If the Treasury wasn't full . .

Well, I have just started my very own vintage Etsy shop, Carefully Curated. My focus thus far is on good quality sterling silver, because I had a lot of it on hand and no idea where or how to sell it! I've already had one sale (thank you so much, Lyn of State College, PA!) and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

I figured I ought to start a related blog, and serendipitously I just finished up a tough semester in grad school, and wanted to get the creative juices going with an Etsy treasury or two. Of course, it's a terribly popular feature and very full because of the holiday season! So the screenshot above, from Etsy's wonderful Poster Sketch feature, is what I would have entered, if I could have.

Top Row:

Rio Grand Iron Work's Horseshoe Hat Rack. Oh my goodness, I want this! I've been favoriting it for months and measured to make sure it would fit behind my front door. I would use it for reusable shopping bags instead of for hats though . . . I always forget to grab them on the way out the door!





Paloma's Nest's Whatever You Are, Be a Good One. These eggs are so creative and quirky. I would definitely display it as she does here, in an egg carton. I also love that this is an Abraham Lincoln quote, he was an amazing man.







Sarka Trager's Taos Blue Door. These photographers take the most beautiful pictures. I would love a small collection of their prints to decorate a hallway or along a door frame. The artists are on vacation so their Etsy shop is shuttered for now, but you can view more of their work at http://www.sarka-trager.com/.














Childlike Wisdom by Ayco's I wonder . . . I have been crazy about this Etsy shop for awhile, and I'm especially fond of this piece. At $3.50 for the postcard, it's affordable too! Ayco is currently running a special through December 31st - one free postcard of your choice with any purchase. I bet this little guy goes fast!









Middle Row:

Red Hot Pottery's Set of three tiny heart bowls. Oh my. I just want to eat these up. Except I hear chewing on stoneware is bad for your teeth. I also have visions of some sort of large installation using them - apparently the artist makes hundreds! Just lovely.







Odette New York's Fox Claw Necklace. This is near the top of my Etsy wishlist, because I know I would wear it all the time. Such a wonderful blend of the natural world, edginess, and delicate femininity. This, and a shark tooth (I'll include one of those in a later treasury!).






Little Robot's Soft Force is one of many, many pieces in her shop that I regularly drool over. They're this marvelous combination of beautiful organic forms that are just a bit otherworldly. The title of the piece is a reference to a quote from D. H. Lawrence's Etruscan Places : "Brute force crushes many plants. Yet the plants rise again. The Pyramids will not last a moment compared with the daisy. And before Buddha or Jesus spoke the nightingale sang, and long after the words of Jesus and Buddha are gone into oblivion the nightingale still will sing. Because it is neither preaching nor commanding nor urging. It is just singing. And in the beginning was not a Word, but a chirrup."








Julie and Co.'s Baby Blue Shimmer and Shine Temari. I would love a whole bowl of these on my desk. I have a slight obsession with Japanese art and crafts. And by slight, I mean I have a self-imposed moratorium on traveling to Japan unless I have recently invented the next best thing after the USB drive. Really, it would be out of control.





Last Row:



Leigh Viner of jkldesign's Twilight Blue. I have a soft spot for this seller, because she lives in Denver, right down the road! I think sometime in the future I'll do a local Treasury. Leigh is running a special through January 3rd: buy any two prints of any size and get one free standard size print of your choice! Tempting offer . . .










Hmm, well MStevensonDesigns is shuttered until after the 27th, and unfortunately that means I don't have a closeup of the locket! Be sure to check back after the holidays, there are the most beautiful things here.

Kristen Largent of bddesigns' Double Poem Bangle - Hope is the thing with feathers. I love bangle bracelets, I love inscriptions, and I love Emily Dickinson! There are so many great options to personalize these bracelets or other pieces from Kristen's collection.





Circles & Squares' Cicada Wings organic cotton short sleeve shirt. A few years back I had a friend of mine pick up one of the dead cicadas outside her college house in Maryland and bring it back with her to be in Colorado. Let me tell you, cicadas are weird looking. Also, it moved a bit when I looked at it and may not have been 100% dead. Just mostly dead. Which is somewhat alive. But their wings are beautiful, and wearing this shirt would be a bit like having wings. Love love.




To close, here's the full text of Emily D.'s Hope is the thing with feathers:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.