Friday, March 16, 2012

Artist Feature: Ksewingbasket

Kelly's Sewing Basket

I met Kelly a while back and she admitted to me that she is a "fabric addict".  I can't blame her though, since she creates such beautiful items!  And of course her destash on Etsy is to die for!!


Once upon a time.... "it started with a dozen table runners I made and brought with me to sell at a show with a good friend of mine in 2000. They were a hit. The following two years I sold over a hundred table runners and baby items at shows. Then I branched out into aprons."  Now, Kelly has over 840 sales and climbing!


She first learned to knit from her mother and to crochet, and even indulged her sister in some macrame projects!  Then she moved on to fabric, fabric, and fabric.  Fabric, as you may have guessed, is Kelly's favorite craft medium.  Especially Christmas fabric!  She plans ahead for each season, starting her holiday items over the summer months. 

Though fabric has brought her great success, Kelly is dabbling in other crafts as well such as jewelry and cards! 

When I asked Kelly how she came to find Etsy, she said, "I found Etsy through a fellow local farmer's market vendor.   She told me to check out 'Etsy'.  I had to ask her 3 times what the name was!  That was in the summer of 2007."  Since her shop is so successful, she regrets "looking into it" so much and deciding not to open a shop until 6 months later!  Before that, she tried Ebay, which she said was "was not working for my handmade!"  You have to have a shop in a community that appreciates handmade, as Etsy does.

Kelly is from Michigan, in the Ann-Arbor area.  She is highly-skilled as sewing, as I know from the wallet I purchased from her.  She is a great friend to have and promotes others as she would herself.  Maybe even more so!  Her favorite item to make changes weekly, so you should frequently check her shop for new items and great destash items!

Please take a gander at Kelly's profile and shop:  you WON'T be disappointed!

Kelly's Sewing Basket

Her Profile:
http://www.etsy.com/people/ksewingbasket?ref=ls_profile

Her Shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ksewingbasket?ref=pr_shop_more

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Artist Feature: CraftsFromDWolfeLair

I wanted to feature a great artist from our NNNTeam on our blog.  She is not only a great Etsy shop owner, but also a fabulous team member:  she consistently participates in all aspects of our team and always speaks to people with a positive attitude and great team spirit. 

Of course, the artist I am writing about is none-other than Debbie Wolfe from CraftsFromDWolfeLair.  Debbie lives in Escondido, CA with her 2 "Cockapoos" Wiley and Scruffy.  She is also engaged to be married (for 14 years and counting!). 

Debbie said, "For me sewing is fun. It is what I do to relax after work. Anytime I can spend up to 8 hours in my craft room is a fun day."  She also likes to spend time playing games on pogo.com, but then again, who doesn't? 

When asked how she came to join Etsy, she said that she, her sister, and some of her friends did a Christmas Boutique Sale at her sister's house in December of 2009.  "One of the ladies that was shopping there told me about Etsy and said I should open a shop. She thought there would be a market for my items there. I wasn't sure at first because I felt my items needed to be seen in person, but in May 2010 I decided to give Etsy a try. I didn't have many sales the first year, but as I learned more about marketing and networking, my sales have picked up."

She also said that Etsy has connected her to wonderful other artisans.  "I've made some great friends here and it's nice to talk to people who have the same interests and are always willing to help when I have questions."

Her favorite creation is her "Quiet Books".  She has been selling these quiet books at San Diego craft fairs for over 25 years and it is one of her best sellers.  These are now a Blue Ribbon Winner at the San Diego County Fair.  Her "Quiet Books" contain over a dozen different activities that teach children fundamental skills such as tying shoelaces, buttoning, using zippers, matching colors and shapes, counting, etc.
"I love the fact that they are fun to play with and are eduational too", she said.

Debbie plans on doing Tierrafest in May and hopefully the Rancho Bernardo Winery craft show in May as well.  She stated that she seems to sell more at fall and winter shows (Christmas shopping!).  Along with those shows, her goal for this year on Etsy is to double her sales from last year.  Debbie has a great sense of ambition!



You can find Debbie's bright and beautiful Etsy shop here:




Also, check out her profile to read more:

http://www.etsy.com/people/dwolfe103

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Treasury Feature: PluffMudDesigns

One of our wonderful team leaders created this treasury in honor of PluffMudDesigns, who has won a contest of ours! 

PluffMudDesigns


Check out her Etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PluffMudDesigns


She created the gorgeous earrings in the top-left corner of the collection.

PluffMudDesigns is actually a great jewelry artist named Michelle from South Carolina! You can view her profile here:

http://www.etsy.com/people/PluffMudDesigns

Sunday, December 4, 2011

BNS Success!

Hi everyone!

First, I want to say THANK YOU to all the people who participated, faved, viewed, chatted, or bought into our FIRST-EVER BNS yesterday! YOUR participation made it very successful!


Here are the final numbers:


-405 views of the treasury

-455 times items in the treasury were clicked on

-106 faved the treasury

-17 pages of comments

-7 total sales


Not bad for our first day, huh?

THANKS EVERYONE!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

FIRST-EVER NNNTeam BNS!

We are hosting our first-ever NNNTeam BNS!  How could you miss it?



