Giveaway!

I am participating in a giveaway for a great cause. A group of ladies who run a blog called Periodic Elements of Style are having a fundraiser for a little dog named Rusty. Rusty needs cataract surgery.

No donation is necessary to enter. Anyone can enter to win any/all of the prizes, simply by commenting with a favorite item from each shop. For every $2 in donations you will receive another entry. Click here for all the details and rules. And then click here to see all the wonderful giveaways! Commenting closes at 7pm EST on Friday, January 30th.

This is a really great cause, so I hope you will check it out! Right now there are 10 different giveaways, and I think there are more lined up. I am donating my Snow Day print, which I think is so fitting: a girl and her dog!

Blog Thanks: Notebook of Handmade

Annemari from Helsinki has an adorable blog called Notebook of Handmade, where she shares her fave etsy finds. Each day's finds are based on a theme, such as owls, tea, laundry, mushroom . So cute! She recently featured one of my gocco screenprinted moleskines. Thanks, Annemari!

Vote: Etsy Community Poll

Etsy ran a Storque article recently about sellers' top-selling item of 2008. They asked for comments and links to our top-selling product in the comments section, so I obliged! And surprise--they are now holding a community poll with our submissions! The most-voted for items will then be featured in the Gift Guides and the Storque. So here is the link if you would like to vote! You can vote for my golden girl moleskine (wink wink), but if you vote for someone else I will never know--so cast your vote for your fave!

Blog Thanks: Crafts and Cuteness

Oh wow! Tizzalicious just featured my Dawanda shop on her Crafts and Cuteness blog. Wow, a huge thank you! The photos are huge and awesome, and her blog is so cute, a treat to look at! Check it out, it is just a delight!

Blog Thanks: Fierce and Nerdy

Thank you to Delia from Fierce and Nerdy for including my daydreaming print in her Chic Geek roundup! Check out the link for lots of lovely picks for your home! Delia also has her own Etsy shop as well. Thanks Delia!

Snow Day: Newest Gocco Print

This is my latest gocco print, newly up in the shop.

This is the work in progress

Inspired by this photograph, circa 1982-83 (yes, that's me!)

Big Apple Gardens: 6BC Botanical Garden

One of the most amazing things about the Alphabet City area of manhattan is the profusion of public gardens. When I say gardens, I don't mean parks. On almost every block, there is a plot of land, sometimes tiny, sometimes rather large, converted from an abandoned lot or plot of dirt into a lush green garden.

6BC botanical garden, originally uploaded by tiny banquet committee.

The most beautiful garden of these is the 6 BC Botanical Garden (a quick stroll from 9th St. Espresso), with gorgeous landscaping, a little waterfall, a tiny koi pond, a trellis, a patch of grass to spread a blanket on... and very importantly, it is dog friendly! (Not all gardens allow dogs)

My dog loves this garden, if we walked by when it was closed she would peer longingly through the gate. Once you enter this little oasis, you would never know you were in the middle of manhattan. It is the most magical place in the entire city.

You can get a taste of this lovely garden by browsing these pics in flickr. The 6BC Botanical Garden is on East 6th St. between Avenues B and C (as it's name implies). There are many wonderful gardens very nearby, and I will write more about them, too. But this is my favorite garden of all. There are all sorts of gardens, from shabby to slightly tacky to hippy... literally, there is one or more on every block. But this is one you just shouldn't miss!

Most of the city's gardens are closed during the winter, but during the summer they are open on weekends and have various hours throughout the week. If you are visiting the city, do yourself a favor, I promise you will be glad you did: Head east for an afternoon and walk around the area from 14th St. and Ave C, Ave B, Ave A south to Houston and C, B, A--criss cross the streets, explore up and down the avenues and streets. You are sure to discover an abundance of secret gardens. If it's wintertime, grab a hot cup at 9th St. Espresso, and wander around anyway, just to peer at the snow covered wonderousness (i don't think that's a word!) of these gardens.

There is an amazing history to all of these gardens, and I am by no means an expert. There is a wonderful article about some of the history of these gardens here, but the article is about 10 years old, so I do believe that the gardens are no longer in danger of being evicted. Yay!

Corporan Glass

One of my favorites from my boyfriend's shop. I took the photos for him and I just love the way they turned out.

Blog Thanks: Mint

I had a bunch of blog features last year for my etsy shop, and I thought it might be neat to post about new blog mentions for this year, as a way of saying thanks for the support.

Ellie of Mint blog recently posted a round up of lovely notecards, and included my mint mojito notecards in it--thanks Ellie! Check out the links to see all her gorgeous picks of thank you notes!

