Things I’m Digging on Etsy- the Robin and Bird edition

Posted on 24 October, 2011 by Robin

Happy Monday all!

Ask anyone who knows me- if you want to buy me something, anything with a bird on it will always work. Last weekend one of my sisters gave me a handy little handbag hook, so I never again have to put my purse on the dirty ground of New York bars. What made it even better than a clever little item is the enamel bird on the top!

Handy Handbag Holder

So cute and handy! So, in the spirit of my love of birds (and this being my birthday week!), here are some of my favorite ‘robin’ items from Etsy…

Welsh Robin Mug from Ceramics For Everyone

When I lived in England my appreciation for the American Spring Robin was replaced with a love for the European Winter Robin. Robins in England and Wales in the winter are like the Chickadees I grew up with in Connecticut… they’re in every bush that might have berries and hiding in every Holly Tree to bring a little joy to the cold winter. But the European robin brings a bit more colour than the black and white chickadee of northeastern Christmases.

Felted Robin from Lybo

“The north wind doth blow and we shall have snow, and what will the robin do then, poor thing?”

Robin Pillow from MirthQuake

Every bird illustration in this Dutch artist’s shop is absolutely gorgeous. Check out her limited edition spring Chickadee dress. And the flamingo scarf may just be my mother’s Christmas gift…

Robin's Egg soaps from TheBowerStudio

Robin’s egg themed items are just as pretty as actual robins, and these soaps are the prettiest!

Copper Robin necklace by BethMillner

Beth has some really beautiful hand cut jewelry in her shop!

I was also trying to find robins egg themed jewelry to put in this post. Unfortunately, while there is a lot of cute affordable robins egg jewelry on Etsy, the majority of it is all resellers. As some one with a shop on Etsy, and a supporter of true handmade artisans (and I have a soft for Regretsy), I don’t like to promote resellers when Etsy is supposed to be about hard-working designers and vintage hunters getting their work out to the public.

And now for the artist that inspired me to do this post in the first place:

Gorgeous Robin Watercolour Print from Teva Gallery

Ukranian artist Ola Liola of Teva Gallery has some of the most beautiful, lively, colourful, attention-grabbing, breathtaking illustrations I have seen in a long time. Her lines and colours in almost every image make me go ‘wow’, and I kind of want to wallpaper my apartment in them. Thinking of wallpaper, her lacy designs would made a FANTASTIC wallpaper for a small room.

Here are a few more of my favourites:

Owl by Oli Liola

Happy Rabbit by Ola Liola

Lacy Robin by Ola Liola

Moth by Ola Liola

And, her shop is running a Buy 2, Get 1 Free sale on select prints, so click on over there and buy some beautiful prints!

~Robin

Family Time and Tag Sales

Posted on 23 October, 2011 by Robin

Two of my sisters visited the fam this past week. It was lovely to do dinner and take in a show with all of them in Thursday. Friday was one of those rare days when all 4 of us daughters were in my parents house. My three sisters and I all get along, though when there’s that much estrogen in one house, a fight does tend to erupt (usually involving me… whoops!).

One sister left yesterday morning, and this morning I went with Dad to drop off my other sister at the airport. But before doing that, She and I pulled out a drawer of old photos. Mainly photos of her from when she was little (I’m the youngest by many years), though there was one photo of me that we found…

Me and Mom

Poufy hair and a Polaroid…. does it get any better?

And living around the corner from the Metropolitan Museum means that I get to go there all the time and discover new pieces that I love.

Van Gogh in the permanent collection at The Met

And on a totally different note…

This coming weekend is the ASID of CT’s Designer Tag Sale!

I will be there helping my Mother, Betsy Lange of Clay-Biddle Associates, as well as hawking some of my vintage wares from my Etsy Shop and new products. Momma Bear will be selling her hand-painted tiles, fabric, and possibly even some wall paper. I’ll be there with vintage bottles, books, and corkscrews to decorate your table tops, as well as our brand new, hand-matted vintage children’s illustrations. I’m super excited about these and have spent many hours hunched over in the studio with a matt-board cutter. Hopefully yall will like them as much as we do!

Vintage Children's Illustrations

These prints have all been taken from children’s books from the 1940s.

