Upcycled Bobby Pins and a Peek into a Local Shop

As I told you last week, I helped tend shop at Ephemera Stationary Studio here in Des Moines this past Saturday while my friends (and shop owners) Arin and Karen enjoyed a well deserved vacation. While there, I became even more obsessed with these bobby pins made by Christine of Chricket Designs. She makes hair accessories first and foremost because she loves them—an excellent reason I think!—and uses mostly vintage and upcycled materials for them.

Sometimes she uses old earrings like these.

Or like these (which I have to image were clip ons...).

And she frequently does custom designs for bridal parties because it's a really inexpensive way (each pair is about $12) to accessorize many girls for a special day.

She also makes headbands from zippers and tape measures like this one. Christine actually spends most of her time in law school, but crafts as her creative outlet.

And so you can see inside of the shop, here are a few shots of Ephemera. The ladies stock stationary, cards, jewelry, personal accessories and some books, which turns out to be a collection of lovely, thoughtful things. They feature the work of many local artists, which makes shopping feel like a little community tour.

Here is some of their jewelry (girls if you're reading this, let me know who the maker is so I can let everyone know!).

And a wall of their delightful selection of cards, some of which are ones that they've made themselves which are some of my favorites.

This is a photo from their two year birthday party, but it's a pretty good representation of what goes on their regularly. Which is baked goods. They bake a lot and really well. My experience there was really great because their customers are so friendly and because their shop is such a creative space. It felt very natural for me to sit behind the counter and quilt, in between helping customers of course!