something to brighten up your day

I can't respond to any emails today, something has crashed on my computer

and the mouse is missing!

Fantistic Treasury Finds!

i found this seller while browsing the treasuries today. i'll be adding some more shortly. i really love the style and versatility of sandmaiden's clothing line. I would LOVE to purchase half her shop. Some of it is a little pricey but the quality looks fantastic and the styles are wonderfully fresh. enjoy!

sandmaiden

felted fine merino wool knit v neck sweater

felted fine merino wool poncho sleeve jacket

crochet wool knit asymmetrical wrap with pin closure

Bringing back the time machine top 5

i'm trying to bring back the time machine top 5 feature and am going to try to do it every tuesday. I'm turning in a "schedule person", so I figure if I schedule it, then i'll keep up with it. Here are today's picks.... (drum roll please)....



1) Cobalt candle holders by daydreamdesigns











2) Ghost elephant on organic t-shirt by rctees
















3) goldstone and turquoise bangle by originalsbydeb









4) Whimsical Houses landscape out west by madart













5) antique alphapet and number rubber stamps by prettytape

Look! It's a Sasquatch in a drawer!

Really it is! Meet me cat Sasquatch (named by my husband, of course). I was sitting at my desk this weekend creating some awesome stuff when I look over, and this is what I see. It was so funny I just had to take a picture of it to share with all of you. Enjoy!

Dear so and so... week 2

ok here it goes for this week!


Dear the dog,
I don't want to hang out with you at 6:30 in the morning. I know you're bored, but i'm tired and more important than you. please wait until at least 7:30 before waking me up.
thanks, mommy

Dear mom,
I miss you... a lot. and sarah too.
love, lauren

dear the husband,
thanks for helping me with the dishes. will you please clean the toilet? pretty please?!
love, the wife

dear sasquatch,
you cannot dig your way out of the house. please stop tearing up the carpets in an attempt to do this. we are not alcatraz, you are not a prisoner, i promise we will not always live in a basement.
thanks, mommy

dear self,
congratulations on sticking up for yourself this week! keep up the good work.
love, yourself


ok, now i feel much better!

Treasury Feature

I was featured in a treasury today! It's a lovely mint treasury that features my mint teardrops book thong. There are lots of great other items in there. check it out!

Anyone know how to successfully groom a maine coon cat?

without sedating her? I have a beautiful maine coon cat aptly names "sasquatch" by my husband. she's really more like a dog than a cat. She loves to cuddle, thinks that she should be eating whatever i'm eating, and always wants to go outside. the only problem is that she gets these big clumps near her bum and i have a really hard time combing them and i hate to cut them out. she fights me tooth nail, literally, and i feel so bad about having to do it. I do have some kitty sedative but i hate having to drug her up simply to groom her. i'm anyone knows of a good way to brush her with all having to fight her i would greatly appreciate it!

Dear so and so... week 1

I saw this on whimical creations blog and I think that is it just fantastic so I am going to give it a try.

So here goes Dear so and so week 1!

Dear Mother Nature,
I'm ready for the snow be done with. Please send me some sunshine.
Thanks, Lauren

Dear Dr. Valente (one of the Dr.'s at work),
Please stop hovering over the appointment book. you do not have magical powers that will make patients appear in your column when you stare at the book!
Leave me alone, Lauren

Dear mom,
I had a great weekend last week. I love you and miss you!
Love lauren

Dear "the husband"
I bought laundry baskets for a reason. please use them for their intended purpose, not to play jail with the cat.
love "the wife"

Dear "the dog",
i love you but do not love it when you swing your giant hammer paw at me when I come in the door.
love, mommy.

Well that was fun! I think i'm good for the week. I could keep going but I think that's enough for a trial run.

If you would like to try this feel free to grab the widget for you blog here

I need your customer service stories!

As we all know (or at least I hope we do) customer service is probably the second most important part of a business, with the first being a quality product.

This week I’m working on another article about the importance of customer service. I’m looking for your stories about an awesome or terrible customer service. It doesn’t have to be about an online experience, but any experience from anywhere.

