I could very easily go on and on about today's shop for pages and pages. The talent of the work in today's shop is just breathtaking, even more so because the works of art are done on such a very small scale.
Meet Heather Kent, the artist in question concerning the pieces of wearable art that I'm introducing you to today.
Heather is a wonderful woman from Long Beach, California who I first met via Twitter where she was helping others learn the ropes of the Etsy-verse. I have to admit that lurked on her conversation for quite some time before introducing myself, but she was such a wonderful and inspiring, not to mention helpful, person that I had to "meet" her myself.
Since then, I've learned a lot from Heather, and from the very first, I've admired her talent.
Heather Kent makes beautiful jewelry, you see, which in itself is my passion. But she puts a new twist on it because each of her pieces of jewelry is a framed piece of hand-painted water color artwork. GORGEOUS watercolor artwork!
She paints animals, birds, nature, plants... just about anything, and they're all beautifully done and rich with color and style. She even takes custom requests for only an additional $2 fee. You really can't beat a deal like that.
At the moment, she's in the process of re-shooting all her works and so her shop is just a bit sparse but trust me... you won't want to miss out in taking a browse around and you *will* want to come back to look again and again as more and more of her items return to being listed! So be sure to stop by and take a look. There are so many pieces in her shop already that I'm dying to snatch up and own for myself, I know you'll find something you love too.
YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE TO VISIT HEATHER KENT'S SHOP ON ETSY AND TAKE A LOOK AROUND OR, IF YOU PREFER, CLICK RIGHT HERE.
Having the flu is no fun. I want to send out a big thank you to Leal for trying to keep the blog going in my absence though! I think he has a whole new appreciation for the amount of dedication and work that goes into a post-a-day type blog, poor guy.
Thank you so much for those that sent me well wishes through twitter, too. I really appreciate the support!
Today's shop is a cute one. So cute 
that the first time I stepped in, they shop made me smile and I fell instantly in love with the little guy pictured here in this post. His name is Rocky Monster, by the way. Not to be confused with Happy, Gleeful, Angry, Rosie or Cocoa, which are also wonderful monsters available in today's shop!
ArtsiBitsi (I love the name too!) is a little shop on Etsy that sells a wide variety of different monster and alien ware for you to browse through and adopt. They have everything from backpacks, bags and journals to iPod/phone pouches, Kleenex/tissue covers (called snot monsters), cards, tags, charms and toys.
The artist designs all the pieces herself with the help of her 1970's sewing machine named Blanche. They've been a team for some time and if you take a tour through her sight you'll see that they both have terrific fun together too!
All the monsters and aliens in ArtsiBitsi are individually designed, so when you stop by be sure to look at all of the photos in the listings to see whether there are special features, like extra tabs, buttons or pockets.
TO VISIT THE ARTISBITSI SHOP ON ETSY, YOU CAN CLICK THE PICTURE ABOVE OR, IF YOU'D RATHER, CLICK RIGHT HERE!
Okay, as a guy, I'm not exactly up on girl's fashion trends, but I have to admit that when I opened up this site to take a look at this week's BESTeam feature for our blog? My sister was peeking over my shoulder and she loved these.
She loved them so much that I had to remind her that she has to pay me her part of May's rent before she can buy some. And, even I have to admit... they're very cute.
As a twin to a very femme sister, I've been wrangled into a lot of things most guys don't learn. Like... how to french braid hair, or arrange a french knot or ballet bun. And I have to admit that these little pins would look great for use with those kind of hair styles to add a little color or flair to the look.
The shop where these are found is Poppy Luxe Designs and is ran by Kimberly. Her shop offers both these little hair pin creations as well as magnets and some decoupage designs as well. She has a frame over there that I think is really cool with a bird on a branch scrolled along the bottom.
To check out these items and more, YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE TO VISIT PoppyLuxeDesigns' SHOP ON ETSY AND TAKE A LOOK AROUND OR, IF YOU PREFER, CLICK RIGHT HERE.
[ Don't worry, our fearless heroine (the regular author of this blog) is still out with the flu but she'll be back soon. I'm just (trying) to fill in for the mean time. - Leal ] [This blog post is a "BESTeam Feature" for the Boosting Etsy Shops Team. The BESTeam is dedicated to helping its members promote their shops and assisting each other in marketing, advertising and sharing the tips and tricks of running an online business. If you are a seller on Etsy and are interested in becoming a member of the BESTeam, the team is accepting new members and you can find more information about the team as well as apply to become a member HERE.]
Okay. So, our fearless heroine is currently under the weather and too ill to write. So I thought I'd come in and maybe suggest not exactly a handmade shop today, but a site that runs along the green theme which is often an underlying thread to the posts here on The Meandering Musings.
I ran across a site today that takes being environmentally responsible to a new level, and I thought that our readers might be interested in it too.
The site is a German based project called Machs Gruen, and although a good portion of the site is in German, they offer English translation.
Essentially, “My blog is carbon neutral” is an initiative, originally started in Germany by the “Make it Green” programme, that has the goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. They plant a tree for your blog and thereby neutralize your blog’s carbon footprint for the next 50 years! Did you even know that your blog had carbon emissions? I mean, I didn't. But after it turns out it does.
From the site: "According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, 
PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems."
The cool thing is, it doesn't cost you anything to participate either. Just a blog post and an e-mail. So even if you can't afford to give to charity or environmental causes in the more "traditional" cash-based ways... you can still participate in this programme.
