Wreath, heart shape, dried roses and seashells - $29.00

A 18" twig heart wreath decorated with seashells, sea glass and mini pink dried roses accented with lavender and eucalyptus. Created in a smoke free home.

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

Photo frame, nautical beach home accented with seashells and sea glass - $12.00

3.5" by 5" photo frame embellished with blue sea glass and seashells. Perfect gift for the beach lover. Photo frame can hang on wall or stand on table top either vertical or horizontal. This photo was taken in Rockport, MA.

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

On Sale at Angels n Everlastings

If you'd like something special to decorate your home or dress your front door, take advantage of these special prices on these beautiful spring/summer wreaths.  Each one has been reduced by $10.00.  Prices will never be lower.

 This pretty spring heart wreath is a great buy at $17.00:

Heart Twig Wreath with Silk Flowers

This generous sized 18" grapevine wreath decorated with silk flowers in spring colors of pink, purple, and yellow is now $39.00. This wreath can hang with decoration on side or bottom. It could even hang with decoration at top.

18" Pink Purple Door Wreath

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One more beauty-also a 18" grapevine frame and a  great buy at $39.00:

Silk Flower Front Door Wreath

Shop feature - Kristine of Gulickkr on Etsy

Hair-pin/Shawl-pin

Purple and white amethyst pendant

Kristine of Gulickkr on Etsy has been creating beautiful jewelry since 2008.  It started as a labor of love and a way to support her dad's new-found hobby.  Her dad was inspired by a TV show and decided to go mining for gems.  He found many beautiful stones but also found that it was very expensive to have the stones cut and set into jewelry.

Sterling silver wire wrapped purple pendant

 To save money, he decided to join a rock club and took a lapidary class where he learned to cut cabochon out of stones. A cabochon, from the Middle French caboche (head), is a gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to faceted.  He learned how to cut the stone slabs and grind and polish the stones into beautiful one of a kind pieces.  Kristine, along with her dad, then took a wire wrapping class.  Together they created beautiful jewelry.  Dad continued to make the cabochon pieces and Kristine developed her love of wire wrapping.

Sadly, Kristine's dad passed away from cancer in 2010.  She still has a few gems that her dad created but now she buys all her stones from fellow Etsy stores, rock and mineral shows, or jewelry suppliers. To honor her dad's memory, and to help raise money for cancer research, Kristine donates 10% of each sale to the American Cancer Society.

I asked Kristine, what advice she had for new Etsy sellers:
"Advice that I would give someone new to Etsy is to be patient and committed. It takes time for your shop to get noticed. It is frustrating waiting especially for that first sale, but it will come. Just believe and it will happen. The biggest thing that I learned since opening my shop is that it really is a full-time job. It takes time to make items for your shop, but it takes even longer to commit to marketing and getting yourself known. It is so important to invest that time in your shop."

Plum crocheted shawl

What's new in Kristine's shop?

Gemstone wire wrapped gemstone tree

"I  have started a few new lines since opening my shop. Since November, I have launched a line of chainmaille ornaments (seasonal item only), gemstone trees, and hair/shawl pins. The hair/shawl pins have been really popular, so I would like to continue adding more styles of these pins to my shop. Also, to compliment the pins, I just starting selling crocheted shawls (as of two weeks ago). I have loved crocheting since I was a little girl, and am having so much fun working on shawls now. So that is the main focus of my shop right now (building up inventory of the shawls)."
I have chosen just a few of the beautiful listings to feature here.  I recommend you take a moment and check out  Kristine's Gulickkr shop on Etsy. Click here for Kristine's facebook page  and here for twitter.

Special orders don't upset us on Etsy

Heart twig wreath

A great feature about shopping on Etsy is being able to communicate directly with the shop owner -- the creator, the artist.  Many shop owners on Etsy, welcome requests for special orders.  If you are unfamiliar with Etsy, it is an online marketplace where you can buy unique handmade and vintage items directly from independent sellers from all around the world.  Check it out here.  As you can see their are all sorts of categories with oodles of choices.  If you like handmade or one of a kind products you will love checking out these unique listings.

Recently I received a request for one of my photo frames but the customer wanted something a bit different.  She contacted me and told me what she liked about my photo frames but then told me what she wanted.
Here was her request - she referred to this listing:

Photo frame embellished with seashells & sea glass

"Do you do custom orders? Kind of looking for something a bit more simple, I think.... preferably a 3x5 photo size (but 4x5 would be okay too. It is for a horizontal photo... and I was just thinking some pieces of pale aqua sea glass, maybe on the bottom corner... and if that is too plain, possibly a couple of tiny shells sprinkled in. Maybe a few pieces in the top (opposite) corner.... but only a few."

