FEATURED ARTIST

Here is a jewelery artist that you really should see. Come and meet

Here is our interview with the artist -

Briefly describe what you make?

I make all kinds of beaded jewelry, and I also love to paint, but the main focus of Sweet Avenue at the moment is my collage pendants. I use patterned paper, acrylic tiles, and transferred images to make colorful and lightweight, graphic pendants. The other thing you will see a lot of in my shop is jewelry and hair accessories made with vintage-inspired resin flowers. I started making them purely for selfish reasons - I love to wear them myself!

What mediums do you enjoy working in most?

When I am creating visual art, it's mostly acrylic paints, but also charcoal with ink, and pastels. With jewelry - semi-precious stones, beads of all shapes and sizes, paper, plastic, fabric, wood, ink, all types of metal - basically anything you can think of that can be turned into a cool-looking piece of jewelry, I will use.

How long have you been creating craft?

Over twenty years now, I guess! Although, growing up my mother always encouraged our creativity, so I suppose I've been creating since I was born. I've always been a very passionate person. Apparently, when I was three or four years old, I had a crush on the boy who lived next door, so I painted him a picture, and ran out to give it to him - completely naked! Kids are great because they just do what they want to without worrying about what's proper. I think good artists are the same way.

How did you get started?

I started beading with seed beads when I was eight years old at summer camp. I learned how to make daisy chain, tube peyote stitch, seven bead lace....and it just progressed from there. When I got older, I became more interested in gemstone beads, fashion jewelry (why buy it in the store when you can make it yourself?), and most recently, multimedia jewelry. I have sold jewelry in various ways over the years, including one summer at my parent's farm stand. I decided to open an Etsy shop just this year, and "officially" opened in May. Things have been going really well, and I'm hoping to continue to build momentum. You can also now find my things at the boutique called Trinket on Church Street in downtown Burlington, Vermont.

Where does the name of your shop come from?

The name of my shop comes from the beautiful song "Sweet Avenue" by the band Jets to Brazil, whose singer used to front one of my favorite bands of all time - Jawbreaker. It also happens to be the song that my sister and her husband danced to at their wedding. So besides simply being a song that I love, the song has good memories associated with it.

What would you most want people to know about your work?

One is that I make the things I make because I think they are beautiful, and I love them. I never make a piece purely because I think it will sell. The other is that when they buy a piece of jewelry, or even if they just tell me that they think it's beautiful, they are supporting an important part of me, a part that I don't get to express in my day-to-day, 9-to-5 job. It brings me so much happiness.

What words of advice do you have for other artists?

Follow your heart, support your fellow artists, and dream big! On a more serious note, if you are in business, stay organized and keep good records. You'll be glad that you did!


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Now, take a look at this shop and come back here and leave a comment.

FEATURED ARTIST

We are back after the Holidays with another artist interview. Come and meet


Here is our interview with the artist, Sarah -

Briefly describe what you make?

I have fabric bookmarks and reusable gift bags in my shop, but I primarily create fabric flowers to be used as an accessory. My Esty shop is relatively new to me and so is this process of creating products to sell. So I am still finding myself and what it is I want to present to the world. Right now I am in the midst of a rainbow-licious project that will include quilts, placemats, bags and more.

What mediums do you enjoy working in most?

I love to work with fabric. The minute my mother gifted me with a sewing machine I was hooked. I love to draw, paint, take photographs and create will sorts of mediums, but I feel I can best offer people quality products of value through sewing.

How long have you been creating craft?

How long? Um...Can you count creating storybooks as a child? =) I'd say I started the love affair with sewing about 8 years ago.

How did you get started?

It all started one winter when I was home from college for Christmas. I was an Environmental Science major and young, which meant I thought I could save the world. Coincidently my mother was slowly taking over my room and was storing her sewing machine and fabric in there. I was inspired to sew dozens of cloth gift bags in order to cut down on the amount of wrapping paper we threw away every Christmas morning. It snowballed from there. Both my mother and mother in law now have hundreds of cloth bags for Christmas and other special occassions. I wanted to challenge myself to new projects and along came blankets and quilts. Now I just want to see how I can challenge fabric to mold into the images I see in my head.

Where does the name of your shop come from?

When I began to acrue more inventory than I could handle I knew it was time to start selling my products. I had just heard about Etsy on some blogs and thought this would be a great way to start. My friend and I brainstormed some shop names and she came up with Seamingly Sarah. It was perfect! I remain open to outside influences and offers of help because sometimes they are just what you need, a blessing.

What would you most want people to know about your work?

I really want people to know that (a) I love to create with fabric, (b) I truly believe each product they receive from me is made with love, pure, true, love and (c) I intend to create products that can be used over and over again, cutting down on the waste we produce in this life.

