Spoonflower - Bloom with creative ideas!

For quite a while now I have been adding designs to my Spoonflower shop.  Here to share a few of my favorite ideas...available on all kinds of fabric, new products coming soon. click the photos to go to the shop.

Leaves on my path....

Books at Leeds Castle...

If you have an idea or photo you want printed I can help you create your idea!!! Playing with my camera, here are a few I have practiced with... More to come! Enjoy

WEAR ~ The Wild Things !

April 23 ~~~ Another Rainy Day in London…
Hot Photo Shoot.

I enjoyed the challenge today and was way over prepared. I ended up not using several things I brought along, and used some things I wasn’t sure I wanted to use in the beginning.  I made the hat, stockings and the necklace.

 There were two challenges that pushed me today.  The first was the time limit, with only 20 minutes to work with the model there was no time to put on fake nails or use the wig… her hair is very fluffy and it would not have worked. Perhaps I will put it on the male model next week.  Secondly, the model was tired, all day of changing and trying to perform and portray what each student had asked of her.  I had a hard time getting any other face but “cute”. My theme was “animal instincts” and my idea was a kind of mysterious animal in the line of “Where the wild things are”, silly  somewhat frightening… I called it.

WEAR ~ The Wild Things.

There were about 38 shots taken and I believe I got 2 or 3 that are good…

Take a look at some of my favorites…what do you think, did it work?    

Project Red Dress

This is on You Tube, I am in this video..... Whew!!!

click above

my iphone has a new app.

OK, I downloaded a Pantone color pick app... about 6 months ago, used it a few times it is so great! I used the camera to take a photo of some beautiful Ginkgo leaves on a tree.  Here is what showed up on the app... now I just snapped a photo of the screen and just like that I have a photo of the colors in Pantone I can send, use, blog about and use to match with other Pantone colors... the applications are endless!  I am awed! ~~ >> just had to share my amazement! SMILE!

Submit and Score

Ok Now I am doing this little thing on Threadless... a t-shirt company, online. I submit a t-shirt slogan idea daily and then if it gets published, well ~~>> FAME AND FORTUNE!! ,well maybe just Fame.... Here is the one I submitted lately...CLICK HERE, and go see and vote!

Shoes to be married in!

So...OK............, we saw some beautiful shoes in the most recent "In Style" magazine. My daughter was looking for shoes to wear with her wedding dress this summer.
There is not a chance that we could afford those designer dreams... go look them up on page 394, lace treasures!!! So I had a bit of a creative brainstorm. We went to the bargain shoe store and purchased a plain pair of white strappy pumps for $10!

The end result are these beautiful designer inspired pair, using ..... my old and stained, wedding dress... yep the backs were covered with the cuffs, and the toes took some of the lace from the top. We made some little rosettes from the tulle, and put shell buttons in the middle, those are on the top of the heel area. I am not sure if we are finished with the layers of lace, but I had to take these photos. WOW ! and it was so fun!

My Feet ~ a story that I didn't plan to tell.

Well I didn't start out to tell a story about my feet, or even decide to take pictures of my feet and put them on my blog... however, one day I was sorting through my many photos and noticed how many, many, many photos I had of just that very thing! My feet... so here are a few photos... I seem to have taken some by accident and others by design... explanations follow each photo.






This one I was trying to photograph the tote for my online Etsy shop and well.... I didn't have a model that day so I just snapped it with my right hand....





Again my model wasn't around and my toe nail polish just happened to match the Ultrasuede! This one will be listed soon.

This was my daughters graduation day and I was beginning to get bored, I had put a top layer of sparkle~ly paint on my dark purple toes. It was so pretty and so I distractedly snapped a photo while someones name I didn't know was being called... really 3 hours to get through all the names and speeches... yawn~! pretty toes however!

Here I am trying again to take a photo of product without a model.... not a bad shot... of my feet! ☺

And at last... my favorite shot of my feet.... so far ~~~~~ ! ♥ ♥ ♥

This one I took while I waited for my daughters to get ready... we were in Disneyland, the ankle bracelet says "PRINCESS" and yes I am! Silver toes, shoes and bracelet! WOW What cute feet....
Not a single stinker! Now wasn't that fun?!

