OOH!! I love Colorfly Studio’s artwork…they make me “new shoes kinda happy” {how great is that print?!}. Artist Jen is super sweet, and has a great blog along with her fun prints and things in her Etsy shop. Check them both out!

I felt the need to alliterate the title of my post for some reason. My English-teacher mother would be proud!!

Golly Bard‘s jar of hearts was the first piece of work that caught my eye from Virginia based artist, Holly. Lately I’ve had a little “thing” for hearts {not sure what this is all about}…and I especially love the paintings Holly creates. I love all of her work, really…from her botanical paintings right down to her buggies!

Holly has also collaborated with Polarity, and has a couple of fabulous lockets in their shop.

I love Rachel Austin‘s style…especially all the circle-y flowers she uses in her artwork. Very cool work. I’m a huge fan of buying original art…and it doesn’t have to be expensive either! Rachel’s original pieces start at $65…which is less than a poster at Z Gallerie…and WAY better {in my humble opinion}. She also has fantastic jewelry, journals {above, left}, notecards and buttons.

Find our more about Rachel on her blog…or her site {that has gorgeous watercolors}.

I’m totally in love with the work by LuLu in her shop My Pink Turtle Studio. My favorites are her Frida Kahlo prints…I adore the bright colors, and the sweet faces of all of her girls. LOVE!

LuLu is running a sale in her shop until the end of November – if you buy two prints, you get one free. I think they’d make great gifts! You can learn more about this fabulous artist by checking out her blog!

I discovered the artwork of Noodle and Lou Studio on the blog Colorfly Studio the other day. It’s the perfect time of year to show off these adorable Halloween-y prints!! She’s a local gal too {meaning, in a suburb of Chicago…}…It’s great to find such fantastic talent so close by! She has a great blog too!

California based Anthony Hansen‘s artwork is made mostly from found automotive sheet metal. His various hearts are incredible. I also love his description about his work:

“Creating hearts out of found/reclaimed elements constantly reminds me of the humanity that we all share, and how closely all of our different lives and journeys are connected”

Anthony has no online store, but he posts his show schedule, and maybe you’ll be lucky enough to see his work in person.

*edit* you can find his work at Fiona Bleu Gallery in Morro Bay, California…

I love this project by Belgium based Art Mind. It is a series of babushkas with added textures to convey different feelings. Here’s how artist, Mitsy explains it:

“It derives from a project I did many years ago reflecting my self-portrait. I called it ‘how the outside can tell how you feel inside’. I started out with 9 feelings and then I suddenly thought of making 99 of them…”

I love the swirly “giddy” one above…You can see all of the babushkas on her flickr page…or check out her blog…she’s multi-talented, and has lots of crafty things to share…{including a rad scratch-off lottery-ticket tutorial}.

If you have a rescued or adopted dog, you can submit his or her photo to Noisy Dog Studio’s 2009 Faces of Love project. 10% of the purchases will go to A Place to Bark Animal Rescue in Tennessee {you are not obligated to purchase the portrait}. It’s a win win! If I could only get my daschund, Weenie, to sit still for a minute, I’d send in his picture.

Here are the photos Leigh used for inspiration:

I was welcomed back home with freezing cold weather and snow! Vacation is officially OVER. We had a blast, and I wanted to share my favorite store from the little village of Sayulita, Mexio, where we stayed. It’s called Gypsy Galeria, and is cram-packed with local handcrafts. They have a ton of oilcloth goods {all my photos turned out with an ugly reflection}, Frida Kahlo’s mug is on anything you can imagine, beautiful handwovens, all of the crafts are displayed beautifully, and it’s just steps from the beach. What I love the most is that everything in the shop is hand selected. It’s not just the same ‘ol tourist crap, and it satisfies my need to buy a few cute things while I’m away. I miss it already.