Favorite Etsy Shops

 

I hope you're on Santa's Nice List this year!

One thing I love about Etsy is how the sellers take such care in wrapping their orders before shipping.

This parcel contains Christmas seam binding ribbon from Bluebird Lane.

Happy Wednesday, My Lovelies!  One of my blog friends (Diane is the guilty party) suggested that I share a few of my favorite Etsy shops in a post, and I thought it was an excellent idea.  I love to support small shop owners and artists!  

I usually purchase craft materials and creative art via Etsy.  We also bought many beautiful things from all over the world for Shanley Belle and Christopher's wedding from Etsy, and I think that the one of a kind items helped make their wedding unique and personal.  I could write a lengthy post on that, but today I'll focus on the stores where I've been a repeat customer.

Here are the six Etsy shops I LOVE!!!

Forget Me Not Bookshop

Emma shows vintage books love by recovering them in vintage fabric.  She also makes new journals, also covered in beautiful fabric, and she sells notecards, too.  I have bought several of her editions, and I've given more as gifts than I've bought for myself.  Everyone I've given them to really loved their book!

Emma does such a nice job wrapping her books!  I never need to wrap them when I'm giving them as presents!

Emma, Black Beauty, and Madame Bovary (smaller edition)

The last edition I gave Shanley Belle was a 1940s edition of Jane Eyre with 1940s barkcloth.  It was so pretty!

An example of a notecard
via Emma

A Tattered Dream

When I'm looking for vintage fabric, ephemera, and hand-frayed ribbon, I know I can find what I'm looking for at A Tattered Dream.  I love how unique her ephemera is, especially the vintage items.  Currently she has vintage vocabulary cards in several languages.  I really should buy a few!

This is a fall bundle I purchased a few months ago.  There are several 1970s fabric scraps in the bundle, and I've enjoyed using it for different things.

Winged World

I know I've featured Vickie's artwork on my blog before, but it's worth featuring again.  What to do with obsolete library cards....Vickie turns them into works of art by either painting or printing her original artwork on them!  Our girls are fascinated because they've never seen card catalogs....the internet became fairly standard in 1993, and library inventories went online as well.  I think her artwork is fun (I love her style) and I also LOVE the nostalgia of having her work on library cards.

The Illustrated Library Card Catalog

I enjoy displaying the cards in our library

Bluebird Lane

I have a seam binding ribbon problem.  I need help.  But in my defense I use it for everything.  I love to wrap small gifts with it, tie envelope bundles, make tags, you name it....seam binding ribbon is the workhorse of my art studio along with pencils!  Bluebird Lane is my favorite source for seam binding ribbon.  This shop also sells the most beautiful tags and bookmarks.  It's a sweet shop if you want to embellish a gift, make a tag journal, or embellish a junk journal.

The adorable little gift cards were lagniappe....that's Cajun for a little something extra.  I love how thoughtful many Etsy sellers are by sending freebies with orders.

Perri Ann's Arts n Things

Perri Ann sells a plethora of craft supplies, and most of what she sells I wouldn't use.  But if you are a crafter, you really should check-out her shop.  So why do I shop there when I wouldn't use most of her inventory?  Because she make the pretties distressed and hand-stamped ribbon on the internet, and it sells out fast!  Check it out:

I love tea-stained ribbon.  I like wrapping wedding gifts with it, and I also like using them in book vignettes around the house.

A Fanciful Twist

Some of y'all probably follow Vanessa's blog, but did you know that she also sells her whimsical artwork on Etsy?  I love her style, and I enjoy purchasing her prints from original ink art because that's a medium I don't work with.

House from the movie Practical Magic

What do you think?  Do any of these stores interest you?

There are a few other stores I stalk, but I haven't bought anything from them yet;  I don't want to endorse shops I haven't purchased anything from.  

Do you have any favorite Etsy shops you'd like to share?  Please leave a comment below!

Advent 2020

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Favorite Etsy Shops

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Checking In With My Blog Friends

Hello, My Lovelies!  I know I've been MIA lately, but I've been busy with wedding plans, and our sweet niece Molly moved-in with us.  She is completing a clinical rotation here in Birmingham for her doctorate in physical therapy.  We're so proud of her!  She and Shelley are both studying hard, and they are using the desktop computer.  I currently do not have a laptop, so it's hard for me to blog at the moment.

Plus, I've been working on myself a little, too.  I'm trying to get healthier, and I've been painting a little.  I've also been practicing a new artistic skill called silverpoint.  Silverpoint is what artists used before graphite.  It's literally a piece of silver that leaves a mark on specially grounded paper.  I want to learn more about it because I love it!  To me, it is a very intimate medium.  It does not photograph well because it's hard to see the shimmer of the metal via photos.  It really draws the viewer in!

