As soon as I laid eyes on Michele Quan’s ceramic bells, I knew I needed to see them in person. Like, needed. As soon as JB and I returned from vacation, I dropped my bags and hurried to the Love Adorned boutique, where Michele recently installed her bells in an epic arrangement. I was not disappointed: the glazes! The thickly braided ropes! There’s something about bells that just appeals to me on some basic level. I’d love to have a massive collection…and a porch to display them, but one thing at a time.

But checking out the bells wasn’t the only goal. The store is gorgeous and so well curated. I wanted almost everything…the smudge sticks, the textiles, the jewelry, the cedar incense. There was even a custom moccasin maker working in the store. Definitely follow Love Adorned’s blog to see all the cool stuff they carry.

[Via My Love for You]

I’m not very attached to the idea of four walls. Yurt, igloo or houseboat — I’m down! I created a fantasy inventory of how I’d approach life as a cave woman for the always intriguing Pour Porter. Check it out.

I’m probably much too big to ride these ponies — contemporary reproductions of A.F. Ayres’s Victorian rocking horse designs — but that doesn’t stop me from wanting one.

Here I am in Iowa, sixteen inches of snow on the ground and a self-proclaimed blawggin’ hiatus currently underway…but I just couldn’t stay off the internet. Nope, addicted.  Then I saw this glorious felt and fur wall hanging by Modern Fiber Lab and I just had to share. It’s like a matted pelt! (My favorite.) If I was loaded, this would be in my living room right this second.

Back to hiatus, and happy Christmas!

[Via Shavingkit's sumptuous Treasury]

I didn’t eat turkey this Thanksgiving — lobster ravioli, more cheese than I could carry and a whole lot of anchovies, in fact (not a traditionalist, if you didn’t already know). However, these hunting target tea towels by Bless get me in the mood for the season! I’m a bit squeamish about violence of any kind — I just started watching Deadwood and I spend half the time with a blanket over my head, though I love/hate the characters dearly — but the thought of shooting a gun at a target is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long, long time. Someday!

Also, good god am I a parenthetical queen! I love me some asides.

[Via]

Arielle de Pinto is a dreamweaver. For serious. If a formal occasion arises that necessitates a headpiece, I’m all over this.

[Via Marieaunet]

* Congrats to Paige, winner of the backpack! Thanks for playing, everyone! *

I’m a huge fan of Baggu Bags. My friend Amber gave me one of their reusable grocery bags for my birthday and I’ve been hooked since. As such, I’m pleased as punch to do my first giveaway with one of their backpacks! This sturdy canvas bag is the perfect size for my laptop, a book and all the little things I tote around every day (minus the shoulder hump from carrying a heavy tote bag). I’d been wanting a backpack for the longest time that wasn’t overly-sporty, and this is the perfect fit. I have one in the rich navy and yours could be this vibrant turquoise.

So, now for the terms! Please leave a comment below with a favorite book recommendation. I just finished a biography of the Mitford sisters and I’m eager to start something new! I’ll choose a commenter at random on Wednesday, October 27 at noon Eastern time.

Thanks for playing, and pass this on!

P.S. And yes, that is the back of my wet head post-shower with Bug on my shoulder. A note on the color: it’s closer to the second image than the first. We had a lot of sunlight in the kitchen this morning.

At long last I’ve actually started using my Pinterest account. Now I’m addicted! If you’re on Pinterest, follow me (and I’ll follow you back!).

As a longtime watcher of Lockdown and a fan of handicrafts (if you didn’t already know…), I’m pretty enthused by any and all prison rehabilitation programs that allow inmates to unleash their creative side while existing in the oppressive, top-down society that is prison. In this case, the crafts in question are not cigarette pack picture frames or license plates, but needlecrafted pillows. The Fine Cell Work organization in the United Kingdom allows prisoners to channel their anger and frustrations into the precise art of embroidery, make some money while they’re at it, and prepare to enter back into polite society (and eighty percent of the artisans are dudes!). The pillows are for sale on their website and you couldn’t ask for a better charity. I’m into all of the pillows, but the prison calendar pillow that counts down the days needs to be on my couch, stat.

To learn more about the Fine Cell Work organization, check out this short video.

