It is almost 2008 and it is time for a beautiful calendar lineup. There are many gorgeous handmade calendars on Etsy and around the web, and these are just a few of the wonderful ones I found. They are a nice combination of art and practicality. Love them!

The first is a desk calendar from Modernarteveryday on Etsy. This calendar includes 12 different giclee prints in a jewel case and sells for $18. Each image is just lovely and makes me want to buy some of the giclee prints on canvas also available in the Etsy store.

The next calendar is from one of my favorite card artists Cecilyink. This is another desk calendar in jewel case and is printed on textured paper and sells for $14. Sweet! Don’t miss her paper stockings and cool card sets too.

Next is a letterpress desk calendar from Ilee in Seattle. According to Ilee, it is “a rich mix of old school letterpress, silkscreen, foil stamping, fine papers and handpainted accents.” It includes 12 monthly cards and one extra year at a glance card and sells for $20. Check out all the cool images.

The next calendar is a Gocco screenprinted limited edition wall calendar from Sarahparrott825. It is 5X7, is made using vintage images and sells for $20. It is both retro and fresh!

The next to last is a lovely letterpress wall calendar made by Satsuma Press in Portland, Oregon. It is also a limited edition and is hand numbered on the back and tied with a silk ribbon. What a lovely gift it would make! Quick! There were 200 printed and there are only 57 left in stock. Available for $39.

And lastly, I saw an amazing calendar on Buyolympia.com by artist Nikki McClure titled Things to Make and Do. Her art is unique and surprisingly she uses an X-acto knife to cut images out of a single piece of paper. This calendar is printed on acid-free paper using soy ink and sells for $16. You may also want to check out her cards and t-shirts on the same site.

Well, there you are…. now which one will you pick?

I wanted to do a post about all the sweet notecards I have purchased on Etsy. If you think they look cute in the pictures, wait until you see them in your hands. Some are letterpress cards and some are screenprinted and they are all of the highest quality. The colors and designs are gorgeous and I highly recommend them all.

A fun way to tag your gifts is to use these darling gift tags from everyjotandtittle. The set of 12 is only $3.50 and will cheer up any gift you may give!

These Pink cupcake birthday cards are from Sweet Bonny by malien00. They come in a pack of 6 for $7.95.

These are darling bird Happy Birthday cards from Noteriety Press. They came as a set of 6 letterpress cards for $10. They are not listed right now, but if you contact Noteriety perhaps they have some more they can re-list.

These are sweet hello cards from Armato Design and Press. These are also letterpress and come in a package of 6 cards for $12.

The lovely Thank you cards I got were from CecilyInk and she really wowed me with her presentation. The set of 6 letterpress cards for $12.50 were wrapped in tissue with her business cards and a special extra of coordinating jelly bellies! It was a feast for the ole eyes!

I purchased the Foxy and Winston Lovebug Notelet Boxset for a gift. These are hand screenprinted and come 6 in a box for $14. These are special because they are for a friend who loves ladybugs.

And lastly I purchased the letterpress flat cards in Sunshiny yellow from Pressure Letterpress for another pal. These are a set of 5 for $15. They are also no longer listed, but contact the artist and they may be able to make some more!

You just can’t go wrong with any of these cards! They will inspire you to correspond with all your long lost friends and relatives.

Trunkt is an interesting site. It is an online magazine that celebrates independent designers, crafters and artists and gives them a place to show and sell their works. It is also a fun place to browse and shop. Here are some items from my Trunkt wishlist.

The purse is by Blissbyheather $49, the top is by Bella Sera Baby $20, the rose tablecloth $115 and the journal $10 are both by Henry Road Home.
Look around here and you will find some familiar Etsy artists and some new artists. A nice find!

I realized that only two of the bags I found were cotton and thought I’d better look for an organic or hemp bag to round out my choices. I found a great site called Reusablebags.com. They have everything you need, bag-wise: reusable drink containers, lead-free lunch boxes, gift bags and shopping bags. It is a one-stop shop! They sell the fabulous Laptop lunch box that a friend has and loves, and these Sigg water bottles. Fun and fashionable!

For natural bags, they have this heavy duty Hemp tote bag for $32.95.

And in cotton they have Ecobags. A set of 5 string bags in great colors is $29.95 and a natural organic cotton tote is $5.95.

Check out the Reisenthel Modern Grocery Tote in Lime or Flora for $19.95 and the Market Basket in black, red or olive for $39.95, both made of polyester.

And the oh so happybags cotton totes in Victoria, Lucy or Catherine ($19.95).

