The Elves and the Shoemaker

Mention handmade shoes and your brain conjures up images of clunky clogs or odd shaped leather slippers.

Mention handmade shoes on Dawanda and you'll discover PleaseMachine.

Based in Hungary PleaseMachine creates beautiful handmade and stylish shoes, as well as vintage shoes upstyled by the machine that is please.

Prices are in Euros and most are fully customizable and all are affordable... Take a gander and change your mindset completely...

Featured Pic: 'Lipstick' - 94Euros by PleaseMachine

'Color Pencil' - 50Euros by PleaseMachine

'Lady's Time' - 40Euros by PleaseMachine

'Merry Foreigner' - 60Euros from PleaseMachine

Sale is on over at www.stylesmith.etsy.com AND www.stylesmithvintage.etsy.com.

20% off everything only for a limited time.

So get in while you can. This is lowest my prices ever get and there won't be another sale for a very long time!!

Have fun shopping kids!

Stylesmith: Gifted: For Grandma

So I am well aware that I owe several Gift Guides and have been terrible at upkeeping this blog.

Here's a promise to do better, and a promise to bring you, not one, not two but three gift guides by the end of the week!

So what do you buy the sweetest woman in the whole world?

Here's some ideas:

Main Picture: Pin Cushion from The Blue Daisy : $8

Lily of the Valley Soap, $4 by SoapiE

Silver Handknit Lace Scarf, $98 by Awkward

Soy Pinecone Candle, $8 by Berd and Bee


Butterfly House, $12 by Blue Rock Gourds

Etsy Finds: Et Al Etc

My love is existentialism is exemplified in my love for this newly found store on Etsy.

Et Al Etc, brings a minimal but design plentiful plethora of handmade and vintage finds and shockingly inexpensive prices.

Come take a look and make a friend in the lovely Evita of Et Al Etc and start practicing your latin.

Handmade Tank Top: $9

Handmade Hooded Jacket: $18


Handmade Gingham Shirt: $18

Gifted - Advice for your Father

So the Holidays are coming fast and hard and there is present buying to be done.

This year I want to wholly encourage my friends and family and you blog reader to buy handmade... (join the revolution here www.buyhandmade.org)

So in an effort to encourage this every Sunday I will release a new Stylesmith 'Gifted', a guide to buying all your Holiday presents handmade...(or at least vintage)

This week we shall begin with the hardest and most elusive of giftees, Daddy Dearest. For example this shaving kit from Seattle Sundries, beats another pair pair of socks hands down. Handmade soap, accompanied by an enamel shaving mug, $17.50 from seattlesundries.etsy.com


Vintage Travel Case, $14 (vintage1955.etsy.com)

Man in the Mountain Gift Set, $30 (lbrodar.etsy.com)

Bullet Pen, $13.50 (awelldressedbullet.etsy.com)

Shortbread cookies, $8 (whimsyandspice.etsy.com)

Hand Forged Steel Bottle Opener, $22 (IronOakForge.etsy.com)

Handmade Fishing Ties, $22 (bornefrielife.etsy.com)

The Cocktail Collection

Hello.

It's been awhile but I've been busy!
Over the next few weeks I plan to showcase my new collections. Starting today with...

The Cocktail Collection. A collection of fascinators, berets and headbands with a little jazz and a little sparkle to bring you into the Holiday season with a bang!

I hope you like...

All available at www.stylesmith.etsy.com. Prices begin at $25

Magic Potions

And I'm not talking Halloween!

I've been incredibly impressed lately by the products I have found on Etsy.

These products are clearly the best way to ethically purchase beauty items. With creams, potions, soaps, perfume and even make-up. Etsy has become the handmade Sephora.

Wiggle (featured above) says on their site: Wiggle is about pushing back against the notion that all our parts are meant to be hard and flat and angular. It's about realizing how much power there is to be found in the curvy jiggly bits. It's about spending less time in the gym and more time in the bedroom.
Now that's an ethos I can relate to!

'Oh Baby' by Wiggle. $20 for 15ml available at www.wiggleperfume.etsy.com

And here are some other lovely Etsy beauty supplies:


Merlot Lip Butter, $4.75. Available at www.neptuneskiss.etsy.com

Hair Polish, $9. Available at www.wiggleperfume.etsy.com


Mineral pigment eyeshadow, $20 for ten. Available at www.etsy.calypsomineralbeauty.com


Foot and Hand balm, $10 each. Available at www.leastlikely2breed.etsy.com

La Otra

So one of my favourite things to do on Etsy is peruse the wonderful world of vintage.
A particular favourite seller of mine is 'La Otra' a Houston based hoarder who has a fantastical eye for vintage and a wonderful information when it comes to descriptions.
Take a minute to have a gander at her wonderful trove of treasures: http://laotra.etsy.com

The Good Student, La Bonne Etudiante , La Buena Estudianta Part II: $18

The Well-Raised Girl, La Bien Elevee: $26

Miss Saigon, Madmoiselle Saigon, Senorita Saigon: $29

Current Collections

Just a little introduction to my own collections, the first 'Bird On a Wire' was designed to evoke fantasies of a gothic fairytales and greek legends. The beautiful bird woman, elegant, seductive and romantically ethereal.

Prices start at $25 available at http://stylesmith.etsy.com

Having a Pretty Woman Moment

So I have a really unhealthy obsession with 'over the knee' boots.
Maybe it comes from my love for Pretty Woman, maybe it's just my 'wild side'
I'm definitely brave enough, just not rich enough...
The top pic is a pair on ebay currently at $111 but here are the other beauties I've been ogling:

Frye: $348 @ urbanoutfitters.com


Jimmy Choo: $1295 @ saksfifthavenue.com


Frye: $398 @ victoriassecret.com

Anybody feeling generous?

Love for the Rock

So I am a huge fan of Etsy.
Etsy is an online community that acts as a host for artists, designers and other such artisans (including cakes and sweets, yumness) to sell their wares.
It's a fantastic community and a wonderful place to shop, I will most be definitely sharing my finds in the future but let me begin with 'RockLove' her work is beautiful and it's all handcarved and cast. Something hugely impressive to me.
This stunning necklace is my absolute favourite. I adore the pin up fantasies that the anchor evokes (don't ask) combined with the vintage beads.
Ooh it gives me tingles...

Available at: www.rocklove.etsy.com

Tell Us About Yourself

As a child, and well, as an adult I have always cringed or panicked at the moment in any orientation, group meeting, party, any situation where you are asked "tell us a little something about yourself"
Don't get me wrong, I'm a social person, I like people. But there's something about those seven words that make my metaphorical balls jump back inside me and make my brain freeze.
But for those who don't know me (or of me) I'm going to put my anxieties aside and attempt a mini biography.
My name is Kelsi Smith, I am the designer behind 'stylesmith' a line of handcrafted accessories, for the elegant but whimsical fashionista (and anyone in between) currently available exclusively at www.stylesmith.etsy.com
I currently live in Los Angeles, with my man (Scott) and my cat (Frank). I moved here almost three years ago from the UK. I am officially an actress but apparently I am not the only the one in LA so there's not always a lot of work...
So I have put my other skills to work, designing, styling, shopping and and now bringing my finds, advice and ponderings to the world via this blog with the help of the world wide web.
So watch this space and enjoy...