This is what I put together:

 So, if you see something that interests you in my Etsy shop, contact me and I'll see if I can do something special for you.  If I put something together and it's not right, there is no obligation.  If you decide the finished product is not right -- I'll list it in my shop for sale.  In my shop I offer front door wreaths, silk and dried flower wall hangings and seashell decor.

Spring front door wreath

 Here are a few listings I found on Etsy offering "special orders":

Handmade modern crochet accessories by Loopdeedoo

Special order handebar bag by Savvysacs

Daily Dose of Handmade

Just a quick post to introduce my special offer on Daily Dose of Handmade.  Daily Dose of Handmade is a relatively new site that offers daily promotional deals.  Here is my Daily Dose of Handmade offer for today March 25th.  This beautiful heart shaped twig wreath accented with silk flowers is $5.00 off.

Daily Dose of Handmade Special Offer

Each day they promote three or four Etsy shop listings on their blog.  Check out their blog to view the other special deals and sign up to get notifications for future deals. They also recently started an Etsy Daily Dose of Handmade team which I also joined.  Not that I needed another team but maybe you can't have too many teams. Unlike some of the teams I belong to, the discussion threads seem to be fairly active.   I hate it when I am in a team and you never hear anything from the leaders or you post something in the threads and don't get any responses for days.  The team leaders at Daily Dose of Handmade seem to be invested in spending time promoting the team and the members.  The captain is Julie of JulieEllynDesigns.  Here is one of her listings and you can check out her other one of a kind jewelry creations here:

Wire wrapped pendant from JulieEllynDesigns

and the leaders shops are  Sweet Pea Boutique

Needle felted hearts by SweetPeaBoutique

and Cylene of TheLovelySmith 

Sterling Silver Knot Ring by Cylene of TheLovelySmith

So kindly take a moment and check out the special deals at The daily dose of handmade and if you are considering a team you might want to check out the Etsy daily dose of handmade team too. 

Can you make money on the internet?



Twig heart wreath

Selling on the Internet - Easy Right?
Not so fast. While there are opportunities to sell your handmade creations on-line - It's not quick or easy.

Handmade sun dress and matching purse

This is my third year selling my silk and dried floral home decor on Etsy.  For those who are unfamiliar with Etsy it is an online shopping site for handmade, vintage or supplies.  Take a look for yourself here.  There is everything imaginable for sale on Etsy.
From handmade childrens clothing -
to unusual one of a kind handmade jewelry - handmade pens, photography or artwork - Etsy is the place to find that unusual one of a kind item.



Rainbow moonstone bracelet

Eash seller sets up their own on-line shop.  Once set up, the wait for sales to begin.  I really thought by this time I would have made my first fortune yet I'm still trying to turn a profit.  I mean, take a look at my shop here and the beautiful, one of a kind, handcrafted dried and silk floral home decorations that I create.  The problem is that it's easy to get lost in the crowd.  You need to spend a considerable amount of time promoting what you sell.   If you are thinking of starting an internet business, familiarize yourself with some social media sites, the most popular being facebook, twitter, pinterest or stumbleupon.



Handcrafted wooden pen

On Etsy, there are teams that you can join which give you a chance to socialize, share ideas and help promote one another. You can easily find a team where you fit in as there are numerous teams to choose from.  On Etsy, I found a Christian team called the CASTteam (Christian Artist Street Team) Being a Christian, you like to cross paths with other likeminded Christians. With over 3000 members, the CASTteam is a great way to connect with other Christians from all over the world. On the CASTteam, we help one another with business but more importantly, we support one another as Christians. We share our burdens, we pray for one another, and we laugh and cry together. It's interesting that there are so many different backgrounds or Christian religions represented in the group, yet there is real harmony, as we are all one in Christ.    

Erasable magnetic calendar

So if you are thinking about starting a on-line business, these are just a few of the things you need to think about.  Jump in and who knows who you might meet on-line.

Shop Feature - Zudagay on Etsy

Handmade Floral Polymer Clay Beads and Jewelry 

by Zudagay on Etsy

Citrus Flower Pendant

Beautiful Flower Pendant

Here is a shop that has been selling on ETSY since 2007.  Zuda of Zudagay on Etsy creates these fabulously detailed floral creations using polymer clay. 

