Vote for Natalie!

 

Have you seen this contest from Martha Stewart Living?  It's the American Made Awards, and it's honoring creative small business owners. Very cool, right? Well, the nomination process is over, and the editorial staff at Martha Stewart Living has evaluated thousands of entries and picked 100 finalists that are in the running for the final spot, the Audience Choice pick. The winner will be featured in the MSL magazine, plus win a $10,000 prize! The voting is going on RIGHT NOW.

 

Do you have a dog in this fight? 

 

Well, YOU DO NOW!!

 

Please, help me VOTE for my sweet and talented cousin, Natalie Schlabach of NS Pottery.

 

 

 

Natalie is a potter. She makes beautiful pottery jewelry, plus wheel-thrown bowls, mugs, pitchers, and more. She lives in my much-loved little hometown of Hartville, Ohio.

 

We are all so excited for her!!!!!!!

 

CLICK HERE (or on either of the pictures above) to VOTE FOR NATALIE. When you get there, just look for the bright red VOTE button in the upper right. You can vote ONCE PER DAY until September 24th.

 

 

 

 

Click here to visit Natalie's blog

 

 

Click here to visit Natalie's Etsy shop

 

 

And most importantly of all, VOTE VOTE VOTE! Thanks so much!!

New in the Shop

Just a few newly listed items that are for sale in the shop...

Antique Yellowware Bowl

Antique White Ironstone Platter

Vintage Green Glass Wine Jug



Tea Leaf Ironstone Teacup & Saucer

I bought an entire lot of antique Tea Leaf ironstone at an estate sale a couple weeks ago, so I have several pieces in the shop right now, and I'll continue to list more as I get them photographed. It's so beautiful! 

Large Tea Leaf Ironstone Pitcher,  Small Tea Leaf Ironstone Pitcher

Personalized French Stripe Towel - YELLOW

And I have a new color of the monogrammed kitchen towels - a golden mustard yellow. It's lighter and sunnier than the Dark Mustard color I already carry, so it's perfect for a cheerful country kitchen.

I'm off to pack up some more orders... Hope you're having a great week!

1000 Sales

I have reason to celebrate... Overnight, my little etsy shop hit the 1000 sales mark!  HORRAY!!! When I first started this venture a little over 2 years ago, shops with sales numbering in the thousands seemed like giants. No giant here... just a grateful girl, giving glory to God. 

To celebrate the milestone, I'm including a FREE full-size bar of handmade soap (your choice) with every order placed this weekend (Friday, July 27 - Sunday, July 29). No need to do anything special... just let me know when you checkout what kind of free soap you'd like :)

A huge "thank you" to everybody who's visited the shop and the blog over the last 2 years...

You guys are THE BEST!!!

Humbled and Blessed,

Ellie

Collecting Vintage Flower Frogs

Vintage flower frogs are one of the very first things I began collecting. They are inexpensive, look great displayed en masse, and can be found in all sorts of different shapes, sizes, styles, colors, and materials. Designed to help shape floral arrangements, a flower frog would sit at the bottom of a vase and holds the flower stems in place, usually with short spikes, a glass disk with holes, or a wire grid. I collect metal frogs in every size and shape, from teeny tiny spiked frogs to giant cage styles.

I have my flower frog collection displayed in a painted wooden bowl in front of our television, flanked by two big white pineapple garden finials. Metal flower frogs are often found with various shades of green paint, to blend in with the flower stems, but lately I've honed my collection to focus on frogs mostly in neutral shades of greys, whites, browns, and blacks. They are a little harder to find, but I love the look of a monochromatic collection, and the patina on these bare metal frogs is beautiful.

This tiny little black spike frog is one of my favorites.

I even used my collection of flower frogs to inspire the name and logo for my Etsy shop and blog. The flower frog graphic that I use on all of my tags, business cards, and web branding is actually a photograph of the little grey frog on the top of the stack shown above. I manipulated the photograph in Photoshop to create a black and white image with a hand-drawn sketchbook feel rather than a literal photograph. See the resemblance?

I have developed a knack for spotting flower frogs wherever I go, be it a flea market, antique shop, or garage sale, so in order to keep my own collection modestly sized and cohesive, I sell many more than I keep. I can't say that about everything! Here's a few of the frogs that are up for sale right now...

If you're anything like me, once you buy your first flower frog you won't be able to stop with just one!

New Striped Ribbon

I am officially obsessed with this ribbon... I was running out of the ribbon I used to use on my handmade soap gift boxes, and I wanted something better. And, boy, is this better... Luxurious, elegant 1.5" wide grosgrain ribbon with a beautiful hand, soft drape, and gorgeous rustic ivory and caramel brown stripes. It's the kind of ribbon people write poems about. Or at least they should...

I am in the process of tweaking my gift sets and switching them all over to this beautiful new ribbon, but I just photographed the first one this afternoon and I couldn't wait to show it off. This is my No. 2 Gift Box - the Hardworking Hands Kit. It has two bars of coarsly-textured handmade soap (the Gardener's Scrub has cornmeal plus oatmeal, and the Cinnamon Coffee has finely ground coffee beans in it) paired with a wooden nail brush for down and dirty scrubbing. But I'll just let all that gorgeous ribbon speak for itself...

And don't worry... I ordered enough of this ribbon to share. It comes in glorious 30 yards spools (30 yards!) which will retail for $26.00 each. I've seen it sold by the yard in a handful of online shops, but I'm going to offer it in my etsy shop by the roll instead. I don't have it photographed and listed just yet, but it's coming soon. The Hardworking Hands Kit is already available in both shops, here and here.

Lavender Photo Shoot

 www.ellieshandmadesoap.com

Mustard Stripe Towels

These new mustard colored striped towels came in the mail a few weeks ago, and I've been so busy preoccupied that I haven't found the time to do a proper photo shoot with them yet. Until this morning! I finally got my sample towel stitched, photographed, and they are up for sale in my Etsy shop.

The mustard color looks so nice in my country kitchen. It's not a super bright mustard yellow - the stripes are more of a dark caramel mustard - so it looks great with farmhouse kitchen accents like antique yellowware, wooden bowls, old rolling pins, and rustic cutting boards.

It's always fun deciding what letters to choose for my sample towels. I've already stitched a couple with my own initials, but I like to show a variety of letters on the towels I photograph for the shop. I knew I wanted to do an "H", because that has been a popular letter on recent orders. And what could be more cheerful than adding an "I", an initial that often shows up on antique european grain sacks.

What a friendly little towel!

These new mustard stripe towels can be ordered individually HERE or in a set of 2 HERE.

This Just Listed...

A few of my favorite new finds from this weekend, just listed in my etsy shop...



Vintage Collapsible Wire Laundry Basket on Wheels

One fabulous folding wire laundry cart. Be still my heart. This is one of those things that I won't mind if it has to sit in my house for a while!



3 Small Vintage Pillows with Redwork Embroidery

3 miniature hand-stitched old pillows, embroidered with red initials. I think they would make adorable pincushions.



Huge Antique Tea Leaf Ironstone 16" Platter

An oversized ironstone platter with a simple tea leaf design. This pattern reminds me of fall, and it would be beautiful forThanksgiving - you could fit a lot of turkey on this platter!


Vintage Wire Cloche

And finally, a quirky little wire cloche. It's incredibly crooked, but just as cute as can be.