A Quick Introduction

I thought I should probably introduce myself a tiny bit. My name is Milly, I'm 30, and I live in the Bronx with one dog (a little beagle who is always hungry even after she has just eaten) and one boyfriend (with his own etsy shop!). We are both big-time night owls. I have been known to cook dinner around midnight! I am lucky to make my living as a freelance camera assistant (film and tv), though I am trying to get away from all that and eventually make my living with my own business, doing what I really love (art and craft).
I say I am lucky, though sometimes working as a crew member feels like a curse. More on that some other time...(and there is lots more!) But I am lucky because being freelance means I don't work every day, and I have plenty of time to devote to my etsy shop (well, there are two of them actually). It is sort of like working part-time... but usually working just a 3-day week means 40 hours. And a 5-day week usually means 65-75 hours. So it's a bit hard to describe. But some weeks I don't work at all. So it all sort of averages out, you know?

I might write about my day job from time to time... but only when I have a really good story to share! That's it for the moment, thanks for reading!

9th Street Espresso

9th Street Espresso, originally uploaded by onesevenone.

Big Apple Coffee: 9th St. Espresso

So let's start with coffee. 9th St. Espresso. For three years I lived just a few blocks away from the very first 9th Street Espresso coffee shop, in alphabet city. Before I discovered for myself that this place actually does have amazing coffee, I started to get annoyed by the fact that everyone I met would tell me that 9th St. had the best coffee ever. "You live on 5th and C?'" they would say, "Do you go to 9th St. Espresso? They have the best {espresso/latte/etc} ever!" Yeah, okay, sure. I mean, everybody thinks "their" coffee place is the best ever. In fact, the more hype I heard about it, the more I wanted to avoid it.

Well, one evening I found myself working not far from the second 9th St. Espresso outpost, inside the Chelsea Market. One of my crew members ordered a latte there after our meal break. Of course, it was "the best ever." I was going to buy a coffee before heading back to work anyway, so why not try it, right? I went ahead and tried a sip. Holy cow. I ordered my own latte and went back to set and proceeded to tell everyone that I was drinking the best latte ever made.

The next couple of nights we were at the same location, we kept going back for lattes and cappuccinos. Sounds snobby, right? Well, I have to say, that does sound a little snobbish. But really, I'm not saying this to be a snob. It's just that for so long I missed out on some really great coffee just down the street, because I thought other people were being snobs! Needless to say, I started frequenting my local 9th St. Espresso on a regular basis. I'm thinking that super fresh and quality ingredients (coffee and milk, basically) and a world class espresso machine are what make this place so unique. I have had many coffees and lattes and cappuccinos all over town, and the best I've had have been from 9th St. They are about $4-$5 each, but isn't that what Starbucks beverages cost nowadays?

Now that I live way up in the Bronx, I miss 9th St. Espresso. Maybe they will read this and come open up shop across the street? A girl can dream, can't she?

For anyone in new york, visiting new york, or passing through, check it out. I know it looks intimidating (at least I think maybe that's why I was originally so hesitant to try it--you know, too cool east village coffee shop), but service is actually really friendly too! (And that's not something you take for granted 'round these parts...) My favorite is the latte, made with whole milk. Mmmm! Here's the info (by the way, they recently opened a third shop across Tompkins Sq Park, woo hoo):

http://www.ninthstreetespresso.com/
Alphabet City/East Village
700 East 9th St. (btwn ave C and D)

Tompkins Square/East Village
341 East 10th St. (btwn ave A and B)

West Village/Meatpacking
inside the Chelsea Market
75 Ninth Ave. ( btwn 15th and 16th St.)

Just Gettting Started...

I am new to this whole blogging thing, and I have been trying to figure out what to write about. I thought it might be fun to start a little series about some of my favorite places in new york city and the boroughs. I should give you fair warning that many of the places I write about will probably have to do with food... as in, places I like to eat. There will be other little new york gems sprinkled in, to be certain. But a great many of these posts will be about food. You've been warned.

My First Post: My Treasury Made the FP on Etsy!

Etsy Front Page 1/3/09 HuntersHideaway, originally uploaded by Etsy Front Pagers.

I thought that this would be a nice first post on my new blog... My "Paper Hearts" Treasury made the Front page on Etsy early this morning, sometime after midnight. Very exciting for me, this is the first time a treasury I curated has been picked for the front page. (unfortunately, I didn't see it live.)

Thanks Etsy Front Pagers for all the work you do capturing these screenshots and posting them for us!

It looks like there were at least three sales from this treasury! Some of the alternates made the FP too, and I think two of them had sales too! Congrats everyone!