Wednesday Item Feature: A sophisticated Halloween choker

Halloween is fast approaching, and if you're not one for costumes and flamboyant decor, here's a more subtle item for those a little bit more quiet but still appreciative of the spooky holiday. Ohmay on Etsy knits a variety of goodies in San Francisco, and I spotted a cute one just in time for this orange-and-black holiday (or, if you'd like, in advance for that Thanksgiving dinner coming up in a month).

More like a toasty brown with dangling copper elements, this choker necklace is fitting for both the more refined Halloween lover or even just a San Francisco Giants fan looking for nice accessories to be worn on a daily basis. If you love Halloween color combinations outside of the holiday, this is a nice treat for your neck anyway. Multiple strands of dainty ribbon are clasped together in the back, with a beautifully knit pendant in front. The knit pendant is also removable and can be used as a brooch for a peacoat or plain little black dress with the addition of a safety pin that you might find laying around your house.

This is an absolute gorgeous find for those looking to buy something for the season and out of the season (fitting for both Halloween and Thanksgiving!), as this is a piece that can be worn beautifully at any time of the year and for many occasions. Looking for unique jewelry for your bridesmaids? A set of these choker necklaces for a bride and her bridal party can happen, and if you would like a different color combination, just send a message to the maker!

Crafted from cotton yarn and antique tone copper findings, this choker necklace is fitting for the older Halloween lover or just a lover of chokers in general. Get your hands on one (or two) and keep your neck cozy while you take your kids trick-or-treating or save its autumnal aura for the Thanksgiving holiday!

Check out ohmay's listing on Etsy now: Hand Knit Choker Necklace - Toasty Brown TieDye Angel Wings!

Tune in next week for the Wednesday Item Feature!

Love & donuts,
Mayene

Wednesday Item Feature: Happily hanging skulls

When we think of skulls, we normally think of them in black and white or otherwise pretty monochromatic. Bone color, dark settings, creepy feelings. Erin Crocianni from Oakland (also known as PuffyWoodson on Etsy) steps away from this feeling and presents skulls in a colorful environment, with brightly colored chains.

Erin carefully paints tiny skulls and makes them into beautiful wooden cameo necklaces, adorned with crystal accents. Choose from a purple, red, green, or pink chain to go along with it, and you've got yourself a happy Halloween necklace that your friends or co-workers can hardly accuse you of being morbid for wearing. With the cameo measuring 2" by 3" hanging on a 20" chain, this would accompany a plain black t-shirt (v-neck or crew neck) very well to help this little buddy pop out at viewers without scaring them.

Handcrafted from wood, chain, and gems, give your little daughter a happy take on Halloween if the holiday appeals to her or get two and present your best friend with a pair of these colorful necklaces to wear as symbols of your friendship if you're into that kind of thing. Know someone's birthday is coming up near Halloween? Cheer them up with a sugar skull cameo! Great as a gift, a personal accessory, or even as a decoration to hang on your wall at home by your desk or at work to give your space a little color, this necklace is one to talk about.

Remember, this listing is for one necklace only! Order one and set a bright Halloween trend; the wide grins on these skulls are sure to put a smile on your face!

Check out PuffyWoodson's listing on Etsy now: Sugar Skulls Cameo necklaces 1!

Tune in next week for the Wednesday Item Feature!

Love & donuts,
Mayene

Wednesday Item Feature: Summer in September

Normally, September and October are thought to be autumn months — not in San Francisco. While the rest of the Bay Area decides to start cooling down, San Francisco starts getting hot and the sun starts laughing in our faces. For those of you resting in the shade and enjoying the relaxing fall breeze, there are still summer items that can give your autumn wardrobe a bit more spice.

Sure enough, while I was thinking about pumpkin pie in all its creamy orange deliciousness, I stumbled across Gwen Harlow's shop on Etsy and came across some pretty earrings that accompanied my craving for something pumpkin flavored. Shipping out from Alameda, these earrings would match summer and autumn wardrobes alike. Spice up a strapless summer dress or wear a matching turtle neck leading the viewer's eyes to the leaves dangling from your ears! Vintage lucite golden leaves hang between crystal-centered white flowers: you can call these cute, hot, romantic, or just simply beautiful.

Whether you consider these more summer or more autumn, they're an absolutely affordable and amazing find if you're looking for a gift in the jewelry department or are an earring fiend like myself and just want another pair of dangling goodies. Is your girlfriend a Virgo? If you haven't gotten her a gift for her upcoming birthday, you've got about three more days left in the zodiac season to think of something quick. Even if you missed it or are going to miss it and end up presenting her with a belated birthday gift, these earrings are nice enough that she might forgive you. Or if she's a Libra, you've maybe got a little more time — decide now and have these arrive in your mailbox just in time!

