Little White Chapel: Handmade and Vintage Wedding Accessories

In her own words...

Little White Chapel is all about giving brides beautiful--and affordable-- wedding jewelry. I'm a newlywed myself and when I was planning, I was totally blown away by how expensive everything got once it was associated with a wedding. We're talking hideously overpriced. So once I got over my indignation, I decided to do my part to buck the trend and Little White Chapel was born. The shop features a combination of handmade and vintage jewelry and accessories. I try to make the handmade pieces extra special by using vintage parts, so it's like wearing a little bit of history.

My favorite materials are glass pearls, vintage aurora borealis beads, and vintage cabochons. I pay some attention to bridal trends, but I base most of my designs around my own vintage-y aesthetic. Custom orders and collaborations have made up a large chunk of my business so far (I opened shop in November), and more are always welcome! You can send me an email to paige.ronchetti[!at}gmail.com.

When I'm not working on the store (which is rare) you can find me trapped at my day job, watching 30 Rock and The Office, or reading. My latest book is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

A line of bridesmaid jewelry is in the works for 2010, and some additional wedding party gifts might get thrown into the mix as well. As of right now, I'm focusing on... Free Shipping February! All this month, standard shipping is free. The details can be found below:

My Etsy Shop:
http://littlewhitechapel.etsy.com

Follow me on Twitter:
@paigespangler

Check out my fashion blog:
http://finalclothesout.blogspot.com

Mikeuchi: functional goods inspired by nature

In her own words...

Mizuho Design was started as a way to continue my creativity outside of the regular routine. My pieces are inspired by nature, and through every day life. I enjoy working in different mediums, but my main one at the moment is acrylic. I enjoy the challenge of testing various patterns and thicknesses to create something visually appealing with functionality.

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GraceyMay: hand embroidered goodies

In her own words...

I've always loved doing needlework ever since my grandmother taught me how to cross stitch when I was little. Since then it's been a hobby but I always dreamed of selling my embroidery. So along came etsy and here I am! I use vintage patterns, most of which have been discontinued. I love mixing up modern items like purses, pillows and clothing with traditional old school needlework. It never goes out of style! One of my personal favorite items at my store right now is a peacock bag, but actually all of the pieces at Gracey May are my favorites!

I LOVE what I do and hope that all of you who check out my shop love it too!

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GladRaggz: Handmade designer-inspired bags, jewelry & accessories.

In her own words...

I'm a housewife who's always loved to make things with my hands. I come from a very self sufficient family, and where creativity was very much a part of every day life in one way or another. In the last few years, my need to create has grown, and to my delight, some have liked my things enough to make a purchase! I welcome each new day as an opportunity to expand my abilities so that my creations become better and more beautiful!

I take great pride in the fact that, above all, I use only quality materials, and have high standards of workmanship in everything I make. I realize my shop items are priced a bit higher than some, but a lot of time goes into my work, and my buyers have always been delightfully pleased with their purchases.

Right now, most of my shop inventory consists of crocheted winter hats, scarves and purses. Most of my winter purses are adorned with fabulous vintage brooches. I also have a line of fabric purses for all seasons, as well as one home-dec item, and some jewely. Many of my items are reduced, so please stop by for a look. Shipping for all my jewely is FREE to US buyers!

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Rabbit Whiskers: handsmocked, handembroidered, dresses

In her own words...

I am judy & rabbitwhiskers is the name of my shop and my creations. Thirty-three years ago when my daughter was born I taught myself hand smocking so that I would be able to dress her in smocked dresses. I enjoyed making smocked dresses so much that I didn't want to stop once my daughter could no longer wear them, so I decided to make them and try to sell them.

I was never particularly crazy about sewing, it was the designing part that I enjoyed. I quickly tired of doing the traditional smocking designs & began it imagine elaborate scenes that I wanted to add to the smocking designs. It wasn't long before I began to embroider little figures, like flowers,or butterflies & incorporate these into the smocking. I loved doing this and the combination of smocking & embroidery worked very well. I find that I love the designs that smocking creates, but I prefer the scenes embroidered for the depth of detail that embroidery allows as well as the 3-dimensional effects that can be obtained with embroidery.Over the years, the embroidery increased to the point that it's at today, where entire scenes are hand-embroidered into or over the smocked designs. The addition of embroidery to the smocking has given me so much freedom to create the pictures that I imagine will look cute on a little girl's dress, that I feel more like an artist, with the dress front being my canvas, and the embroidery floss, my "paint." While I'm still not crazy about sewing, I'm very motivated to sew these little girl's dresses so that I can see my creations materialize.

Each dress I make is a unique project that I see through from the beginning- choosing the fabric, to the end- hand-hemming the finished dress. My scenes are all hand- stitched free-hand as I go along. Making each dress is a total experience in which I become immersed, my mind being totally occupied with that particular creation. Every dress that I make is one of a kind. I don't use patterns for the embroidered scenes, nor is anything pre-drawn on the fabric. I look to nature for my inspiration, as well as nature pictures sometimes for ideas & guidance. I never think about the next dress until I am actually ready to begin making it. It usually takes me about two weeks to make a dress as the hand-stitching is very time consuming, the embroidery much more so than the smocking.

About two years ago I was given a camera for a birthday gift and immediately discovered my love of photography. I live with my bedlington terrier, Pascal and together we take long daily walks. I began bringing my camera with us on our walks and very quickly built a collection of wonderful nature photographs. In looking at them I thought it was a shame that I am the only one able to enjoy them, and then it occurred to me that I could make them into notecards to sell and in that way, the pictures can be enjoy by lots of people. I absolutely love making note cards. My only regret is that I don't have two sets of hands, one to be working on dresses and the other to be making notecards!

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