Stockings for the troops ~ Sewathon 4! ~ we sewed 96!

Yesterday was a fun day! About a dozen ladies from my church, brought our sewing machines, irons, sissors and brains. We sewed almost 100 (96 to be exact) stockings for the Operation Shoebox organization. These photos are from the web site of last years delivery! Here are some we created that will be on their way soon.One of the cutest ones................♥

A pile of them all ready to go! ...

A shy friend helps out....... ☺

WOW We did it again~!!!!!
My good friend ran it this time and decided that she would make sure 100 was sent. What a gal!

http://www.operationshoebox.com/

Mr Dizzy Squid ~ Boo Boo Baby Squid ~ Everyday Squid ~ Design your own theme Squid ~ The Pattern

This Plushie was inspired by my daughters drawings... here is what we created...

You can see the full instructions on Cut out and Keep...just click on the images to link to the page.

Ta Da! hug and enjoy with no fear of ink!

Cut out and Keep ~ my newest post

Plushie Chibi Bunny ~ Cut out and Keep ~ Crazy Chibi Bunny Kawaii ~ Baby Big Ears Bunny




Bunny the pattern... inspired by my daughters drawings. My daughter does these fun drawings of "chibi" style animals... this one inspired her to make one. I drafted the pattern, and posted it on Cut out and Keep... If you are inspired to make one too, just click on the photos and go right there!

The End.

Just Sharing my Faves...

Take a peek at my newest Chefs Hat!

I am not a Cook! But I can wip up a cool Chefs Hat....

see it at my Etsy Shop as well as the matching apron.

There is a large selection of Aprons ... new ones added daily!

Etsy Day

• Happy Etsy Day !

Etsy Day ~ Etsy Day ~ Etsy Day ~ Etsy Day ~ TODAY!

• Hurrah!
• This one has been listed since almost the begining of Etsy, I have sold several like this but this one is going to be mine if it isn't purchased soon!
  

Etsy Mini ~ How to put one in your Blog ~ Baby Steps.

Putting an Etsy Mini in your blog… A friend of mine ask me how to... so I did this little tutorial, step by step...

At Etsy…

A - Go to log in and go to “Your Etsy”
B - On the left hand side of the page at the very bottom click “Etsy Mini”

****Three choices appear… here we go…..

1-*Items from my shop… this will capture the items you have chosen as “featured” items those that show at the top of your shop page. *Items from your favorites will chose those you have hearted.
2-*Choose image size… it will depend upon how much space you have in the side bar of your blog… I choose thumbnail so I can get two columns on my sidebar. You can redo this if it doesn’t fit.
3-*Choose Layout …Finally Columns are up and down Rows are side by side… choosing how many of what, again it depends upon how much space you have… I choose 2 columns and 4 rows so I can have a lot of photos.

Once this is set up on your blog if you change the featured items this etsy mini will change too! Fun… Sold items will disappear and new items from your feature list will move up… I switch my featured items about weekly therefore all of my mini’s change too.

C – You will see at the bottom of the page there are two boxes with “code” yep it is CODE and it really isn’t as spooky as it sounds… if you look closely at it you will see that it contains your choices and your etsy shop number, (More on that later). Highlight all of that and COPY it. The first box is for Blogs.

At Your Blog…

A – Go to your blog page and sign in.
B – This should put you at your Dashboard; if it doesn’t, look at the upper right corner of your blog and see the Dashboard link… go there. Sometimes this says customize this link goes there too.
C – At your dashboard you should see your blog name and under that….NEW POST, Edit Post, Settings, Layout, View Blog. Click on Layout.

***** Here is the fun part!!!! Layout Page

On this page you can >>>>> Add and Arrange Elements <<<<> Save, when you save it … the layout page will reappear and your new gadget will be on the top of the column you first chose. To move it around, you can put your cursor on top of the box; a cross with arrows will appear… click and hold, drag it down to where you want it. It is sometimes squirrely; just take your time to get it where you want it. Save and View your Blog with your new Etsy Mini!

