Thursday's Unique Picks - Be Our Guest

Knock, knock…

Awesome retro inspired hand stenciled doormat from Damn Good Doormats on etsy.

Whooo’s there?

House Guests.

This is not a joke.

Dear Friends and Family,

If you are coming into town and would like to stay at my nest, PLEASE notify me at least two weeks in advance. I would love for you to come and stay, but I may just have to straighten up a bit.

These Adorable vintage housekeeping honeys were found in Poet Charms etsy shop.


At any given moment in my home, there may be countless craft projects, or home renovations and repairs taking place. You have been warned.

This vintage sign from vintage goodness on etsy, should be displayed prominently in any home that is frequently in a state of organized chaos, much like my own.

As someone I follow on twitter stated a few weeks ago…”You have to occasionally invite people over to your house so you are forced to clean.” You speak the truth my twitter friend.

I have always marveled at those folks that have the types of homes that are “company ready” all the time. 

I admire you, but do not resemble you.

Welcome guests with lovely guest towels. This vintage embroidered hand towel from haoli's etsy shop.

It is not just all about the cleaning though, there are all of those little things that you can do to give your guests a “special experience”. Today’s fantastic finds from great etsy sellers, are sure to impress your house guests and give them that cozy welcoming feeling in your humble abode.

Fabulous vintage Tonka Toy Winnebago from Juniper Home Vintage on etsy. If only all guests could travel with a life sized version of this...

because we are never lucky enough to have guests that travel with their own accommodations, you may need to get your guest accommodations up to snuff.

This cozy bedside scene is an original design and hand embroidery from This Tiny Existence's etsy shop. Even if you can't provide a perfect guest room, you can show your guest this embroidery of what the room would ideally look like.

Something to strive for, a well organized guest room

(mental note: this welcoming scene is free of boxes of vintage inventory).

For their comfort... It is always nice to have an extra cozy comforter available for your guests and a throw pillow or two.

Beautiful vintage comforter found in Vintage Expedition's etsy shop.

Express yourself without having to utter a word with this delightful handmade eco-felt pillow from gabbea.

Are you the hostess with the mostest, providing all the comforts of a hotel, in your own home?

If you want to take your house guest's stay to a another level might I suggest...

A handy dandy vintage luggage rack from wehaveit vintage .

Mint? Don't mind if I do...

Surprise your guest with these sweet smelling soaps that have been cunningly disguised as mint bon bons and can be found in KcSoapsNmore's etsy shop.

But here is a find that will really personalize you guest's stay...

Decorate their morning cup of coffee with a handmade cozy that highlights an attribute that you cherish about you guest. This fab cozy can be found in Knot Work's etsy shop.

Let's face it though, even if you pull out all the stops, there are always those "special" house guests that you just cannot please. In a case I like that, I have an easy solution...

"The Guest House" print of an original photograph by Tracey Capone Photography on etsy.

Put on your biggest smile and use your delightful hostess skills to direct them to the nearest motel!

Thursday's Unique Picks - Uncork the Possibilities

This week’s Unique Picks is brought to you by the material known as cork.

This natural material isn’t just great for stopping wine bottles, It is quite functional in the home and can be potentially fashionable as well.

A minor bathroom renovation in my home inspired this week’s topic…

Because I strongly dislike linoleum I urged the hubby to install a lovely tile floor in the bathroom. Small space, simple enough right? Done. 

We used to be stoners in the bathroom.

We chose a natural stone…that I naturally thought looked really nice, but unfortunately within a year or so of installing it, as with many DIY home projects, naturally there was bound to be some issues. There are so many possibilities as to why the grout began to crumble and the tiles started popping up. I could blame the contractor for mixing sub-par quick set and grout…but I love him and would really like to get my bathroom sink out of my living room. We lived with the crumbling tiles, grout etc. for quite a while, made attempts to reattach some of the loose tiles, but realizing that we were fighting a losing battle, decided that we just had to make yet another flooring change. The final push through, to get the old tile up was when we discovered there was a leak coming from our toilet. In order to repair the leak the tiles had to all come up. 

Boo leak! Happy new floor! The joys of owning a home. Enter cork. 

We are now going to be corkers. 

One of the bonuses of having a cork floor, is that if your house floods you will have a built in flotation device.

We decided to try something a little different and went with cork flooring.

