What a funky & fun shop P.B & Jam is!  They have all sorts of quirky vintage finds, absolutely hilarious “awards”…such as the trophy “rooster”…ahem}…and my favorite, their super-funny gift tags….especially the one that reads, “I like you and cupcakes and shopping and kittens. Mostly you.”. Is it wrong that I like all the snarky tags better than the sweet ones?

I saw them first on the blog Happy Girl•Lucky Fella.

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}.

It’s shameless self-promotion time! Thought I’d share my little business with you.

My business partner and I founded our stationery company, Zuzu’s Petals in 2001…and are in the process of moving to Etsy. We just opened shop last week, and are really excited about the move!

My very favorite thing that we make is our note pads {and, so far, it’s the only thing we have on Etsy}. Each pad is designed, printed, cut and glued by hand in our studio…They are only $5.50, and make perfect little gifts for girlfriends, teachers, yoga instructors….or anyone on your list!

We also sell our designs on our Cafe Press site…lots of tees, mugs, water bottles…etc. etc. etc!!

Well, that’s enough about me for now!

You may know by now that I’m a little bit dog crazy. Ok, a whole lotta dog crazy. So, I think that the notecards of the sweet pooches by Sibling Rivalrie are super adorable! And, I’m really really wishing I lived closer to Brooklyn so I could have my babies {ahem…dogs} photographed by the talented Winnie…she’s one of a 3-sister collaboration that make up Sibling Rivalrie. That, and I kinda want that couch on the top right picture!

Anna from Anna Sofia Designs and I have “known” each other online for a while now, but have never met {does this seem a bit creepy and weird?}. We’ve been part of a women-in-business discussion board for a while, and now follow each other’s twitters with regularity. Anyhow, I think her jewelry is lovely. She uses beautiful papers from all over the world to make her beads, which she then crafts into pendants, earrings and bracelets. It takes many steps to complete the process. She describes her process here.

Nothin’ creepy under these stairs. How adorable are these little paper goodies from UK based, Under the Stair Studios?! Each of the pieces is illustrated and hand cut by the creator, Kat, and made from 100% recycled matt card. The little round circus ones actually spin if you turn the flag. THEY SPIN!! This would be such a sweet gift for someone. Such handiwork, such sweet illustrations. Kat has kindly offered Nonpareil readers a mini paper theater with your order. Just type ‘nonpareil’ in the comments section when you order.

I’m scared to death of mice. Scared. to. death. A couple of years ago, I inadvertently brought a mouse home from the pet store. He was a little white, pink-eyed guy who had hitched a ride in a bag of dog food. When I saw him looking up at me from the bottom of our pack porch stairs, I screamed bloody-murder, slammed the door, ran back into the house and dealt with my serious case of the heebee-geebees. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that a wild, attack-prone mouse wouldn’t be white with pink eyes. My husband was the lucky mouse catcher that day {he’s also my spider & creepy bug go-to guy}. I couldn’t stand the thought of a pet mouse being sent into the wild to fend for himself {I have a VERY patient husband}, and, I certainly didn’t want him hanging out at our house. He was caught, and returned to the store {with big apologies for our trauma}. Phew!

Not sure how I can find mice cute while being completely scared of the real life versions…but I absolutely LOVE the little mouse cards by Bestiary Ink. They come in a set with different mousey illustrations. I think I love the knitting mouse the most. Adorable! Bestiary Ink also has a nice collection of prints! Lots of sweet animals {not just mice!} in her collections.

My business partner and I did a small craft show to benefit a local school this past weekend. I’m sick of doing craft shows. I’ll just come right out and say it. Schlepping our stock {paper is HEAVY}, and display {iron…seriously, what were we thinking…an IRON cart!!}, putting everything up, taking it all down. I get really cranky. Especially when it’s in the snow. Hmm…maybe it’s just the snow that’s making me cranky….

Anyhow, the one thing that I like about doing shows, is that we meet some fantastic artists and crafty people.  I just LOVE that! This past weekend we were lucky enough to be see a favorite vendor from a show we did two years ago {more about that in my next post}, and someone new! Her name is Karyn, and her shop is Den-10 Studio. I’m totally in love with her little prints! I think I have to have the thermos print for my kitchen….and how adorable is her bff print?! So sweet! You can buy all of her prints at her Etsy shop.

The tooth fairy kit by Office of the Tooth Fairy is the cutest thing ever! The certificate is letterpressed, and has the most adorable winged tooth insignia. It sure beats my ziplock bag of kids teeth that I {for whatever reason} tucked away until I could show my kids, and TOTALLY gross them out. EEW! Thanks to blogs “Oh Happy Day” and “Design Crush” for finding this!

Rebecca Peragine is the owner of Print Pattern Paper. It’s an online shop selling just that…art, printed bags, and notecard sets. Really cute stuff! She donates a portion of her profits from selected prints {like the milagro print above} to PEACE, a non-profit organization benefiting communities in the Punta de Mita region of Mexico. Rebecca is actively involved in a women’s co-op called Manos Unidos {based in Mexico as well}. She uses her artistic talent and business skills to provide disadvantaged women with a trade. Very cool in my book.

She is also donating a cute set of notecards {see below} to a lucky reader. I just love these giveaways! Here’s how to enter {you know the drill}: Visit Print Pattern Paper, check out all of her goods, and leave a comment to this post letting me know which one you like the best {ok, if you can’t decide just one…you can tell me more}. I will randomly choose a winner on Thursday, December 18th at noon. So, leave your comments before Friday the 18th at 11am {Chicago time}. Only one entry per household please. Good luck!