Lastly, I love the fun Mimi the Sardine cotton totes in Swedish cotton prints like Flower Power or Berries for $44.95.

Now how will I ever decide?

Here on the Central Coast of California, it has started to rain a little bit (thank goodness!) so it is the perfect time to spotlight some beautiful umbrellas I found from around the “interweb”. I’m so glad to see that rain isn’t extinct yet, with all the global warming, so although the sky is gloomy, I say bring it on!

And wouldn’t I be prepared if I had one of these beauties?

These are Tray6 umbrellas and are all $55 to $65. (There goes my attempt to keep everything under $50!)

You know, I grew up in Northern California, and it rained so much there but no one used an umbrella. According to us, it was just a “little rain” and umbrellas were for sissies. Later I moved to San Francisco (which we all called The City) and found out that umbrellas were cool and a definite fashion statement.

Like these Marimekko umbrellas from FinnStyle:

These are all $40 (such a relief!) I just love Marimekko prints. If you do too, look at all the goodies they have on FinnStyle in these cool designs. Sometime I will do a whole post on Marimekko fabulousness.

Next up are umbrellas from pare*umbrella. Leave it to the fine people in Seattle to come up with great umbrella designs.

These have fun titles like Juicy Orange and Sassy Dots, and while they exceed my limit of $50, I think they are worth it.

Now, if only I had one of these amazing umbrellas…..

Ok, it is time for me to get on the reusable grocery bag wagon, and there are so many choices!

I already have a head start because my friend over at Stuff-O-Rama gave me a hand decorated black canvas shopping tote. You can get one just like it here.

It is very big and roomy, not to mention fabulous!

There is also the bright Baggu. These are nylon reusable shopping bags in luscious colors such as fuschia, olive, red and teal.

Then, I saw Envirosax in the Oprah magazine, and their prints and colors wowed me. You can buy prints such as Flora, Retro or Amazonia separately or as sets. They are made from polyester and hail from Australia. You can read more about the company here.

Lastly, I found Skeeda, which are also canvas totes, and are made in the USA. These are available in dots, stripes or solids with fun colors like citrus, olive, and watermelon. Yum!

What do you think? Which do you prefer?

I am reading a fun book I thought I’d share called Apartment Therapy.

It is written by the guy from the New York Apartment Therapy blog and it encourages you to clear out and fix up your apartment (or small house).

I am already on week 2! Week one involves easy steps such as buying flowers and putting them in a vase, and tossing 1 thing.

Week 2 is a bit more involved. This week you must start asking yourself about your things - Do I use it? Do I love it? Does my apartment or house really need it? It also includes setting up a spot for your giveaways, cooking one nice dinner, and fixing one thing that needs to be repaired.

I am finding the whole process very freeing! Toss the bad (or really, give away or recycle) and fix the good!

Try it! You can buy the book here. Or order it from your library. You can also read the SF, LA and Chicago versions of the Apartment Therapy blog, and you can read the book blog and follow the 8 week cure yourself.

Here is another Etsy designer making something fabulous! Absoluut makes pillow covers out of vintage material that give your living room zing! She is from Amsterdam and yet her prices and shipping are very reasonable. The fabrics and vintage, yet seem modern and fresh. I’d say Absoluut has a great eye for marvelous patterns.

Imagine your couch with Apple Jelly

or Nairobi sunrise

or Yams in space

Pillows are 20 x 20 and are available with or without the pillow form inside. Shipping from Amsterdam is only $5.00.

These pillows are “absoluutely” fabulous! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

I would like to tell you about site I found called Library Elf. It is a free service that links to your library card and sends you reminders when you have books due. I love this service because I tend to check out a lot of materials and it is easy to lose track of when they are due. I often have overdue fines and while I love giving money to a great institution like the library, I’d prefer to donate to the Friends of the Library once a year. I think this service will be really helpful! You can check to see if your local library is on Elf and sign up here.

Here are some really fun and lovely zippered pouches and bags by Etsy designer jpatpurses.

Uptown Olive Clutch $7 Sakura Blooms Pouch $16 Retro Aqua Coin Purse $8

She is a mom of 2 teenage daughters and was inspired to try her hand at sewing purses for her daughters.  She got so many compliments, she started jpatpurses. There are more lovely photos of her purses on her blog here.

Katie Jump Rope Clutch $7 Pink Bloom Clutch $7 Katie Jump Wristlet $18

See…. they are Fun and Functional! What more could you want? P.S. She also does customer orders!