Now it hasn’t been installed yet, the contractor told me that the flooring needs to sit in the room for 48 hours to acclimate before being installed. It has now been 120 hours…I am pretty sure the cork tiles are feeling right at home in the bathroom and are ready to be installed. 

My future cork floor, acclimating in the bathroom.

 With cork on the brain and not on my bathroom floor I set out to find some pretty awesome items from etsy sellers that are not only cool but corky!

Corky accents for the home...

Bringing cork to light. This vintage modern lamp from Sixty to Seventy's etsy shop combines the natural texture of cork with modern sleek chrome.

Handmade recycled cork and wood bud vase found in Erde Designs' etsy shop.

Rustic yet sophisticated handmade floating shelves from WaterDrop WorkShop on etsy, was created using reclaimed wood and repurposing wine bottle corks. Gee, I think it would stink to have to drink all of those bottles of wine in order to collect the corks for these great shelves.

Delightful decorative reclaimed cork bowl from DMFD's etsy shop, has a durable pop colored painted interior.

The corky host will use...

Don't sweat it, these adorable vintage apple shaped coasters with useful cork inserts from Raemj's etsy shop, will protect your furniture from those undesirable glass rings.

Divine cork decorated Mid Century ice bucket from Radically Retro on etsy.

Cork stoppers are not just for wine bottles. When you are done pigging out, you can keep your snacks fresh in this handmade pig jar with cork snout stopper from paulaware's etsy shop.

Organize it and keep it corky

Cube shaped cork revolving vintage desktop organization for your cubical from Ugly Santa's etsy shop.

This great vintage find from Blue Butterfly Vintage on etsy, is so much more than your average cork board. It also features little hooks for hanging, a pocket for stashing mail and of course a hooter-ific carved owl decoration.

Wine may wind you down, but these handmade upcycled cork spools from Blue Pearls etsy shop, will wind you up! What a super idea for storing and organizing your trims, yarns or ribbons.

Stylish storage from Print Party's etsy shop. These handmade cork baskets with colorful printed "nice" pattern could practically store anything. When they aren't being used, they fold flat so you can easily store them!

Accessories to highlight your natural corky personality

 This handmade ring from kimquinndotcom on etsy needs no bling to stand out. It has a unique design that features a section of cork mounted on a half band, that gives this piece a natural yet modern look.

Browse about town in these fab vintage wedge sandals from school of vintage on etsy. The cork used in these wedges may be faux but they are truly stylin'.

An amazing vintage cork tote bag from OmniaWears etsy shop for you to fill up with all of these unique corky finds!

I am pretty sure that these fantastic finds from etsy sellers will have you feeling like quite the corker!

Thursday's Unique Picks - Little Green Men

Top O’ The Mornin’ revelers and Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
Do you think it is too clichéd of me to write a blog with a St. Patrick’s Day theme? 

O.k. good, I knew you liked clichéd too (Especially after all of those green beers you have had).

"A Happy St. Patrick's Day to Ye!" Vintage greeting card found in starmango's Pink Tree etsy shop.

Irish or not, you are in luck, I am going to share some great finds from etsy sellers that will have you dancing a jig!

Wear a little bit of luck around your neck any day with this lovely handmade four leaf clover charm and green jade drop necklace from MoonRox on etsy. This seller is donating proceeds from this necklace to the Red Cross to help Japan in their recovery efforts after the recent earthquake and tsunami.

What comes to mind when you think of St. Patrick’s Day?

Ireland? Totally.

Sensational handmade bracelet upcycled from a vintage swizzle stick that features a map of Ireland from My Mom's Basement's etsy shop.

Four leaf Clovers? Sure.

Beautiful mini bouquet of handmade origami four leaf clovers from My Bohemian Summer's etsy shop.

Green? Always.

Don't get pinched! Perfect for St. Patrick's Day or perfect for any spring day. This sweet vintage find from Tea at home with Olivia's etsy shop is so versatile. It is actually a three piece set, button down top, sassy skirt and a shamrockin' pair of wide leg pants.

Beer? Of course.

My goodness, My Guinness! These bottles have been upcycled into drinking glasses from Nickpaul Windy City Glassblower on etsy.

Yes, all of those things come to mind today, but I have to say that this year, I am especially fascinated with leprechauns…

Why leprechauns you may ponder?

It is all because I scored this lovely piece at an estate sale.

