I’ve been meaning to put together a fabulous post about Etsy.com and why I love it so much. But then real life gets in the way of fun things like that.

Etsy is a web site devoted to handmade and vintage items. Basically, it’s an online craft fair and vintage shop rolled up into one neat little package. And unlike Ebay, you don’t have to scratch and claw at online auctions to get the goodies. At Etsy, it’s first come first serve.

I first learned about Etsy from a coworker who creates these fabulous handknit and felted purses. She sells the purses as well as notions so you can make your very own HandBEHG. Needless to say, once she introduced me to Etsy, I was hooked.

I have spent hours upon hours searching Etsy for everything from vintage dresses to handmade earrings and even the most adorable little girls tutus (PS – found out another coworker’s relative actually makes those tutus!)

The only thing I wish that Etsy would do to make the site better is to install more robust search features and criteria: size, condition, location, price, etc. Right now the search is based on keyword tags and it can be a little daunting to find something with “vintage dress” yields several thousand search results.

Here are a few of my favorite Etsy sellers… so far!

• HandBEHG and HandBEHG Felts – My coworker’s purses and notions, check her out!
• Lynn’s Rags – I got the cutest handmade earrings from this site and fell in love with the adorable packaging, too!
• aPagefromthePast – Super excited for the vintage jewelry on the way from this store right now.
• Hannahs Tutus – World’s sweetest outfits for little girls… too bad  it’d be a little weird for me to show up to work in one.

Have you already discovered Etsy? I’d love to hear about your favorite stores!