Etsy Finds, No. 8: Initial Necklaces

I suppose I may be late on this trend, but I can never seem to figure out when this trend is "in" or "out." Last I remember, everyone was going on about the name necklaces, a la Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City, and then there was some minor buzz surrounding Lauren Conrad's name multi-finger ring...but as you all probably know by now, I'm more into the simple, small, and classic.

Enter Etsy. After wondering to myself where one would best find a simple initial necklace, I headed over to Etsy. I'm surprised it took me that long to figure it out...after all, initials are a semi-customized thing, so it would seem logical to go to a more custom place like Etsy. It turns out they have a fabulous array of initial necklaces, depending on whether you want a really flashy custom-made pendant with crystals, or just a simple initial on a chain. I opted for the latter, but I love it so much that I might broaden my range of initial jewelry.

I purchased this little initial necklace from threebirdsdesigns...as you can tell by the picture the letter is quite small. Though the picture provides a real life comparison, I didn't realize how small the letter would be until I received it in the mail. I was worried it would be too small, but after putting it on I ended up really loving the size. It's sweet and subtle, and looks really classy. Plus, I can layer other necklaces if I want to. My next necklace would either be the second or fourth one pictured below.


You guys may not all be like me, so here are a few other initial necklace choices, brought to you by the wonderful world of Etsy.

Etsylicious Fashion

I've always wanted to be able to purchase clothes from places like Etsy and Ebay, which are kind of like the online equivalent to browsing out-of-the-way boutiques, yard sales, and thrift stores. Unfortunately, I often find myself wading through loads and loads of really awful clothing to try and find something that people would like. I'm not really sure what it is about clothes...but when I try and surf Ebay for cute bags, they always have a ton, but when I surf Ebay for cute clothes, the real gems are hidden beneath strange dresses that no one should ever be seen wearing. I suppose that's what makes it fun, sort of "the thrill of the chase."

In any case, I decided to show you guys two sellers I found while browsing Etsy's selection of clothes. Both sellers don't have highly stocked shops, but what they do have is quite lovely (and one of the stores even makes your clothes with custom sizes!)

The first seller doesn't specifically allow for custom sizing, but she does invite customers to "inquire" about it. The seller's name is aiguilleetfil (try saying that 5 times fast), and she's got quite a few frocks, each with its own interesting detail. I featured two dresses that seemed to be on opposite ends of the spectrum as far as her structures go. The grey parachute one ($90.00) looks much more expensive than it is, and the gold and blue one ($100.00) has a really interesting front detail that's perfect for hiding any unpleasant parts.



The second seller doesn't have much in her shop besides these two pieces, but in my opinion that makes them even more unique! The first piece is what seller kimenna calls a "Kimono Top," which I think is really fascinating. You can see a hint of Asian styling, but the different fabrics used and the button details really set this top apart (it's $72.00). This next piece...well, I kind of want it for myself! It's a dark blue denim dress, which sounds awful at first. But the denim is more of a faded, greyish denim colour, and from the pictures it appears to be quite light. I love the pleating detail, and I love that this is so wearable (it's also $72.00).

Charming Cameos

To round out my Etsy posts, I wanted to feature a specific product rather than a seller. I thought about this post with blogger Modern Marie in mind, because the product I'm featuring is cameo earrings. To me, cameo earrings evoke visions of Victorian details, antique shops, and refurbished vintage pieces. With my style, I tend to stick to mini versions of cameo earrings, but I've seen people rock the ear-stretching, huge ones typically left to women over the age of 60. So, in honor of my search for small cameo earrings, here are a few finds from Etsy:

Seller nakedtile offers plain cameo earrings in blue, black, and coral for $3.00 each.

Seller luluandtrixie offers plain cameo earrings, also in blue, black, and coral, for $5.00 each.




Seller BenAndOliver offers plain cameo earrings, in coral and black, for $5.50 each.



Seller amylynnbuttchin (love the name!) offers cameo earrings in small, medium, and large in lavender, blue, green, coral, and black. Small earrings are $2.50, medium earrings are $3.00, and large earrings are $4.00.





Seller jinnyscloset offers cameo earrings with silver borders in coral and blue, for $3.25 each:



Finally, as an homage to the "recession" in "recessionably chic," seller smittenjewelry offers plain cameo earrings in black and blue for $1.50. If you want to get really crafty, she also offers sets of 8 cameos (which you would have to glue onto earring backs) for $1.00

Etsy Finds No. 6: Starlight Vintage

I promise that this will be the last post on cute Etsy plastic stud earrings. Pinky swear. It's so hard to resist posting about them, because they're just so adorable and just so cheap! But this will be the last one. I think I'll post about cameo earrings on Etsy, and then move onto some new territory.

Another seller with "vintage" in her name, StarlightVintage, immediately signaled a shop worth looking through. It's quite convenient that I decided to round out the Etsy seller spotlights with Starlight Vintage, because her store epitomizes the whole kitschy-cute-yet-small-studs idea. I know I say this for every seller, but really, these three earrings do not even begin to do justice to the large selection of cute plastic studs available at this store. My personal favourites are the pink and purple umbrella earrings, but those potato chip ones are so unique!

