• Tell me a bit about yourself

Hi, my name is Fenny and I reside in Los Angeles, California with my wonderful husband. That’s where I work from as well. I have an etsy shop that selling paper goods, such as cards and gift tags at the moment. I do love what I’m doing now.

• What is the name of your Shop?

LavenderCollections.

• Please describe your creative process

I create whenever I am in the mood or the inspiration strikes in. Sometimes it may happen in the morning, other times happen late at night. I like to play with colors and find myself easily attracted to beautiful
or cute stuffs. I’m making cards and gift tags, so my basic materials are not far away from papers, cardstocks, and embellishments.

• Where do your ideas come from?

I could be inspired by everything happening around me. Music that I listen to, combination of colors, decorations, materials that I use, stuffs that I see/notice, etc. Put it simple, a little bit of this and that.

• How did you get into your craft?

I’m not from an art education background but I’ve been doing crafts since my childhood although I can’t remember exactly when was my first time.
Cutting patterns, arranging flowers, creating decoration stuffs, and scrapbooking are hobbies that I indulge in. I’ve always had a passion of having my own shop and it was at that point when I found Etsy, then I seriously started working on it.

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

Spending time with my husband, watching movies, hanging out with some friends. I love to read and listen to music as well.

• How do you promote your work?

At this moment, I’m doing most of the promotion through etsy forum. I’m trying to add new items in my shop at least every few days and get people to see my shop.

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Mary Christmas

and a Happy New Year!

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• Tell me a bit about yourself

My name is Carrie and I live in Homewood, just south of Chicago. I work at a Montessori school, and when I am not there, I am sewing for the shop!

• What is the name of your Shop?

My shop on Etsy is Threadbeaur.

• Please describe your creative process

For my products I use all reclaimed fabric. I find vintage drapery, tablecloths, and sheets and I give them a second chance! I like to look in unlikely places, the thrift store, and estate sales are my best bets. Once I gather these abandoned fabrics, I wash them and admire their beauty. Then to the cutting mat to give them a second life as a shopping bag.

• Where do your ideas come from?

I was tired of the plastic bags that I was seeing littering the landscape. I decided that I would no longer use them. I made a few cloth bags for myself and a few friends, and then Threadbeaur was born. My inspiration comes from the fabric and the fact that if I make it into a bag it will be helping the environment and the fabric will be saved from the landfill. When I take an old drape, and make it look fresh and fashionable it makes me happy!

• How did you get into your craft?

I have been sewing for as long as I can remember. My mom and I would make quilts when I was young. She would patiently teach me how to make different stitches, and explain the techniques involved with quilting. We did everything by hand. Now that I have a sewing machine I enjoy filling my shop with the bags and coffee sleeves!

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

My work at the Montessori school as the assistant to the toddler director is fun. I am in charge of crafts at the school in the afternoon. Most of our projects come from reusing our snack boxes, so we can see how to reuse items and keep them out of the trash! Even at a young age the kids really get into recycling and reusing everyday objects in crafts! A great way to get the next generation to be aware of the environment. It is never to early to start!

• How do you promote your work?

I have my own blog, and I use twitter.

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• Tell me a bit about yourself

My name is dRE and I live in Fort Collins, Colorado. My Husband and I will be celebrating our 10th year as a common law couple in April (we’ll get married one of these years lol) and have a beautiful & vivacious 12 year old black cat, Automatic.

• What is the name of your Shop?

Solid Art Collective, named after my multimedia LLC. Can be found via my website (currently under redesign) solidartcollective.

• Please describe your creative process

I really love crocheting – it’s a major form of relaxation that keeps my creativity alive during a break from painting & collaging. Yarns of choice are a high quality acrylic that is supersoft and fully washable/dryable, allowing all my items to retain their memory and purpose. I’m able to play with colors like I did through my artwork, developing cool color schemes and refining form & function.

• Where do your ideas come from?

Modern Affordable Utility is my inspiration. So is living in beautiful Colorado where we have fun but freezing Winters. Being able to create my own designs in a new medium all the while keeping the customer’s budget in mind is an exciting reward. I recently developed a new line of efficient neckwarmers called NUFFLRZ – a variation of the beautiful & intricately designed neckwarmers or cowls already on Etsy. I kept NUFFLRZ’ pattern simple & efficient to make them available for a reasonable price. It’s also fun to let buyers customize their NUFFLRZ by choosing 1 or 2 combined colors from the NUFFLRZ palette. NUFFLRZ are only $15 each and I include FREE U.S. & Canada shipping. They are perfect for bikers, cyclists, skiers, snowboarders, runners, anyone in the family & even pets!