If it was a great experience, what made it so exceptional?

If it was terrible, why was it so bad, and what could that person or business have done to make the situation amenable?

Please post your stories in the comments section and I will be going through them to post in my article.

Thanks everyone! I look forward to reading your stories!

Featured seller - KIMMSMITH

A few weeks ago while browsing in the forums (as usual) I cam across KIMMSMITH. What caught me was the beautiful avatar she had and I just HAD to click on it to see what was in her shop. And all I can say is "WOW". She has such a beeutiful array of bead packed jewelry items (Im still trying to figure out how she manages to put so many beads in such a small space) at fantastic prices. I'm looking forward to my next formal dance just so that I can buy something from her.

After spending lots of time in her shop I decided to check in with her to see what is behind the shop and meet the maker.

1) You're designs are so colorful and packed with beads. Where does your inspirations for your designs come from?
My inspiration for colours can come from the most bizzarre things such as a colour combinations on a shower gel bottle, wallpaper, fabric, a pattern on a dress or a gift box. My main inspiration though is my garden and childhood memories of the hours I spent in my grandparents award winning garden full of flowers and orchards.

2) Tell us about how you started to get into making jewelry and how you got on etsy.
My sister used to make jewelry and I always admired her, she tried to show me how it was done one day and it just wasn't for me even though I had always loved beads since childhood! I was made redundant a few months later and had lots of spare time on my hands and was very bored so I decided to have a play but kind of doing it my way, from that day on I became addicted! I had already bought from etsy on a few occassions but a fellow etsian (janetlily) introduced me to the site as a seller, from that day I haven't looked back!

3) What do you like to do in your free time when you're not creating?
I have 2 boys aged 8 and 17 and a gorgeous hubby who runs my youngest son's football team so I watch them play at weekends, I read, love cooking, go for an inspiring walk and love to lunch with my best friend. I also keep Ian's roofing business up to date. Oh and searching for even more beads too!

4) What do you find are successful ways to promote (or unsuccessful ways) your business?
I find my facebook fanpage a great way
to promote my designs, I also Twitter and have found being in the etsy forums is a good way to get noticed and make some wonderful friends too! I couldn't keep up with my blog but many people find this a very successful way to promote.

5) Do you have any advice for those who are new to etsy or are thinking about opening a shop?
My advice for anyone thinking of opening a shop would be to take it slowly. Join the forums and ask for advice, until I went into the forums I didn't realise that I could renew my items! Practice your photography skills until you are happy with your pictures. Use all 14 of your tags and describe your item well. Don't give up, it takes time to build up your shop and get noticed but Etsy is a fabby place to be, everyone is friendly and helpful. Go for it!

6)Anything else about yourself that you would like to share with us?
I dream beads, I'm a total chocoholic, If i'm not singing I talk to myself whilst beading and lastly I have the most supportive family and friends who I am most grateful to!

Some great advice from HautTotes on Niche Marketing

HautTotes - Who has been around a short 6 months, is already a pretty successful seller here on Etsy with 200 sales in 6 months (great job)! She took some time to write a really good forum post about the benefits of niche marketing. I have re-posted it here for you to read and the full forum post can be read here.

HautTotes says:

"You can’t be everything to everyone, nor can you sell everything to everyone… Why I think cutting down on potential customers can increase your sales.

Though the desire to have “something for everyone” in your shop may be strong, the truth is that while niche marketing may in fact decrease your pool of potential customers, if done well it can INCREASE your sales! The key is to find (if you are a supply seller) or create a product that your accessible customers want but is unavailable or under-available from other shops.

Niche shops have the potential to be very profitable despite their small size. Most large sellers will ignore small demands leaving you with the monopoly on that product. A smaller customer base and much smaller competition base can make a lot of $ense!

Now, I’m not a marketing professional, and with only 6 months under my belt am a bit of a newbie. I have however been moderately successful here on Etsy. This morning, almost 6 months to the day from my first sale I had my 200th.

