Photography is such an art. I especially love people who take pictures of animals because they can be so hard to capture at the right time. I had a soft spot for this cat in particular because I know my cats would never sit still long enough for a photo like this:

Isn’t that adorable? It was originally a film print, which is even more cool! And you can find this lovely print at Donna Pool Designs.

Donna is a former freelance photographer, now stay-at-home mom and artist. In addition to the photographs you’ll find in her shop, she also has hand-sewn puzzle balls and plush, ACEOs and lots and lots of buttons made from vintage magazines (these are especially cool … and entertaining).

There’s a lot of really neat stuff, and a lot of the photography is of cats if you’re a cat lover. The ACEOs are neat, too, particularly the ones that feature old cameras! Retro cameras rock!

And if you need custom buttons, this is also a great place to look!

Here’s a sample of more stuff from Donna:

OK, so there really isn’t any fighting involved, but I have to say that Kung Fu Cowgirl has to be one of the coolest shop names ever.

The shop has nothing to do with kung fu or even cowgirls, but there’s just oodles of cool stuff like this:

And, in a nod to awesome Nintendo games (of course, a favorite topic of mine), there is this awesome Kirby Nintendo DS case:

There are plenty of sewn goodies in the store, and just about everywhere you turn there’s something fun and colorful and cute. There’s definitely a lot of kawaii inspiration! There are also some unique buttons, one featuring dancing bacon and another featuring rabid broccoli.

When a shop’s got a pretty rad name, it goes without saying that you’d probably find a lot of cool stuff in it.

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.

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 am a huge fan of old-school video games. We’re talking 8-bit Nintendo (I was a Super Mario fiend … all three games!) and those classic arcade games like Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Rally-X, etc.

Man, I am a geek.

Anyhow, that love affair with arcade games made me appreciate this belt buckle from Ex-Boyfriend a whole lot:

You can find more awesome original designs by these folks from Baltimore on belt buckles, messenger bags, ties, tees and buttons at Ex-Boyfriend. There’s even a Pac-Man necktie!