Etsy Finds No. 5: MoonFaces

Okay, okay, I promise this time I won't be featuring cute little plastic stud earrings. Well, sort of. The Etsy seller MoonFaces has a more diverse shop than many of the ones I've looked at, including a selection of her own kitschy cute stud earrings. The items I've featured are just a few of the pieces in the store, and even though two of the items below are the usual cute little plastic earrings that I've featured before, the special thing about this shop is that there is a pair of dangly earrings that caught my eye. Not that there's anything wrong with a plethora of cute plastic stud earrings. But there are two pairs of earrings, one stud and one dangly, that really caught my eye. They're the hourglass pairs, and even though I can't use them to keep time I think that they're a fun and interesting detail for a pair of earrings. Also, even though these posts are mainly about earrings I wanted to include the angel ring just because it looks like something you'd find at a thrift store. I love the antique look, and I love that it's not loud or crazy but that it still adds a nice touch to any outfit.

Etsy Finds No. 4: AlwaysAmy

I'm almost done with my Etsy finds...I think there are only two or so more to go. Maybe later I'll do a series on something besides cute stud earrings, but for now here are a few more from seller AlwaysAmy. Most of AlwaysAmy's earrings are cute little plastic kitschy earrings, similar to veryvintage except plastic instead of metal. I loved that she was part of the "Kitschy Cute Stud Club" listing, and I'm kind of curious as to how I could check that out. It says on the advertisement that it's a great way to get a lot of cute earrings at a low price, so I'll report back to you guys when I figure out how that works. Anyway, here are four lovely picks from AlwaysAmy's well-stocked shop. My two favourites are the red bows and the red telephone earrings.

Etsy Finds No. 3: veryvintage

Just hearing the name "veryvintage" signals a great Etsy store, but once you surf through this shop you can be assured that it's just as good as it sounds. What I liked about this store is that its selection of stud earrings was right at the line between kitschy and subtle. I love a little bit of kitsch, but I don't like the idea of wearing, say, huge plastic strawberries on my ears. What veryvintage does is essentially shrinks typical overly kitschy earrings. So, instead of having huge plastic strawberries that look like they once belonged to a two-year-old's toy fruit collection, there are tiny plastic strawberry studs that add a perfect touch of kitsch to any outfit. To make things even better, each pair of earrings is gift packaged and only costs around $4.00.







Veryvintage also sells these great flower hairpins. What a lot of Etsy sellers do is that they sell the same charm in both earring form and hairpin form. So, if you've been browsing my earring posts and decide that you think the earrings would make great hairpins, be sure to check out the store. Somehow the charms appeal more to me when they're in earring form rather than hairpin form, but these hairpins are fabulous. They can be worn in either boho chic or Blair Waldorf style, depending on whether your hair's in loose waves or a tight bun with braids. Either way, they're adorable and only $5.25.

Etsy Finds No. 2: applenoggin

Here's the second installment in my series of lovely little stud earrings from Etsy. The seller applenoggin has the line "...I love all things cute and colorful" in her shop announcement, and I think that's completely fitting. In her shop is a wonderful assortment of items that have a sort of Hello Kitty/Super Kawaii/cute little creatures you find on Asian stationery sort of vibe. I love that she encloses pictures of people wearing her earrings, because how something looks on your ear can be quite different from how something looks in a promotional picture. Anyway, here are three picks from her store that I think you guys should have a look at. My favourites by far are the pink popsicle earrings...so cute!!!

Etsy Finds No. 1: dangsworld

I was surfing Etsy today for some new additions to my jewelry collection and I thought I would post some nice little finds for you guys in a series. This time around, I was browsing for some new earrings, so these sellers will mostly feature earrings that I really liked, but there were some additional pieces I found along the way that are quite cute as well. You might notice that I haven't really posted any sort of dangly earrings, and that's partially because of my style and partially because I think they're more worth the money. When I was younger, I went through a phase where I would buy lots of jewelry kits and make my own earrings. They were generally of the dangly type, with a "hook" looking thing on the top that you put through the earring hole. Since then, I have adopted a more minimalist style in terms of jewelry, probably to offset the crazy creations I sported as a child. Having said that, my experience in jewelry making has taught me how easy it is to simply thread a charm onto one of the hooks and make a pair of earrings. Studs, on the other hand, were much harder to make. Technically all you had to do was glue it, but that had to be pretty precise otherwise glue would ooze out all over the place. So, generally, I stay away from dangly earrings just because I could easily pass by a craft store, grab some cute charms, and hook them onto earring hooks. My apologies if you aren't a big fan of stud earrings, but they're mainly what's going to be featured in this post.

Anyway, you're probably rolling your eyes back in your head...that is, even if you finished reading all of that. But I'll get onto the jewelry. The first "find" isn't quite so secretive just because it's hard to miss this lovely seller if you're browsing jewelry. Dangsworld has always caught my eye whenever I'm shopping around Etsy, and I could go on and on about the delicate yet girly quality of the earrings available, but I think that I'll just let the lovely pieces speak for themselves (lovely pieces which, by the way, are between 5 and 9 dollars). Keep in mind that I actually had trouble picking these out just because there were so many pieces to choose from!