Artist, Krista Charles, and her shop, XA Charles, were recently featured in Etsy’s daily newsletter, and I was instantly drawn to her unique “Matchbook Landscapes” series. She combines her “love of art, travel, and secondhand shopping through people’s collections of matchbooks” to create little matchbook masterpieces, the first of which were made using vintage matchbooks found in her grandfather-in-law’s junk drawer.

Krista’s blends the past with the present with a little help from Google Maps, where she looks up the location for the business listed on each individual matchbook. She then creates a pencil sketch on the interior cover of the matchbook of whatever is currently at the location, and sometimes she finds that it’s still the original business listed on the matchbook. How cool is that?

You can find out more about Krista and her creations in her feature in Etsy’s Fresh Shops series right here.

images from Krista Charles