Modish

Wren Handmade

I love these new crochet necklaces by Wren Handmade- so delicate and sweet in great color combinations. They seem perfect to pair with a plain tee and shorts for a casual, lightweight summer look. All that's missing is an ice cream cone. Chocolate for me, please.

Eco-Friendly Find: Urchin Bags

A very good friend of mine works in a bike shop, and through him I have become a huge fan of anything made from bicycle scraps—tires, tubes, cogs—I love the look of all things bike, and I love that there are so many talented people out there finding new ways to keep scrap material out of landfills. That's one of the reasons I was so excited to discover urchin bags.

Urchin bags are made from 95% recycled materials. These awesome little pouches are made from repurposed bike inner tubes and scrap vinyl. I love the combination of the bright vinyl, contrasting zippers and black rubber. They are fun to look at, and look decidedly durable—perfect for coins, cards and all the little stuff that's rattling around the bottom of my bag.

 Liz Grotyohann is a co-founder of cosa verde, a marketplace for handmade, environmentally-conscious goods.

Modish Loves: Sohomode

Girlish. Summer. Perfection. Sohomode's stunning tea dresses are inspired by designs from the 50's and made with vintage cotton. I love them so much, they make me wish I was much more lady-like than I really am. At least for day.

Handmade Spaces: Moonstitches

Moonstitches is the online moniker of Alexandra, a German crafter living in Japan. She has a beautiful blog featuring glimpses into her life in Japan and her creative pursuits- she has lots of fun tutorials there too if you're interested. I was instantly smitten with her space when I saw it in the Modish Handmade Spaces pool, simple and uncluttered with lots of colorful fabric to covet along the way. Let's get a closer look!

See more from Alexandra's beautiful home and surroundings on her blog and flickr, and take a peek at the Modish Handmade Spaces pool for more studio inspiration!

New shop: Found Paper Co

{collage by Found Paper Co}

I just discovered Found Paper Co in my overflowing inbox and I'm disappointed (in myself, and my lousy keeping-up-with-email-skills) that I didn't come across it sooner! It's an awesome little shop featuring vintage housewares, paper goods and office supplies. The goods are well curated & well photographed by owner Xenia, a lover of paper and flea market scouring. It's the perfect place to find what you need to give your office or desk a vintage touch- a new instant favorite.

Oh, Monday

originally uploaded by Olivia Bee.

Hope you're having a sunny Monday wherever you are! And if you're not, just imagine you're here in this photo, enjoying the long yellow glow of summer. It's by Olivia Bee, one of the most talented 15-year-olds I've come across in a long time. Her entire photostream is breathtaking. Really.

Happy Weekend

Signing off for the weekend. Remember to enter the giveaway to win some beautiful photos from Abby Try Again if you haven't yet. And speaking of Abby, she does Five Senses Friday on her blog sometimes and asks others to participate. So, I thought I'd give it a try to share a little of what's been going on behind the scenes this week. You can participate too!

tasting:
the most delicious vegetarian chimichangas from a little Mexican food truck off SE 82nd (I think I could eat one everyday)
strong pomegranate margaritas with salt from Por Que No

seeing:
sun, sun, so much sun.
the greenest green of summer in full swing
nights with Weeds on dvd and True Blood while we have HBO for free. oh I love me some vampire Bill.

hearing:
my dog barking in his sleep
Don't Stop Til you Get Enough, Pretty Young Thing and Billie Jean

touching:
the softest kitty fur with one hand, and the keys of my new laptop with the other
the wooden fence that surrounds the tiny house we want to buy, as we peek over it & dream

smelling:
vegetarian bacon frying up for the yummiest veggie swiss cheese burger ever
fresh coffee from home-roasted beans we got from a friend

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! See you Monday,
<3 jena

Undiscovered: Babouche Rouge

A wonderful reader, Caroline (who's also a great artist over at Cool Ranch Studio) pointed me towards new shop Babouche Rouge, and I was instantly smitten.

By Italian artist, Felicita Sala, these colorful and dreamy little worlds are such a pleasure. I want to jump into each one and say hello to the people, listen to the stories they have to tell (I'm sure they have some good ones!)

 


Her shop has been open on etsy for only a month now and I know she's going to be a big hit on there in the future. The flood gates just need to be opened- will you be her first sale?

Save Big at Pequitobun!

One of my favorite jewelry designers, Pequitobun, is having a sample sale (items 20% off), a moving sale (items 20-60% off!) AND she's offering an additional discount just for Modish readers of 15% off anything on the site, including sale items. Woah! Looks like now's the time to stock up on some gorgeous re-vamped vintage jewelry, hmm? Use code "pqlovesModish" at checkout for the 15% discount. Offer valid only thru the end of this weekend, til Jun 28th.

Uncharted

I love these pretty accessories from Uncharted- wooden earrings and bangles covered with bright papers from all around the world. They're one of kind and perfect for summer!