Get them before I decide to!

Check out gwen's listing on Etsy now: Summer leaves earrings, golden brown vintage lucite!

Tune in next week for the Wednesday Item Feature!

Love & donuts,
Mayene

Wednesday Item Feature: Weightless metal

Drawn to moonlike items and crescent shapes, I was drawn in by the shop name alone before even seeing any listings: The Moon Shop. Founded by two individuals from Oakland, Cory & Cassidy offer elegantly made items to wear, created from "the excess of society and the bounty of the earth by using materials that are scavenged, re-purposed, donated, and sustainably produced."

Awed by some of their one-of-a-kind necklaces, the picture of their Copper Eurydice Necklace stopped my eyes for a good minute or so. If the item listing did not have "leather" written in it, I would have never guessed. At first glance, the full necklace appears to be metal. But upon reading the description and staring hard, you will find that this necklace is made from tiny pieces of leather. Ever been bogged down by heavy necklaces? This is the solution! Each hand-cut vintage metallic leather crescent shines with beauty but rests comfortably on your neckline with a featherweight softness.

Perfect for a subtle touch of elegance with a plain black dress or with that favorite forest green knit sweater in your closet you always wear with jeans. Even with a cream colored lace dress, this necklace will add sophistication to your summer or early autumn wardrobe. Either way, this necklace will fit many occasions and would definitely be an item to start up a conversation. A great gift for lovers of metal and earth alike!

Check out TheMoonShop's listing on Etsy now: Copper Eurydice Necklace (leather)!

Tune in next week for the Wednesday Item Feature!

Love & donuts,
Mayene

Wednesday Item Feature: Cute little friends for your wrist

Mark Poulin from Oakland (also known as marmar on Etsy) creates cute little sterling silver charms and jewelry featuring animals and creatures with a fun mouthless and noseless style with beady little eyes pleading you to become their friend. As I was browsing his shop, I kept coming across individual charms or necklaces featuring a little animal I wanted such as a sheep or a little hopping bunny. Then I stumbled across a bracelet that featured multiple little friends!

Mark herded all his little creations together on a charm bracelet, which features a dog, a sheep, a bunny, an owl, a cat, and an elephant — quite the variety! All of their little eyes just stare and at you (in the most non-creepy way possible) and ask, "Aren't I cute?"

With experience as a metalsmith and enamelist, Mark crafts each charm from sterling silver and attached to a sterling-plated adjustable length bracelet with a sterling-plated swivel clasp. So, if you're all about sterling silver, this is a major plus! You can find these individual charms throughout Mark's shop, but if you want a different animal added or substituted or just a different collection of charms altogether on your bracelet, just send Mark a message and he'll work with you to put together the charmed bracelet how you want it. Perhaps your best friend wants a little orbit boy and girl and a more love-themed bracelet or your daughter wants six hopping bunnies on her wrist — just ask Mark and maybe he can make a little magic happen for your special gifting needs!

Check out marmar's listing on Etsy now: Menagerie Charm Bracelet!

Tune in next week for the Wednesday Item Feature!

Love & donuts,
Mayene

Wednesday Item Feature: The whimsical, the colorful & the shiny

Seeing as the final installment of the Harry Potter series finally opened this past weekend in movie theaters all over the place, in honor of all HP fans (myself included), I've spotted a gryphon (or griffin/griffon) on Etsy! I'm also a fan of whimsical things, colorful objects, and shiny pieces. Robin Senour from Berkeley (also known as sacredlaughter on Etsy) has captured these three attributes into one: her little wearable sculptures.

For those of you unfamiliar with the gryphon, it is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and head and wings of an eagle, almost like a sphinx but with a bird's head instead of a human one. For those of you familiar with Harry Potter, it is the house mascot for Gryffindor, whose students are noted for their courage and chivalry. Robin's bright talismans are suitable for anyone, Harry Potter fan or not. Crafted from clear acrylic and paint, these creatures are fastened on the back with a pin and are meant to remind us to accentuate the positive.

Robin's gryphon pin is a bold, positive statement that can be fastened to a bag or plain sweater to show of its bright hues of blue, red, orange, and sparkly green. Finished with a glaze, this pin will sparkle in the light and is surely something to brighten your day. Robin's passion for her crafts shines through in these pins and helps bring out the passion in others. Give it as a gift to a friend who needs a little cheering up, a little motivation, or just because. Get two and use it as unique symbols of friendship between yourself and another!

Be enamored with Robin's fantastical imagery and be taken into a brightly colored whimsical world with her little trinkets!

Check out sacredlaughter's listing on Etsy now: Gryphon Pin!

Tune in next week for the Wednesday Item Feature!