There are about 40,000 bags on Etsy tagged with “Tote” a mere 75 of those are mine. That makes me 0.001875 percent of the Etsy tote bag market. My totes average $37 and I don’t advertise. Yet I average a sale a day. How? I have a great niche! Many of the other 39,925 totes are less expensive, fancier, more complicated even prettier. What most of them also are is far more mainstream.

Not into totes? Lets take a hypothetical newbie soap maker. This soap maker when asked, “Who are you marketing to?” may answer “Anyone who is dirty.” Your fellow soapers (competition) are all looking for those same dirty people! Now what if this soap maker decided that instead of looking for ALL dirty people, they were going to spend their energy just looking for dirty babies, or dirty pets or dirty vegans… They’d have far fewer customers, but also far fewer competitors.

An added advantage is the better idea you have of who you are marketing to, the easier it will be to maximize your promotional energy and your advertising dollars (if you spend them). Developing new product ideas is also easier because you are working with a good knowledge of your target customer’s likes and dislikes.

Niche customers tend to be very loyal as well, as you are the one who has provided them with their desired item when others ignored their needs.

*** Some tips on finding your niche. ***
Etsy is (I believe) the worlds largest group of exceedingly talented artisans, no matter how talented you are; you can’t compete with them all…

Ask yourself the following questions. Answer honestly!
What do I enjoy making? What do I make REALLY well? What types of things do my current customers have in common? How do I want set myself apart from the competition? What can I offer that is better and more compelling than what my competition offers? Can I tailor my product to specific customers better?

Two last notes, don’t be afraid to venture out of your niche (especially if it isn’t working for you) and a niche can be too small. I wouldn’t invest too much energy in starting up a shop specializing in costumes for pet flies. :)

10 guidelines for offering a great customer experience

Due to a long career in customer service, mainly in retail, there are a few rules I have come to recognize as cornerstones for good customer service. I would like to share those with you now and hear what you have to say as well. Be warned - This post is a little long, but I think very helpful.

1) Don't sell crap
Seriously! Make a product to be proud of. No matter how nice you are, if you don't make something good, no one will buy it.

2) Set clear policies
This is very important, especially for online shoppers. Vague policies can often make customers leery of buying from you since they won't know what to expect. Be as specific as possible regarding returns, refunds, exchanges, repairs, and shipping policies. Another good tactic is to put the links to your shop announcement and policies section at the bottom of each listing. Since many customers, especially people that are new to ETSY, won't think to look there. Doing this will save you and your customers a lot of headache later. Generally it will protect you should something go wrong or you get a strange request. Just make sure that none of your policies contradict ETSY's since theirs will trump yours should there ever be any question.

3) Listen and Communicate
First and foremost, listen to your customer. Do they need it in a specific size? Do they need a certain color? Do they need priority shipping? Can you gift wrap that for them? There could be any number of things that your customer may need from you. Make sure that you are listening to their needs to make sure that you offer them the best experience possible. Most requests will be reasonable and they will be grateful for anything that you can do to help them out.

Second, communicate! Do this quickly and politely. If your customers didn't want to hear from you, they wouldn't purchase from you. No, this does not mean that you can bombard them with SPAM, unwanted offers, and solicit for feedback. But it does mean that you can let them know that you have received their order, it has been shipped, they can expect it such and such a date, and here's the tracking number. If you use paypal shipping this happens automatically when you print a label and you can enter a personal message. You can also contact them to say that you see they have received their order and to thank them for their business.
Always treat conversations as if they were sales. If someone contacts you with questions, answer them. You never know why they might be contacting you or how much they will spend. They may not spend any, but they could be contacting you for information in order to feature you somewhere or recommend you to someone else. But it is guaranteed that if you don't answer, and answer promptly, that you will loose sales.
Also, include thank you notes. It doesn't have to be anything long and drawn out. Even a colorful post-it note with a "Thank you!" and a smiley face on it will do. Personal communication never fails to go a long way.

