Shop Girl

I poked my head around in Etsy this morning looking for little things to pick up for my B&M shop...boredom at work will do this to you. I wasn't really looking for anything specific, really, but it dawned on me that the woman who made the Frida tags I wrote about a few weeks ago never got back to me, so off to the paper goods section I went. I scored a bunch of new tags for dirt cheap and have heard back from two of the sellers already thanking me for my purchase. Everyone is so sweet there.

First, I got these little tree tags from everyjotandtittle which are my very favorite ones so far:

I scored these pretty little Bohemian tags from PetalsPaperandMore for a steal:

And I also picked up these tags made with Amy Butler paper from PicturesofLily:

I'm so happy with my little purchases today and the three combined didn't even add up to $20, not even after you add on the tax and shipping. Sweet, eh? I think they'll look adorable hanging off some of the items in my shop. I love Etsy so much and I can't emphasize enough how important it is to buy handmade. I try to buy as many gifts as possible from the sellers there. It's easier than eBay and the money goes right into the pocket of the artist.

Give it a try sometime.

I'm also thinking quite a bit lately about my next tattoo plan. I want to connect my chest piece to my back piece and have everything wrap around the rounded part of my shoulders, almost like a shawl. I'm seriously considering getting more bird tattoos after seeing what Kara could do with my chest piece and I'd like to somehow incorporate my sister's initials and now Lola's, too. I already have my parents' initials on my chest and I need to finish off the rest of my family.

I browsed around online today and found this adorable little illustration of a cardinal and thought maybe I'd have Kara play around with the idea for my sister's portion of the tattoo.

Then again, I found a tattoo photo on Flickr that I absolutely fell in love with and I'd like to show it to Kara and see if she can maybe find some inspiration in it. I love the highs and lows in this piece and I'm amazed at how detailed each bird is despite how small they are.

I know what you're thinking...the two couldn't possibly be any more different. But I like the different aspects of each of them, although I can tell you right now I'm leaning more towards the second photo. It looks more like the work I already have. I don't want an exact copy, but I like to give her examples of the things I'm drawn to and let her go wild with her interpretation. Who knows. All I can say is I'm itching to get more work done and I'm thinking my birthday just might have to be the excuse I've been looking for. I'll keep you posted.