__________________________________________________________________
To get someone else’s shop Etsy Mini

1 - Do it all the same, as if you are doing your own Etsy Mini… Take note of the other shops “etsy shop number”. I write it down.
*the etsy shop number for any shop is in the address bar when you are at their shop home, just look up.
2 - When you paste the code into the widget tool, simply change the shop number to the one you are trying to get… this will change the mini to their shop mini!

How about that! > ♥ > Isn’t Blogging Fun!

I had questions about Artfire and how it compaired to Etsy... SO....

Art Fire vs. Etsy


I had a lot of questions then when I started listing all my questions I realized I was asking quite a bit… I got several members who responded.

Some thoughts from a couple of my Military Brats of Etsy….

Please be sure to check out the shops of these intelligent and thoughtful Crafters~Artist.

http://shinyadornments.artfire.com
and
http://shinyadornments.etsy.com


Then there is…
http://withourhands.artfire.com
and
http://sockmonkeygreetings.etsy.com

First the response from Shinyadornments….

Hi everyone,
I've not posted to the group in FOREVER, but I still read all the posts every day. :-) I saw Terry Ann's post and thought I'd add my 2 cents based on my ArtFire experience so far.

1. How are sales? As in for 100 items listed how many sell each week? How long till your first sale?

Sales are dismal so far...just 1, and I think I got it within the first 3 weeks. But so are my etsy sales, so that isn't really a worry for me. Most of the items in my shop provide enough of a margin for me to not have tons of sales, so I am OK with that.

2. What about traffic and views, are they consistent do you have access to that info?

Traffic and views are better on some items and worse on others compared to etsy. I do get MUCH better google search traffic results on Artfire, and my items from Artfire tend to rank higher in the google search results. No idea why. We have two sets of stats from ArtFire...one is Google Analytics, just like etsy, but with far less random search terms, and one is ArtFire's internal stats, which work really well. ArtFire doesn't seem to have the GA bugs that etsy does. The one piece Artfire doesn't report out on is internal site wide stats soon so we can tell how folks are finding out items from within the site...for instance category searches or text word searches, etc within ArtFire. External traffic to our shops is what is currently tracked by both Etsy and Artfire. Artfire has promised internal search stats soon. Etsy doesn't do that yet...and haven't said they will anytime soon.

3. When you make a sale, is there an integrated pay system or do you have to send a paypal invoice requesting money? Do you have to sign up for other services like Google checkout or RME in order to get paid?

They have an integrated system with Paypal. My one sale went pretty smoothly, so I can't complain. ArtFire also gives the option to utilize RME, Googlecheckout and some others, all at once if you want, so your buyer has lots of payment options. But I don't use them so can't give a valid perspective on how they work. One big plus for me so far with Artfire is that I can pay my shop bill via auto billing from paypal. I just set it up when I opened my shop, and they automatically debit my paypal account monthly. Easy peasy.

4. Do they hold payment themselves and pay monthly?

No. You are paid by your customers in real time, just like etsy.

5. How do you communicate with customers, is there a built in message system or do they go thru your regular email to ask a question?

There is an internal system as well as a contact the seller that sends you an email. The email/contact the seller system leaves a lot to be desired so far, but the Admin has promised a site wide email revamp is in the works.

6-Do they allow for combined shipping when a customer orders more than one item from you?

Yes, they have a very simple to use shipping profile functionality that you can set up anyway you like. Its super easy to use.

7-Do they allow mature items and do they "feature" these type of items?

I think so... but honestly, I haven't seen any on the site yet.

8-Can you get your items submitted to Google Base?

Yes, it is automatic. The shop owners don't have to do anything to set it up.

9-Have you purchased an item from Artfire and what was your experience being a customer?

Not yet, but I have several things 'pending' in my cart. LOL

10-That's about it...! I have been selling online for about 5 years now
and between Ebay and Etsy there is a world of differences. I have seen several venues fail for lack of traffic.... I am seriously looking for more venues to expand my business.

