We love Moxie and Oliver so much that we put them in a piece we did on Etsy for Nylon and then totally blanked on putting them here. Ridiculous! Lots of cute, leather-y things for guys, as well. We totally want to be leather-workers, living in some studio somewhere. Preferably in Mexico. Or somewhere similarly sunny. Uruguay? South America!

We just really truly do not like the cold. You know this wallet will look even nicer in ten years. Investment pieces! So much nicer than things you throw away. Moxie and Oliver wallet, $95

With the holidays coming, we’re totally looking for new Etsy sellers to drool over. One kind reader sent us an Etsy seller she thought we would like, involving bunnies, and we have spent an hour trying to convince ourselves not to buy from her. It’s not working.

Tell us where you have trouble resisting on Etsy!

-LB

We are the kind of person who will change handbags when the mood strikes. Sometimes it’s functional – need to switch to accommodate more stuff, or a change in the weather (open-top bags with rain = suck), sometimes it’s fashion based, but we are ALWAYS stuck when it comes to fancy dress and bags. We have two bags that can be used for fancy events; both black. One teeny tiny shoulder bag that will fit our wallet and a car key, and one black Jocasi bag that literally doubles as a weekender. This is definitely not satisfactory, and now that we’re becoming a grown-up, it’d be nice to have a bag that matches.

We are a bit scared of clutches because we fear that we’re going to forget the whole clutch part and leave it somewhere. We will have to get over that.

We came across Red Ruby Rose on Etsy and we are like whoa about her clutches. The first one that caught our eye was so lovely that it literally sold out while we were writing this. There are plenty of others to select from, though. We especially like this pink and purple one, despite it being pink and purple. The first one we saw was the same print – a very, very identifiable Liberty print – but in a strong turquioise colorway. Since that one’s gone, we like this as a runner up. The colors are feminine, and the pattern screams smart to us. It’s a bit pricey, but we have a very good grasp on the cost of Liberty textiles, seeing as how our mom is a collector. We think this is worth every penny, and this would be perfect for any event where you wouldn’t fear someone spilling wine on your bag.

Purple and pink peacock clutch, $85

We just saw this one and went ‘oooh’ out loud. It’s a lighterweight fabric, same Liberty print, less expensive. We would TOTALLY bring this to work with us.

Classic green and red peacock clutch, $75

We really get a kick out of how casual this one is, but we think we could totally dress it up. This is the kind of thing we would totally use as a wallet – we’d throw our money and cell phone and keys in here, and then pitch it into our bag. We would smile every time we saw these swans; plus, if we wanted to wear it out to a dressy event, we totally could. We envision it with a simple black dress, black tights, black heels, a fab ring, and this – it’s a statement without being obvious.

Two swans clutch, $75

We don’t know why, but we keep coming back to this particular piece. It’s much more feminine than we normally go for, it’s very light – which is not so good when you’re messy. Maybe it’s because the peonies remind us of our grandmother’s wallpaper (this is good, that paper was awesome) or because lilies of the valley make us think of our mom, but we love this one. It’s so simple and it’s sweet without being annoyingly so.

Peony and lily of the valley clutch, $75

-LB

We recently got ripped off on Etsy to the tune of $50. Not catastrophic, but definitely enough to be incredibly annoying. We’d like to publicly thank Etsy for trying to make it right, following up with all the robbed customers and just generally being awesome.

Thanks, Etsy. You’ve restored our faith in faceless internet craft shopping.

XO,

LB

We’ve been avoiding Etsy ever since we got taken for $50 and a birthday present for our mom. We disputed the charge with Etsy and PayPal and they were both like ‘sorry to hear it but oh well’. We asked Etsy to work on some kind of buyer protection policy and they said they had no plans to do so – to which we respond BOOOOOOO HISSSSS.

But. We will not let one crappy experience ruin such a great thing. We were checking it out today when we came across EmilyEJewelry. She has 100% feedback – which is a must for us now – and her gold jewelry designs are beautiful. We used to avoid gold jewelry at all costs – it seemed old and cheap. Now, we can’t get enough of it  – and we see absolutely nothing wrong with mixing silver and gold if necessary. Here are our favorite picks from our newest favorite Etsy shop!

