Archive for October, 2009

Friday Favorites – 10/30/09

Here are my favorites I’ve found throughout the week:

Mmmm soap plus beautiful packaging and beautiful photography:

soaphttp://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32962664

Amazing preserved maple leaf necklace.

leafhttp://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33473507

Cutest picture ever!  Newborn elf hat = adorable.

elf

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31801902

Beautiful beading.  And more great pictures of great packaging in the listing as well.

twilighthttp://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33267047

Yet more beautiful jewelry with beautiful photos.

neck

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32938291

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First Featured Seller – Cantrix

necklace

I received a couple replies from fellow Etsians that would like to be featured, so here is the first.  I will continue to feature a different seller each week in the hopes that I can help spread the word on other gifted crafters.  I think we all need to support each other and do what we can to get our products and our passion out to others.  Welcome Cantrix!!

Cantrix has two stores on Etsy. The first is a jewelry shop that features hand made beaded jewelry like this beautiful necklace to the left.  She has tons of different styles and colors and really great prices.  There are plenty of options under $20 and she also sells gift certificates which can be great gifts for the upcoming holidays.

row

Her original store has been around for over a year and is primarily focused around yarn and knitting items.  Now, I’m not a big knitter, so I’m not sure exactly what goes into the process, but she sells stitch markers and row counters which seem like they would help you keep track of where you are in your knitting once you stop (wow – I really don’t know what I’m talking about do I?  Sorry! :) )  But again, she makes a ton of options in fabulous bright colors for very reasonable prices.

The shop also has great yarn to choose from – seems like a good price to this knitting illiterate and the color choices are great.  I happen to be in love with this purple one myself – would make a great scarf…if only I lived someone cold enough to wear sweaters or scarves.
yarn

Completely off the knitting topic she also sells scrapbook style greeting cards.  Scrapbooking is also a passion of mine and I hope to branch out my store to include cards as well.  She has some stunning designs and perfect prices for her cards.  This is one of my favorites and is perfect for this time of year.

card

This seller has got some great items and plenty of sales under her belt so she knows what she’s doing.  She seems like a great crafter and great contact to have in the Etsy world.  Please show her love and visit both of her shops:

Her jewelry shop and her yarn/card shop.  She has recently started a blog, so check that out.  And you can find her on Twitter as well.  Best of luck to you Catrix and thank you for allowing me to feature you on my blog!  You have amazing talent and I hope that you continue to be successful with both your shops.

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The Process – Step 4:Curling

The last piece of creating my roses is to curl the tips.  This really helps to give the flowers more definition and make them look even more like real flowers.  It is tedious and time consuming, but they turn out beautiful when they are done!  Here are a few examples of what they look like once curled.

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Death to the Pink Mouse!

This is our third kitty (and my favorite), Eowyn. She was a runt kitten at a shelter and was very sick when we saved her. She has managed to stay small for a cat so she is almost like a permanent kitten. :)

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Featured Etsy Sellers

I have a new weekly blog post I want to start.  Every Friday I post my 5 favorite random items I find while browsing Etsy.  Every Thursday I want to start featuring a different Etsy seller.  Not just their store and their products, but also their blog, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc.  If you’d like to be featured on my blog, please leave all your info and links in the comments.

Hope to get some responses and help promote fellow Etsians!  I think everyone deserves as much promotion as possible!

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The Process – Step 3:Painting

Step 3 in the rose making process is hand painting each rose with watercolors.  Depending on the rose, some are painted twice, one with a base coat and then again with a different color for the edges.

Once they are painted, they need to dry.  I’ve poked lots of holes in my wall between my kitchen and living room to give me a place to hang them upside down which is ideal so the petals don’t dry flattened.  This batch was a bit too much so I had to make due with flat drying some of them.

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Once they’ve had ample time to dry (which is enhance here because my air conditioner vent blows directly on them (and yes, it is still hot enough in southern California to have the air on) then they are ready to be curled.  That’s another step for another day.  For now, here are some pictures of the huge bunch I painted this weekend.  Check back for more pictures once the curling is done.  I’ll keep you posted once I have new products up on etsy. :)

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The Process – Step 2:Assembling

(Yeah you read that right, I skipped over step 1 and got right into the interesting part! :) )

I thought I’d post some pictures of the process of making my paper roses. I’ve been working non-stop for about 2 weeks to make a half dozen of each color rose that I make, which equates to about 5 dozen roses. Doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but start to finish it takes about 30 minutes to make one rose. So you can see why it has taken me so long. I didn’t take pictures of all the cut paper petals as I thought of this after I started making them. But here is the next step. I try to do a production line type set up and get all of one step done before moving on to the next.  Here is what they look like once they are cut and assembled into a rose before they are hand painted.

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All the roses stacked together to make a nice pretty mountain of paper goodness.

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A little closer detail on the shape of each petal.  After they are painted they are curled on the edges and you won’t see this defined shape as much.

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I spent 4 hours last night and 9 hours today painting all of these roses.  Check back tomorrow for Step 3: “We’re Painting the Roses Red!”

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Friday Favorites – 10/23/09

Here are a few of my favorites that I’ve found while browsing on Etsy this week.

This is the perfect time of year for pumpkin spice anything and in many places (not really where I am here in southern California) it is chilly enough outside to burn some yummy candles.

candle

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32526100

Fun and bright bracelet!

bracelet

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32327789

These pillows would go great in my bedroom!  This might need to go on my Christmas list to Santa.

pillows

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32832867

So amazingly detailed!  This is just stunning and I think it would make a room really pop with this divider.  I wish I had room in my tiny apartment for this!

divider

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28188650

A cute little owl necklace that opens into a tiny clock.  Too cute!

owl

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vt_related_1&listing_id=31784710

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Did you seriously just put frosting on my nose?

Here’s your kitty entertainment for this week.  This is our oldest cat, Maximus, aka Max, Max-a-Moose, Orange Cat and then some names I probably shouldn’t mention here.  He is our Houdini cat that always gets into trouble.

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Friday Favorites – 10/16/09

I’ve been trying to come up with some weekly recurring blog topics.  Wednesdays will be the funny kitty pics of mine day, I think Friday is a good day to showcase fellow Etsy sellers.  So, here are some of my current favorites on Etsy this week.

Awesome idea – I totally want these for my next dinner party.

drinkringshttp://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vt_related_1&listing_id=32706528

I love the flavors and colors.  I love the packaging.  I love the photos.  LOVE!

glosshttp://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32606279

I can’t look at this dress enough.  I LOVE it.  I wish I could redo my wedding because this wedding dress is just so pretty!

dresshttp://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28593300

Since it’s almost Halloween – nothing better than the Pumpkin King!  Such a fan. :)

jackhttp://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29287677

And these are the earrings I bought that I just got in the mail yesterday.

earringshttp://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vt_related_1&listing_id=32694116

Happy Friday everyone!  Here’s to a very productive weekend hopefully full of sales!

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