Affordable Art on Etsy

Yesterday I had typed this entire blog and was in the middle of copying something when my computer froze up and I lost the entire blog post. I was so frustrated, I had to step away and here I am again today trying to duplicate what I had almost completed Saturday.

I spent yesterday morning on Etsy looking for some art for my downstairs bathroom.  It has burgundy color walls with white wainscoting with maroon and white vintage tile.  I was looking for a sizeable painting or unique print for one wall, however, I wanted a beach theme.  As I was looking for something to match my bathroom, I came across some fun art that I thought might interest those that live near the beach or simply enjoy the ocean.

For those of you who don’t know about Etsy, it’s the Ebay for creative and talented individuals.  They carry art work, handmade jewelry and pottery, handbags, vintage items, etc.  You have to be patient because it doesn’t let you view 50 or 100 items per page and for me this can be frustrating.  However, don’t let that deter you from shopping.  It’s a great place to find a unique gift.  Here’s some of the fun things I found yesterday.

Black Baroque has fabulous art (see below).  She has long collected vintage books like most women collect shoes.  She uses antique illustrations from one book, with an antique page from another book to create unique works of art.  What I love about her site is she shows you how the art would look in a room setting.  I have taken a few examples to show you below.  She has all types of subjects such as:  shells, flowers, peacocks, elephants, food, etc.  Whatever, your fancy is, she has it.  I love these for a single picture, groupings of three, four, six, etc.  My favorite, the peacock below.

 

 

Cassia Beck is from Brighton, U.K. (see below) who enjoys all things vintage.  She takes her camera everywhere and enjoys flaws and blurs in her work.  She believes these imperfections create the atmosphere behind her photos.  She also has a blog http://cassiab.blogspot.com/  with incrediable photos.  What I love the most about her work is the soft color palette, which tends to be my personal style.  The four pictures below are postcards.  I love all of them, but especially the row of garages or buildings.  I use postcards often as art.  I buy an oversized mat and frame so the picture/postcard really pops and stands out.  These four would look great in a group setting.

 

These are four separate pictures that I put together from her collection.  I envision these in a little girls room. 

Magic Marking Art (see below) is an artist and mom of two teenagers.  She is also a teacher of art as well out of her home studio.  She paints mostly on canvas but also on wood.  Take a look at her wood paintings in her shop Magic Marking Art.  They are unique and would make a great display on a table or leaning against a wall.  These two below were the ones I was considering for my bathroom.  I prefer the top one because of it’s softer color palette.  If I end up buying it, I will take a picture and show you how it looks in the bathroom.

 

For those of you who like beach and surf scenes, I love the ones below.  They would look great as a series or individually.

 

 

These bicycles (see below) caught my attention by Den 10 Studio.  See what she says about her work.  I think this about sums up how I felt about this picture.

“I am creating art prints that I define as “art for the youthful spirit.” Art that inspires a fresh and optimistic attitude, and reminds us to savor the things that make us happy. There is something about the simplicity of an object that reminds us of a moment in time that we enjoyed. This art was created with those moments in mind...the little moments that refresh the soul.”

Living at the beach we are pleasantly reminded of the feeling of being a kid.  In Manhattan Beach people ride all types of bikes ~ sometimes colorful, sometimes rusty, sometimes double, people with dogs in baskets, kids in tow, but everyone is smiling and the best part ~ it’s all ages.  It’s that blissful feeling of riding along the strand with the wind in your face makes you feel like a kid.  Like Den 10 Studio says, “it’s refreshing the soul”. 

Bragging Bags can customize these photos (see below) to say whatever you want.  If your a guy (likely they are not reading this) ~ what a great way to propose. Girls pass on to your brothers or guy friends.  OMG!  Wouldn’t this make the most romantic proposal if it said, “Will you marry me?”  There are so many great gift ideas that you could do with these photos.  It’s the perfect gift for Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Wedding, anniversary or use as a save the date for a wedding or simply let someone know your thinking of them.  If your looking for a creative gift, this is it!

