Down the Etsy Rabbit Hole

I have been spending way too much time browsing on Etsy these days. I haven’t spent a ton of money, but I have spent some - mostly on greeting cards and bath goods. For some reason, I simply can’t get enough homemade soap right now. I am obsessed! I desperately want to lick the banana brulée soap from naiad's shop, and can you please look at her kumquat sugar scrub cubes? I want to eat those, too. I have swooned over the Milky Tea soap I purchased from Long Winter Farm and the Yuzu Fruit soap bars from Adoration Soap. Artisan/homemade soaps often don’t last very long, sometimes dissolving after only three or four showers, but at around $4 a bar, it’s a little treat that I don’t mind indulging in now and then. I’m sure I’ll be over it soon. That's my way.

You can also find some really fun, inexpensive artwork. Today I drooled over the paper cutting genius of elsita, and I am sorely tempted to buy one of bomobob’s carnival photos. Also at the top of my list is any of Mincing Mockingbird's bird prints. The birds have such great expressions. I don't even really like birds, and this is how I am.

There are other things on Etsy that I love but have no reason to actually purchase, and so far I’ve been able to resist. But I'm almost caving and buying these fabulous decorative paper poms. I wish I were having a party! And at that party, I would serve cupcakes, for which I would certainly use Layer Cake Shop's vintage-looking flowered paper cupcake cups. Or how cute are these tulip-shaped papers?

Before I go any further, let me say in all honesty that while you can find hundreds of gems on Etsy, you sometimes do have to sift through tons of items that are not that great. I have found this to be especially true in the Paper Goods section. Just because you fold a piece of construction paper in half and rubber stamp it doesn’t make it a $5 greeting card. However - lest I besmirch the Paper Goods section - let me say that there are also some amazing finds in that area: Foxy & Winston offers great quality, adorable animal-centric cards and Jane gives super-friendly service, and pocketstudio's personalized cards for kids could not be cuter.

See? I could go on and on. I know that I am making myself out to be an impulse buyer who spends all her time shopping for crafty crap online. I swear I’m not. I don’t like garage sales, I’m not crafty, and like I said, I have really only purchased cards and soaps for the most part. But my purchases have been lovely (*knock knock*) so lately Etsy has had me in its stranglehold! Someone get me out of here!