The way you communicate says a lot about who you are as a seller. If you don't communicate quickly and pleasantly, and listen to what you customer has to say, then what does that say about how prompt you are with shipping? Will the order come in as asked? How will you react if something goes wrong with the order? Over the internet you don't have much change to make a good impression. So a first is all you may get. People are very guarded buying from individuals because they never really know who their dealing with. It isn't like a giant corporation with headquarters to contact and reputation to uphold. Yes, ETSY has admin to contact and a reputation, but they leave much up to the individual seller, so there is a lot that can go wrong. Communicating with your customer eagerly and amicably will help gain you a lot of trust and earn you repeat sales.

4) Exceed expectations
Imagine this, you place an order for a gift for a friend of yours. You contact the seller to let them know that you need it by X date. You receive the product two days earlier than expected, it is already gift wrapped with a pretty tag on it, there is a thank you note inside, and there is a little thank you gift for you in there as well. How do you feel?
It never hurts to go the extra mile, ever! Your customer will be blown away if you just provide the teeniest bit extra than they expected. Maybe that means gift wrapping something. Or, getting a custom order done a shipped a day early. It could also mean refunding shipping cost that you didn't use, or offering them a little extra gift. The power of going out of your way to get an extra smile out of purchase should never be underestimated. Your customers will appreciate all the extra work you put into their purchase and will be sure to come back in the future.

5) Admit when your wrong
We are human and mistakes happen. You know this, and your customer knows this. That being said, if you are honest about you mistakes and offer to go above and beyond to fix the problem, 99.9% of the time your customers will be accommodating and understanding. Case in point, I had a customer purchase something and upon trying to package up their order, I realized it had been misplaced. I contacted them IMMEDIATELY letting them know that their was a problem. I needed to know if the item was a gift, would they mind waiting a couple days to see if I could locate the item, and if not, I would PROMPTLY offer them a refund or a chance to exchange the item. The person was very accomodating. In the end I wasn't able to locate the item they had asked for, but offered them two other items for the price that they paid originally and they were very happy to accept the compromise.
Life happens. If is inevitable. The point is that if you don't communicate with your customer about problems, then you will end up with more headaches then you would have had you taken care of the problem in the beginning. There have been plenty of horror stories about sellers not getting back to people. and the anger and frustration that it creates. And this not only hurts your business, but everyone's. Because now that person is always going to wonder when they are going to get screwed next.
Now, if mistakes happen often, then you should take a hard look at whether or not owning a business and offering a product or service is really for you. It is not for everyone, and if you just don't have the time or patience to honor your responsibilities then maybe this isn't for you. And that's ok. It may be disappointing, but it is also an opportunity to try something else.
And a last note on this, never deprive your customer the opportunity to leave feedback. If you made the mistake, then you deserve whatever feedback you get. There is always this Kiss and Make Up feature. But when you own your own business, unhappy customers is a risk that you take.


6) If it's broke, fix it
9 times out of 10 you should follow this rule. Make it clear in your shop policies what you will do for repairs. If you make fragile products, either make insurance in your shipping mandatory, or state clearly that this product is buy at your own risk. If you don't sell something fragile, that is still breakable, if it breaks fix it. My policies state clearly that if something breaks within 6 months, I will fix it. And even if something breaks after that, I will probably still fix it, because that's good business practice. There are exceptions to every rule and that's up to you to decide what the exceptions for your business might be, but generally your customers will be pleased when you fix something that has been broken in either shipping, or during wear.

7) ALWAYS be respectful
Remember you are dealing with PEOPLE, not dollar signs. Behind every bill that goes into your Paypal account there is a person who worked for that dollar and spent it on you, or may spend it on you. Yes, there are rude people, and yes they will somehow invariably search you out and contact you will the sole purpose of being rude. But, what does that say about you as a seller and as a person if you are rude back? There are also people who just plain don't know about your product, the time you spend on it, and the quality that matches the price tag. Be polite all the time, NO MATTER WHAT.
Working in retail, I was constantly yelled at, complained to, and sometimes called names. But never ever was I rude back. Simply state what you policy is, what the product entails, and why it is the way it is. And politely tell them that if they are unhappy with your policy that there are plenty of other shops on ETSY that may be able to accommodate them and you wish them luck with their future purchase.
If it is someone who already purchased a kind attitude is even more important. Listen to them, respond to them, and no matter how unhappy with you they are, always be personable. If the person is completely out of line, report them to ETSY abuse. If you were the one that was polite then ETSY is more likely to side with your side and the issue more easily resolved.