• How did you get into your craft?

Like most knitters & crocheters, my Grandmother taught me when I was 5 or 6. I didn’t pick up crocheting again until 30 years later out of the desire make a new area rug for my living room. It blossomed from there and now Solid Art Collective is a Vendor for an online natural & organic baby boutique launching soon – www.MonkeyHugz.com and it also led me to finally use my Etsy account, opening my shop in Summer ‘08.

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I’m a Graphic Designer and my clients include a handful of small businesses & non-profits, Artists, Etsy Sellers and a marketing consultant. I’ve been a designer for 8+ years and a Visual Artist with a semi-lucrative career of 12+ years. Solid Art Collective, LLC has created art fundraisers, managed a 9 Artist Collective and produced 4 major multimedia events.

• How do you promote your work?

With Etsy, I’ve found that the Promotions section in the Forum is helpful; so is Twitter, Facebook, Ning and having a website and blog. I’m new to blogging but have made some great connections and love to promote other Etsy Sellers and trade Etsy minis. Supporting & motivating each other to succeed is key!

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Hi, my name is Amanda, and I live in Tennessee. I love to do many different things, like work with kids in our church, write books, play the piano, I am a black belt in karate, and I homeschool our children.

My mom and I have an Etsy shop called homemomma, that has a lot of different items. We love to craft – it really doesn’t matter what. We embroider, cross-stitch, crochet, knit, whatever!

Our favorite craft is embroidering and sewing! Our ideas pretty much come from things that we need at the moment. If we need something and don’t have it, we figure out a way to make our own and it usually ends up being better than something you could buy in the store!

Apart from creating things, we’re usually working around the house, or taking care of our mini-farms! We promote our work mainly through word-of-mouth, or our own handmade business cards. Honestly – we love Etsy!

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• Tell me a bit about yourself

My name´s Kristy, a´m fromWichita, KS and i´m member of JET and Artisan Beaders Street Team on Etsy

• What is the name of your Shop?

ShinyAdornments is artisan handmade beaded and wire wrapped jewelry, handcrafted in my Wichita, KS studio. I use sterling silver, gemstones, SRA lampwork, glass, and polymer clay beads. My jewelry shop includes bracelets, bangles, earrings, necklaces and cocktail rings for both work and play.

I make jewelry I would wear myself. The materials depend on my mood and inspiration. My goal is to create wearable items for work and play that offer an interesting statement about the women who wear them.

• Where do your ideas come from?

I find inspiration in the wildflowers I drove past this morning on the way to work or the suit I just bought that needs the perfect accessory or the strange dream I had last night. I take lots of pictures of colorful things, then refer to them later when I need a color inspiration. I like jewelry that makes a statement. So when I wear jewelry, I WEAR jewelry. Those that know me would say I am definitely NOT a shrinking violet and my jewelry generally reflects that attitude. I also love color. I like pieces that have heft and texture best. Or mix light and dark elements. Or both.

• How did you get into your craft?

I started making jewelry because I couldn’t find pieces to coordinate with my work attire. I discovered that I really enjoy the creative outlet. I’ve come to crave coiling wire, which I’ve discovered creates an almost meditative state. I also love being able to hammer components into submission. lol Creating little wearable expressions of color has become a stress reducing therapy for me. I am self taught, but inspired by many. You can not even imagine how MUCH copper wire I have used practicing and experimenting with a shape or wrap, before trying it out in sterling.

I was wearing the things I created to work and received lots of positive feedback, and sales! from my coworkers. It seemed a sensible step to create someplace to showcase them online, as many of the individuals I know aren’t in the same state. Etsy seemed the logical choice.

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I work full time at a large corporation and also spend a lot of quality time elbow deep in crayolas and play doh with my son.

• How do you promote your work?

I like blogging. I’m a geek at heart, so all the online, technical stuff is the most promo fun for me. I’m also lucky that I have a fairly large work cadre, so sell a lot to those that work with me. You can check my blog and you can find many many photos of my work in my flickr.

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• Tell me a bit about yourself

I’m Christine. I live in Michigan. I’ve been sewing for as long as I can remember – my mom taught me to hand-sew at the age of five, and then by machine a few years later.

• What is the name of your Shop?

DollCloset

• Please describe your creative process

I begin by choosing some of my favorite fabrics, and then choose a pattern/style I think they will look good in.

• Where do your ideas come from?

This might sound funny, but my answer is fabric! I absolutely love going shopping for fabric. I could do it literally all day! It’s so much fun deciding what to make next.
I am also inspired by little girls’ fashion trends. : )

• How did you get into your craft?

I started making doll clothes as Christmas and birthday gifts for my little sisters and cousins. Now I enjoy making them to sell.

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I enjoy many hobbies, such as quilting, cross stitching, knitting, and last but NOT least, horseback riding. Lately though, just about everything has been taking a back seat to sewing. I am really addicted to Etsy, I love it here! I joined shortly after my friend Ashley first told me about it way back in February.

• How do you promote your work?

The Etsy forums, link referral, twitter, and passing out business cards – to name a few.

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• Tell me a bit about yourself

Hi, my name is Silja and I live in a little country called Estonia (Europe). I try to keep it short, noone reads long posts, do they? Why are you all so busy? Go take a walk!

• What is the name of your Shop?

It is 5Erg. I should think of something more catchy, my signature looks like a barcode!

• Please describe your creative process

My three types of activities at my desk are – needle felting, making jewelry and painting/drawing.
Even when I wake up 6AM my creative part of the brain doesn’t wake up before 6PM. Best hours are between 12-4AM. I don’t know why it is so. Maybe because it is so quiet and nice at night.
I love listening to music in background, but I paint MUCH worse when there is music so I try to work in total silence. It goes only for painting and such.

• Where do your ideas come from?

When I am busy at school or work I get a lot of ideas. So the fact that I am in harness makes me think of all the things I can’t do at the moment:) But I do write those ideas down for later use.
Also people inspire me. When I walk alone I notice all kinds of people. When I look at someone I get these images in my head about different situations where the person has been or where she/he is going to be. So for example, a wild looking person can inspire me to make leopard dotted jewelry.

• How did you get into your craft?

I just found them on the Internet. I mean needle felting and beads. And everybody draws when they are kids I just never got rid of that habit.

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

It is my second year at the University, I take 50%-50% Chemistry and Biology classes. I could and should spend more time on that too I guess. But I don’t.

• How do you promote your work?

Projectwonderful, Linkreferral, my Blog. I must think of a strategy. Then I could make all of this promotion thing work for me better. At the moment I just try to make some random people see my shop with an ad here and there and a comment here and there.

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I hope that you enjoy the selection of the week!!!

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• Tell me a bit about yourself

My name is Melanie, and I’m from Ontario Canada. I have been a full time soap and candle maker for the past 4 years. It allows me to be a full time mom to my 2 (soon to be 3) kids Ethan, age 5 and Jessica age 2. I’ve been happily married to my husband Mike for 6 years.

• What is the name of your Shop?

The name of my Shop is Greenfield Essentials.

• Please describe your creative process

I love to spend hours dreaming up new soap and bath bomb designs. I’ve been known to keep myself awake at night thinking about soap. Usually the colour and design of the soap comes together when I first smell the fragrance. I can usually tell from there if the soap is going to be swirled or solid, and what colours I’m going to use.

For my soaps I use several different types of oil, mainly Olive, Coconut, Palm, Palm Kernal and Soy. This creates a bar that lathers wonderfully and leaves your skin feeling soft and clean.

I try to do most of my soap making when my kids are in bed, or on the weekends when they are at grandma’s house. My bath bombs I like to make during the day while my oldest is at school.

• Where do your ideas come from?

Usually I’m inspired by the fragrance I’m working with. A lot of times I go to my hubby for ideas too. He’s usually to look at a soap after it’s been cut and tell me if anything needs to be changed, and he’s honest when a batch goes badly.

I’m working now on expanding my line to keep my Etsy shop fresh and full of product. I’m having a lot of fun working not only with swirled soaps, but layered and chunky soaps too. Watch for them to appear in my shop in the next several weeks. We have about 10 new scents of bath bombs coming too!

• How did you get into your craft?

I started making candles about 8 years ago. The candles in the store were so pricy and I was never happy with the way they smelled or burned. I was pretty sure I could do a better job. So, I started to research candle making, and joined several helpful forums. Many of the candle makers created soap as well and it caught my interest. I made my first batch with ingredients I had bought at the grocery store and poured the batch into a baby wipe container. From there I was hooked. I pretty much over ran our house with soap. Friends and relatives had more then enough as well, So I decided it was time to start selling.

