favorite find: week of 2/16

It was Valentine’s Day last Friday, and we are certainly not the romantic types.  If there was a type we had to assign ourselves to, I’d say J.R. and I are more the sarcastic type.  I reserve most of my fawning-over for kittens, little babies with curly hair and messy mouths and (last, but not least) things I find in my favorite color combinations.

Red, white and blue are one of these – patriotism aside (so many flags to adore in these colors!) I just really, really love the way they work together.  So short of painting our living room like Ol’ Glory it’s nice to know that I can just throw in some accent pieces like this amazing, 1950s-era roller skate box that I found at the Pride’s Corner flea market!  It’s listed in our Etsy shop, so you can experience the thrill of the find, too!

orange you glad

vintage teacup from little eye on etsy

It’s February, which means the only thing sustaining any of us until the first 50 degree evening brings us a downpour to wash all the road salt away is pretty much junk food, our favorite tv shows streaming, and bright pops of color almost constantly.

Even though the fresh, white snow is beautiful (and will continue to get taller and taller and still beautiful after the coming three-day Nor’Easter we’re supposed to get, it’s still white.  So white.  So endlessly white.

I’ve been knitting with bright colors on my needles (most recently:  turquoise and orange) and listing brightly colored objects in the Etsy shop to keep my eyes open.  They’ve put me in charge of revamping the kitchen at work at possibly the most daring time of year for me, colorwise.  I think I’m using Stefanie Hiebert’s retro living room as my color inspiration.  Lunch break won’t know what hit it!

ladies size 7.5 tan/navy gumshoe from little eye on etsy

snowy day, bright prints

Good lord, it’s happening again:  6-10 inches of the white stuff started falling this morning just before I left for work.  It’s an excuse to break out the bison boots again, and actually nice to cover up the muddy patches since there’s two more months, minimum, of winter in the north east.  Better to look at a soft blanket of snow than the alternative.  The picture above is from this afternoon’s sweep-off of the car after leaving work a wee bit early to beat the rest of the storm.  Oh yeah!  If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, my name is littleeyedesigns.

Guess what, I couldn’t help myself when I drove by the deserted parking lot at the thrift store.  I found some gauzy, cotton dresses in pretty prints that are just begging for an early Spring.  Me too, pretty dresses, me too!  These will end up in the shop or on Ebay sometime in the next week, so definitely check back!

duck, duck, goose

There is nothing I love finding more on our thrifting outings than Bean boots.  Growing up in Maine, a pair of weathered duck boots (that is, the rubber moc, the low style) is a badge of honor.

Of course most of the time I don’t find them in my oh-so-ubiquitous size (7.5, message me if you find some!) so they get photographed and put in the shop.  The great thing about them is that they get better with age.  Leather with a patina, rubber soles with character and a color that can’t quite be matched by any factory.

These never stay long in the shop, but do check back frequently as I seem to have quite some luck finding pretty much any size (other than 7.5!) in my travels.

shake shake shake

anthropomorphic oranges, what else?

New energy in the shop!  We rifled through the collection to find some bright sunshine for these dull, gray days.  Found a theme just waiting in the stacks of items waiting (patiently, ahem) of salt + pepper shakers, and we’ve listed three in the Little Eye Etsy shop!  Click on the images to take yourself whizzing across the internet to the listings.

love bugs by Ruth van Tellingen Bendel

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think these little love bugs are mine.  They were designed by Ruth van Tellingen Bendel in the 1950s for the Regal China Company out of Illinois.  Ruth cut her teeth as a children’s book writer, but her visual language translated very nicely to seasoning delivery vessels.  Aww, here’s their cute little behinds:

You can see the little holes in their head for salt and pepper to come out of!

picnic in style

These are also from the 1950s, hand painted strawberry blossom shakers, oversized, excellent for a retro picnic or camping excursion.  The paint is in awesome condition, but there is just a little wear on the very tops of the plastic lids, presumably because this is the only part you should wash (or wash insides of globes very careful not to get the outside wet).

Just a little snippet!  We spent some more time in the studio snapping pictures of goodies that will be in the shop soon.

In the shop, vol. 1

polaroid land camera – highlander

The time is nigh, dear readers, we are on the eve of my 30th birthday.  That, in itself, is pretty exciting.  I’m also feeling a very wanted surge of energy in the Etsy, photography, professional, creative departments.  Must be all those old cells replacing themselves.  In any case, I think I’d like to bring you more updates about all the wicked cool things I’m stuffing my Etsy shop full of these days.  Periodically I’ll throw some listings up here so you can ogle them.