SPECIALS:

Fringeandflourish - NNN15 = 15% OFF
Starflycreations - SAVE10 = 10% OFF
Ommmused1 - SANTACLAUSTROPHOBIA = 10% OFF
Jeweledhummingbird - BNSFUN = 10% OFF
MorethanColors - MERRYCHRISTMAS = 10% off
Lucary - TEN10 = 10% OFF
TheLashReport - NNNTEAMSALE =15% off
KatiesCreativeCorner - FAB15 = 15% off purchase over $10
PluffMudDesigns - XMAS15 = 15% off & FREE SHIPPING


Join us for the fun!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTQ2NjE2MzJ8MTM4MTk0MzY3Mw/open-nnnteam-bns-no-minimum-round-1?page=8#comments

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Featured Artist: Starflycreations

I have the pleasure of having a wonderful artist, Starla Apodaca, as a leader on the NNNTeam. She is not only a great leader and former captain of this team, but also a most gracious woman and great teacher! She has mentored me in becoming captain and has been a valued and caring friend.

But besides all that, most importantly Starla is a great artist! She runs a shop on Etsy called Starflycreations. She creates original paintings, exclusive stationery designs and more. She recently created this fabulous custom work:


When I asked Starla about her life, she responded:

"God has blessed me with a wonderful family and talent. I've been married almost half my life. We have two wonderful children. A young teenage son who thinks he knows everything and a three-year old daughter who probably does! We have a dog, a turtle, and have been known to nurse injured green anoles back to health. We also love cats and have one which stays at my mom's due to allergies in the family. My son has great promise as a photographer and my daughter has great promise of being an adorably cute, walking, talking, dictionary!

My favorite activity, outside of spending it with family, has to be art. ART. ART. ART. I love creating! I've often referred to myself as AADD - Art Attention Deficit Disorder, as I cannot stick to one medium or style from commercial digital illustration to mixed media paintings, I love them all. To me, life is a beautiful chaotic mix of very special and very different moments. I try to reflect that in my work. To me, creating the same type of art every day is like having the same emotion every day. My art is a journey, just like my life.

I am the volunteer leader for art and computer science - graphic design for our local 4-H. So far in art, I've taught drawing, jewelry making, and polymer clay sculpture. Three of my students entered the state fair in polymer clay and all three won. In graphic design, I am currently teaching Adobe Photoshop but also have Illustrator and InDesign slated for this school year. I also volunteer with our local PTA and our church.

I have a BFA in Graphic Design with emphasis in communication arts. That's where I met my hubby. I've spent many years in advertising in the roles of graphic designer, art director and creative director before going back to freelance to grow my family. Now that my daughter is three, I will be gearing up the reigns to increase my activity, once again, in the commercial field too. My commercial portfolio may be viewed at www.starflycreations.com

I discovered Etsy through a friend of mine, Andrea. She sells adorably cute, whimsical paintings and children's decor. She is also a new NNNteam member. If it wasn't for Andrea, I would have never known about Etsy, nor would I have met such wonderful people through the teams that I am now fortunate to call my friends, so I wanted to give her a plug! Here is her shop www.andralynn.etsy.com

I am inspired by so much in my life that I cannot keep track and am notorious for leaving yellow sticky notes EVERYWHERE and never getting around to reading them all. My doodles and thoughts are not confined to sticky notes. I write on the back of envelopes, on magazines, note pads, anything and almost everything. Also - I love to read, though I am known not to pick up a book for a long while, and then read an entire book in one sitting because I may not get back to it again.
Starla's most recent project is polymer clay sculpture ornaments. She recently completed one of her daughter, pictured here:

Friday, November 11, 2011

Featured Artist: Heversonart

Artist Featured:  Heather Everson




Once upon a time, there was a jewelry artist named Heather Everson.  She runs a great shop on Etsy featuring handmade jewelry and artwork.  Her jewelry is not just of one type.  Rather, Heather creates pieces that are beaded, painted, wire-wrapped, etc.  The list goes on and on!  Each piece is an original and is carefully and artistically hand-crafted. 

I met Heather back in April 2011 when I first joined Etsy.  She is the current captain of the EtsyHeartsBeads Team, which happens to be the first team I ever joined!  Now she is a proud and active team member of our NNNTeam! 

Our very own NNNTeam artist Heather Everson lives in Escanaba, Michigan and is married with a beautiful 3-year-old girl Kaylie.  Since her pregnancy, she has been a big fan of hot peppers!  "I ate them constantly despite my husband's protests that our daughter would be born in a ball of fire and it just stuck with me I guess!"

In the mere 25 years Heather has been alive, she has accomplished quite a lot!  Right now, Heather is a stay at home mom, which everyone knows is a lot of work!  She works a full-time job during the Christmas season and part-time the rest of the year as an artist and jewelry designer.  Heather sells her wares on Etsy and in local craft shows as well.  Yet, though she still considers jewelry her "hobby", she hopes to expand once her child is in school.  I know this is one person who will accomplish whatever she wants!


When I asked Heather how she came to having a shop on Etsy, this is what she said:

"I knew a local artist who had a shop on Etsy and was impressed with the amount of handmade talent on Etsy.  I joined and found my own little niche too in Aug 2010!"

Her favorite thing to make is nature-inspired jewelry hand shaped from copper wire featuring creatures like birds, dragonflies, and leaves.  She says that there is plenty of inspiration that drives her, like the floral images from Georgia O'Keefe to real items in nature. 


Heather has been creating drawings and painting since she was a child.  And has been a snake-lover since then too!  About her recent expansion to jewerly, she told me, "Jewelry provided me with such a wonderful opportunity and still allows me to create unique works of art. I absolutely love my new calling and I hope that my work can find people who will cherish them as much as I loved making them!