Browsing on Etsy

After dealing with my friend's illness for the last two days I'm feeling a little brain dead today and can come up with no earth shattering, life improving topics about which to write. Instead, I've been wasting time browsing around on Etsy, which is a site where people sell their handicrafts. There are some amazing things on Etsy and I've decided to give myself a break today and highlight some of the things I've found that I love. They won't change your life but perhaps they'll give you some good gift ideas!

Here is an adorable Christmas themed nightlight from Paula's Stress Art.

This cute nightlight is $22. Paula has a number of other cute, resonably priced glass pieces. Check out her store and see all of them. Paula is celebrating her birthday this month by entering the names of all purchasers into a drawing for one of her pieces with a $45 value.

These are vinyl decals designed to stick on your laptop. What a neat idea. They are $11.90 each and there are several different swirly patterns. One of the decals is white, the rest are black. The

store owner shows all the decals on a Macbook but they could certainly be used on any laptop. If you send the seller the dimensions of your laptop, she will size it to fit. If you or someone you know is on their laptop a lot, this might be a good gift.

Nice soaps are one of the few pure indulgences I allow myself. Since I'm the only one using the soap, I buy nice "guest" soaps and keep them for my everyday use. There are lots of people making soap and selling it on Etsy. Here are a couple that caught my eye.

Vegan Valencia Soap for $4.50

Lemon Sugar Moisturizing Soap with Avocado Oil and Shea Butter, Large Bar for $5.00

There are literally thousands of soaps on Etsy. If you're a soap person, you can go crazy!

I don't usually write about buying things. In fact, I usually write about just the opposite. This time of year though, most of us are buying and Etsy is a great place to shop. You are giving your money to someone who may be a lot like you. Someone crafting something in their home and selling it to help make ends meet. Etsy has a neat feature called Pounce that allows you to hop around to either popular or undiscovered stores. There is so much on Etsy that Pounce is a good way to see some random items. Just cruising around the Internet? Go by Etsy and do a little browsing. You may be able to cross some names off of your gift list!