I decorated for Halloween this month, but I don't know if I'll get around to posting any photos.  Maybe on Instagram.  I've been a bit MIA over there, too!  But I will be on my @rickijilltreleaven account this week as I'm posting my new paintings.

I will try to catch up with your blogs via my iPad until I can replace my laptop.  Until then, please share with me anything you think I've missed from your blog lately in the comments and I will definitely link over!  

This is one of four pumpkin paintings for autumn.  I love the oil-primed canvases I used for this one.

I painted this colorful and lively trio of apples on a pretty linen cloth a couple of weeks ago.

Both paintings will be available in my Etsy Shop this week!

Above is a silverpoint pumpkin I drew.  I'm still getting the hang of it.  The only drawback with silverpoint is it cannot be erased!  So artists are allowed to embrace their mistakes with this medium.  ;P

Have y'all read any good books for autumn?  I will have a couple of terrific book reviews coming up in the next few weeks.  Stay tuned!

Until next time...

Blessings!  

Ricki Jill

Checking In With My Blog Friends

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

The Sketchy Reader December Letters Reveal

Happy Saturday!  December's letters were so much fun to write and illustrate.  For December's favorite book I chose the first installment in the Flavia de Luce murder mystery series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  If you want to start an interesting and fun series for 2018, I highly suggest the Flavia murder mysteries.  Plus, the ninth novel in the series will be released at the end of January.

Here are the letters:

The Indie Next List selection is on the left: The Essex Serpent.  The favorite book is on the right: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

You can read my review of The Essex Serpent HERE.  

You can read my review of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie HERE.

I've picked my books for January's letters already, and I can't wait to get started on them!

If you want to subscribe to bookishly fun snail mail, or if you love a book nerd, please visit my updated Etsy Shop by following this LINK.  

Until next time...

Blessings!

Ricki Jill

The Sketchy Reader December Letters Reveal

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Literary Friday: The Sketchy Reader November Letters Reveal

Happy Literary Friday, My Lovelies!  I hope you're having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  Are you getting out in the Black Friday madness today?  I have an idea to save you lots of time and trouble for the reader in your life.  Why not a subscription to one of my bookish letters?  Everyone loves getting snail mail!

Here's a sample of what my letters look like:

November 2017 letters from The Sketchy Reader

Each letter is illustrated with watercolor pencils.  I make copies of letters on heavy card stock paper, and then I address each letter to the recipient.  I include discussion questions, a tag, and sometimes ephemera.  I can customize handmade cards for special occasions, like Christmas!

I offer several subscriptions: one month, three months, six months, or twelve months.  Plus, you can select from two categories: an all-time favorite book, or if you're feeling more adventurous, a selection from the Indie Next List.

Plus, all the "archived" letters are available, like these for November:

This letter is a selection from a recent Indie Next List, Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

This is a favorite book selection, The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

I place all the goodies in a large envelope and mail them using stamps.

Take a look at my Etsy Store, and shop from your computer or other device.  Easy peasy!  You can shop from your home and not worry about wrapping or sending a card!

You can always access my shop by clicking on the "Shop" page on my Nav Bar above.  

I hope you have some downtime to read this weekend.  You can see what I'm reading on my sidebar!

Until next time...

Happy reading!

Ricki Jill

Literary Friday: The Sketchy Reader November Letters Reveal

Friday, November 24, 2017

The Sketchy Reader October Letters Reveal

I hope you're having a wonderful Saturday, My Lovelies!  

I want to reveal October's letters from The Sketchy Reader.  These letters are available in my Etsy Store.

The Indie Next List Selection letter is about Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore.  

My Favorite Books Selection letter is about Water for Elephants.

Each letter is addressed to the recipient and includes discussion questions and other happy surprises of the ephemera variety.  I host book discussions for each book on the fifteenth of the following month on my Facebook Page, so these books will be discussed November 15th.

If you have a book nerd who'd enjoy this subscription, please share or order a subscription for him or her today!  Happy snail mail is fun!!!

Until next time...

Happy reading!

Ricki Jill

The Sketchy Reader October Letters Reveal

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Updating my Mood Board in the Library/Classroom

I'm feeling moody today, My Lovelies.  More accurately, I'm updating my mood board with a few wonderful Etsy finds from one of my favorite Etsy stores, Winged World.  Artist Vickie Moore loves "to preserve obsolete library card catalog cards by turning them into pieces of art."  And I for one am so happy that she does.  Our daughters didn't know what they were when I showed the illustrated card catalog cards to them.  Card catalogs became obsolete after 1992 with the advent of computerized catalogs, although many of them were not online until the early 2000s.

