Decorations for All Seasons

The Boosting Etsy Shops Team's goal is to offer support
and promotion of one another's Etsy shops primarily through our
personal Blogs, and also through our Twitter Accounts and Facebook Fan pages.
Commitment to this common goal is what makes our team the BEST!  

 Having now had a chance to visit some of my fellow team members since my first, tentative steps within the BESTeam fold, I am going to have another attempt to feature some of their shops which have taken my eye.

 I've noticed many of their blog posts have a theme or thread running through their features, so am taking Decorations as mine for this essay.  The first three sites I hovered over had samples of flowers used to decorate different items/sites that really appealed - to the extent that they are going to feature today.

Autumn (as we call it in the UK) or Fall as it is known in Canada (where I lived for 12 years) and the US could be described as my favourite time of the year.  Whilst it does herald the onset of winter shortly, the colours are so bright and warm, and the hot summer temperatures have been lessened by the cooler winds and shorter days, that one tends to concentrate on enjoying them - and let's forget about winter, until it actually arrives!  So, when I saw the Fall Silk Flowers in a Scarecrow Basket, I couldn't resist including it in my selection.  This is an offering from Debbi and Amanda, a mother-and-daughter team specialising in vintage, jewellery and other enticing products, of which this is a prime example.

Debbi and Amanda's work can also be seen at their Facebook, Twitter and Flickr sites, as well as at www.ourhometoyours.etsy.com.  They suggest this as a home decoration.  However,  I can't help but feel that it should have a wider audience.  I could see it gracing a church window or sitting on the step below an altar or lectern as a Harvest Festival decoration as well.  It's dimensions (22"wide x 182 high x 14" deep)  would not be drowned by a medieval church window, of which we have a considerable number here in the Heytesbury area of Wiltshire, England, UK.  You could say, we are spoilt for choice!

My next selection is a great deal smaller - still a decorative object -  but this time balancing delicately on someone's head.  I can see an auburn headed lady going for this - although brunettes and those with raven black hair could also find a use for this lovely head-band.  How about calling it a "fascinator" though?  These do seem to be the latest "must-have" headgear these days.

This comes from the KnitfulDezigns Shop owned and operated by Veronica Grace - whose range of decorative headwear knows few bounds.  There are some delightful children's headwear that will definitely feature in a future post, but for today, I'm going to be satisfied with highlighting this delightful floral object.

My final selection for this feature is this beautiful Charmeuse Silk Hand-Painted Scarf.  Measuring 45" square, it is surely far too attractive to end up draping someones neck - however gracefully it is arranged (and Joy Silk who is responsible for this lovely object - as well as some equally decorative jewellery - actually provides the requisite instructions for achieving a satisfactory result with each sale.

Left to me, I'd mount it and frame it behind chemical free glass and have it as a well-hanging.  It has already been a featured item during Breast Cancer Awareness week in Joy's locality and I think it deserves more publicity than just being an adornment in someone's wardrobe.

I'm blown away by this partiicular item (although all her products look lovely).  Painting on paper is hard enough:  painting on silk is a whole new ballgame!  Joy's work can be seen at her Etsy Shop  (www.etsy.com/shop/Joyflower),  Twitter:  @JoySilk;  Her blog can be read at http://www.joysilk.blogspot.com and her email is joy@joysilk.com.

As a newcomer to the Etsy BESTeam, I've been made very welcome.  There must be many other Etsy bloggers/shopowners around who would be similarly welcomed and helped - while simultaneously promoting your own Etsy shop.  Why not give the Etsy BESTeam forum site on Etsy a visit and give it a try?  If they've invited me, they'll surely give you a berth!