Our most stylish friend (who is also a stylist who we are hoping to interview this week) was wearing a bracelet when we saw her this weekend and we realized that we never think to wear bracelets, and we have no idea WHY. They’re so simple to toss on, they dress up anything, and they look really up to the minute. We really lke this fern leaf piece; it’s so distinct and special but it’s also not BAM HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW in your face loud.

Brass Fern Bangle, $65

This is one of the freshest necklaces we’ve seen in a long time. We like the birds, we like the gold, we love the unusual orientation. Definitely a rare find.

14K Gold Plated Have Them Follow You Necklace, $90 

We’ve seen wishbone necklaces a lot, but there always seems to be something wrong with them. This one is pretty much perfect; right color, delicate design, detailed bits. And it’s the cheapest one we’ve ever seen.

Wishbone necklace, $22

-LB

We’ve been dispatched to find the creme de la creme of Etsy sellers for a project—and though we have some favorites here and there, we’re really looking for suggestions. Who has a favorite? Maybe we’ll compile a top ten here and then a couple of those we’ll be able to use for that other project as well. (It’s a good one, we promise.) Who has a suggestion? Or is an actual Etsy seller? (We don’t mind the self promotion, obvs.) All \ any price ranges, all \ any products.

Just comment below by midnight tonight for consideration….

Above: Moxie and Oliver’s ginger cherry blossom purse, $330

Etsy is a bit of a problem for us; we can always find something we like, we can always justify whatever we buy (we do love to support independent artists AND have unique things), and we have never had a bad experience. This has led us to a bit of an Etsy problem, and recently, we’ve had to step back a little bit. We enjoyed our time away, and our return was much quieter, more low-key, and less expensive than we thought.

And then we came across a seller by the name of Bonspielcreation. We love screenprinted things because we cannot make them ourselvs, and this collection knocked our socks off. The imagery is so incredibly detailed, and her designs are simple but compelling – something we rarely see. We’re so tired of coming across something we love at first site, but when we click on the alternate view it’s got pom-poms or sequins or weird trim. Not so here.

We purchased the Multipass Clutch, shown above. We love the owl on one side, and the inside has a rabbit and Love in something we call carnival font. It’s got enough pockets to fulfill our needs, it snaps shut, and it’s got a handle. It’s perfect. At $72, it’s not cheap – but a wallet IS something we use every day.

We snapped up the last one, but if you’re interested in something similar, convo Ellen and we bet she’ll make something awesome happen.

We know someone who has lost so many passports that she has old ones just floating around, including in the driver’s side pocket of a relative’s car. We are SURE that if her passport were encased in this snazzy squirrel cover she would not lose it. And at $14, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than getting a new passport.

Squirrel Passport Case, $14

This picture is kind of hard to see, but it’s a fanny pack with a bunny on it. I think the official term is belt bag, and before you run away in horror, we will say this. We know people who actively use them. Some are just inherently fashionable and feel the need to have free hands, and some are people who actually need to have pouches within arm’s reach (waitresses for tips, people who work conventions who need a money pouch, etc). We would actually like to see this look resurrected; we have some hope (Gucci did one a few seasons back with limited success, it seems), but this bunny one is too good to pass up.

Vive la belt bag!

Rabbit Mini Belt Bag, $32

-LB

We know we’ve talked about how much we love handbags. It’s almost like a bit of a problem. We have a sweater/cubby holder thing in our closet where all of our bags live, and the overflow live in shelves in said closet that are basically behind the wall. We don’t have any light in that closet, so we’ve become very adept at telling which bag is which just by the feel. We told this to a friend of ours and we got a really, really odd look back. So, we’re thinking this isn’t normal.

But we will defend our bags by saying that almost every bag we have serves a specific purpose. From the logo-heavy designer bag that we think dresses up our ratty blue sweatshirt we always wear, to the Jocasi bag that functions as an overnight bag AND an evening/going out handbag, each bag has a job. We’re going on TWO vacations this month, and we are always, always looking for the perfect bag to take on the plane. It needs to be easily carried, loads of pockets with easy accessibility, but some kind of zip compartment for carrying credit cards and passport and whatnot, it needs to sit on the shoulder comfortably and securely. We have a bag that comes very, very close to fulfilling this, but it’s leather and canvas. We would prefer an all leather one, and while searching Etsy, we came across someone who very well might get a chunk of our business – TheLeatherStore. We were actually mad that we found her too late for our current vacation, but we might hit her up before we go away for the second time. She doesn’t have a ton of stuff up right now, but we’ve been keeping an eye on her line and there’s new stuff fairly frequently.