Arielle de Pinto’s intricate knotted chains and metallic knitwork makes for some pretty interesting jewelry. I love how it’s like a copper spider web. Also, her lookbook makes use of some amazingly unorthodox poses. The last photo of the Cindy Sherman-ish woman at the beach is my favorite.

Stack the totem high! These cups be bangin’.

Looks appetizing, no? Artist Simon Hasan hand-made 400 buttery leather bowls, vases and cups using the medieval leather-working technique of Cuir Bouilli, a.k.a. boiled leather, which was once used as a technique to construct scales for armor. His version of Cuir Bouilli involved wrapping thrift store finds and prototypical examples of mass-production in leather, then immersing them in scalding water. The result is a hardened, brand-less relic that appears as though it could have been produced any time in the last 2000 years.

But why construct a bowl that looks like a very tempting sweet potato chip? (And did I mention that these were being sold for three quid from a vending machine?) There’s an artistic statement in there! Read about Hasan’s commentary on the evolution of commerce, craft and industry on the Etsy Blog.

Maybe it’s because I’m in a nesting phase right now, but stumbling upon green housewares company Canvas made me excited. Pumped, even — like it’s snowing buckets and my school was just mentioned on the cable access scroll and I get to stay home from school. (YES! Now to make pancakes!) I’m kind of obsessed with the fact that they have earthenware dishes and tons of plain, timeless things in one place. (Seriously, why can’t I find contemporary plain earthenware dishes anywhere? Stymies me.) Canvas is totally my speed.

Ever since my bike was stolen (a very weird story for another time) I’ve been pining for a new (to me), functional bike to explore Brooklyn with. I’ve seen quite a bit of buzz about this Princess Sovereign bike by Pashley and I’m downright charmed. (Doesn’t that sound like an English female rapper name, by the way? What was her name? I forget. Anyway.) Maybe it’s just the basket, but I need a new bike, stat. While this particular beauty is a little rich for my blood, I’d like to find something used that approximates it.

I wonder if I can put Dagmar and Bug in the basket…on a leash, maybe? (Kittens! They’re here! More on that later.)

I am officially obsessed with Polly Van der Glas’s hair and tooth jewelry. Seriously, that cast braid ring? I’ve put it in my Etsy cart about ten times already. Must.have.immediately. Adding to my want list!

If you’d asked me in my gap-toothed younger years about my career aspirations, you’d receive one shrill reply: “Egyptologist!” (And maybe anthropologist. Writing was not yet a twinkle in my eye.) I occupied myself with musings on canopic jars, naming my dolls after mythological gods of the dead, and mummifying a deceased mouse I found in my basement.

Read about all my morbid habits and Egyptian obsessions on the Etsy Blog. (Lots of great Egyptian-inspired goodies, too!)

P.S. It’s so good to be back blogging again. That hiatus was killing me.

I think I’ve fallen in love with this Mociun ring. The turquoise, the diamonds: it looks ancient, but it’s new. Love!

[Photo by the lovely Lena Corwin.]

I am so pumped to check out Maia Adams new book, Fashion Jewelry, which profiles the work of thirty-three talented jewelers. All of the photos I’ve seen are incredible, and Maia’s blog, The Bibelotphile, is mighty easy on the eyes (in fact, that’s where the images in this post came from). When it comes to jewelry, I’m always a fan of the unorthodox, chunky, out there stuff, and this book does not look like demure little pinky rings — I’ll say that much.

I’m also fascinated by the process of how these pieces come to be, so these photo mood boards provided a window into Goth jewelers David and Martin’s inspirations — specifically the images and styles that influenced their (incredible!) skull necklace, part of their FAUNA FUTURA collection. According to Maia, “Whether it’s the left over bits of a fried chicken meal, a pretty Japanese girl reading Vogue and chowing down on the tube, or the macabre tooth scene from Roman Polanski’s movie, The Tenant, these Swedish jewelers have a darkly humorous approach to design.” Indeed!

Photos via The Bibelotphile

Finally! Anatomy and jewelry no longer need be separate obsessions. Tithi Kutchamuch’s “Companion Parrot” can serve as a life-size sculpture and gold plated animal friend — until you ceremonially remove its entrails to wear as a necklace.