Love & donuts,
Mayene

I'm a peacock, you gotta let me fly!

With a store name like "Heavy Metal Vomit Party", what do you really expect to see? I wasn't too sure I wanted to find out, but the name was interesting enough for me to venture in. I'm pretty dang glad I did.

Kaiti Fink (also known as heavymetalvomitparty on Etsy) roams around the country selling her stuff. Among that stuff are pretty cool treasures, including handmade suede boots and jewelry made with real animal bones. Her items are crafted from found objects collected from her ventures, and the ones that really caught my eye were her Green Feather Earrings made from duck and peacock feathers. I have a thing for earrings and color theory, so you can imagine how wide my eyes got upon seeing the image of these peacock feathers ridiculously rich with color.

Each earring has one of each feather (duck and peacock), silver wire wrapped, and attached to a close backed earring finding. If you love cool colors, earthy tones, or just rich colors in general, this would be a desirable pair of earrings to have in a treasured jewelry box or hanging somewhere in your room for easy access to put on every morning or on a night out with friends. I've seen a lot of "feather" earrings from various retail stores whenever I'm out shopping, but ditch the synthetic materials for this! The beautiful eye-catching teal mixed with shades of green and brown on top of the dark duck feathers are definitely something to admire and is so much more worth it than the cheap pairs you might score at the mall.

Check out heavymetalvomitparty's listing on Etsy now: Green Feather Earrings!

Tune in next week for the Wednesday Item Feature!

Love & donuts,
Mayene

Silver berries and silver leaves

Pretty flowers, nice cards, brunch, lunch, dinner — things to give and do for your mom next month. And then there's jewelry. Everyone knows that jewelry is a huge market on Etsy. I could spend hours browsing on Etsy for the "perfect" handmade item, but once I find something that really catches my eye, I think and long for it, whether it would make a wonderful gift or go well with an outfit hanging in my closet.

The latest piece to catch my eye is a handcrafted open necklace by Gabrielle Lessard (also known as mangosteenjewelry on Etsy) from Oakland. Her Fine Silver Leaf Berries Open Necklace is simply beautiful. Made from metal clay and sterling silver, the necklace sits on the neck, with the leaves embracing you. The details on the leaves give the necklace an ethereal look; whoever is the lucky owner of this will look like a dream.

Gabrielle's unique open necklace is one that will definitely turn eyes, strike up a conversation, and is something to awe at. From the leaves to the berries, this is a finely crafted and highly desirable necklace. Mother's Day is next month, and this is something special you might want to consider getting before May 8th or before someone else does!

Check out mangosteenjewelry's listing on Etsy now: Fine Silver Leaf Berries Open Necklace

It is also currently at City Art Gallery (828 Valencia in San Francisco).

Tune in next week for the Wednesday Item Feature!

Love & donuts,
Mayene

Tiny fingerprints: a touching gift

Parents always want keepsakes of their bundles of joy from tiny hand-prints molded into plaster to little stompers painted on paper. For those who want something more durable and easier to keep close, how about fingerprints in fine silver?

LilyBuds on Etsy offers 99.9% pure silver handcrafted personalized jewelry, fun to give as gifts or keep for yourself to show off. For parents of two, LilyBuds has a cute little fine silver heart that fits two little fingerprints and names. Great for mothers (think twins!), grandmothers or busy godmothers with more than one little kid to keep in mind!

As a recent college grad bearing zero kids and having no nieces or nephews (yet), I still think the fingerprints-on-silver is a great idea! And I'm a sucker for cute stuff. LilyBuds puts an extraordinary amount of effort into these little things; shipping out from Clayton, she'll send you a little kit with simple instructions on how to get your children's fingerprints done, which you'll send back so she can handcraft your jewelry with the impressions you take. Depending on where you're located, this might take some time, so if you're thinking of having one done as a gift or by a certain date, keep in mind the time restraints associated with a process like this.

If I were a mom, I'd definitely get this; there's something special about personalized jewelry, but having tiny fingerprints of your own toddlers close to your heart is even more touching. It's also an amazing thing to have for those who adore their younger relatives — I know many students who go away for college and talk about how they "can't wait to get home to play with their little brother/sister/niece/nephew". I can't imagine this being a quick and easy gift for a friend since you'd have to borrow a couple kids for a bit, but if you're a husband, think about it! You could give your wife a fancy store-bought necklace encrusted with jewels or you could give her a more personalized touch of love with the help of your kids.

Oh, and Mother's Day is coming up in a couple of months — how convenient!

Check out LilyBud's listing on Etsy now: Two Child Fingerprints in Fine Silver Heart - Medium

Tune in next week for the Wednesday Item Feature!

Love & donuts,
Mayene