My advice? If you will be frustrated by the site being in beta...don't join now. Or, join at the free level to check it out. You can list 10 items for free. One word of caution: free shops have a bit less functionality than the paying ones (only 4 pictures per listing, other shop's listings show up as ads within you shop, etc). If you like the fact that you may be in on the ground floor to help build a new venue, this might be for you. So, in ranking etsy vs. artfire (and I have shops on both and intend on keeping them both)...

Traffic: Etsy wins hands down
Buyer pool: Etsy wins hands down
Ease of listing: Artfire wins
Site Search: It is a tie so far
Site bugs: Etsy wins
Admin responsiveness: Artfire wins
Communication from the site staff: Artfire wins
Reporting: Artfire wins
Impartiality of site admin: So far, Artfire wins
Site layout: Etsy wins for clean look/feel

I'm not saying this is the right venue for everyone...it is most certainly not. But, so far, I like the vibe, I like that my suggestions are listened to and implemented and I like that for such a new site it is actually growing at a decent clip. There are literally DOZENS of other venues for handmade right now, most opening to lots of fanfare, only to never see increases. I also like the fact that so far, ArtFire has been pretty methodical in its approach. It isn't implementing “whoop to do" tools like Shop by Color and Pounce, but is instead focusing on the core functionality of search and seller functionality instead. A business plan seems to be in place. Wow. ;-)

Now for what withourhands/sockmonkeygreetings said….
Here are my answers.

1-How are sales? As in for 100 items listed how many sell each week? How long till your first sale?

I currently have over 100 items listed but it's only been 1 1/2 weeks since I listed that many items. No sales but plenty of hits on a few of my items. I don't know if it's the market though because I haven't had much on Etsy either. Sales are very slow in both places. The good thing about Artfire is that it isn't costing me a fortune to have no sales. Whereas Etsy costs me each time I list an item to try and get a sale.

2-What about traffic and views, are they consistent do you have access to that info?

The traffic has been pretty regular. Artfire offers you stats on your traffic number of hits plus a list of your top 50 referring websites. I've been impressed with the number of search results on google that my items show up on.

3-When you make a sale, is there an integrated pay system or do you have to send a paypal invoice requesting money? Do you have to sign up for other services like Google checkout or RME in order to get paid?

You don't have to sign up for any payment service that you don't want to. I accept paypal, checks and money orders. I haven't signed up for Googlecheckout or RME although they are both options. I like that they do give you the options to utilize what you'd like. I have seen some buyers on etsy ask if anyone took RME. So there is a market for it.

4-Do they hold payment themselves and pay monthly?

No, you receive your payment right away from the buyer. Just like Etsy.

5-How do you communicate with customers, is there a built in message system or do they go thru your regular email to ask a question?

There is a built in message system that you can use. There is also email (which I find easier).

6-Do they allow for combined shipping when a customer orders more than one item from you?

Just like Etsy they let you choose to discount combined shipping.

7-Do they allow mature items and do they "feature" these type of items?

I'm not sure. I do remember seeing a discussion on the forums but didn't read it. I haven't seen any mature listings show up on the front page yet.

8-Can you get your items submitted to Google Base?

Yes. I'm not that familiar with Google Base but I do know that my items automatically are showing up on Google search results - both regular searches and shopping results.

9-Have you purchased an item from Artfire and what was your experience being a customer?

I have not purchased anything yet. Unfortunately I haven't been in the market for anything and being unemployed I haven't been able to afford to just purchase anything to test it out. :(

10-That is about it... I have been selling online for about 5 years now and between Ebay and Etsy there is a world of differences. I have seen several venues fail for lack of traffic.... I am seriously looking for more venues to expand my business.

Artfire is working hard on making sure they don't become a fly by night selling venue. They have a thing called "Market Hub" that is found on your listings. It gives your customers the opportunity to view you elsewhere online. It links to your Etsy store, flickr account, facebook, twitter, etc. So they encourage you to keep your Etsy shop open and to run both shops. I joined Artfire back in December but didn't really do anything with it until last week. I've been very impressed with Artfire since joining. I know they are new and they don't have the current traffic that Etsy does but I strongly feel they will start to get that traffic soon. There are a number of sellers on Artfire who are committed to seeing it grow and have spent time promoting their shops and Artfire - myself included. With the advertising that Artfire is doing - I feel I have made the right decision by opening my shop there. Right now, I am putting 99.9% of my time on Artfire and putting Etsy on the back burner. Only because my sales are so low that I really don't want to keep spending money to list without getting something in return. My sales slipped in November and they have stayed down. I have items in my store now but they are items that I already had listed and will let run their course.