What words of advice do you have for other artists?

Words of advice? This question scares me because I deal with my own inner battle that I am a good enough artist. A large reason I started Seamingly Sarah was because I wanted to explore who I am as an artist and realize and accept my creativity - nourish and grow it. So the advice that has inspired me just to get started has been to (a) just do it, we have so many ideas go through our heads yet rarely follow through, take a step, even a small one, (b) only do it if you enjoy the process, don't get hung up on the results and (c) find a mantra to counter attack your deepest fears - mine is "I am a valuable artist"

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Great! Now go and see Sarah's shop and come back and leave a comment!

Happy Holidays to ALL!

I just would like to wish all of our readers very happy holidays and a joyous new year! Let's all hope that 2011 will see an improving economy and a renewed growth in retail sales. We will have many artists to feature in the coming year! Our best to all!

FEATURED ARTIST

This artist has some wonderful things for the tots! Come and meet


Here is our interview with the artist, Gwen -

Briefly describe what you make?

I design and sew blanket dolls for babies and small children. They can also be called loveys. Blanket dolls have been widely used in Europe as a comforting toy for babies. The idea is that mom sleeps with the doll for a few days and the fabric will absorb her scent. Then when baby is snuggling with the doll it can smell the comforting and familiar scent of the mother and it will soothe the baby by letting it know that mom is near.

What mediums do you enjoy working in most?

Ever since I saw minky fabrics for the first time I have been hooked. The softness and texture of the fabric is just perfect for baby items. I have made so many minky blankets for my two babies and for friends. I just can’t get enough of that fabric. I’ve always been tempted to make a large blanket for myself, but somehow I just have not gotten around to it yet.

How long have you been creating craft?

I have been crafting for as long as I can remember. My mother always did little craft projects with my sister and I growing up. We mostly made little clothes for our dolls and as we got older we stared to make furniture for our dollhouse. I also had a wonderful grandmother how was patient and taught me how to knit and crochet when I was really young. Most of my crafting has always revolved around sewing or knitting. I have somewhat turned my love for creating and designing into my full time job. I have been working as an architect for the last 10 years and love what I do. It is another creative outlet for me, granted the materials used are not as soft, but I get the same satisfaction from my day job as I do from crafting.

How did you get started?

I got started with my Etsy shop just a couple of months ago, back in May. I’ve been browsing Etsy for the last 3 years and always thought that one day I would love to open my own shop. But being a brand new working mother I just couldn’t believe I’d somehow be able to manage my time well enough to pull of
such a big endeavor.

When my second daughter was about 9 months old I just had this urge to design her a doll that she could cuddle with at night. She was having a terrible time sleeping through the night and I thought that if she had a truly snuggly companion to hold on to it might help her. My husband and I also noticed that she was never able to find her pacifier in her crib in the dark, so I wanted this doll to help with that problem as well. I worked on several different prototypes and after a couple of months and a lot of input from family and friends I arrived at the Blossom Baby doll which is currently featured in my Etsy shop. I made a few of these dolls for my friends’ babies as well and everyone seemed to really like them. Especially the babies! Mabel immediately took to her Blossom Baby and by tying her pacifier to the feelers of her doll we have been able to enjoy long sleep-filled nights.

After having some success with my daughter and with friends, my sister encouraged me to look into starting my own Etsy store and I decided to just go for it. It has been a huge learning experience. Designing and sewing the dolls is the easy part for me. Setting up and promoting the store has been a wonderful challenge. I am constantly trying to improve the doll as well as my shop and am now working on a new product that I am hoping to start selling in August. I will also be adding new blanket dolls to my shop where the flower hat will be replaced with a star hat, the new Star Snuggles.

Where does the name of your shop come from?

The name of my shop “Mabelise” was inspired by my two beautiful little girls, Mabel who is just about to turn 2 and Elise who will be 5 years old soon. Initially I thought about naming the shop “Elise and Mabel” but after kicking around some other ideas with my sister, we came up with Mabelise. My husband was very opposed to this name in the beginning because it is just so similar to Maybelline but I simply loved that with one name I could dedicate my work to both of my children. Especially since the doll was originally designed for them. Elise has her own doll as well that she is really fond of.

What would you most want people to know about your work?

Making these dolls has truly been a labor of love for me. I have invested so much heart and soul into these little creatures and love the idea that somewhere out there another baby or child may be comforted by one of my dolls. Every doll is completely handmade. The production of these dolls is partly done on my Singer sewing machine and partly by hand stitching. The faces are all individually embroidered by hand and I feel that in turn each doll has it’s own personality and each one is unique.

What words of advice do you have for other artists?

