Good morning! Everything feels so new and shiny to me still, so please bare with me! I just started using Wordpress yesterday. It's like taking a new car out on the highway for the first time - exciting and scary with tons of cool new bells and whistles that I'm not quite sure how to use! By the way, have you noticed where I've placed the Book and Blog of the Week? If you look straight up, there it is in the header! My picks will update weekly in that space. And to the right, at the top, you'll find 3 quick links to things I find interesting that will update during the day -- news and links that you may want to check out. Whether it's something I saw on another blog or a great news article or a funny video on You Tube, I will use that space for quick blurbs. They won't have their own dedicated blog post within this section so they'll hang out over there instead. As new ones are added they'll be replaced and archived here in case you miss a day. If you subscribe to decor8 via RSS you will receive them via your regular decor8blog.com feed. And by the way, if you want to subscribe to this blog via RSS or newsletter look to your right and locate the Search box. Notice the tab that says Subscribe? That's where you will find RSS info.

Let's get down to business. Shopping! I found some nice things worthy of your attention this week over on Etsy... From letterpress to original works of art, you're bound to find a new favorite shop from this week's finds!

First up, Wendy Chung's darling paper shop Dozi Design. I can't stop browsing her clean, modern paper goods. I enjoy the simple design, uncomplicated and lovely like a strand of freshwater pearls or the perfect little black dress. You'll spend time browsing this shop just like me, I'm sure. Little houses, chirpy birds, tiny acorns, mini trees, very kawaii I think.

Things Are Better With a Parrott. Period. And I believe it because everything is better with Sarah Parrott in the world designing her delicious gocco and letterpress paper goods. I'm crazy about her papers with the deep impressions, especially the plump strawberry letterpress drink coasters. This is one of those rare shops where you could give me anything from it and I'd be bouncing off the walls happy. Not only is her paper delightful to the touch, but her pretty range of motifs cover everything from bicycles to lilacs yet still feels so very cohesive and complete. The colors are energizing and don't get me started on her variety of fonts... Truly a shop that has something for everyone!

Love pastels? Dream of strappy sandals or peep toe shoes? Collect (or wish you could collect) vintage cameras? What Katie Does is a London girl with dreams just like yours. And call me a peeping Tom, but I had fun looking through her product images trying to spot extra photos because she has lots of cute glimpses of her adorable home in some of them.

Syko is from Finland and creates, "Soft art for everyday living" made by the skilled hands of Kajsa Wikman. Her handmade soft art includes bags, quilts, pillows, dresses... Everything is her shop is so happy and bright! All items are clearly made from the heart. Isn't it always obvious when you see work that is clearly authentic, you know you can just sense the person stayed up for hours trying to finish a creation just because they love the craft so much? And to think these things are from Finland, aren't we lucky to be able to shop the world from our computer like this?

I just found out about Rachel Robertson via Creature Comforts and I haven't been able to take my eye off of her etsy shop ever since. I love the maturity displayed in her work. Clearly a talented mixed media artist, this San Francisco transplant from the Midwest is inspired by both the natural world around her and city life combining the two as she experiments with an array of mediums such as acrylics, watercolors, papers, ink, pencil, yarn, and vintage ephemera. Her art emerges out of the chaotic studio she describes in her profile. I'd love to visit Rachel to see how she makes sense of the chaos, I'm forever fascinated with how artists work and have often wanted to spend the day with a mixed media artist just sitting off to the side observing them create. I find the whole organic process of the mixed media collage one that directly speaks to my personality as I'm definitely a free spirit, not a strict 'by the rules' kind of girl when it comes to exercising my creativity or building something. This is precisely why I'd rather find a dresser on the street and refurbish it vs. tote home boxes from IKEA trying to build it by the book. My husband is better at that so I delegate all IKEA building projects to him. {wink} I digress... Anyway, Rachel your work is nothing short of inspiring and I'm a new fan, that's a fact!

I hope that you've enjoyed the Etsy Take Five Tuesday this week! If you have a favorite Etsy artist that you think I would like to feature on decor8, please click here and let me know!

(images linked to their sources above)