Somehow this is all very Aztec sacrifice (but that just makes me want one more).

[Via Dezeen]

Ellen Harding Baker set the standard for nebulous quilting way back in 1876. Check out all of the tiny stars and what appears to be the Milky Way! This magnificent embroidered wool and silk quilt, currently housed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, was used as a teaching aid in Baker’s astronomy lectures and based on textbook illustrations available at the time. According to the museum, “astronomy was an acceptable interest for women in the 19th century and was sometimes even fostered in their eduction.” (I have to say that I’m pleasantly surprised by this revelation.)

Best of all: Baker constructed this beautiful quilt while living in Cedar County, Iowa (and later moved to Johnson County — my old stomping grounds). I’m so proud of my fellow countrywoman!

And to think that I considered interstellar quilts as strictly a token of the modern age…

[Via even cleveland]

As far as peas in a pod are concerned, Liane of enhabiten is a vegetable I can get down with. (Prepare for me to get a little mushy, y’all!) Our friendship started with casual Etsy Favorites perusal (and lots of pillow lust on my part). The overlap in our interests and aesthetic quickly grew too obvious to ignore and we realized that we were pirating one another’s favorite items on a regular basis (and what good faves they are!). After expressing our mutual admiration and praise we no longer felt weird about being Etsy voyeurs and a new wave Internet friendship bloomed.

Liane’s taste is best expressed as finding beauty and purpose in objects’ age and simplicity. (See also: utilitarian country cottage, primitive zakka, etc. Who can say exactly what it is? Definitions are limiting. I just know I like it.) Quilts and antique handiwork are one of our shared passions, and I fell in love with Liane’s reworked crazy quilt pillows the moment I first saw them. I collect antique quilts and coccoon myself in their experienced embrace on a nightly basis, so I immediately had to own one of her pieces. (I own the pillow in the second photo, in fact. It’s my favorite.) And I don’t think I’m the only one who admires Liane: the “context shot” of one of Liane’s crazy quilt pillows in action comes from Amy of Emerson Merrick’s office — another blogger-I-love who shares our love of quilts and coziness.

Check out Liane’s blog for more of her acumen and distinct taste. She’s a sassy lady and I can’t wait to meet her.

I’m both terrified and attracted to the idea of ghosts. I’m the first to admit that I love abandoned houses — mostly just to watch how something decays — but the possibility of haunting is also pretty intriguing. I recently watched The Shining for the first time (I know, I can’t believe I waited this long) and was totally freaked, especially by the final scenes. (Not going to spoil it for you, but if you haven’t seen it, you must watch it, if only for the elevator blood scenes.)

However, there’s a more approachable way to keep some friendly poltergeists in your apartment (that don’t slam doors or break dishes). Dutch studio Design Drift created these plexiglass “ghost” chairs using (what else) lasers. The best part is that you can customize the shape inside. I love the ethereal smoke appearance. Now I just need an all-black apartment to show the ghosts off to best effect. Black light parties will also be a heck of a lot easier!

[Via Le Blog]

Funny story: I was watching Designing Women the other day (don’t pretend you don’t love some Sugerbakers!) and there was a storyline about a crazy inventor the ladies met on a dating cruise ship. This dude subsequently fell in love with Mary Jo and asked her to be his date to a high school reunion — and if she didn’t, he’d kill himself. (Draaama!) After several sentimental sax interludes about being a nerd and just needing some reinforcement in his life, all of the ladies accompany him, harem style, to his reunion. As thanks he sends a music box that, when opened, showers you with affirmation and applause. It was kind of awesome, but strictly a figment of a sappy Southern sitcom — until now.

And just like that (give or take twenty years), it exists in real life. This applause machine by moss is so simple in concept, but altogether kinda necessary for self-affirmation — honestly, how many times have you been given a standing ovation? Now we can all be stars (without the terrifying “being on stage” part).

Check out Moss for more well-conceived design and beautiful things to drool over.

Living in a log cabin seems like a dream come true. Though the cabin in my mind’s eye is primitive and cozy with an ancient hearth and roaring fire, this miniature modernized version, designed by Piet Hein Eek, seems pretty dandy as well. It was even built on wheels for easy transport. Can I roll it over to my backyard?  [Via Erie Basin]