The purpose of Etsy Thursday is to pass along some of our favorite finds and hopefully shed some light on awesome artists and vintage shops. Etsy is a never-ending resource of handmade and vintage items. If someone is looking for that one item in particular you can’t seem to find anywhere else, check Etsy! I’ve come to the point where I check Etsy nearly every day for new, interesting things from little-known artists, crafters and years past. This week, since we’ve had our kitchen on the brain, I turned my Etsy obsession toward kitchen wares. Welcome to Etsy Thursday: Kitchen Edition!

I love these Speed Bike Tea Towels. The charming illustration is hand screen printed on large cotton flour sacks. These would be lovely in a modern cottage kitchen or a great addition to any gift basket. Branch Handmade has a ton of products to choose from.  All of them are created with original quirky illustrations and photographs that anyone with an appreciation for originality would love.

These Sola Flower napkin rings from House of Peltier look extremely delicate and soft, but they’re made to withstand use at the dinner table. The secret is tapioca wood, which is soft, yet durable. Imagine how how striking these would look on an all-white and cream table setting.

These mason-jars-turned-soap-dispensers are not only charming but really practical, too. Use them in your kitchen or laundry room to store stain removers and specialty soaps so you don’t have to waste space with bulky retail packaging. It’s an easy way to make doing dishes and laundry a little more enjoyable. Check out Whippoorwheel’s Etsy shop shop for more mason jar creations as well as some interesting vintage finds.

And there you have it! Check back next week for Etsy Thursday office edition. Until then, do you have a favorite Etsy find or maybe a favorite Etsy seller? Shoot us an email to contact@7thhouseontheleft.com and tell us about it!

7th House on the Left does not accept payment or perks for anything in our Etsy Thursday features. We simply have an obsession with Etsy that we want to share with everyone : )

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I realize it’s not even Halloween yet, but it’s about time to start thinking about your Thanksgiving menu. Grandma’s extra special stuffing, your mom’s awesome sweet potato casserole and your aunt’s tasty concoction for the creamiest mashed potatoes ever… they are all staples in the traditional Thanksgiving feast. You can’t forget the star: the turkey. Today, I’m going to share a very special family recipe for a delicious Thanksgiving turkey. But this isn’t just any turkey…

We like to call them Little Gobblers! When I was in 7th grade, my Aunt Dee Dee found this recipe and she and my mom have been making them every. single. year. since. I guess you can say it has turned into our very own family Thanksgiving tradition. We unwrap all of the ingredients, put in a good Christmas movie (most likely White Christmas) and start the assembly line. To make these adorable Little Gobblers, here’s your shopping list:

The assembly process is pretty much self explanatory. Just use the photo above as your guideline. Simple as that! However, we do have a few tips and tricks to pass along:

• The secret is in the icing. Over the years, we have tried several icings. Not only does it have to taste good, but it also needs to serve as “glue” to keep the Little Gobblers in one piece. Without good stiff icing, let’s just say they won’t ride in the car very well. In our opinion, Betty Crocker Cookie Icing works best. One tube will make about 6 Little Gobblers.
• Hunt them down. The Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer Cookies are used for the base and the back of the turkey. Sometimes, they can be a little hard to find. But if your grocery store carries them, you will find them in the ice cream topping section (you would think they would be in the cookie section, right?). But if you have trouble finding them, thanks to the World Wide Web, you can purchase them online. Or you can visit the Nabisco website and search for them by zip code. Also, make sure you buy an extra box because they tend to break very easily.
• From Point A to Point B. First of all, you need to make sure your Little Gobblers have enough time to sit and hang out before you show them off to your friends and family. When transporting these little guys, we line the bottom of deep Rubbermaid containers with paper towels. Then place the turkeys on the paper towels diagonally side by side (so the feathers don’t hit each other). The paper towels help the turkeys stay in one place. If we are making a whole flock of Little Gobblers, we like to use the disposable roasting pans.

Whether you decide to make these for Thanksgiving dinner favors, for the kids’ table, that class party you reluctantly signed up for or even something to take to your coworkers; these Little Gobblers will be the talk of the event… and might even out shine the “real” turkey.

In order to make things super easy for you to try this at home, I’ve created a printable shopping list along with a step-by-step assembly guide. Click here to download!

Photos taken by 7th House on the Left.

Today marks our one month blogiversary! On September 20th, 2010 at 10:05 AM, we sat anxiously in front of the computer, clicked the “Publish” button and posted our very first post.  About 30 minutes later, we realized nobody knew it was there, so we started a Facebook page and began to Tweet like crazy. Obviously, there are still a lot of people that don’t know we are here. But we thought we’d have a celebratory post just the same : )

Here we are 30 days, 22 posts and 176 comments later. We have well over 6,000 visits and reached people in 45 states, Canada, South America, several countries in Europe and Russia.  We think that’s kinda cool and we couldn’t be happier. Now, if South Dakota, Iowa, New Hampshire and Vermont would get on the bandwagon, that would be even cooler! Ha!

We’re so excited about everyone who has taken the time to check out our house! Thank you for being so supportive and sticking with us during this first month.  We have a long way to go in our renovation and we have a lot of ideas to share with all of you, so stick around!

We’d also like to think our amazing, gracious sponsors. Thank you for being a part of our launch, spreading the word and for putting faith in our baby blog. You guys rock!

Help us spread the word about 7th House on the Left! Go out and tell your mom, dad, sister, brother, cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbor, hairdresser, pool guy and your little dogs too. Especially if they live in South Dakota, Iowa, New Hampshire or Vermont! ; )