewelry for their birthdays and Christmas, I think). I enjoy searching for beautiful stones in interesting shapes and colors. I like spending hours working on the perfect design, although, I've learned that I mostly like simple, delicate pieces where the beauty of the stone or metal is the showcase.*** So most of my jewelry is simple and, dare I say, plain. Though, of course, I think it's quite lovely!

My husband was actually the one to encourage me to open the shop as I was running out of room for storing more pieces and couldn't possibly wear them all. Plus, I think he'd like me to recoup the costs of my materials! I think he's also been quite excited about all the free time he has right now since my urge to renovate our entire house has diminished somewhat as I'm currently spending EVERY evening working on getting the shop up and running.

So... please go take a look. { http://www.etsy.com/mischiefbyloki }Since I'm new and you're all so smart, I'm looking for advice and suggestions. What designs do you like most (alas, my favorite isn't up yet, incidentally. I'm wearing it today as I've been tweaking it for several days now)? How are the pictures? What else would you like to see? What should I do differently? What should I keep the same?

Thank you!!

*Exited because, well, how awesome would it be if people liked my stuff? But regretful because it takes up a lot more time than I thought it would!
**He was also going to make the wedding ring Husband and I custom designed but just after he started on it he moved to Texas to get married. Bleh!
***Most of the pieces up right now are stone, pearl or bead work. There's not a lot of metalwork though that's coming. In fact, I'm wearing my favorite piece right now as I've been tweaking it for several days now and am testing it out today.