 

I spotted these and I had to post them for my New England friends.  Laura Trevey's lobster and crab’s are perfect for that beach house in New England.  Plus, it makes me miss Maine lobster and crabbing as a kid.  How cute would these be framed in a living room or a kitchen.

You know I love to show you all my great Bargains. I’ve been looking for reasonable vintage beach paintings on Ebay and Etsy.  Here’s a cute little picture (I use cute little a lot) I scored on Ebay a few weeks ago for $17.00 including shipping. It was a vintage signed oil painting that was so charming, I had to have it.  It’s only about 8” x 5”, but it’s darling.   Most of the ones I tend to gravitate towards are not in my price range, but just like a flea market occasionally you come across a great bargain.

Hope you find what your looking for!

Happy Mothers Day!

I wanted to wish my mom a Happy Mother’s Day!!!  Once again my card is late ~ sorry mom. Lately, my schedule is such, it makes it hard to keep up on personal affairs.  My mother is funny person – she used to embarrass me as a kid.  Between my family and friends we have some fond memories of my mom.  As kids, we  would come to a traffic light and she would see broken glass in the middle of the street and actually get out of the car (yes, she kept a broom in the car).  She would march to the trunk and whip out the boom and start sweeping up glass in the middle of the street. It didn’t matter if there were other cars around, she thought it was her civic duty.   It was so embarrassing, my sister and I would hide in the back seat.   We would be like, “No mom! Not again…this is so embarrassing!”

For my birthdays, my mom would make me work for my gift.  It started with a note by my bed ~ a full treasure hunt  ~ each note taking me to a different place in the house ~ telling me where I had to go and where I had to look.  She would make me go to the attic, down to the basement, in cabinets, dryer, etc. finally one year the final note took me to the freezer in the ice tray, where, I found a little box all wrapped up.  It was a pair of earrings.  I thought it was cheesy at the time, but secretly I loved it. She always made everything an adventure and made us work for it.   My best friend and I in high school had our birthdays' in December.  Sue was the 29th and I was the 30th.  We were the youngest in our class, but we always celebrated our birthday’s together.  Sue and I would always celebrate at a local restaurant, Oliver’s Tavern and leave it to my mom, to always called ahead to ensure they had a cake for us (with staff singing happy birthday).  Some years she would make an appearance by singing happy birthday.   I would always say to Sue, “Oh! I hope they don’t come out singing (we knew my mom)!”. 

My mom was goof ball.  While on vacation on the Cape with our neighbors, my mom and her best friend Barbara would do Chinese fire drills with us  on the Cape.  For all of you who don’t know what that is, it’s when you get out of your car at a stop light and you run around the car.   On vacation, we (the kids) would play pranks on our moms.  While they were at the beach one day, parked in a crowed parking lot, we toilet papered their car.  They came back from the beach making fun of the toilet papered car until they realized it was their car.  When they arrived home, imagine their amazement when they pulled in the driveway to find their underwear and bras hanging from all the trees.  Of course, we were in high school and thought we were so funny.   That night we could hear our mom’s giggling and plotting their revenge.  I woke up to find peanut butter in my sneakers.  I went to put my shoes the next day and as I slid my shoe on there was a glob of peanut butter, gross!  My mom knew how much I hated peanut butter.  They put cold cream on the toilet so we slid off the toilet when we sat down.  They thought they were hilarious!

Christmas was the same, my mom hates us knowing what we are getting.  Even if it was a gift certificate she would have to disguise it.  One year, I had rocks in my present, to weigh down the box.  I decided to get her back one year and took her own underwear out of her drawer and wrapped her gift certificate in it.  She was so excited saying  how much she needed new underwear, not even realizing it was hers (from her own drawer).  I had her gift certificate hidden inside.  I was laughing so hard, I could hardly breathe. 

Marie Baby (Sue’s nickname) is a funny woman.  She makes us all laugh, she’s thoughtful, her friends love her, and she has made me who I am today. 

Thank you Mom!  Happy Mothers Day!

 

P.S. I also want to wish all my friends who are mom’s a Happy Mother’s Day! Your all amazing, special and beautiful women, I hope you have a special day with or without kids! LOL!