8) Don't Whine
I am constantly in the forums reading what's going on. And nothing turns me off more than whiny sellers. And sellers aren't the only ones in the forums. Buyers are in there all the time as well. As a buyer and a seller, I would not buy from a seller that constantly complained about low views, no sales, blah blah blah.... You own a business, part of that is sometimes having a down time. If that's the case I would rather hear about what can be done to promote, what goals do you have, what kind of plans people are making to improve things. Not a bunch of crab-a^^ing about ETSY not putting you on the front page, or not being in the gift guides or blaming other people for your bad sales. Successful sellers will add more items. create a new line, reach out for help, create a blog, anything that will improve their customer base and get them seen by more people. They will WORK HARDER to move their shop forward, not spend valuable time complaining.

9) DON'T SPAM!!!!!
I hate buying from a company and as soon as my purchase goes through my inbox is full of "This on sale" or "You must buy this" or any other number of offers. If you would like to keep in touch with your customers, start a newsletter that they can subscribe to. You can include this option when you confirm an order and let that be the only time you offer it to them. If they don't accept then, they know how to contact you at a later time. I don't personally do this, but I know of many sellers that do and it works out pretty well for them.
WARNING - if you do SPAM and it is reported, ETSY can suspend your account.

10) Don't make promises you can't keep
If you can only make it to the post office to ship twice a week, don't say you offer next day shipping.
If you only offer something in one color, don't say the item can be modified.
If you promise that an item that requires customization will be ready in three days, make sure it's ready in three days.
Your customers will hate you if you continually break promises to them. Know yourself and your limits and work with-in them. If you offer honest service, even if it may take little longer and you communicate that, your customers will be happy because they will buy knowledgeably.

In the end, all of these come down to one golden rule - HONESTY. If you offer a good honest product at a good honest price with honest customer service, your customers will never be let down and your business will thrive. If you are a dishonest seller, your business will eventually tank faster than the Titanic.

An awesome tool I bought on etsy...

And if you own an etsy shop I totally recommend it.

While hanging out on craftcult looking at my new views (a new feature that I totally love) I saw and ad that caught my eye. It was an add for spreadsheets to help me keep track of my etsy business. Now, I have seen plenty of these before I hadn't been impressed yet. But, I clicked on the add to check it out and I am so glad that I did!

A browse through the seller's page told me that I had finally found something that might actually work that I didn't have to make myself. There were a whole bunch of tools that I could use, in and out of etsy. Some were a little pricey, but after using them, they are worth every penny. I deliberated for a week to make sure that it was something I would really use, constantly clicking on the could items I was considering purchasing. I finally bit the bullet, bought, and couldn't be happier.

The seller was awesome to work with, accommodating and friendly, and helped me personalize it to better fit what I needed. Below are some screen shots from some of the products from the shop. You can view the whole shop here.




These are from the jewelry double pack, which is a business management program and a raw materials program. There are tons of others which will work for craft fairs, non jewelry sellers, helping with taxes, profit and loss, and even a gift card tracker. I highly recommend everything this seller has to offer! MissSideburns - you have totally made my day!

Wow, I have really neglected by blog....

Sorry about the hyadis (if that's spelled right) folks! I'm not sure what happened there. From now on I'm going to try to keep up with this whole blogging thing much better. Thanks for sticking around and waiting for me to those who follow!

And craft fair season begins!!!

I love craft fair season! It's nice to actually get out there and meet the people who intend to buy my stuff. I love talking to them and seeing there faces and watch them look through everything. I know there are a lot of people who don't like it when customers touch their products, but I love it. I like to watch them hold things up and see the expressions on their faces while they try to decide where they will put the stuff they are going to buy or how it's going to look in a certain book or room. It's so much fun!

I had my first one last weekend. One of my sorority sisters went with me and we had a really good time. It's live and learn though, that's for sure! This was my first outdoor show. I didn't take wind into account so my dispays kept falling over and we finally had to tie AND tape them to the table. We had a good laugh out of it though trying to figure out how to keep them up and anticipating when then breeze would be strong enough to knock things over. My grandfather is helping me fix them so that stuff like that won't keep happening.