The shopper tote (above, obv) is kind of amazing. We love the dark brown leather, we love the size (big enough to hold our laptop, we think), and we love love love that the straps are long enough to be worn over the shoulder. Did we mention that it’s under $100? So amazing.

Leather shopper, $95

Now, this may seem like any other shoulder bag – but it’s got details that set it apart. We love the outside pockets with proper closures. We are the kind of person who will stop while walking to find our ringing cell phone – which annoys others and has injured us. The padded straps look like they give plenty of room to wear on your shoulder, and the goldy/brass hardware keeps it from being boring. This would be our everyday bag, we think. And it’s still far less expensive than we would expect.

Shoulder bag, $120

This is the bag we want for the meetings we have, and for when we want to look like a grown up. Actually, there’s not a single thing we don’t like about it. It’s a little on the bland side, but we’re willing to bet that the pictures don’t do the leather any justice.

Simple tote, $120

We are a little embarrassed to admit it, but we almost withheld the following information because we haven’t bought the bag we want yet. But then we realized that wasn’t fair. Beckie, the creator of all these lovelies, has her full line on eBay. We love.

-LB

We’re declaring today Etsy Monday. We love Etsy, and we don’t know a better place to find inexpensive (or expensive, if you like that sort of thing) handmade goods from necklaces to earrings to bags to yogurts to shirts. We tend to hover mostly in the accessories range, and last week we bought approximately 9 pairs of earrings for less than $50, which seems pretty awesome.

So! To ring in Etsy Monday, we’re proud to present you with a newish seller, southphillystudio. It’s no secret that we love words. We love words so much that when we got our last tattoo (which is made up of words), our friend who came with us made some snarky-ass remark about how we had so much to say. And it’s true, words have always been our medium of choice, and we don’t really think that’ll ever change. We have become most fond of simple, one word declarations, and s.p.s’s necklaces tie into that very nicely.

We love the Awesome necklace (above, $25) because awesome is probably our favorite word. We have an undying positive outlook on everything (much to the annoyance of others), and we think awesome sums up how everything should (and generally can) be. We love awesome so much actually have an awesome tattoo. But for less commitment, this necklace will do the trick nicely.

This Go Away necklace is slightly less positive, but still rings true to our heart sometimes. Sometimes we just feel like we want to be a little less than polite, or slightly mean, with our jewelry – like when we wore a cast molar necklace after having major dental surgery. We definitely appreciate the irony that anyone who could read this would be so close that, really, you should’ve said something before then. Personally, we’d wear it to work under our clothes – kind of like being a superhero.

Go Away necklace, $25

Now, before everyone is like WTF that octopus is nothing new, we will ask you to hold off on judgment. This octopus, aside from being completely awesome and serious, is made of sterling silver. You know, the one complaint we have with Etsy is that sometimes, the things we get are disappointing in their quality. Almost never poor quality, but just not what we’re expecting. We love this octopus because he’s probably fairly weighty, he looks a little mean, and (also a bit of a rarity for Etsy), the chain and the charm (if you can call him that) are the same color. He’s pricey, but he’s also handmade. And awesome.

Sterling Silver Octopus necklace, $78

-LB

We’ve been sick, seriously, since before Christmas. First, it was a general malaise. Then it was a cold. Then it was a sore throat. Then, all of a sudden, it was the flu. We slept yesterday from 9pm to 2pm, we were awake until 8ish, and then out cold. We are not feeling 100% better, we can hear our innards rumbling like pipes. It’s very disconcerting when contemplating an hour long drive home. Anyway. What can make us feel better when our guts feel like they’re trying to get out? FELTED DOGS. This is also the answer to what do you get the person who gets everything? Or, the person who loves their dog more than they love most people? This certainly would not apply to us, we definitely do not have more pictures of our dog on our desk than our loved one.

Anyway. This brings us to Amelia Makes Art on Etsy. She makes felted dogs, and we’ve seen these in person – the boxer in the picture above is very close to our heart. They’re absolutely amazing in real life, and it’s much less creepy than stuffing the actual dog when it passes on. This would be an idea present for Dear Friend, who keeps the ashes of his first dog (Dusty, as it were) on his shelf. We’re thinking we may get this for our dad to represent our beloved 3.5 legged cat, Boomer, who passed away this winter.

Felted Dogs, $145

-LB