1950s noise maker with cigar smoking clown

For the last few years I’ve been amassing some particularly interesting, mid-century finds.  The Polaroid Land Camera (Highlander) above was manufactured from 1954-57.  The noise maker with the clown blowing smoke rings should date back to the 1950s (my best guess).

antique rifle oil flask

The little oil flask above I absolutely couldn’t not resist.  It fits between your thumb and fingers so perfectly.  It stores oil to lubricate a hunting rifle.  It’s very, very old and so terrific.  The little cap screws off easily, it’s just really a wonder to hold in your hands.  People used to make things with such intention.  And keep them forever.

simultaneously awesome + gross: WWII soap dish and (original?) soap

In addition to all these bits from the past, I’ve been posting a few creations of my own.  Take a minute to stop by the shop and click around – even if you’re not in the market for 70 year old soap or rifle oil flasks they sure are lovely to look at!

musical notes post earrings

 

 

full circle

strange bird – click for listing

Oh, phew!  For months, maybe a year now I’ve been wondering what’s missing.  Woops!  I forgot to make stuff with my hands.  And my head.  So it’s been a relief that over the last few days I’ve made some attempts to start filling the Etsy Shop with items — can’t wait for the weekend and a chance to get some daylight to photograph some things that are more physical.  Back in the saddle.

sad seagull – click for listing

For now, I’ve got some new photographs, 5″ circle images printed on 10″x10″ matted paper (perfect for standard frames) that are listed in my shop for $15.00 each.

In other news, it appears I’ve done something horribly mysterious to my knee and have been hobbling around for the last three days.  Today was the last straw and I went to the doctor only to find out what I already knew – rest, elevation, ice, naproxen sodium… pfft.  And shell out some cash to the doctor’s office while you’re at it.  Never had a knee injury before, and never want to again.  Off to elevate and ice – have a nice night, all!

Little Eye Presents… Onesies!!

Awwwww…. New and coming soon to our Etsy shop:  little baby onesies!  Oh, the cuteness is killing us.  This design of a harbor seal was hand drawn by me (Audrey) and screen printed in our kitchen.  These onesies will be available at our booth at Picnic this weekend (Saturday!  Lincoln Park!) for $10 (special Picnic debut price).  We’ve also got a pretty substantial ‘discount bin’ that we’ll be toting along.  Without kids, it’s hard to know what to do with the mess-ups except sell them for $2 a pop!  Learning to screen print is hard… but the adorable factor is totally worth it.

Hope to see you this weekend!

–A.

Saving for a Home Can Make You Do Crazy Things

I’ll miss you, mustard tiger!

It’s no secret that J. and I are kinda tired of paying rent every month, even though our landlord is a pretty cool guy.  We’re cool, too, and flushing money down the hole every month without building equity is too much.  So last September we started a savings account, and planned on a certain contribution every week which would put us at our down payment goal at the end of three years.  It hasn’t even been one and I’m obviously impatient… so I’m starting to sell awesome things that I love, because I would love it even better if we had a basement and a little yard and no one living below us, even though our neighbors are pretty cool, too.

So up on the Etsy went my favorite mustard yellow bowling bag, circa late 60s early 70s, Escort brand.  I tried to price it fairly, also noting that there was a certain dollar amount I’d have to get in order not to feel sadness (fleeting) shipping it up to go to some other home.  There’s that word again!  Reminding me that even though it’s goin’ to someone else’s it’s contributing to the one I’ll have one day and that’s a-okay.

We still have two years and a couple months to learn, save, plan and worry but it’s not a bad start learning to make some sacrifices in order to reach the real goal!  You can click on the big, pretty picture or here to view the listing in all its humble glory.

Many uses, … AND it looks like a smiling face!

Purchased on Etsy: January – Reusable Cotton Swiffer Covers from handknitted4you

Set of 3 Swiffer Covers from Hand Knitted 4 You, $10 on Etsy. Click to view listing.

By far, my most active social group on the interwebs is no, not Facebook, no, not Cat Blog Lovers Anonymous, but our very own Etsy Maine Team.  It’s a collection of 600+ Maine artists, crafters and vintage sellers on Etsy.  P.S. if you wanna belong, go here to the forums and sign up!  Anyways, Rowena from handknitted4you has these great, 100% cotton reusable swiffer covers she crochets.  As soon as I saw them I wanted them!  They were a topic of discussion in the forums at one point because everyone wanted to purchase multiples (instead of just having one) so that you can have one on the swiffer, one in the laundry and a clean one waiting in the wings.  She started listing sets of 3 and as soon as I had enough money in my Paypal account they were mine!  I even put in a custom request for three specific covers, and the turnaround was less than two days on these hand-crocheted housewares.  Awesome.

I’m going to try to purchase something from Etsy at least once per month that isn’t a supply.  This is the January installment, and I couldn’t be happier.  They came today (after shipping on Monday!  Whoa that’s an advantage from ordering in-state!) and I can’t wait to clean my floors.  Wait, what?  I can’t wait to clean?  Better go check my temperature.

Pretty Packaging

Care Instructions!