Flutter In Toyland!

Hello again and Happy Holidays! This is one of the most exciting and colorful seasons at Flutter yet. The ornaments and decorations add a little extra sparkle to the already vibrant kaleidescope of fun. You can always look to Flutter to provide the most interesting assortment of vintage inspired toys and fun gifts like paper dolls and coloring books, for "children" of all ages. Because, let's be honest, some toys are truly timeless, like this awesome box of illusions and tricks,

Get the family to have a laugh trying on a some temporary facial hair. Suit? Check. Tie? Check? Shoes? Check, Weeks Supply of Mustaches? We happen to have some right here!

During the holiday season we look forward to the many new and exciting additions to "The Toyland District" in the shop at Flutter, stop in and see the whole assortment or visit our online store, where you'll find lots of fantastic gifts of all sorts. Here is a little snippet of where the toys live at the store, and a few of my favorites from our website too. There is something for everyone on your list at Flutter!

Vintage inspired toys, kaleidoscopes and a vintage sequin, ice skating skirt. I think it goes perfectly with this tiny red piano.

Guitars and horses, books,balloons and ferris wheels, oh, my!

I would have loved to have access to these creative paper doll designs as a child.
I also wouldn't mind snuggling up to one of these cuties this holiday, not one bit.

We love these doll pillows by Tomas Paul, available in five styles, at www.flutterclutter.com

Ebony Gifts Fit For Everyone On Your List This Black Friday

Good Morning! We are so excited about all of the amazing gifts at Flutter this season, here, just in time for the holidays. We are feeling our moody side this Black Friday, and gathered up some gift ideas for anyone on the list. The best part is there will be no need for hair pulling or tug of war at Flutter over treasures, there are plenty of perfectly unique gifts to go around for everyone.

This unique "November and December" paper doll set by Amy Earles is a dream gift for the imagination, not to mention they would make super cute tree ornaments.

Taschen Jazz Life Book A Journey Across America in 1960-The perfect title for that person on the list who loves music

Cast Iron Bulldog Bottle Opener-Any beer lover would chuckle at this bottle opener

Tokyo Milk Poe's Tobacco No. 1 Parfum-An oriental spicy tinctures for women and men. This fragrance features tobacco, tea, red apple, woodsy notes and amber.

Black Horse Hook Pillow-The perfect pillow to cozy up with on a chilly winter night!

Gothic Skeleton Bride Cameo Locket by Brehan Todd-Charmingly classic with a dark twist.

Voluspa Makassar Ebony & Peach Candle-perfect for creating the right mood, with warm ebony, rich mahogany and mirabelle peach.

Holiday Ornaments Galore at Flutter!

Happy holidays everyone! This is in fact, one of my favorite times of year! If I had to choose a few of my favorite things, holiday decorations just may have to be at the top of the list. Flutter always has a vast selection of holiday ornaments for the home, as well as the tree. This year, we have the most gorgeous and unique collection yet. We have lots of sparkly birdies and hand carved woodland forest animals, as well as Santa and all of his reindeer, just to name a few. I'm a especially excited about these few examples posted below.

In order to snatch up your favorites, you must hurry in to Flutter immediately! These beauties are flying out the door and onto trees as we speak!!!!

These little pipe-cleaner Santas could not be any more precious

Happy Holidays!

xoxo, Brehan and Flutter

Heirloom and Handmade Jewelry at Flutter

Heirloom and Handmade Jewelry

Hello, everyone, this is Brehan Todd, and I'm back as the new guest blogger for Flutter! I'm couldn't be more excited to keep you in the loop about what's going on in the magical world of Flutter! Flutter is known for the carefully curated collection of ephemera, from the past. Local and handmade jewelry, are always plentiful at Flutter, as well as on the website. Many of the designers carried at Flutter are inspired by or include vintage and antique jewelry in the design process. Since we are such jewelry enthusiasts at Flutter, Co-owner, Kalaisha Watrous, thought of the genius idea to share selections of our most treasured vintage baubles from our own personal collections.

You've likely noticed the handmade, heirloom inspired jewelry by Paper Treasure for Flutter. Jesseca McCloskey, the creator of Paper Treasure, has always loved jewelry and has been gathering trinkets for most of her life. Her beautiful collection of unique brooches, cameos, rings and a gorgeous pair of hand carved coral rose earrings, are a testament to her impeccable taste. I covet the peacock brooch below.

Here are some examples of the particularly unique and lovely cameos and other deco treasures from Kalaisha's personal collection. This emerald green, deco brooch is my favorite. I've never seen a cameo in a rectangle shape, quite like this one, have you?

I added a few selections from my own stash as well. As a designer, I'm looking at vintage jewelry constantly, and searching for very specific pieces. I love cameos, (who doesn't?) and I collect things that tend to have some whimsy and humor to them. This glass cameo brooch is one of my favorite personal treasures. I definitely have an affinity for vintage brooches, real orchid jewelry, anything reminiscent of The Circus, and of course, lockets galore!

