One of my favorite books growing up was The Scroobious Pip, which was a sort of nonsensical poem about an animal who could not be classified, despite the attempts of all of the other animals to do so.  In grade school we had to memorize a poem and recite it in class.  Being the overachiever (e.g. dork) that I was, I memorized the whole book.  It is funny what I can still remember to this day.

Image via Amazon.com

My mom has been going through old boxes lately and giving me things she has saved over the years so that I may share with my daughter one day.  Maddie is a little too young for this one, but the illustrations are spectacular.

What does this have to do with Etsy, you may ask?  The very first purchase I made on Etsy was a print of a watercolor of a mother bunny and her two babies.  It is currently framed and hangs in Maddie’s nursery.  She loves to look at it, pointing to “Mommy” and “baby,” or “bunnies.”

I recall when I purchased this print that Amber indicated she can change colors digitally.  So, if I needed a blue blanket instead of the pink, it would have been achievable.

According to Amber’s shop profile, her work includes a “cavalcade of creatures.”  Perhaps this is where I’ve drawn the parallel between the illustrations in The Scroobious Pip and Amber’s watercolors.  Amber doesn’t just do bunnies.  Here are some of my favorites from her shop.

Sheep

Cat

Squirrel

Piglet

Dragonfly

Easter Scene

Amber currently has over 100 prints available in her Etsy shop, and 10 originals.  She also has a blog here.  If you like what you have seen here, I’d encourage you to hop on over to her shop to see more of her beautiful work.

I am not a huge professional football fan, but found myself drawn in this year given what a Saints victory would mean to the folks in New Orleans. I am sure the positive energy and reason to celebrate are welcome distractions from all they continue to endure in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

So, in honor of the Saints I thought I would do a post on the fleur de lis, their logo. Literally translated, it means “flower of the lily” or stylized lily. Throughout the years it has been used to represent French royalty, as well as heraldic emblems. Today it is used for any number of purposes, from sorority emblems to professional football team logos!

For Your Table

(From left to right- Overstock, Williams Sonoma Home, Ballard Designs)

A Welcome Mat

(Overstock)

Art and Decorative Accessories

(From left to right- The Decorated House, Maison de Stencils, Sabina Danenberg)

Sconces

(Pierre Anthony)

Lamp Finial

(Ballard Designs)

So, there you have it.  Just a small collection of fleur de lis motif home decor objects in honor of the Saint’s big win!

I discovered Etsy on a bleary-eyed night not long after my daughter was born.  Since then, I’ve bought artwork  and gifts and love being able to find unique items, while supporting small business owners.

When I decided to start Maddie G Designs, I knew I needed a website but didn’t know anything about creating one.  A lot has changed since last June when I started working toward the site that is here today.  I wanted to thank a few of the etsy folks who helped me along in the process.

Logo and “DIY Designer” Illustration

I worked with etsy seller Alexa from “whatHEloves.”  Alexa is a fashion designer who does illustrations of stylish girls.  She obviously does commissions, but has a great variety of in stock fashion illustrations in her shop.  I was drawn to the illustrations on Daily Candy at the time.  It was her idea to add in the hammer and measuring tape.  I was really pleased with the end result.

Website Design

I started out with etsy seller Squidlimbs who worked with my logo and designed the template you see here today.  She listened to what I wanted in terms of colors and style and was able to work in my logo and translate my vision into something that is both functional and, I think, nice to look at. 

Once the template was designed and coded, I needed more help with the CSS and styling.  Squidlimbs had a huge backlog and thus, referred me to WordPress and website expert, Mark, over at Angelic Touch Designs.  Mark listened to every  seemingly little nit-picky request or idea (slideshow, colum layouts, different fonts, etc.)  and turned it into reality.  No request was too big or small.  And, to him I am very grateful!  He was so patient and didn’t even laugh at me when I tried to do things on my own, only to find I’d loaded images so huge it took minutes for my site to load at one point!

Other Graphics

An added bonus of working with Angelic Touch Designs is that it is run by a husband/wife team.  While Mark does the websites, Jennie is a graphic designer.  She was able to help with my blog logo and the “Visit” button linking back from my blog to my site.  She was helpful, despite my mind changing often and countless tweaking.

SabineSydney designed the nest in my blog header.  And, while I initially had her create it for another purpose, I loved it so much I had to use it here instead.

Last, but not least, the illustrations you see on the manufacturer’s section of my website were done in watercolor by etsy seller Rachel Ink.  Rachel took my ideas and photos  (the sofa inspiration is in my living room) and ran with them.  She was so helpful, tweaking until we had everything just right.

In any case, I just wanted to thank Etsy for creating such a great environment for creative minds.  And, specifically the little shops mentioned above who really helped me out in this effort!

PS–I was a paying customer at each of the shops above.   This post is a thanks to some talented people, nothing else.