Vintage Illustrations

I know there was a lot in the post, but I’ll give yall a reminder about the tag sale later this week. If you live in Fairfield or Westchester County you should definitely stop by… if not for me, then for all the other amazing designer deals!

When: 10/29/2011

Time: 10:00 am – 04:00 pm

Location: at Christ Church in Greenwich, CT.

Cheers!

~Robin

Posted on 14 October, 2011 by Robin

Coming soon to my Etsy Store…

It’s taken a while, but they’re getting done! Just in time for your Christmas shopping.

Apologies!

Posted on 27 September, 2011 by Robin

Apologies for the lack in posting! I’ve been busy teaching!

Yes, I’m teaching an after school class in mythology once a week for 2nd and 3rd grade boys. When not doing that, I’ve been either knitting or cooking (properly domestic, I know). I need to start taking pictures while I cook, because I’ve been trying some delicious recipes. Like tonight, I took some fresh figs and made this delicious red wine reduction fig sauce with some fresh pork chops from the amazing butcher at the 86th St. Fairway. If you have some fresh figs around definitely give it a try.

And I promise, more posts to come!

Clearly I Need to Clean the Glass on my Scanner…

Posted on 13 September, 2011 by Robin

Unknown Beauty

Posted on 12 September, 2011 by Robin

Perfect Picture. Way too pretty to be related!

Kewpie Doll/Brat

Posted on 9 September, 2011 by Robin

You just know she raised all sorts of hell in the house.

The Unknowns

Posted on 8 September, 2011 by Robin

There are two photos from Grandma Anna’s collection that truly stand out, but have no identification. They are two old photos on metal plates of a girl and boy probably around 10. After reading descriptions of old methods of photography on A.J Morris’ Site, I’m guessing that they’re tin-types. But I don’t know if they’re from Germany or New York. All I know is it’s later than the 1860s.

The little boy could be my great-grandfather August or his brother William, who was born in Princeton, NJ in the 1860s. His parents, August and Elise, emigrated from Oldenburg in 1861, and settled down in NJ. When my great-grandfather was 7, Elise died from diabetes, according to the Hudson NJ medical records. The 1880 Federal Census shows that they had another German immigrant, Bertha Schon, living with them as a servant. I imagine she probably did most of the upbringing. Great great grandfather August was a grocer.

If the other picture is August or Henry, then I fancy that this picture is their younger sister Agnes. Those are some serious ears.

I do wish there were names on these mysteries.

Last Hurrah of Summer

Posted on 6 September, 2011 by Robin

This past summer has been my first summer doing, essentially, nothing. In past years I’ve always had a job, or coursework, or some other summer activity, to keep me incredibly busy. This year has been 100% self-motivated, which was both a blessing and a curse. Whatever the outcome, Boyfriend and I spent Labor Day weekend with one of my sisters at her Hamptons house, desperately clinging to the last vestiges of summer. I’m still not ready to take off my summer pink nail polish, or to give up my sun-bleached strawberry blonde hair.

Despite the calendar, the views around us insisted it was fall. Yesterday we drove out to Montauk Point to watch the surfers and enjoy a last trip to the beach. Boyfriend, as usual, sat away from the sand (“but I don’t let getting sandy and salty!” he whines) while I got my jeans wet and searched for shells along the waters edge.

Hurricane Irene brought autumn to the East End far too early. Driving along Montauk Highway, trees were brown and dead-looking from the salt water influx. There will be no gentle golden descent into autumn this year.

The beach was littered with seaweed, mussels, and washed up crabs. I was surprised to find a blue crab and a lobster, both victims of the storm surge from last weekend.

Seeing all these washed up creatures made me a little maudlin. Eventually Boyfriend and I continued along our usual route of walking along the boulder terrace that protects the lighthouse from erosion. When the tide is coming in and the surf is good, it’s a great spot to eat lunch and watch the surfers go.

There are almost always a few fishermen trying to get dinner for the night.

Dead pine trees overwhelm the few living ones in the shadow of the lighthouse. It’s amazing Irene didn’t take them out.

So last night was a slow return to reality on the Jitney, and today is a slap in the face reminder that summer is gone- rainy and grey in New York. More old family photos tomorrow if I get all my errands done now that I’m back in the city…