I made some new little signs to place in front of the items so people will know what everything is since I constantly have people confusing me with a jeweler, which I am not. I also had to bring my own tables a tent and those were interesting to put up. My arms were hurting the next day from carrying them around and trying to push the tent up.

I also WAY overpacked. I thought that I would want to make some new things while I was there, but I couldn't decide which beads to bring, so I brought ALL of them. That was totally stupid. The weather was nice and there were lots of people and good music, so I had a great time just sitting and socializing. I have a scrabble tile project that I'm working on now that doesn't take up a lot of space so I'm going to just bring that from now.

My car was also a worry. I have an awesome 1975 dodge dart, but I didn't anticipate how heavy all my stuff was. I loaded it all in and after about 5 minutes it started to make funny squealing noises from all the weight. So, now that I've learned not to over pack, hopefully that won't happen again. Or I'll just have to borrow my mother in law's truck.

I have quite a few more dates coming up and I'm so thrilled!

So, if you are going to be in massachusetts area, you can find me in the following places on the following dates!

August 15-16 - Templetom Arts and Crafts Fair, Templeton, Ma

August 22 - Ashby Town Fair - Ashby Ma

Sept 12 - Spencer craft Fair (I think) Spencer, Ma

Sept 26-27 - Lunenburg Town Fair, Lunenburg, Ma


I would love to you all!

Time Machine Top 5

Yes - that is pretty creepy.... But at least the button itself is funny!


2.25 creepy santa button by suzanneartist




I like soft comfy clothes! And the look of this one is especially cute. I love the wrap shirt and the belt that finishes the look.


Yoga pants and wrap set by econica


What a beautiful bead! I love it! And the best part is that it's really really big.


Amethyst carved flower/butterfly pendant by LABeads




It's huge, gaudy, gold, and flowered.... what's not to like?! I have to admit, I'm not crazy about pink, but I love this necklace.



In the Pink by rebecca3030






Walk in the rainbow forest anyone? This would totally match my sister's idea of what the woods should really look like!


Linden Tree ACEO by jerise

I'd like to welcome myself to Collaborators in Cahoots!

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to join a really cool group of etsy peeps and I'm so excited about it! I'm now a proud member of Collaborators in Cahoots. So far, I'm still learning about the rules and meeting everyone and deciding how I want to do promos. But I'm enjoying meeting new people, finding cool new talent, and having my stuff posted all over the internet thanks to the lovely people there!

Don't worry guys! I'll be posting yours everywhere soon too!

I would especially like to thank my friend PromoPixie for getting me into it. I stumbled across her treasure hunt game in the etsy promo forums and she invited me to join. And, I won some awesome earrings from that game courtesy of kawiibuddies.

I'm so excited to be a part of the group! To see some of the awesome peeps in the group, click on the etsy mini's to the left!

Thanks everyone!

Featured Seller: dizzeelizzee (and she's giving something away!)

If you are looking for something totally out of the ordinary and crazy unique, welcome to:

dizzeelizzee

I came across dizzee's shop a few weeks ago while looking for items for my Time Machine Top 5 feature (which I have really been slacking on and I'm sorry about that). I featured a quilled gift bag of hers, and once I started the featured seller back up, I knew instantly that I wanted to feature her, and more items from dizzee's fabulous shop. And, without further ado, meet the wonderful woman behind dizzeelizzee.

Tell us about yourself. Who is the creator behind such awesome designs?
***************
All about me! I'm an average person....who fell in love with crafting and creating. Even when I was a youngster, I be drawing or doodling, instead of doing my math homework.

How did you come to be in the paper craft business, and what inspires your wonderful designs?
**************************************
I'm a late bloomer to the paper biz. I painted all thru my 20's and sewed thru my 30's, so now in my 40's....I finally into paper! Inspiration comes from all areas....I love flowers and nature, I'm lucky enough to live in a place that has wonderful access to nature and unique places.

