This week’s take five is pretty cute, I have to hold back from buying everything I’ve featured because there is at least one item that I want from each store featured here. I also see a bit of a theme as far as colors are concerned, which I just now noticed after uploading all of the images seeing them together — funny how this happens, right? Here are my picks for this week, hopefully you will enjoy them as much as I have curating these lovely finds.

Laura is a self-taught artist in Chicago who I recently found and fell for right away. She loves blue, green and yellow along with quirky characters and for that, I love her back. “My work is focused on the connections of these characters to each other and their environment, exploring the possibility of finding novelty in everyday life, and discovering the joy that comes from opening up to unlikely companions and fantastic situations.” Her gouache and ink prints, which she sells in her shop, Laura George, are fantastic and as a whole it’s all quite consistent and pulled together. Psst: She’s on Flickr, too.

Massey & Rogers are textile designers in Derby who make some killer lamp shades, their tempting selection makes it hard to decide on just one. In addition to shades, who wouldn’t want to own a budgie bag or some badges? Me, me! I had a childhood pet/special friend, a budgie named Snoopy, so I am especially fond of this motif.

I think you’ll really like Uncommon, what a fun housewares shop! Vincent and Jessie are a husband and wife team living in the midwest who make some pretty cool stuff from clocks to side tables and mirrors. You have to check this design team out - great things here!

Aiko Tanaka is a Japanese artist living in Osaka who I found reading Melissa’s blog last night. Aiko’s etsy shop is called Childlike Wisdom and is where she sells her original paintings along with some postcards and prints inspired by the natural world. She is also on Flickr in case you’d like to add her as a friend. (Thanks, Melissa you amazing lady, you!)

If you love kawaii and paper goods, you’ll adore Paper Binder based in New York and Seoul. I adore these paper balloons, they’d be lovely for a kid’s party or simply to adorn a bedroom. If I were little I’d beg my mother for these! At Paper Binder you can find decals, cards, stickers, totes, labels and more. In addition to the air balloons, I love these tiny hangers for clipping on notes and prints for the work room.

(images all linked to their sources above)