We hope you enjoyed seeing our own favorite vintage jewelry! Flutter has one of the most defined and unique jewelry collections of any shop in the world. Owner's Cindy and Kalaisha, are geniuses at finding the most interesting designers, to promote at Flutter. Along with Paper Treasure, Brehan Todd Jewelry, and several other local designers, Flutter has anything and everything you should need in the way of jewelry gifts.

Seaworthy by Marissa Howard, is the newest designer to be showcased at Flutter. Marissa chooses at least one vintage item to include in each of her, one of kind designs. Salvaged keys, vintage doilies, earthy stones, chunky chains and metal are re-purposed to create each design. Here is a peek at some of Seaworthy's, crochet and chain necklaces available online and in the shop.

Vintage Violet Crochet Necklace by Seaworthy

Vintage Green Crochet Necklace by Seaworthy

Flutter fell in love with designer Jesseca McCloskey and her handmade jewelry line, Paper Treasure. You've likely noticed an assortment of her pretty lockets and vintage layering necklaces at Flutter for several seasons. All Paper Treasure designs are created by hand, in Portland Oregon, with sustainability in mind. Fine vintage and antique bits and baubles are combined with new chains to create these amazing, unique and limited additional designs. Wear them alone, or piled on thick and you'll have everyone ask you "where did you get that"? Just in time for the holidays Flutter is fully stocked with some lovely, one of kind pieces, by Paper Treasure. Stop by the shop or check Flutter's website, for new designs.

The Kitty Reeves Necklace by Paper Treasure

The Susan P. Thurlon Necklace by Paper Treasure

In 2009, Brehan Todd Jewelry officially introduced itself to the market, with a line of one of a kind, handmade jewelry. Based on a philosophy of dedication to the environment and creating sophisticated design, my refashioned jewelry and accessories, are handmade outside of Portland. A vast array of mixed media, both precious and non-precious, found and vintage, are carefully selected, draped on a dress form and hand manipulated, to create each, original design. Intricate hardware, silk ribbon, game pieces, and recycled bullet casing charms are a few examples of the resources that become part my inspiration during the design process. Each line reflects my vivid imagination, fascination with nature, and stories told by cast off trinkets. You'll always find new, one of a kind and limited edition styles in the shop, as well as on Flutter's Website. Here are a couple of my favorite one of a kind designs available now at Flutter.

Cracker Jack Box Necklace by Brehan Todd

Rose City Cuff by Brehan Todd

Until next time.....

The Circus Book by Taschen at Flutter

Hello,

I'm so happy to introduce myself as a new guest blogger for Flutter. My name is Brehan Todd, I am a designer, blogger and lover of fashion, here in Portland, Oregon. Flutter happens to be my favorite boutique, of all time, so I couldn't be more excited to starting writing these Flutter blog posts regularly for you!

I've been fortunate enough to work with Flutter, designing custom jewelry for two years. I have become even more of a Flutter enthusiast than when I first set foot in the shop, years ago, before I moved to Portland. The owners have a special way of creating a new experience for visitors, each time you stop by!

The Portland retail store and the Flutter Online Shop always carry a fantastic selection of ephemera and oddities inspired by the circus. This season there happens to be some particularly amazing circus related toys, enchanting jewelry and heaps of other curiosities available in-store and online. We just got in this amazing new coffee table book by Taschen called The Circus. To help with Holiday shopping, now through November 30th, Flutter online orders of $100 or more will automatically receive FREE SHIPPING at checkout! This is also great since The Circus book is quite large!

I don't know about you, but I've been inspired by all things circus since I was swaddled in my first blanket, covered in circus animals. I use primarily vintage images such as the ones above to help me design new circus pieces. Stop by THE GREATEST STORE ON EARTH soon and you can also snap up my new, circus-inspired jewelry creations! Like this little beauty...

more! new! books!

So, I've been away. Not out of town, exactly, or out of work or even away from my desk. I just.. took a long summer vacation from the Flutter site. Here I am, though, back in action and ready to taunt the public with pictures of the newest and best Flutter items. This week I will ravage the blog with shots from three awesome new books we've got. Don't get me wrong, they aren't the only three or even the best three, they're just the three I was most excited about today. The first is a book about Philippe Halsman, a genius photographer responsible for some truly iconic photographs, especially noteworthy are his portraits of big stars like Dali and Audrey. You've seen his work, for sure, but this book also features some of his edgier, stranger photos. The second is a book of pictures of altars for Dia de los Muertos, the holiday where people respect their dearly departed by staging elaborate altars and preparing symbolic meals. The garlands of marigolds pictured in every page of the book had me running to Emerald Petals this morning to buy up their stock. Lastly, I have featured pictures from Roadside America, a colorful book full of neon and stucco and painted ladies, plus a great shot of that stack of skewered cars in Michigan. I love it, in fact I took a picture of that one and use it as my cel phone's wallpaper. I don't know, nothing against cars, I just really like it. I guess because it reminds me of Wayne's World. We've also got a gorgeously creepy Henry Darger book, a book of hand-painted film posters from Ghana (creepier than Darger), and the creepiest by far is an enormous Taschen book of human anatomy and surgery, with super-detailed color illustrations of what looks like d.i.y. amputation techniques. Totally amazing and not for the faint of heart, kind of like some other things I could mention. Hey! I was referring to Flutter!