She has been working with clay of different kinds for most of her life and has been working primarily with polymer clays for about 15 years or so.

Red Flower Pendant

In 2007 her husband lost his job so Zuda, having known about Etsy since it started, decided the time was right for her to use her creative gifts and opened her shop.  Her first year was a great success and exceeded all expectations.  Her detailed floral designs continue to be very popular and sell well.  

I asked Zuda to explain a bit about Polymer clay and what she does:

"I primarily use Premo! polymer clay for my work. I like it for its workability and strength. To begin with the clay needs to be conditioned to get it soft and workable and to make sure all the plasticizers are dispersed throughout the clay. In most of my work I use a technique called Mille Fiori cane work which originated in glass work, and also in candy. This is where a design is created which runs the length of a cane or rod of clay. I slice the cane and then manipulate or sculpt each slice into a petal then attach each petal to a base of clay to create a flower."

Orange Dahlia Ring

 

I have shown only a few of the beautiful flower creations in her shop.  Take a few minutes and visit Zudagay on Etsy to see her other creations.  

 

 

Here are her other links:

Twitter: twitter.com/#!/ZudaGay
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/zudagay/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/ZudaGay-Etsy-Shop/52262256268
Pinterest: pinterest.com/zudagay/
Blog: www.clayinthehands.blogspot.com

If you'd like an opportunity to be featured on my blog, leave a comment on this post.  I plan to randomly select from the comments here for my next feature.

BESTeam Shop Feature

I have three shops to feature this week from the BESTeam on Etsy.  Here is an item from each of these shops.  Take a few moments and check out the other great items in these shops. 

Here is the first item from Joyflower on Etsy.  Joy of Joyflower creates beautiful hand painted silk scarfs and women's fashion accessories.  Check out the beautiful blue shades in this Azul Mother of Pearl pendant with Aigner gold chain.  Visit her shop and check out the vibrant colors she also uses in her silk scarfs.
Links: www.Joyflower.etsy.com facebook  www.facebook.com/Joysilk twitter: @JoySilk blog:    joysilk.blogspot.com/ flikr: www.flickr.com/photos/joyflower/

Azul Mother of Pearl Pendant

Azul Mother of Pearl Pendant

 

 Here is a unique pair of earrings from Cksilver on Etsy.  I love the blue lapis lazuli stones and freshwater pearls along with the sterling silver. 

Lapis blue and silver earrings

Cindy of CK Jewelry specialize in sterling silver, pearls, semi-precious stones, and Swarovski crystals.  Her shop is worth a visit to check out her other beautiful pieces.  Here are her links:  Shop: cksilver.etsy.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cksilver Twitter: www.twitter.com/cksilver Blog: cksilver1.blogspot.com

Last but not least here is a cute and creative bag by Etsy shop Creativity Bugs. The Creativity Bugs are two sisters (Sandy and Sue) who have a passion for crafting.  Shop items include paper crafts & gifts, handmade cards, paper craft kits and supplies, holiday gifts, doll clothing and accessories, plus a whole lot more. This 6x6 bag can be used as a purse for a special little girl in your life or as a great gift bag.

Fun and flirty handbag

 Links for Creativity Bugs: Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/creativitybugs
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Creativity-Bugs-Crafters/165471840170137?ref=ts
Blog: creativitybug.blogspot.com/

If you are looking for a team that provides marketing support for each others' Etsy shops take a look at  The Boosting Etsy Shops Team. One thing we do is to write weekly features on our blogs for each others Etsy shops.  The BESTeam also encourages use of Twitter Accounts and Facebook Fanpages to promote each other. They  are now accepting new members so if you are interested here is the link to the team page. http://www.etsy.com/teams/5645/besteam-boosting-etsy-shops-team

Shop Etsy on Small Business Saturday

The second annual Small Business Saturday is November 26, 2011. It is about supporting the small business person, your family mom and pop business rather than the chain stores or Fortune 500 corporations. It’s about entrepreneurs and families selling things that the chains aren't. Think about what is available in your local community and give them some support even if you need to spend a bit more.  When I think about my local community, the small mom and pop business is almost a thing of the past.  Sadly, the ones that are left are struggling to compete with large conglomerates who can offer volume discounts that they can't. For example, the large grocery stores now offer all sorts of services, like floral which makes it difficult for the local florist shop to compete.  I think I will find one of the few florist shops left in my area to support on Saturday.  Another idea is to support a home based Etsy business this year with your holiday shopping.  Etsy business owners are home based, mom and pop businesses doing what they can to make ends meet in this tough economy.  Etsy businesses offer truly unique gifts that will wow your family and friends.  You can find that something special that can't be found in any brick and mortar store.  You can feel good about getting that special gift and also about helping a small business owner.  You can even shop by location and find Etsy sellers in you general area. Click here to shop local on Etsy:

So if you are unfamiliar with Etsy, I recommend you check out what the small business owners and handcrafted artist have to offer, but be warned, the creative unique offerings are endless and it can be very addicting.  Here are a few examples of what can be found on Etsy:

 

Who wouldn't love to receive a handcrafted leather journal like this one?  Shirley Lynne of The Orange Windmill makes all her journals from scratch. She hand-cuts the leather for the covers and tears each sheet of paper individually.  Take a look at her other journals here.  Here are her other links:   

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theorangewindmill Twitter: twitter.com/#!/shirleyljmartin
Pinterest: pinterest.com/shirleymartin/

Leather Journal - Mahogany Brown by The Orange Windmill on Esty 

How about this unique piece of jewelry for that someone special? 

Jayne started making jewelry when her daughters were small and found out that she really enjoyed designing and making jewelry.  She started making jewelry for herself and received many compliments and questions about her jewelry and  because of that she decided to design and make jewelry for sale. She only uses the highest quality gemstones and pearls.  Check out her other unique designs here.  Other links for Jaynemarie:
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JewelryByJaynemarie Twitter account: twitter.com/#!/JewlryJaynmarie
Blog page: jewelrybyjaynemarie.blogspot.com/

Freshwater White Pearls and faceted Rose Quartz Rondells by Jaynemarie on Etsy

There are an endless supply of jewelry sellers on Etsy.  You could spend days, just looking through all the unique and beautiful one of a kind handcrafted choices.  Here is another unique piece of jewelry if you are looking for something in the $30.00 price range.  Handcrafted by Agnes of BeaderBubbe on Etsy with fancy jasper semi-precious stones and stone bead chips on memory wire.  It is one size fits all.  If you have a few minutes -- visit her shop - you'll be glad you did.  

Chips away bracelet by BeaderBubbe on Etsy

Lastly, Etsy is great for getting the right gift for that hard to buy for person on your list.  If you have someone to buy for who is a collector, take a look through the vintage shops on Etsy. You might just find that perfect, unique, gift. Here is a listing from Redemption Art on Etsy.  Connie works hard at providing a range of vintage goods that would please the start up collector as well as the professional. Her business is based in Hawaii so if you are looking for something special that you think might be specific or found in Hawaii contact her and she will try to help you find it.  Check out her shop here.  Other links: facebook:www.facebook.com/redemption.art

twitter: twitter.com/#!/islandbuzzy blog: islandbuzzy.com

Vintage rose colored depression glass

BESTeam finds

Annie Oliverio of Empty on the Inside has been creating art since she was a kid.  She opened her Etsy shop in March of 2011.  If you like greeting cards - check out her shop. She is busy stocking her shop with Christmas and holiday cards. 

Daffodils blank greeting card

 Annie started making the cards for her own use because she was having difficulty finding cards that she liked.  Incredibly, there are no mass produced or printed cards in her shop. Each card is a hand painted original

Hand painted greeting card - blank inside

  Every one is unique and special and anyone you give one to would feel special.  They are "empty on the inside" and therefore you can fill them with your own words. 

Handpainted sunflower greeting card

Faith of Stitchprincess sells one of a kind homemade clothing, aprons and photography.  Here is a sampling from her shop but it's worth a trip to visit her shop and see her other creations. 
Her specialties are dresses (casual and evening), skirts, aprons, purses, and small quilts. All of her products are hand or machine-sewn, with materials purchased from local fabric stores or vintage fabrics from her mother and grandmother. 
Faith's formal dresses are beautiful.  They are custom made in any fabric or size to your particular specifications. 

Royal blue apron

Formal gown with gathered bodice

Looking for some unique hair accessories?  Check out Danielle's shop called ChickyDs. Danielle always loved arts and crafting. She knew from middle school that she would pursue a career involving art. She went to school, studied Graphic Design and now works doing just that at a local newspaper.  Here are just two of her creations,  take a few moments and check out her other creations. 