How do you keep things new and fresh, and keep yourself motivated to make new designs?
***********************************************
Keeping things new and fresh is difficult for any artist. You want to go with what works before. Personally I keep reading books, blogs, instructional materials, any thing I can get my hands on! I find I experiment a bunch, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. To me, that is the joy of creating!

How did you come to be on Etsy, and what do you think are the best things about owning an online business?
****************
I found ETSY by accident. I was looking around for places to buy materials...and there it was. After years of nagging from my family to try and sell some of the things I've made, it seemed like and easy and relatively inexpensive way to get my feet wet. It's been a wonderful experience. I still feel the joy of a convo...and I've made a couple of cyber friends too!


When you aren't creating and spending time on etsy, what do you do for fun?
********************************************************
....I love baseball, so I'm always watching my Mariners! I try to grow flowers, and vegis, and my family keeps my running around.

(I have to say lizzee, I'm got sucked into the Red Sox Nation myself)


Anything else you would like to share?
**************************************
The only thing I'd like to tell your readers is that you MUST try! What ever your passion, desire, or wish...go for it. You get only one shot at this life...don't let fear of failure hold you back.

I have to say, that dizzeelizzee's designs amaze me every time I look at them. Everything in her shop screams loveliness and I can't wait till the holidays come around, because I know exactly where I'm going ot be getting my christmas cards and gift bags!

And because she's fantastic, dizzeelizzee has graced us with an awesome giveaway!!!


This is her Floral Fantasy Magnet. From the picture you can see how dainty it is and how much detail went into this lovely little piece! Thanks so much lizzee and good luck to everyone!

Here are the rules:

1) go to dizzeelizzee's shop, pick out your favorite item, come back here and post the link to it. There must be a link or you entry is void!
2) Blog, twitter, or post something about this giveaway anywhere on the internet and it will earn you extra entries, just make sure that you come back here and post the links to your post about this giveaway.


The giveaway ends Wednesday July 8th at midnight!

My friend really needs your good thoughts and prayers

Today, a really good friend of mine is going to court to here the verdict regarding the custody of her children. As of right now, she currently has full custody of them.

In January of 2008, the father of her children left her and her two boys for another woman. He doesn't admit that, but two months later he was bringing this woman around her children. I don't know if he was telling the truth or not, but I don't believe that he wasn't with her when he left. He allowed my friend and the kids to stay in his house till then end of the school year until she could find another place to live.

She has told me stories about how he has beaten her children, pointed a gun in her face while drunk, threatened to kill her and the kids, peed in the closets and all of the house while drunk, and passed out naked in his son's bed drunk. She went to the police but they said there was nothing they could do. She didn't want to leave him because she firmly believes in family and was hoping she could change him.

In July of 2008, she took her kids and moved back to her home state of New Hampshire. She did not tell the father. She feared for her life because of previous experiences, and he had also told her that she would never leave the state alive with his children. She was able to get a restraining order against him in NH temporarily, and it was lifted in February when he made it out there for the hearing and it was clear he wasn't a threat to them since he could barely afford to get there.

In April, she went back to Michigan to begin court proceedings. She was told be the Friend of the Court that she was a disgrace as a mother for taking her kids so far away without notifying him and they don't see anything wrong with him. So, obviously he has been lying to them as well. He is saying that she is mentally unsound, a liar, and all kinds of other stuff. The recommendation made to the court was for him to receive full custody of the children.

This is the man that left because he said that he couldn't handle being with them all the time, told his son that he deserved nothing more than a bag of dogshit as a birthday gift, and told my friend that he liked his younger son better so maybe she should take the older one and he gets the younger one.

Please, if you pray, pray for my friend. If you don't, then please just keep her in your thoughts and hope for the best.

I don't agree with everything she did. I know that she put herself in this position by not leaving sooner and filing reports and all that other stuff. I know that it was wrong for her to leave without telling him. In her mind she was doing what she thought was right. And I hope for her sake, and for her children's sake even more, that she wins out on this one.

Thank you.

