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. 

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 Weekly Feature

It's time again for my weekly Esty BESTeam feature. The BESTeam is a group of Etsy sellers who support one another by promoting each others shop.  One way we do that is to do a weekly BESTeam blog feature.  This week I have four BESTeam shops to feature.  Riorita, Ms formaldehyde, Sandy's Handmade Soap and Things and Poison Garden.

Here are my choices from their shops for this weeks post.  Take a few minutes and click on the shop names above and learn a bit more about them and the other terrific things they have to offer in each shop.

Here is an unusual bracelet from Riorita that I love.  I really had a hard time picking out just one item from the many beautiful offerings in her shop.  Riorita is located in Israel and she has silver and gold creations that include semi-precious stones, ancient glass and beach glass, and pebbles from the Sea of Galilee.

Surprise bracelet with stones in Sterling Silver and Gold Bracelet

riorita.etsy.com
irithbzjewelry.net
rioritajewelry.blogspot.com
rioritasjewelry.tumblr.com
twitter.com/riorita3
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001186016759

The next shop to feature is Ms Formaldehyde.  Ms Formaldehyde is located in San Diego, California.  She makes feather fascinators, feather earrings, wedding fascinators, bridal veils, carved skulls, sugar skulls, gothic, lowbrow, lolita pin up and dita burlesque accessories.  Here's a beautiful special occasion item from Ms. Formaldehyde.

Ostrich feather fascinator

twitter.com/#!/MsKFormaldehyde
www.etsy.com/shop/msformaldehyde
msformaldehyde.blogspot.com/
pinterest.com/msformaldehyde/
www.facebook.com/pages/MsFormaldehyde/104565692916493

Next is Sandy's Handmade Soap and Things by Sandy Vern.  Sandy is located in Stamford, Connecticut.   Here is just one soap from her wonderful shop which also includes handmade jewelry. This wonderful soap has one side that is a brown sugar scrub, much like a pumice stone, to gently exfoliate, and smooth away rough skin with a light creamy lather for exfoliating. The other side is made from a shea butter base which is skin nourishing and super moisturizing. It is scented with yummy brown sugar fragrance.      

Brown sugar scrub and shea butter soap

My last shop to feature today is Poison Garden.   Poison Garden is a collaboration of three artists who share a love for the romantic with a bit of an edge. Poison Garden offers many handmade, vintage and revamped vintage items in several styles including Victorian, Neo-Victorian, Steampunk, Gothic and whimsical.  Here is a long Strand of vintage costume beads that can be worn a number of ways.   At one end is a decorative dangle, at the opposite end a delicate silver hook. You can hook one end to any link of chain on the strand and wear as an asymmetrical choker with the long strand hanging delicately down the back. It can also be wrapped around twice to make a classy double strand choker or it can be draped in any number of ways, or even worn as a whimsical wrap bracelet.

Neo Victorian Long Bridal Strand

poisongaren.etsy.com
poison-garden.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/poisonousgarden
www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Poison-Garden/123138724371600
poisongarden.tumblr.com

I hope that you enjoyed viewing these items and that you will take the time to visit these shops on Etsy.

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