The mood board is on the work table where I blog, so I like the table to remain neat, and it's an added bonus to be inspired by fun art.

The tiny little factory cart is a replica of the large one here in the library.  These are books that are on my TBR list.  I hope to finish reading them all by Christmas.

The smaller cards are actually Vickie's business cards, and I think they are too cute to put in drawer so I placed them on my mood board, too.

I love Madeline!  

I loved the Harry series when I was a little girl.  Harry the Dirty Dog is a favorite, and this card is for Harry and the Lady Next Door.

Do you have a mood board?  What's on it?

(I want to be a looky-loo and snoop a peek at your mood board, bulletin board, fridge, whatever you use to stick things that inspire and make you smile!)

Until next time...

Blessings!

Ricki Jill

Updating my Mood Board in the Library/Classroom

Thursday, September 28, 2017

It's a Sketchy Reader Giveaway!

Happy Tuesday, My Lovelies!  Y'all have made me so happy with your sweet comments, emails, and even a couple of phone calls about the changes I've made to my blog.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart because a kind word (or three) can certainly go a long way to encourage a soul.  :D

To celebrate my new and streamlined blog, I'm giving away a letter from my Etsy Shop PLUS the book discussed in the letter to one lucky reader.

You will get your choice of either:

September 2017  "Favorite" book selection, Outlander

September 2017 "Indie Next List" book selection, The Almost Sisters

Each letter comes with a fun set of discussion questions.  Next month on October 15th I'd like to discuss these books on my FB Page!  If you've read either book, please stop by for the discussion.  You can drop in at anytime during the day and participate!  :D

But wait!  There's more...  I'm also including a copy of the book, too!  So you'll either win:

in paperback,

or:

in hardcover.

Both books are fantastic, and the stories will stay with you for a very long time.

A close-up of the Outlander letter

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Until next time...
Blessings! Ricki Jill

It's a Sketchy Reader Giveaway!

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

The Sketchy Reader Debut: A Note From My Heart

Happy Monday, My Lovelies!  I want to forewarn you that this is a rather lengthy post. However, I'm writing from my heart, and I hope that you'll take the time to read the entire post (especially my blog friends who've followed me for years).  This has been a difficult post for me to write; I can't tell you how many times I've edited it.  I tend to have a bit of a stoic persona here on my blog, but in real life I'm not that way at all.  I've always been a little "guarded" on my blog, but I intend to change that ~ starting today!

As you know, I've changed the name of my blog from Art @ Home to The Sketchy Reader.  I have several reasons for the change, and over the past month I've left hints and clues about what I want to achieve here on The Sketchy Reader.

Reason #1:   For the first time in almost twenty-five years, I'm an empty nester.  I didn't want it to be a rough transition for me because I've placed quite the focus on home and family.  One thing you need to know about me is I was not a stay at home mom by choice.   I had to end my career because our youngest daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at eighteen months old.  Suddenly our lives were filled with numerous therapies per week.  Shortly after Shelley's diagnosis, Shanley Belle was diagnosed with dyslexia.  She needed therapy in order to read, and all of her therapy was private. You see, the State of Alabama didn't even recognize dyslexia as a learning disability until 2015, the year Shanley graduated from college.  I made a conscientious choice to make the most of our situation, and threw myself into the role of domestic engineer and chief advocate for our daughters.  I admire both my daughters so much because they learned from a young age how to work hard.  Both experienced challenges that I can't imagine, yet they both overcame their disabilities:  Shanley Belle is a scientist at LSU and a published fiction writer;  Shelley is a college athlete and artist.  Although they will always need me as their mom, now is the time to focus on myself.

I will continue to allow the Westies to guest post occasionally and share family events.


Reason #2:   My blog, like my life, has been "scattered" since 2010.  I really want to narrow the focus of my blog, and from now on I'll be focusing far more on books, magazines, and reading in general.  I know that I will probably lose many readers because of this, but I feel like I need to be honest with myself and you, my Sweet Readers.  What exactly will this mean for my blog?  Let me explain.

Why books?  I've loved books since I was a tiny little girl.  My mom says that when I went to toy stores as a child I'd almost always choose a book rather than a toy (but I still loved my bike and all things Barbie).  I can remember when I was in middle school I walked to the library after school and waited until my mom picked me up after she left her teaching job at our local high school.  I loved the independence (although it was only two blocks away), and I loved finishing my homework and finding good books to read.

