Thursday, June 10, 2010

Merit Badges by Lee Meszaros


I've always loved merit badges. Ever since being a girl scout. When I was a junior, my troop was the Unicorns. I'm not really sure how we got to pick a name, but there it was, and along with it came an awesome unicorn patch for the front of our vests. We were so cool. I've debated several times ripping it off and incorporating it into something I wear more frequently than my old girl scout vest, but that's another story.

I don't know why I find these little patches so magical. There's nothing really too attractive about  bathroom people (as my sister and I call those stylized silhouettes) doing aerobics, or "150 Boxes of Cookies!" in some awkward font. Maybe it was the idea of them that I was so in love with. Earning a patch and watching my mom sew it onto my uniform. I even designed my own a few times. Granted, they stayed in the pages of my early sketchbooks for only a few friends to see, but they were there.

Maybe that's why I'm so in love with what Lee Meszaros (one of my favorite Etsy sellers) has done. She makes merit badges by hand for everything from being a smitten kitten to being full of hot air to flipping the bird to being hungry as a hippo. Not only are they completely adorable and undeniably clever, but she makes them all by hand. They are all silkscreened, hand colored, and hand embroidered.



She even makes some for you and a friend, like for being birds of a feather and flocking together or going together like peanut butter & jelly.


I would love some handmade patches like these. I think I definitely deserve the one for having my head in the clouds. So maybe someone will feel super generous and get me a half birthday present. Or maybe I'll win the lottery and could afford to spend a few bucks on myself. Although, the chances of that are pretty slim considering I've never bought a lottery ticket in my life!

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