There’s something about collage art that’s so personal and unique and alluring. No two collage artists look at things the same way and no two collage artists will put a collage together the same way. Some collages are borne from a love of vintage, some from a love of a place, some from a wonderful personal experience.

If you like collage, you might want to check out Giesla Hoelscher of Inkblots Art:

These are all digital art collages turned into functional pieces, though there are also good old-fashioned digital collages for display if you fancy something for your walls.

Giesla also runs a non-Etsy site, inkblotsart.com, where you can see — and purchase — her fine art collages, location-inspired collages, photo cards and photo prints. Do check it out.

There’s something wonderful about nature being interpreted in artistic form. Almost anything — flowers, plants, trees — can serve as inspiration, and some people execute it very well:

All of the above can be found at UnaOdd. Really, the shop is just one big explosion of color — like a huge bouquet of flowers, enticing you to look ever closer.

There’s so much good stuff in the shop that’s it’s really hard to decide where to start. Maybe the polymer clay pendants, all made from original patterns, hand-detailed with acrylic paint? Or the acrylic wristbands, all hand-painted with different motifs? Or the acrylic paintings of flowers? Or these really amazing bookmarks that were made from the pages of an old accounting textbook and then embellished and laminated?

Everything is pretty affordable as well — yet another bonus!

When you think 1970s wallpaper, you might think of really awful colors and gaudy patterns. It all seems so … 30 years ago!

But When in Doubt, Draw Flowers has brought vintage wallpaper back — and not in a horrifying way:

It’s all so bright and cheery and flowery … and so much better on accessories than plastered on the wall (though you could do lots of decorating with the lampshades or coasters available from the shop). You can also decorate yourself with wallets, bags and jewelry.

Everything is unique and reusable, and my goodness, it’s nice to know you can bring back the 70s in a way that won’t make you cringe.

I always think it’s amazing when people throw all their passion and philosophy into their work. It lends their work a certain vibrance and always makes you feel good to support the cause. And it helps that the items are cute, too:

All the items above are the work of Jen at Never Felt Better. Jen is a fellow Sacramento resident and IndieSacramento vendor! She is also a vegan who uses no animal-derived materials in any of her products. Many of the bags and scarves and wallets in her shop are made from acrylic (man-made) yarn, and she doesn’t use wool or silk or leather.

She also uses recycled vintage scraps of fabric for other items, such as the soldered pendants and the appliques on the bags.

Her passion is a bit infectious and Jen hopes to spread that good feeling around. In Jen’s words:

never felt better is more than a catchy phrase! it is a recipe for happiness: a combination of my love for all things vintage*cute*wearable, a pinch of compassionate living, one cup of my decade plus of retail and resale experience, stirred until blended. throw in a dash of silliness and you have all things never felt better!

Well, maybe you’ll feel good (maybe even better) all around shopping from here. Good stuff!

OK, so I have written about my love of old-school video games before (particularly Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros.). Add Tetris to that list. Had it on the GameBoy, played it in the arcade incessantly, and I think I even own a version that can be played on the iPod Touch.

Imagine my delight when I saw these:

Best. Idea. Ever.

These are fused glass pendants in all kinds of colors and Tetris shapes, and you can find them at Canadian shop Urban Fusions. Jen is the gal behind the shop, hand-cutting, assembling and fusing all kinds of glass goodies.

Besides the totally retro Tetris pendants, you’ll find other kinds of jewelry, cufflinks and even belt buckles at Urban Fusions. Here’s just a tiny sampling:

I’ve seen lots of nice wet felted things, from scarves to hats to jewelry, but I’ve never quite seen anything like this:

What absolutely amazing work! You’ll find these totally unique items at Feltasy. The work is intricate and it’s obvious a lot of love and care was put into all these items.

If you really want to be blown away, though, go check out the other Feltasy site at www.feltasy.com. There, you’ll find even more goodies, including wall hangings, bags, jewelry and this totally amazing felt dress.

Consider these little pieces of art that you can wear:

You can find these stunning accessories at waterrose’s shop on Etsy. The cuffs are made with wool felt, sometimes hand-dyed (as is the case with the cuff at the very top). Each is an amazing piece of needlework, a celebration of all the different embroidery stitches that can be done. The felt makes a great canvas for the work.

As an added bonus, sometimes the pieces feature other items made by fellow Etsy sellers. Yay for good karma!

Cuffs aren’t the only things available in the shop; you can get rings too. But if you’re looking for a unique accessory, you won’t go wrong here for sure.

I always like learning something new, and in stopping by Sachi Designs, I learned about a technique called netting I’d never heard of before. But it turns out some amazing accessories!

It’s really neat stuff! It almost looks like open crochet or knitting, but it’s got its own flair!

According to Lisa’s Etsy profile, this is what she says about netting:

Netting is a centuries old art created by tying knots over a mesh stick. It is so old its origin is unknown and it is not credited to any one country of origin. Netted objects have been found in countries all over the world each with their own distinctive techniques.

