Friday, October 26, 2012

Ultimate Animal Lovers Auction

You are cordially invited to a community auction event The Ultimate Animal Lovers on Saturday, November 10 at 4pm CST on TopHatter. You'll get exclusive access to bid on and buy some of my most popular items not to mention some awesome items from a variety of awesome sellers!! See everything that's up for auction, submit your items and RSVP here: 
http://tophatter.com/auctions/8497?campaign=community

Preview of some of the items I'll be auctioning!



Handmade Spark - Promote Your Shop For Free

Handmade Spark
Great site! Check it out! =)

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Spotlight On Under The Root

Today I am very excited to share with you an amazing shop called Under The Root! Beautiful handmade clothes, under garments that make me think of a woodland faerie! If I were a wood sprite this is exactly what I would wear every day!! Please enjoy this wonderful interview from a wonderful lady!






About the Artist:

My name is Jennifer M Brown and I am the designer and maker of things for Under The Root.  Each design and the entire process utilizes upcycled, reclaimed, sustainable, and many times vintage materials.  This seems to be the most natural foundation for us in the construction of loungerie, lingerie and boudoir accessories.  My wish is for people to whirl around in their days and nights, storytelling their own fables and becoming their own stories.. where the playful, demure and even the most modest bodies are awake.  Our name comes from a juvenile fiction trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder and has grown to have meaning in many facets of the works here with the intimate apparel.



What inspired you to start your business?
While sitting among friends and drinking licorice tea, I made a decision to take all my scribbles of thoughts, desire to turn my life around, designs of underthings, and treasure troves of findings from out of the bird nest.  Also vital, my will to put cards on the table toward a sincere contribution to satisfying human desire in a conscious, wakeful manner.  I began with a black lacquer Singer and the support of many, many loves around me at the time. The closer each design came to its end, the closer I had grown to the root of what came before me.




What inspires your creative process?
It seems the process, itself, is a continuous inspiration every step of the way.  I think some of the most valuable kicks in the behind begin with human connection, freedom of expression in our cultures around the world,
passionate individuals to share love with all its many shapes and sizes, and the understanding that we are here for only a blink.  When the sun is bright, it is blinding and borderline overwhelming to the process.  When the moon drifts to dark, it is scary sometimes but always welcomed by an undertow of its presents.




What is your favorite thing you’ve made and why?
Thank you for asking and if there was a top of the heap design or piece, I will have shared it here with you.  It is possible to have a deep connection with every single design and damn near every piece made in the studio, each for different reasons.  I will say that there are 4 pieces, in the beginning, which were quite unique to wear because they were made without elastic or stretch fabric.  It was a secret, but now seems alright to share, that I truly had no idea how to create undergarments in the beginning.  I was a novice seamstress and simply did not have the skills required to fasten together all the elements for undergear.  That was almost 13 years ago now and I still have the 4 pieces to remind me of this journey.










What advice do you have for other people who want to start or grow their Etsy shop?
There is a yin and yang with every step.  The rewards in each decision feed the growth of further ones, so make a decision and do not waste time.  Many times I have been thwarted by unseen obstacles which then have led me to challenges in the mastering of my dreams.  Marketing and promotion begins with knowledge of the niche for your works.  After an initial leap into your industry, my best advice is to remain true to your work and have a balance within your personal versus business life.  Do what you say, follow through, and be sure to be the best at what you do.



Under The Root now has a quarterly newsletter where I share the undergrowth of new collections, a tinge of elven lore, and coupon codes for discount with the purchases.  You can sign up with the newsletter inside this link:  http://eepurl.com/5g9Y
We are on facebook for more immediate connection here:
https://www.facebook.com/UnderTheRootLoungerieandBoudoirAccessories
The website is loaded with news, lookbooks and contact:
http://www.undertheroot.com


I hope you enjoyed this wonderful shop and will go check it out!

These are my absolute favorites!!


Monday, October 8, 2012

Spotlight on Kawaiiideco


In an effort of not being selfish and inviting in the good karma I share with you Kawaiiideco. I say this because once you see her hand-painted acrylic nails you will understand why I would want to keep her a closely guarded secret, lol! 
Lets meet Jaimie Ngo of Kawaiiideco!





These are my absolute favorites!!

Let’s hear from Jaimie:
Kawaiiideco is all about cute & quirky decorations that describe my own personality! Growing up I always had a passion for for art… I loved the feeling of letting my creativity run wild. A couple years ago I ran across Etsy & I had so much admiration for people on there… to come across a group of people so much creativity boggled my mind! From then on, I decided I wanted to be a part of that… I wanted to push my creativity further & be just like them. It’s the people on Etsy who had inspired me to push the envelope of my own creativity; I wanted to be a part of that world.

I don’t consider Etsy to my ‘business’ though, to me it’s a place where I can share all the things I love with other people, it’s a hobby. I often find myself spending 6+ hours sometimes creating this crazy nail set, but I don’t mind because I truly love it. LOVE is essential to my creative process. I also think I have a tad of OCD because everything has to be perfect & the TLC I put into it is tremendous (that’s probably why it takes so darn long haha).

(I bet these had to have taken at least that long! Crazy awesome detail!)

I would have to say that my favorite item that I’ve created is my anatomically correct heart pendant; it’s actually the item that started it all. My first polymer creation was actually made while I was at home studying for my anatomy test! I was learning about the heart & I had my anatomy book open… next thing I knew I had this little heart polymer heart sitting in front of me & I was studying off of it & memorizing the parts on it for my test haha. 

(That’s actually really good advice for anyone taking anatomy!)


The advice I would give to anyone who wants to start an Etsy is… just do it(: creating your Etsy is the first step. Make sure you love what you’re doing & give really good customer service! I feel that it’s important to create a connection with the people who purchase my items. Since Etsy items are handmade, you want the person purchasing to know that the item you’re creating is in good hands. If the item is a ‘custom’, you want to include them in the creation process as much as possible, it gives them a piece of mind that everything is turning out alright & that you really put some TLC into that creation(:


Thanks so much for sharing with us Jaimie!! It’s been such a pleasure getting to know you and hear about your creative process! The love, the fun and your OCD tendencies definitely show in your work!

Please visit Kawaiiideco to see more of Jaimies incredible creations or to request your own set of Superhero nails!





If you ask nicely she might even make you an Alliance cell phone charm! ;)