Etsy Window Shopping and Down With The Man

Unless you've been living under a rock (it's ok if you have actually, I've been trying my best to do so), you may have heard about the May Day mass strike of Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart and other workers protesting the companies failure to provide enough basic protection and compensation for putting their lives on the line. I'm not someone who gets particularly political normally, but considering my current employer is in the process of battling with our union to stop additional hazard compensation and take back our most recent raise, threatening to lay off workers if we don't allow it, I've been paying a little more attention. [note: I will more than likely be safe if the layoffs occur, don't worry. Still sucks though.]

I have to admit, I'm one of many who, if they need something, will automatically find my way to Amazon. It's easy one-stop-shopping. Also, as someone with a more limited budget, I know how hard it is to make the decision to switch to solely small-business buying when it often means shelling out more of my hard earned cash. Environmentally sustainable, small business shopping is often a privilege of the more well-off- there's a reason Walmart, Amazon, etc are so massive- so I wouldn't fault someone for shopping at those stores. For me, personally, I've just been making more of an effort to look for other ways to get what I need at the prices I can afford before heading to those places, easier now that I have more free time.

One area where it's super easy to avoid large companies is definitely gift-giving and for that, I often head on over to the well-loved Etsy. As a fellow Maker myself, I like the idea of supporting fellow creative people and I feel like sending your loved ones something handmade just makes it that much more special. There are a ton of ways to support creative individuals trying to make it through this tough time and I encourage you to seek them out if that's something you're able to do but since I've been enjoying a leisurely window-shop on Etsy as I sit on my porch on this gorgeous spring day, I thought I'd mention Etsy specifically and share some cool stuff I've had my eye on recently.

Without further ado/depressing news:

found HERE

Guys, I love a weird stud earring. I find it better to wear studs to work and I just like them in general. The shop Obsessories has a TON of crazy options but I've been thinking extra hard about the ones pictured above (though these moon ones are a close second). *

found HERE

More earrings. I wear some everyday so it's totally reasonable to have a ton, right? This Enterprise pair is too cute and the shop Geek Me A Break has a ton of other super nice nerd jewelry- Star Trek, Star Wars, Zelda, Doctor Who... all classily rendered in precious metals. *

found HERE

I bought these yesterday in "light aqua" but the shop OnceAgainSam has a lot of other fantastic items, from wood laser cut things, to fiber art. They already shipped too, which is impressive. 

found HERE

Alright, last pair of earrings. I couldn't help add these obviously because BOWIE CATS. The shop Danielle V Designs, has these adorable Bowie cats in dangly earring and pin form, but also an adorable assortment of prints and other accessories. *

found HERE

Since we're on cats, LOOK AT THIS CAT EGG BROOCH. I have a deep love of breakfast foods and cats and pins so this really speaks to me. The shop, I Like Cats, has a ton of different items with, you guessed it, cat-related themes. I love the art style behind all the pieces. *

found HERE

This shop sweetandlovely has a ton of super cute and feminist-leaning bits and bobs but I am definitely in love with this pale blue dot/Carl Sagan pin (though this pin with my boy Goldblum is a close second). Definitely a worthy addition to my ever-growing pin collection.* 

found HERE

On a completely different note, here's a cross stitch pattern! If I don't draw them up myself, I get a lot of my patterns from Etsy and this one from the shop KentimaByKonna has been on list for a long time (if only I could finish the million other projects I currently have going...). She has a lot of other geeky and book related patterns but I think this one would look perfect on that blank piece of wall near our door...*

found HERE

Another cross stitch pattern! The shop Stem Stitch only has this solar system bundle and individual planets/sun/moon prints in their shop but I've had this pattern in my favorites for a long time. I think it'd be a really cool art installation to have them all in individual frames arranged on the wall.

found HERE

Do you like brains and also uteruses? Well have I got an Etsy shop for you! BirdBearStudio offers a wide range of ceramic brain items like bowls, trinket dishes and planters like the one above. And just to mix it up they also have the odd uterus knick knack as well. I don't have a logical explanation as to why I really want at brain planter but we all know the mind is not always logical.*

found HERE

Last but not least, this teardrop abstract landscape stained glass piece from CedarAndSpruceStudio. I had a hard time choosing one thing to showcase, all of their designs are unique and beautiful. How pretty would this be hanging in front of a window on a sunny day?!*

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I guess we can leave this at a top 10, otherwise I'll be here all day. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

*I've never bought from these shops but they all have a lot of sales and great ratings!