She goes on to say that she learned netting from her grandmother and is keeping the tradition alive. A big thumbs-up to that.

Each piece in Lisa’s shop is one of a kind and takes an incredible amount of work. The results, though, are stunning and well worth the look!

We all need bags, don’t we? Bags to carry the things we deem precious: cash, cell phones, maybe some makeup, a good book to read, that set of keys you always can’t seem to find amongst your stuff?

If you’re going to carry a bag around, you’ve got to at least make it cute, and you probably won’t go wrong with any of these choices:

This one is probably my favorite. It has a hand-embroidered message that reads, “Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” Neat!

The bags are the work of Jenny Karlsson, who hails all the way from Sweden! There are lots of cute bags in the shop, all hand made using no patterns, and all individually numbered (the number is embroidered on the inside of the bag).

Everything has a nice, organic feel, and I love the fabrics Jenny uses. There’s just something about them that seem so fresh and make me think of the great outdoors and sunny days. And, they’re cute to boot.

Usually, moneybags don’t really seem all that sexy. Just these big canvas-looking things that happen to transport all the money you don’t have. And cartoons always make it look like they’ve got these huge dollar signs on them.

Well, it’s nice to know that someone found a nicer use for moneybags and shown that they don’t really have those big dollar signs on them:

It’s a business card holder! You can find it at Chakra Pennywhistle, a shop full of hand-sewn goodies.

(There’s a moneybag wallet available too … ’cause not all of us have stacks of unmarked $100 bills lying around that we could put into a full-sized moneybag.)

Everything in the Chakra Pennywhistle shop is made from organic material, mostly organic cotton. If you’re looking for some home accents, try one of these pillows, which are sewn by hand. The patterns are hand-drawn and silkscreened onto the cotton.

Maybe in a perfect world, we would be living on idyllic streets with colorful houses and perfectly manicured bushes and dainty flowers. It might look something like this:

(The houses are available for sale too!)

If you have a hankering for creating your mini village, check out Foxgloves, where you can find this landscape and other felted goodness!

You’ll find brooches, collectibles, jewelry, magnets and even a few art prints. Custom orders are also available.

Maybe you’ll be feeling one of these:

How can you resist scrumptious-looking food? Maybe if it was made in a way that you couldn’t eat it.

Yum!

These lovely sachets are from Peep Accessories. Peep is run by a trio of ladies — Sally, Jane and Sandy — from New Jersey. According to their shop profile, the aim of Peep is to “make every home in the world smell like chocolate 24/7, and to find the perfect, personalized ‘it’ bag for every woman in the world.”

Not a bad quest, if you ask me.

In addition to the sweet sachets, there are the knitted and crocheted accessories that are indeed colorful and fun. For example, can you resist a robot?

Or hop along with this clutch:

If you want to take a peep at even more stuff — including knit and crocheted jewelry! — you can also head over to peepaccessories.com.

… or pear or lemon or peach or what have you:

The above are awesome hand-crafted rings from the workbench of Ash Hilton.

Ash Hilton hails from New Zealand and has been making his own jewelry over the past five years. No only does he make the hand-cut rings, he also does a lot of metal etching and makes rings, pendants, brooches and cuffs. He tries to be as environmentally friendly as possible, recycling and even trying to fabricate his own metal.

Everything in his shop is made to order, and if you’re ordering stateside, it’ll take a little extra time to get to you, but what you get is a unique piece that’s well worth it!

You can also learn a little more about Ash and his jewelry at his website.

In some parts of the country, it might be close to 100 degrees right now, and wool might be the last thing on your mind. But kick that way of thinking! There is always a place for wool, especially that of the pretty handspun variety:

Those lovely skeins are from Bees Knees Knitting, based in Michigan (where it’s probably not 100 degrees just yet). Jenny is the gal behind Bees Knees, and you’ll love her great selection of handspun yarns and art yarns. Many of her yarns are chunky, so if you’re a fan of quick knitting and giant needles, this is the place for you.

Sure, you might not want to wear something you make from the yarn it right now, but you can stock up early before the fall rush. Besides, you could get a really, really, really early start on those Christmas presents.

Or you could just admire the pretty colors.

Jenny also makes scarves of the lightweight variety, if you’re feeling so inclined:

See, just another reminder that yarn isn’t always for cold weather!

So the summer is nearing and maybe you’ve got long hair. Long hair in the summertime is always a pain. It gets plastered to your forehead (or your whole face if you’ve got really long hair), you don’t know where to put it, and it’s just too dang hot to have that much hair flying about.

Maybe you need a headband! Fear not, Kathy over at A Cozy Life has a few for you:

Kathy combines sewing and lovely crochet work to make these accessories. She’s got an eye for pretty prints and nice colors. You’re sure to find a headband to match an outfit or add some pizazz to your summery wardrobe. And hey, you’ll keep your hair out of your face!

If you have kids and want to give them a little shade from the sun, there are colorful bandanas for them — like this one: