Needle felted jewelry, seen on Etsy:

And by far, one of the coolest pieces of felt jewelry I have ever seen, partly because it is a homage to my favorite video game series of all-time:

All these super-creative goodies are the work of fiber artist Made by Moxie. The shop’s tagline is “needle felted art for the people,” and there is definitely no shortage that here. You’ll find jewelry (in addition to the cuffs, the rings are pretty unique, including a carrot ring and a ring shaped like a round bomb), felt finger puppet creatures and wallets. It’s a wide range of work, all colorful and fuzzy.

There are also needle felting kits for sale, in case you feel inspired to create your own needle-y goodness.

Question: If a bank robber walked into a bank wearing this ski mask, what would you think?

OK, so maybe you don’t have to be a robber to need a ski mask or to appreciate its warmth and usefulness. But you have to admit, that’s the raddest looking mask ever.

This coolness is the product of leethal, a shop that carries all sorts of knit and crocheted accessories and cozies, many of which are creative and absolutely unique.

For instance, did you ever think you could crochet a watch?

Pretty sweet.

Unfortunately, the ski mask is sold. But the watch is still available. And so is a bunch of other stuff. As an added bonus, you’ll get free shipping on all orders through August as part of the leethal’s moving to Portland sale!

Or to be more specific, buttertarts. Or some fresh-baked bags and goodies from I Heart Buttertart?

(Above bag, bright bird seed tote. Bottom headband, tea & crumpets adjustable headband.)

I Heart Buttertart is an online accessories boutique run by Leah, a Californian transplanted in beautiful British Columbia. I Heart Buttertart is dedicated to bringing you one-of-a-kind accessories. You find handbags, totes, wallets and hair accessories in brightly printed fabrics. Leah says that each bag is unique, and no two bags and will be made in the same fabric or have the same embellishments!

She also takes custom orders, in case you want a matching wallet or headband, or you want a bag in a different style.

Oh, and buttertarts? According to Leah, a buttertart is a sweet pastry originating from Canada. Warm and sugary. Yum!

You may have heard of Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty, which seeks to promote girls’ self-esteem and break the twisted stereotypes of beauty that pervade our society.

Alison over at jewelry shop Midnight Firefly began donating 10 percent of her sales to the Campaign For Real Beauty back in May, and big kudos to her for contributing to a very worthy cause.

In the meantime, you can feel beautiful wearing some of her pieces, which use precious stones and gems for a sleek look that will add some color to your wardrobe. Some pieces are bold and chunky, others simple but still eye-catching.

Try this necklace on for size:

As an added bonus, Midnight Firefly is currently having a big ol’ sale — 30 percent off all items!

So a sale and a good cause — you can’t ask for a better reason to shop.

Normally, big beetles would make me really feel creepy-crawly and squeamish, but when a bug is encased in something, it just seems a little less intimidating. At that point, it just looks plain cool, like this:

Yes, that is a big beetle. And he’s encased in resin. And somehow the heart makes it all better.

This creation is the work of Antoinette at Creatress Designs. Antoinette is based in Davis — she actually gets all her bugs from the entomology department at UC Davis and makes a donation in the bug’s honor! That’s pretty cool. Anyhow, she is also a fellow Sacramento Craft Mafia mafiosa.

Some of the bug art winds up on necklaces, and some, like the beetle above, are made to be art pieces, or as Antoinette suggests, paperweights. Try having one of those on your desk at work — it’s probably a good repellant. (Oy, bad joke.)

If you’re really not into the bug thing, there is other resin stuff, like this:

There are also photo prints, hair accessories and other jewelry in her shop. You can also read Antoinette’s blog to find out what she’s making.

Having spent much of my childhood (much of my life, really) trolling about in Asian grocery stores, I am familiar with the goodness that is Pocky. No doubt, if you’ve spent some time in an Asian market, or even the Asian food aisle of your local megamart, you will have seen that bright red box of chocolate-dipped pretzels.

Pocky is a staple of my childhood, and now I can celebrate that happy period of my life spent munching away on thin pretzels with this:

This delightful set of buttons — FYI, the original Pocky is in the top left corner — is from Eling at Traveling Rhinos. (That is, by the way, one of the cooler shop names out there.)

Eling calls herself the “beast of burden” at Traveling Rhinos, and she is churning out all sorts of cute stuff. In addition to the aforementioned buttons, she also makes jewelry and some amazing handspun yarn. Like this colorful number:

80s rainbow handspun

Wow, Pocky and yarn … two addictions filled in one place. Fabulous.

Maybe that combo isn’t your cup of tea, but still, there’s plenty to check out at Traveling Rhinos.

Now, in this age of saggy, baggy pants and low-cut jeans, don’t you ever look at people and think, “You know, he/she could use a belt.”

But belts always tend to be kind of boring. Black or brown leather, maybe something braided if you were lucky. Or you had one of those strappy belts that didn’t even have holes in them, a leftover from your carefree days as a child, when you had no choice in the matter because your parents usually stuck a belt around your waist whether your pants were falling down or not.

Well, we’ve probably moved on from those days and desire something far more chic than hearts or Care Bears or rainbow stripes on our belts. When you’re ready for that chicness, check out these belts from Sacramento Craft Mafia member Applina:

Alas, there are no belts for boys. But there are some children’s belts, too, and trust me, none of them are super cheesy. There’s even a kids’ skull belt if you’re so inclined.

If your pants are feeling a little loose — you know, from all that *ahem* working out you’ve been doing for the summer months — go check out an Applina belt.

Felt — it’s strong, fuzzy, and is versatile enough to make almost any shape you can think of.

Shalana of The Funky Felter turns it into this:

Felted wool dinosaur on canvas tote — great for kids!

Rosey Ring

What’s cool about a lot of the stuff Shalana makes is that it’s wet-felted. Lots of people needle-felt and lots of people do the fulling thing (knit or crochet and then throw it into the washing machine to make it felt). But wet-felting involves lots of hot water and suds. And a lot of time. So a lot of the products in The Funky Felter shop were lovingly labored over for a while, for sure!

And again, there really is quite a range of felt goodness in the shop: jewelry (lots of cool felt-bead earrings), pins, scarves, soaps, even bookmarks! And for even more variety, there are also several hand-dyed silks in the shop.

Looking for something fun, big and cool to wear around your neck? Maybe you should try this:

Or maybe this:

(Apporpriately called the Bold Statement Necklace.)

These creations are from Yvette Designs, a jewelry maker based in Louisiana. Yvette’s jewelry is bold and chunky, utilizing eye-catching pendants as centerpieces. (Like the awesome purple heart in the Heart Wings Chain necklace.)

All these designs are one of a kind, so if you see something you like, you’d better snap it up!

Fellow Sacramento mafiosa Claire recently decided to re-brand and re-open her Etsy shop, and the result is Little Lovelies Handmade.

Claire uses a lot of vintage and recycled materials to make her goods, which include pins, magnets and some of these other things:

The Miss Muffet Pin Tuffet (great name, by the way).

Got a Crush on You card set

Many items are inspired by and named after important women in her life, and should you pick up one of these items, they even come with a story behind the name. Neato.

I have extolled the virtues of mushrooms before in a previous post, but I couldn’t help myself again after seeing this:

It’s a felted shiitake mushroom! With eyes!

This little gem was made by Nifer Fahrion of Nifnaks, a shop specializing in felty goodness based in San Francisco.

Nifer had an entire family of mushrooms at Bazaar Bizarre, some wee, some a little larger. Red and white mushrooms (think Super Mario Bros.), morels, chantrelles, oyster mushrooms, maybe even a portebello or a crimini somewhere in there. It was quite impressive. Many of said ‘shrooms were either pins or hair accessories.

Major props for paying homage to the wide, wide world of mushrooms, not just the plain button ones we all know and love.

There are all sorts of neat felt adornments at Nifnaks: cherries, an octopus/alien-y thing, even the mysterious baby flying spaghetti monster. Nifer’s imagination is amazing!

There are also other felt goodies, like bracelets. More normal-looking. But the not-so-normal stuff rocks.

It’s allergy season again, and if you’re a sneezy person like me, you no doubt are going through tissue like there’s no tomorrow.

It would be nice to have a cool box to hold your tissue, perhaps something like this?

You can find this box at My Punk House, a collection of tattoo-inspired handpainted items for your house. Jessica is the gal behind My Punk House, and a proud member of the Sacramento Craft Mafia to boot!

All of Jessica’s work is pretty stunning (the photos just don’t do it justice). Especially her handpainted candles, which have plenty of detail and just look darned cool. Here’s a koi candle:

I don’t think I could ever burn this candle, or any of the other ones, for that matter!

My Punk House also has other goodies, like recipe boxes and mail holders and hooks. It’s a nice way to add something unique and plain cool to your home.

Admittedly, I don’t like pickles. Too sour for me. But this is a pickle I can dig:

Or how about a pickle on a bike?

These wonderful characters are the work of Jack and Rita over at Mr. Pickles. The intro illustration/animation to their site alone is well worth the click — I’ve never seen a better-looking lime in my life.

Mr. Pickles has shirts, cards and even mugs featuring the cast of characters. There is even a plushy section where you can buy a stuffed t-bone steak for the favorite carnivore in your life. (Ham and lamb shank also available.)

Besides the shop, there are games and the blog to keep you entertained at the Mr. Pickles site, so go over there and ogle the food already.

Felt is fun. It’s fun to play with and makes some pretty awesome stuff. Like what CynContemporary has in her Etsy shop:

It’s really colorful and innovative stuff, especially the ring. I never would have thought of a felt ring. It’s funky.

There’s plenty more, of course, in her shop, so click on over there. Get your fill of eye candy.