Math was always my strongest subject in school, but I've always loved stories.  My grandmother used to tell my cousin and me stories especially at night before gong to bed, and I've been hooked on good stories ever since.  I enjoyed my high school English classes, and I was an English minor in college (I think I had enough English credits to declare a double major).   English class wasn't always easy for me because it seemed like I always read things a bit differently from the rest of the class (some of you who know me well aren't surprised at this).  But I still loved learning about different writers and poets. After working in my major field of study for a couple of years, I decided to go to graduate school in English Education and become an English teacher.

I read to my daughters all the time while they were young, including the entire Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  One is a voracious reader, and the other one?  Not so much, but I did influence her in the art department!

Many of you have asked me: "How do you have so much time to read?"  I think we make time for what's important to us, and I enjoy reading.  We've never watched much TV in our home except for Hallmark movies and Chicago Cubs baseball.  I don't read as much at all during baseball season because if we're home, we have the game on either inside or outside on our patio.

I will read and review more home decor books in the future.

A couple of you have asked: Will you continue posting about home decor and featuring your home?  Yes, but it will be related to either home decor books I'm reviewing or magazine articles that are inspiring me.  I might also feature blog posts that are inspiring me in my decor, so again the focus will be on what I've been reading and then how it's inspired me.

Another goal is to read, try recipes, and review cookbooks because I hope to make more time to learn new things in the kitchen.

Y'all have seen every inch of my home.   I want to keep my blog's content new and fresh, so as much as I enjoy taking out the same pumpkins every year to fluff the house for fall, y'all might not care to see them.  Again.  But if I do change something around here, I'll share that and the resources that inspired me because although I'm an artist I'm far more resourceful than creative!

Practical Magic Party

Mad Tea Party

Another way I'll feature home decor will be participation in book-related link parties.  An example: Practical Magic Parties and Mad Tea Parties.  You can see some of these parties on my Link Parties Page.  Mayhap I will also host a few of my own.  Stay tuned!

Reason #3:  I enjoy art journaling, and I journal about my life which includes books.  I will share these posts maybe once or twice a month along with any completed paintings. Sometimes I like to create little journals or other works of art with ephemera, and I will share those, too.  But if you want to see all of my journaling posts, you need to follow me on my other blog, Mediation of my He{art}.

Reason #4:  I've been trying to find a way to keep track of my reading, and I decided to start a reading journal.  It's much smaller than my art journal, and I use a few of my favorite art journaling techniques in it.  This combines two of my favorite loves, reading and journaling/drawing.  I'll share it from time to time here on this blog, and on my other blog as well.

Reason #5:  I need to be true to myself.  I want my blog to be authentic even though I'm inspired by books, other bloggers, and other artists.  

I hope you'll continue my blogging journey with me.

However, I get how blogging is supposed to be guilt-free, and you only have a certain amount of time during the week to read blogs,  so I will understand if I don't see you around here much anymore.

And if I still read your blog, please don't feel obligated to read The Sketchy Reader.  That will make me feel even worse....

But if you need something good to read, I can help.  If you don't, but you have a friend who loves reading, please send her my way.

Well, there you have it!  The five reasons I reimagined my blog.  I would really appreciate your feedback.  Please email me or leave a comment below.  

Until next time...

Blessings!

Ricki Jill

The Sketchy Reader Debut: A Note From My Heart

Monday, September 18, 2017

My Most Recent Etsy *crush*

Happy Monday!  I hope you all make the time to do something creative today.  Unfortunately I won't be going to the studio today for my portrait class because I'm taking Shelley to visit a college (the one she wants to attend….number one on her list) and take some entrance exams.  Please say a little prayer for her!

We're getting ready for back to school here at Art @ Home.  Do you remember card catalogs from when you were in school?  If so, then you're old.  Old like me.  But I digress….

I loved card catalogs, and I think that the last year for their universal use was 1992.  So what can you do with all those millions and millions of cards that are obsolete?  Well, this genius artist started turning them into art.  And I love them.  So I bought a couple of them.  Let's take a look:

Harry the Dirty Dog was my favorite series when I was a child.  I guess my love for the series was prophetic because I have had a couple of naughty terriers in my life!



I bought this one for Shanley Belle as a surprise for getting a contract on her book.  Shhhh don't tell her!  It's a secret!  ;P



Vickie the artist of these wonderful little works gave me this one for free.  This is a favorite book of mine!



I even like Vickie's business card with Charlotte's Webb on it!

Please visit Vivkie's Etsy store Winged World.

Until next time…
Blessings!Ricki Jill

My Most Recent Etsy *crush*

Monday, July 27, 2015