Favorite Etsy Shop: Fishbone Deco

I am a sucker for retro items that remind me of the good old days of my childhood. I’m always looking out for those nostalgic items that remind me of the days Mad Men is working its way up to! One of my favorite shops on etsy for vintage items is FishboneDeco. I love the colors of these items! Here is a sampling of what they have collected for us to admire and maybe even purchase!

Vintage Typewriter

Vintage Phone

Vintage Lady Baltimore Suitcase

Vintage Fan

Trim That Tree!

Every year I seek out a new ornament for the tree, something unique, fun and hand made of course! Here a few of my favorite etsy finds this year.

Gingerbread zombie man by Living Thread!


I know I need this copper Boxer dog ornament by White Dog Art. They have many different breeds if you are not a Boxer lover like me!

Beautiful hand blown glass ornament by In The Light Glass Work for my traditional side.

BEST'S own Jenny Jen's felt Owl Ornament- he maybe hanging around all year.

Powder coated steel ornaments by Megan Auman, for the metal smith in me.

Pillow Talk

Today’s tutorial is how to make a felt appliqué pillow cover with piping! You will need to gather up the following materials:

• Pillow form
• Enough fabric to cover front and back, as well as an additional half of your back
• A package of piping
• Felt
• Fabric glue (Elmer’s glue can also work)
• Thread
• Sewing machine

Step 1: Cut fabric

Measure your pillow form for height and width. Cut out the front of you pillow by adding 2” to both sides. This pillow form is 12” X 16” so we will cut 14” X 18”.



For the back, cut out two pieces: one that is one half the width (for this pillow it would be 9”X 14”) and one piece that is three quarters the width (about 14”X 14”).

Step 2: Making the back

Press under one width side per back piece a half inch. Then press under again one inch. Sew edges with a 5/8 seam. Put aside.


Step 3: Making your Felt appliqué design

We wanted to make a sock monkey design, so we decided to trace the outline of the actual sock monkey because we really liked the size of the monkey on the pillow. This gave us our basic shape. We then added detail with felt shapes. Using fabric glue (if you don’t have any fabric glue, Elmer’s glue can also work. Apply very sparingly to avoid glue spots) Let glue dry (a good half hour should do! Before sewing)




Once glue is dried, sew down felt on all edges using an interesting color of thread with your sewing machine.

Step 4: Piping

Lay out your piping on the right side of your front piece a half-inch from the edge. Pin on flat side of piping facing the point towards you as you pin. Pin corners by pinching the piping to form a corner. Pin as shown:


Using a zipper foot on your machine, carefully sew piping down by sewing on the flat side. Take out pins as you move along the piping.


Step 5” Putting it all Together

Lay front side right side up and arrange both back pieces to match edges of the front so right sides are together. Your back pieces will over lap. Pin pieces together and sew. Follow along the piping line as you sew being careful not to sew over the round part of the piping. You should be sewing on the outside edge of the piping.



Final Step: Turn pillow case inside out and slip pillow form in between the two back pieces and there you go! Your own appliqué pillow form. Happy Sewing!

It Happened Kinda Like This...

I'm one of those saps who believes that everything happens for a reason. I know it's not the intellectual thing to think, but it's something I have to do if I'm gonna get through this life. The choices I've made along the way have helped, too. I know. But some people are meant to be your friends and some things are just meant to be.


BEST was a glimmer that none of us could put our fingers on. The organization it would take to form a street team was daunting and the timing was bad. I'm not quite sure if any of us were prepared to work even harder, to have our families wonder if our marbles hadn't gotten stuck in the floorboards somewhere. But we were drawn to each other. We had to do it.

I wrote this in my blog just before Christmas of last year, before any of us had met or imagined what we would work together to achieve...

I love fabric of different prints and textures layered and stitched together. This petite brooch from The Littlest Bean is so feminine without being frilly. It would look VERY sweet affixed to a baby girl's soft knit cap. Hmmmm. Maybe one day it will be! Find this brooch and a ton more at jenmenkhaus.etsy.com

A set of note cards from JennyJen 42 is the perfect gift for ANYONE. Really, we use up our coolest stationary fast in this house. Besides, it's just nice to get something in the mail that's not a bill or a forest's worth of junk. Hey, when you think about it, a gift of cards sends cheer all over the place! jennyjen42.etsy.com

And then came Leah. The tenacious CuriousZoo. Leah was not going to give up. Bad timing, be damned! This street team is forming! And we did. JenMenkhaus got us all in line. Her management and organizational skills were essential in our creation, and she still keeps us going strong. And growing. We have all worked so hard. And now, again, it's time to work even harder so we can live up to our Best of Baltimore title.


Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the collaboration between The Littlest Bean and Sweet Pepita turned out great! It's like these hats were meant to be.

Sources of Creativity

As a BEST member, art educator, and active member of the artist community for many years, I wanted to begin a discussion on creativity and what inspires, drives, distracts and pushes us to create. Thinking back to the part of your life that has been the most creative, the people who have been major influences, and the actual process of how you make.

Anita of Miscelena Handmade Papercrafts has volunteered to be our first person to complete my short little snippet to begin the discussion process.


1. What part of your life do you find is/was the most creative ? Do you think back to these times when creating your work?

This is by far the most creative period of my life to date! Over the last decade and a half, I've worked hard to build a design career while raising my son... which didn't leave a lot of free time for other creative pursuits. After years of being in a 'production' position (i.e. helping translate others' ideas onto buildable designs), I'm now in a design position at my day-job and my son is in high school, pursuing his own creative ideas in a two-year specialized art class. As a result, I now have more time and ability to explore my photography and papercrafting ideas at home, AND I've developed a network of fabulous artists and designers who share my enthusiasm for 'playing' with color, pattern, texture and concepts. I feel so very
lucky to live within such a creative network of friends, family and other professionals.

2. Did you have a creative mentor? A teacher or role model that taught you about creativity or simply inspired you to be creative?

Oh, this is very much in my genes: when I was small, my mother and grandmother sewed most of their (and my) clothes, and a real value was placed on handmade gifts... and handwritten notes. Much like cooks who find it difficult to simply follow a recipe, I learned early that it's better to 'make it your own', by altering a design or pattern and following inspiration. These days, I'm also constantly encouraged and inspired by my friends in the design-industry who each seem to have their own 'homemade' interests as well: some paint, some are photographers, some sew - there's always something new and exciting!

3. When you get stuck, how do you get out of it?

I've learned that it's no good to try to force creativity... when nothing's working quite right... nothing fits, the colors don't quite coordinate, I can't even cut a straight line... I have learned to just shrug it off, let it go. It's like giving myself permission to have some downtime: I'll go do something else entirely, usually reading (there's never enough book-time, it seems!) and come back to it later. If it's an on-going block, there's nothing like a trip to the art museum (ANY art museum) to jump-start some creative thoughts.

4. What is your creative process when making your product?

I usually start with one particular item: a stamp I've found, or a new patterned paper, or even just a color ("Today I feel.... lime green!") and start searching out the items (other stamps, other papers) that feel related to the theme, either color-wise or style-wise. Choosing inks - and I rarely use just one in a design anymore - is the next step; what colors do I want to emphasize? Is it about contrast or coordination? Is this a 'happy' card or a somber note?... then last come the embellishments: ribbons, twine, old dictionary pages, detailed brads, a bit of metal, etc., to add style and make the cards unique.

5. Do you have any creative thinking tricks you like to share?

I carry my point-and-shoot camera *everywhere*. I'm not a 'serious' photographer, and my shots are as often more simple documentation than thoughtful compositions... but whenever I see a palette of colors or textures(sky/trees/roadway or brick/concrete/railing or skirt/sign/building) I try to 'catch' it. Even if I never directly reference the images I capture, I think it keeps my brain 'tuned' to looking for patterns and contrasts.

Post written by JennyJen42

sneak peeks

One of my favorite features on one of my favorite blogs is the sneak peeks on design*sponge. As artists and craftsters we tend to arrange our lives as creatively and artistically that we can. We have pride in our aesthetic and how we arrange our stuff and what colors we choose. How we can combine studios with guest rooms and offices with kitchens. So I wanted to contribute to our blog with our own Baltimoreetsy sneak peeks. And I thought it only fair that I go first. My husband and I own a 3 bedroom home that was built in the late '30's. We have great hardwood floors, a fireplace that can still be used and a vintage black and white tile bathroom. I have the second bedroom for my studio that I endearingly call my sweatshop. I painted it bright yellow and filled it with with ever functional furniture that i could use for constructing, sewing, ironing, storing supplies and products and also house my office. I absolutely love IKEA as well as the taste of my ancestors. I have a mismatch of antiques, saw horse desk from college and sewing table and storage devices from IKEA.

Spring Bags

Our very own JennyJen 42 in this month's issue of Baltimore Magazine! That's her super-cute Mr. Owl Bag on the left.