My advice for other artists is to simply follow your passion. There are so many amazing shops in the Etsy community and so many talented artists who are just inspiring. Even if their medium is completely different from mine, seeing their artwork just encourages me to keep going. Opening and running a successful store on Etsy takes a lot of time and energy and patience. I am a very new shop owner myself and still have very far to go, but there is so much help out there in the community. Etsy is a great place to showcase your artwork and your craft, but it does take a lot of hard work. As I mentioned earlier, for me the hard part is not making my dolls, but it is running my Etsy shop itself. I think as long as you are able to take the time to learn all the different aspects of running and promoting a shop you can have a successful shop. The one thing that I never really considered when I started was how difficult it can be to achieve great photos of my items. It is the number one thing that I am trying to improve. Since no one is ever able to actually touch and feel my dolls, I need the pictures to really show off my items. So I guess besides following your passion, if you are considering opening up your own Etsy shop, learn to become a great photographer.

How do you comply with the CPSIA requirements for children’s products?

All my products are made from materials that are on the exempt list for lead testing. I am required, however, to have sewn on labels on my items for tracking purposes. These labels contain my brand name and website, the materials used, care instructions, and date and place of manufacture. Currently I make those labels myself with approved fabric and inks.

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Great interview! Please come and look at what Gwen has in her shop! They make great gifts!

GAMES FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

Everyone enjoys a good game and I make three great ones. These are perfect gifts for the family, for friends, for anyone on your gift list. OR just for you! Treat yourself once in a while!

My games are historic reproductions - but history does not have to be boring! Just because a game has been played for hundreds of years - in one case thousands of years - does not mean that the game will not be enjoyed just as much today!

Here are the games! And you can purchase them at Q Branch Ltd.

FEATURED ARTIST

Here is a great gift idea. Come and meet

Here is our interview with the artist, Stacy -

Briefly describe what you make?

Socks. I have two main flavors that I have listed in my shop: tabi (traditional Japanese, split-toe socks) and my Simple Luxury line.

What mediums do you enjoy working in most?

I enjoy working with natural fiber yarns. There are some synthetics that work well for me and my current focus, but I really find the most inspiration and pleasure working with fiber from animals, be it common wool or luscious cashmere or alpaca. There's just something about the way it handles and suits itself to socks that appeals to me.

There are some amazing synthetics and alternatives to natural fibers for those who are vegan, allergic/sensitive, or just want something else, so don't think I'm putting down those fibers. Just a personal preference for my current production. :)

How long have you been creating craft?

I've been creating since I was tiny. My mother is an amazing craftswoman, and made all of our clothes growing up, from jeans to sweaters to underwear. There's nothing she can't do, if she decides to take the time to try. From my earliest memories, I remember making modeling clay sculptures, learning how to decorate Easter eggs, helping her with her baking, and drinking straw and card towers.

How did you get started?

I started knitting at around age 9. My mom gave up her knitting for other pursuits a few years before, so I had an heirloom collection of knitting needles (some over 100 years old!) and patterns and books to start. I taught myself, and my mom helped me out when I needed it. I've taken breaks from it, and really picked it back up again about seven years ago.

Socks became my focus as I tried to eliminate my husband and father from stuffing their regular socks into flip flops, and I haven't looked back. I sold them at craft shows and fairs for a few years, but developed health problems, moved, and wasn't able to get back into that sort of production. I started my own website and Etsy shop a little over a year ago, and have found it a great way to maintain my older clients and find new ones without the physical demands.

Where does the name of your shop come from?

I don't really know, to be honest! When I first toyed with selling my socks, it's the name that popped into my head and stuck. I wanted a name that related to feet without being totally foot oriented, and thought it was cute and quirky and fit with my theme pretty well.

What would you most want people to know about your work?

I've found that a lot of people shy away from my products because of my primary use of natural fibers. There's a pretty common feeling that natural fibers are hard to care for and super picky, but there's a natural fiber (or fiber blend) out there for every lifestyle and care regimen. I try to link my easy peasy instructions for washing my socks in my listings, and I've had people try out wool for the first time and that makes me happy. :)

I'd also like people to give a pair of handmade socks a try. I hear a lot of '$50 for socks? I can buy 10 pairs at for half that!', and I'd almost like to hand those people a pair with the instructions to wear them a week and report back. Not everyone likes, appreciates, or cares about the difference, but I like to think that you can feel the warmth from the creator in each pair. There's a common line out there that says that handmade socks are like hugs for your feet, and I truly believe that. Besides, where else can you get socks knit to fit your foot specifically?

What words of advice do you have for other artists?

At least once, try one thing at a time and experiment within that area, rather than bouncing from new thing to new thing. I used to feel like I was most creative and had the best ideas when I bounced from craft to craft, but I've found that I can be more creative when I spend time focused in a more narrow area. Experiment with colors, textures, and patterns and you might find a new path to take.

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Nice! Now, come and look!