I was very excited about it. It would be perfect for St. Patrick’s day because he is an elf. Duh Girly, ELF, not a leprechaun. This little detail eluded me at first. I posted this photo of my sweet find on twitter and it wasn’t until Buddy the Elf commented on my photo (yes, I said Buddy the Elf. Please don’t be jealous.) that it dawned on me this little guy is an ELF not a leprechaun.

What’s the difference between all of these little green men anyway? 

Interesting query. I just happened to do a little research on this subject, from some very reliable sources (of course), and would love to share my findings with you.

This 1968 delightfully decorated ceramic liquor bottle from A Collectible Cachet on etsy, features a little harp playing leprechaun "Wearin' O the Green".

A leprechaun makes cereal and an elf bakes cookies. Just kidding.

Leprechaun: Usually wears a red or green coat. It enjoys partaking in mischief. The leprechaun spends his days repairing shoes and collecting gold coins that are in a hidden pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. If captured by a human, the leprechaun uses its magical powers to grant three wishes in return for their release. (wikipedia)

The elf himself, this little vintage buddy was spotted in gathersalot's etsy shop.

Elf: It is a little more complicated to define this little creature, just because there are so many different types of elves. Elves were originally thought to be divine or semi divine beings that possessed magical powers, that they could use to either benefit or injure mankind. (wikipedia)

Generally speaking they sound pretty similar, right? 

Here is the major difference, a leprechaun is a type of fairy from Irish folklore, and an elf is from Germanic mythology. 

BAM! Now go wow your pals at the pub with that little nugget of trivia.

Are you a pixie, an elf or a leprechaun? I don't think it matters because he is just plain cute! This sweet vintage figurine is from Own Back Yard's etsy shop.

Now what about pixies and trolls? 

I will try and figure out what the heck a pixie is another day and you can ask Charlie to tell you about trolls. 

I wish you all a very Happy St. Patrick's Day and wish you luck with finding a leprechaun...

Sweet little handmade plush dolls from SwenNatural on etsy.

to direct you to the rainbow...

Here is something you don't see every day, these 1960's rainbow striped heels from are General Whimsy's etsy shop.

Where he has stashed his pot of gold!

Well, technically it is a pot of gold...it just happens to be a fondue pot that is gold. This fun vintage find is from A Simply Charming Life on etsy.

Cheers to that...

Awesome handmade reusable fabric cocktail napkins from Terre Mum on etsy.

and Cheers to the fact that today is the one year Blog-A-Versary of my weekly Unique Picks blog post! Thank you to all of my readers that tune in each week to read my random stories, and oh so informative bits of trivia and history, but more importantly to check out my unique finds from great etsy sellers.

Play Date

You are invited to a 

Play Date

At The Unique Bird.

Recently listed collection of vintage and handmade decor from The Unique Bird on etsy.

Kitschy finds to add playful touches to you decor.

1951 illustrated children's book, Little Dilly's Party, features layered die-cut illustrated pages.

1951 illustrated children's book, 12 Little Rabbits, with more to die for, die-cut pages.

1949 children's book, Mouse's House, illustrated by Richard Scarry (famous for his Busy Town children’s books), has a flock of adorable flocked pictures.

Let's get things started with a little bit of light reading. These sweet vintage c. 1950's children's books have the most adorable illustrations that would look fantastic framed as artwork or could be used in a crafty project or scrap booking extravaganza.

Hello My Baby, hello my honey...1962 felt hand puppets. 

p.s. Do you know how hard it is to take a photo of your own hands with puppets on them? Not easy.

Fun to play or fun to display, these great vintage puppet make quite a conversation piece when placed on a bottle of wine (no kidding!) 

Dress Up - Handmade Vintage Paper Garland

Setting the "Play Date" mood with handmade garland upcycled from sections of illustrated vintage wrapping paper. Add a vintage touch to a little one's room or use as an adorable birthday decoration hung around a cake table or strung on a mantle.

Here kitschy kitschy.

Not just for the kiddies...

Play Fetch, vintage doggie pottery bud vase. I assure you the placement of the flowers in this kitschy little bud vase will be a conversation starter.

Lil Growly Bears, vintage pottery planter. Sure it would look great holding flowers, but it could also be perfect for those pencil pushers who are looking to express a little playful personality on their desks.

Don't delay, be sure to visit The Unique Bird on etsy, 

for a  Play Date with these unique vintage finds!