Primary color dots loopy bow

Teal poly-satin flower ruffle headband

Tree of life necklace

Here are a couple of creations from Bluewhitewhere on Etsy. 
CC of Bluewhitewhre is an American (born & raised in upstate NY) expat who has lived in Bangkok, Thailand for 9 years.  She recently moved to Santiago, Chile with her husband.  She creates jewelry with an oriental flair.  Take a moment to visit her shop - you will be glad you did.


Here is a antiqued silver toned tree of life pendant with two round malachite stones and five little faceted golden crystal beads.

Turquoise and tiger eye necklace

Turquoise nuggets and shiny, faceted tigers eye create a feeling of the old Southwest in this updated, modern necklace. An asymmetrical necklace has little gold-tones balls to add a little sunlight sparkle. The necklace is about 17 inches long (43 cm). Fastens with a gold-tone lobster clasp

Etsy shops from the BESTeam

This is my very first BESTeam feature.  I just joined the BESTeam this week and have spent some time familiarizing myself with the many shops on the team.  If you are looking for a team which encourages marketing via blog posting this team would be a good choice.  There are some very talented members on the team and I have some shops that I would like to share with you.  One great thing about having an Etsy shop is that via your computer you meet shop owners from all over the world.

The first shop I would like to share is Riorita.  Irith of Riorita is a gold and silversmith from Tel Aviv, Israel.  How cool is that?  I would love to buy something made by hand in Israel.  Check out her shop to find unique handmade jewelry designs.  She likes to combine her jewelry with semi-precious stones, ancient glass and beach glass or pebbles from the Sea of Galilee.  Here is a beautiful sterling silver ring from Riorita with a gorgeous oval blue kyanite stone. 

Riorita's blog   /Facebook   /twitter

Sterling silver oval kyanite ring by Riorita on Etsy

My second shop to share is Las Flores Del Sur. Marisa of Las Flores Del Sur is from Montevideo, Uruguay.
This shop has an assortment of necklaces, bracelets and earrings with glass or acrylic beads.  Her seed and glass bead bracelets are beautiful.  Marisa has a second shop Flores Del Sur which carries handmade hair pins, hair clips, pins and brooches.  Check out this owl necklace from Las Flores Del Sur.

An owl in a starry night by Las Flores Del Sur

The final shop that I would like to share is Poison Garden on Etsy.  This shop carries neovictorian, gothic, steampunk jewelry and accessories.  The location for this shop is Lafayette, Indiana.  Every piece in the shop is unique.  Take a look at this unique necklace made with icy cracked glass beads, accented by glowing blue crystals.  Just beautiful!

Neo Victorian cracked glass necklace by Poison Garden

So here are just three of the many talented shops that belong to the BESTeam -- check them out!

Trading or Bartering On-Line

I have to admit, I'm not an expert on this subject.  I did my very first trade this week.  While we all are thrilled when we sell one of our listings and make some money, another way to do business and benefit is to trade. If you are limited with money, you can trade your artwork or creations for something of equal value.  There are teams or social groups on Etsy specifically for trade friendly shops. Here is one that has over 1000 members called Etsy Trade Team and here's another with over 2000 members called Etsy Trade-a-holics   Just search the teams on Etsy  with "trade"" to find other trade friendly teams on Etsy.  If you find something you'd like to have -- send the shop owner a message asking if she is interested in trading.  Don't feel bad if she says no.  It just might be that what you have is very nice but not what she is looking for or not her taste. 
So my trade came about when I received a convo or message from  DELdreamart on Etsy asking whether I was willing to trade.  I took a look at her shop and it just so happened that I was looking for someone to do just the kind of art work that she did.  Here is an artwork from her shop. 

Fairy Dancing by DELdreamart on Etsy

I have a friend who had written a children's book which had some mystical characters and I was looking for someone to do a artwork that illustrated some of the scenes in the book.  I asked her if she would do a special art work for me to give to my friend for her birthday.  We agreed on a value and in exchange for the artwork she picked two items from my shop.   Here are the two items from my shop that she chose:

So I sent her the descriptions from the book which included a young girl with long brown hair and blue gray eyes.  She lived in a cottage on a small farm.  There was a field with bluebells and heather and fairies and a  queen fairy.  So this is what she did for me.

 
She matted it nicely and I gave it to my friend and she loved it.  Overall this trade was quite the positive experience.  I might just join one of the trade friendly teams myself.  One good thing about doing a trade is that it shows as a sale on Etsy, and it is also a great way to build up positive feedback.