Featured Seller: kirevi8

Ok, I told you that would be get back into the swing of doing a featured seller series. I searched through the time machine to look for some awesome pieces and guess who I found.....

kirevi8

Take a look at anything in her shop and her talent and uniqueness emanate from every piece she has in there!

Take this piece for example - new joy of anatolian woman.
This was the one that REALLY caught my attention when I was scrolling through the hundreds of images in the time machine. I couldn't take my eyes off of it and I knew I had to see more. Once I was in her shop I wanted to meet the woman and creator of such wonderful pieces of wearable art.


Tell us about yourself. Who is the person behind kirevi8?
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My name is Semra Ascioglu and living in Istanbul -Turkey with my family and my 9 years old cooker, KUKI.
I studied Journalism and public relations. My section was Radio -TV

Despite of different jobs, my hobby followed me since my young ages up to now.
I have been always happy to learn and practice all kinds of handmade arts, work with my hands and always been told that my designs were original and very stylish.
I started my own line with bali style and modern jewelry and specialised in authentique anatolian jewelry.
In other words I want to bring the old ethnique traditions to our modern life.
In my designs I like to use exotic colored beads, crystal, hand stitched flowers, ethnic symbols as oya flower, ceramic and glass beads, leaves, coins, leather, knitting pieces and combine them with modern materials.

Every piece is unique and each jewellery has its own story in Anatolia which makes sense to me.

I have to agree with her here. Look at this piece! There is so much variety in the materials and colors, it's easy to see how anyone could combine the old and new into any outfit.

What inspires your pieces? They are all so unique and very creative!
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I like very much to visit art museums in Istanbul.
Specially I prefer Turkish Islamic Arts Museum and Ethnography Museum where I can find old Anatolian and Turkish traditional accessories, dresses, life style.
I follow all Turkish and Foreign publications, reviews concerning traditional Turkish arts.


Because the ocean is one of my favorite places, I couldn't help but fall in love with the fantastic sea shell necklace! I love the variety of shells used and how they all look so elegant together.


How did you get into crafting in the first place, and what motivates you to keep doing it?
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I really do not know how or when I started to get into crafting.
I started to make different kind of handwork since my very very young ages, lets say when I was 4-5 years old. First I learned how to knit, then comes stitching, then decorating flowers, patchwork, glass painting, painting, one stroke, wood painting, stitching, etc.
It is a lifestyle for me to make or to work on handmade arts. I love to do it and always I try to progress in my works.

This piece is absolutely stunning! This is an oya Turkish lacework necklace. The delicacy of this necklace, to me, makes it absolutely beautiful and so feminine. The colors in it are so rich and wonderful. Awesome work!

What do you have planned for the future of your etsy shop, or any plans with your crafting business?
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I am planning to list more and more oya turkish lacework flowers. They are so beautiful and all they have their own story. I want to share all my knowledge with my customers. Also I will add new textile designs to my shop. I want to open an other shop for supplies and accessories. I guess I will do it at the beginning of next season.



Is there anything else that you would like the readers to know about you?
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I can tell this - that I faced a lot of difficulty when I started this business professionally. I was off from work for 20 years. I did not know how to use PC, programs, how to make photos, resize them,... what does it mean to give a link?? what is to open a shop in web... etc etc..
It was really very very difficult and hard for me to learn it. But I never gave up. I begged my sons to teach me all about PC. They were very helpful. After 5 years I know almost everything about PC. But it was really very hard and harmful process for me. Now when I look behind I am smiling and I feel very proud of myself. After 20 years I made big job.

Well, we are so glad that you learned and tried as hard as you did. You are truly an example of how hard work, persistence, and passion really pay off. The Etsy community is lucky that they have such wonderful talent to share!



Anything else that you would like to share?
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I would like to say that now I am very happy to be a member of Etsy family. I am working very very hard to improve my sales in Etsy and make myself to be well known there. But the most important point is that I met very nice friends there

To see more of kirevi8's beautiful pieces, you can visit her shop by clicking on her name at the beginning of this post, or by clicking on her etsy mini in the sidebar. Thank you so much for reading and I hope that you enjoy kirevi8's creations as much as I do.