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

Apart from creating, Im a wife and a mother. I love taking my kids to the park, out for walks and to play dates. I also enjoy blogging, and spending a little time on World of Warcraft.

• How do you promote your work?

Etsy is new to me, and I am still learning which promotion techniques work best for me. Right now I spend a lot of time blogging (http://everythingetsy.blogspot.com) and I seem to be having pretty good results from twitter (http://www.twitter.com/greenfieldsoaps). I promote locally by selling at our farmers market and handing out business cards to everyone I meet. I tell people about my business whenever possible.

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• Tell me a bit about yourself

My name is Annette from Timeless Designs located in San Antonio, Texas. I am a member of the EJDSS Team (Etsy Jewelry Design Supply Shops) and enjoy learning and contributing to the group. I have a passion for creativity and imagination to create.

• What is the name of your Shop?

My shop is called Timeless Designs, because jewelry is often ‘timeless’ in its limitless designs. The cornerstone of my business is that every design is a single one-of-a-kind custom creation.

• Please describe your creative process

I pick natural gemstones that ‘speak’ to me in a way that I ‘see’ what I will create while touching and feeling the stones. Sometimes I know exactly what I’m going to create when I feel the stones, other times, I just let the customer design the necklace. My favorite stones to create with are Turquoise, Pearls, Jaspers, and Agates…these stones are so beautiful and inspire me to create with nature’s gifts. Sometimes I incorporate wire designs into pieces; this means that a single piece can take up to 6-8 hours to complete. If it is a new wire technique, I’ll use practice wire first to prefect the design, then use my actual artistic or sterling silver wire.

• Where do your ideas come from?

My inspirations come from everywhere; comments by customers or thoughts, a suggestion from a friend or family member, something I’ll see on my world travels.…sometimes I’ll just be inspired by the beauty of the stone to create something really bold and unique.

• How did you get into your craft?

I have been making jewelry for about 2 years now, taking several classes as I advance from one technique to another. About 3 years ago I was at our big Holiday Shopping Extravaganza and purchased some of the most incredible jewelry sets in fused dichroic glass. I was so intrigued about this technique that I took a few classes to learn how to bead and make dichroic glass. What impressed me the most is that with fused glass, no two pieces ever come out the same; this is what inspires my jewelry designs, that they are all one-of-a-kind and no two designs are ever the same.

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I enjoy a variety of different hobbies and interests from working out in the fitness center (this keeps me sane!), to reading books, novels and seeing movies, to gardening in my yard, to traveling with my husband. All these things keep my mind clear, uncluttered and assist in my creativity of jewelry designing.

• How do you promote your work?

Aside from wearing it a lot, talking and giving out business cards, I sell at about 10 local shows a year; 2-3 in the Spring and 7-8 in the Fall. I’m currently working on getting a website developed and online as another avenue to sell my jewelry. I also sell and promote via Etsy and artists who give me the opportunity to be featured on their blog’s. Though I don’t sell from my blog, I will often feature new designs and have a gallery of my work. Next year, I’ll be working to promote my work in local galleries and boutique shops.

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• Tell me a bit about yourself

My name is Kristin, and I work out of our home in Troutdale, Oregon. I dream of one day having Meanbean as my full time job, but until then I juggle Meanbean, a full time day job and my family. It can get crazy, but it’s worth it!

• What is the name of your Shop?

My Etsy Shop is Meanbean

• Please describe your creative process

I love to experiment, and started playing with fabric and shapes, and wound up with designs you see in my shop! I started Meanbean about three years ago, and have a blast using reclaimed designer sample fabrics, worn out clothing, etc. Giving something new life, and saving it from the landfill is very satisfying, especially when you see the completed project, and wouldn’t have guessed its origins.

• Where do your ideas come from?

Color inspires me!! I don’t know where my ideas come from, but they often happen while I’m lying in bed, and my brain just won’t turn off!!

• How did you get into your craft?

Purely by accident! My parents came across an old, 60’s sewing machine, and gave it to me, but turns out it didn’t work, and would cost more to fix than to buy a new one. So we bought a new one, I grabbed some of mom’s stash fabric, and away I went!

• Apart from creating things, what do you do?

Well, like I said, I’m a mom, so I dash from my day job as an accounting grunt to pick up my daughter from school, we play and hang out. I love to read, watch movies, play board games, have deep conversations with my friends and family, and play music.

• How do you promote your work?

Every way I can think of. On various forums I’m on, via Project Wonderful, my Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Etsy. Probably more if I can find them!

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