(The difference being that it’s now Saturday).

Sorry about the delay. I just got caught up in taking an insane amount of photographs with my new camera! It’s a Canon EOS digital SLR thingy. And it’s not really mine, just sort of on… “permanent loan”, shall we say! (And no, I don’t mean that I stole it – it’s actually my brother’s. :p)

Without further ado, here are my picks!

Want To Play, available from studiolyon’s Etsy shop. I chose to feature this photograph purely for the reason that it amuses me! (I think it’s a bear, right? Could be a dog, but it looks more like a bear to me). I just love the little bear’s expression. No, I won’t throw that ball for you, because you’d kill yourself trying to bring it back to me. You’d have to push it back to me, dung-beetle style, and I wouldn’t want you to get a back injury – so go find a tiny, tiny stick or something, okay?

Bon Bon, The Blushing Squirrel, available from sleepyking’s Etsy shop. Look at Bon Bon’s little face! Look at it! Absolutely adorable, and sleepyking has a whole other array of cute plushies, with huge amounts of personality. I love the fabric she uses, too. Kind of retro but modern, and incredibly cute at the same time.

Deer Me, available from vireo’s Etsy shop. Ashley is a very, very talented artist who I first met in the Etsy chat rooms (where I often hang out). I loved this painting from the first moment I saw it. I just love the calmness of the forest and of course the cuteness. Eye size is directly proportional to cuteness, and that deer has big, big eyes.

So, those are my three picks of the week. I normally do five, but I’ve just been very busy trying to get my shop off the ground. It’s been a very slow week for me, sales-wise, and I’m trying not to depress myself about it. Instead, I’ve been working hard at improving my photos, making new items for my shop, and trying to come up with a plan of attack. I spoke to a very successful jewelry seller on Etsy yesterday, who I happened to meet in the chat room. She had some great tips and suggestions for me, and also gave me some wonderful words of encouragement that are keeping me going!

I’m hoping that at some point, I’ll manage to catch a break and then everything will fall into place… lol. Well, that would be wonderful. It’s what I’m holding out for, I *know* I can make beautiful, well-presented things, and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to achieve some small amount of success… just have to keep having confidence in myself and what I’m doing. It’ll happen… I hope.

Anyway, as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I’ve acquired a new camera! Now I’ve finally figured out how to use it, I absolutely love it. I always poo-poohed the idea of using an SLR camera, because I’ve always been able to get pretty decent shots with my point-and-shoot camera; it’s served me well. But as the weeks have gone by, I’ve been noticing that what my photos really lack is some sort of depth. And it’s just impossible to achieve depth with my point-and-shoot. So I got my brother to teach me how to use his big fancy camera, and now I know what I’m doing, it’s really very simple. And my photos are suddenly much better, perhaps not as crisp, but certainly more atmospheric and have the depth I’ve been looking for.

I’ve been pretty busy (for me, at least), and have got some new items up on my shop. You’re most welcome to look! But to show my progress with my photo skills, I’ll post a pic below to show you what I’ve been talking about. Hope you like! These are my Hot Pink and Violet Earrings.

That’s all for now, have a great weekend!

Here are my favorite finds on Etsy for the week!

Sea of Snow, available from eekdesign’s Etsy shop. I discovered Erin’s shop a couple of years ago, back when I was an Etsy lurker (and completely desperate to become an Etsy shop-owner!) and promptly bought this print. I love this print, because just it’s so calm, quiet and magical. She also runs another Etsy shop with her husband, Kevin, which leads me on to my next item!

Poppy the Wood Fox, available from bubblesbinsburry’s Etsy shop. This is the Etsy shop run by Erin and Kevin, selling wholesome painted wooden toys. Now, I can’t understand why they don’t have a lot more sales. As you can see, Poppy the Wood Fox is absolutely adorable. Carefully carved out of maple wood and painted with non-toxic acrylic, these little wooden toys are the perfect fun playthings for your little ones!

Blue Lagoon – Chrysocolla with druzy ring, available from Jealousydesign’s Etsy shop. I love her shop, everything is so beautiful and natural, and I love the look of silver that’s been hammered by a metalsmith. (I’m determined to get into that, one day!) This ring is a fascinating piece of wearable art, it almost looks like a mini planet Earth.

Personalised Hedgehog, available from thehappyhoneybee’s Etsy shop. Mimi has some very, very cute plushies at her shop (including some lady peas and a scullery maid bunny). These lovely little hedgehogs have little felt patches on their backs, which can be personalised with a name, message – or whatever you like. Look at their little faces! Aww.

And finally: Dolly – Deer Art, available from amberalexander’s Etsy shop. Well, what can I say? It’s a little deer called Dolly, wearing a dress and skipping through the meadow. It reminds me of the characters I would come across in the Beatrix Potter books I used to read when I was little, like Mrs Tiggy-Winkle (a nice lady hedgehog who wore a petticoat, dress and apron, who did laundry for other little animals). Anyway, you can see how talented Amber – I wish I could paint like that. Beautiful!

So, those are my favorites for the week. Hope you liked my choices – come back next Friday for some more!

Here are my five favorite finds on Etsy this week!

Fern and Her Tiny Birdies, available from blueberrybandit’s Etsy shop. How could anyone not love this? It’s adorable, and looks incredibly well made with huge amounts of attention to detail. It’s just… insanely cute. That’s all I can say. If I had a little girl I’d give it to her and she’d treasure it. (Although, I wouldn’t mind having one for myself).

Bunny on window sill, available from kokopinto’s Etsy shop. The image is so atmospheric – you’d never believe that the bunny is actually made from playdoh and the walls and floor of the room are made from cereal boxes. I was so impressed when I saw this print, that I knew I had to post it here. Kokopinto has some serious skills.

Sushi Charms, available from mishibu’s Etsy shop. There’s no doubt about it, the tinier something is, the cuter is it is. Add the fact that these little pieces of sushi have adorable faces and rosy cheeks, and you’ve pretty much maxed out on cuteness. There are so many uses for these – phone charms, zipper pulls, pendants – you can use these in any place where there isn’t already a miniature piece of sushi with a smiling face on it, which is pretty much most places. There aren’t any sushi places near me (nearest good ones are probably in London, 100 miles away), and I’m thinking of getting these to remind me of the sushi I want so badly but can’t have…

Jiyong Mushroom Bear, available from y0omii’s Etsy shop. I love y0omii’s descriptions – for example: “This particular mushroom bear loves (and I mean LOVES) to fold paper cranes. Ever since discovering out how to make them, he’s been folding them nonstop! His goal is to fold 1000 colourful paper cranes, and have them flying all around him. So far, he has completed 17 paper cranes, and one turtle (because he thinks that turtles are cute).” Jiyong has a lot of personality. I love that he makes paper cranes. Such a sweet little bear! There are some gorgeous crocheted toys on y0omii’s shop, and she is always working on something new. (She has a lot more patience for crochet than I do!)

And finally: Cat Dish – FAIL, available from gabizoidal’s Etsy shop. I had to include this after seeing it posted in the Etsy chat room last night. I’m a fan of Fail Blog and would love to get one of these FAIL bowls for my cats! There’s just something so nonsensical about the whole fail phenomenon, and I love anything that’s nonsensical. That includes Lolcats, too.

So, there you have it. My first official ‘Friday Favorites’ post! Hope you liked my picks – come back next Friday for more!