Me…..
Thank you so much for your sharing your experiences! That kind of info is just what I was looking for; I am seriously considering adding Artfire to my online stores. I am currently selling more off line than online, right now and if the sales will not increase online even with opening new venues I am not sure I want to budget the time for it. So as you can see I am still on the "fence" about it... Thanks Brats for giving me so much more to think about!
♥

AM Snow on our driveway

Just wanted to share. As I got up this morning 7am and just barely any light I took this photo while standing in my living room in my pjs.

A bit later I got this one, we are "snowed in"

It is time for more coffee or perhaps cocoa, wrap packages, bake cookies, do crafts, etsy, make a snowangel, write christmas cards..... nice snow!

Double Brat Featured Artist ~ Lavenderlizard ~

The Military Brats of Etsy Global Street Team

~ November 2008 Brat Feature ~

every few weeks we feature one of our members, this time we are proud to Feature:

lavenderlizard and lavenderladybug

Double Brat with two stores!
See her etsy shops here;
http://www.lavenderlizard.etsy.com/
and

http://www.lavenderladybug.etsy.com/

Here is her blog…..
http://lavenderlizard.blogspot.com/

Her flickr photos here;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14254353@N03

See the post on our Bratty Blog here;
http://etsymilitarybratteam.blogspot.com/

1-Tell us a bit about yourself (name, location, affiliations, and personal stuff).

Hi! My name is Elizabeth Kalka, but everyone calls me Liz. I live in San Antonio, Texas (Military City USA), which is just perfect for a Brat! I’m married to a great guy (served in the US Navy), and we have 4 sons who range in age from 2 to 12.

I consider myself a Texan (part of my family arrived in Texas in the 1700s, and both of my parents were born and raised here), although I was born in Boulder, Colorado. After 20 years in the Air Force, my father retired, and we moved to the Dallas area, where I lived from the age of 10 until I left for college. Then I spent 12 years in Austin, where among other things, I attended the University of Texas (Hook ‘Em!). After my husband and I married, we settled here in San Antonio.

I started The Lavender Lizard with accessories, scrubbies and crocheted necessities about 18 months ago, and this year I opened The Lavender Ladybug, which I envision as my supply and destash shop.

2-What is the first thing you can remember making by hand? How and why did you make it?

I learned embroidery stitches while I was a Brownie when we were stationed in La Paz, Bolivia. I still have the first thing I made – I raided my mother’s sewing basket for buttons to embellish it. The “fabric” is very coarse, like burlap, and I signed it with my initials.

3-What inspires you? Where do your ideas come from?

I am probably most inspired by yarn – different colors and textures make me think of different objects. For instance, I found this great fluffy, orange, tweedy yarn, and I thought “I just have to make pumpkins out of this!” So I did! The problem is I have more yarn and ideas for it than I have time….

4-What are your favorite materials?

Well, yarn, of course! I also cross-stitch, and I am in the process of designing cross-stitch embellishments for The Lavender Ladybug.

5-What have been the most valuable lessons learned from other artists on Etsy?

Patience, for sure! Also, it’s important to know that an Etsy shop is not static – you must spend time listing, photographing, editing, writing, learning, promoting, networking, renewing, blogging, checking the forums, mailing (hopefully), and keeping records. That’s after you have spent time creating in the first place.

6-Why should people buy handmade?

Handmade = love! I have always cherished handmade gifts, and I love to have one-of-a-kind items that someone cared enough to make. Buying handmade is supporting an artist, and I can’t stress the importance of that enough!

7-What features/services would you most like to see on Etsy?

I would love to be able to organize my favorites – I’m forever hearting items, like I’ll go on a hearting spree through Pounce or the Treasury, but good luck finding them again. I don’t have the patience (or time) to check the pages of my favorites.

I would also love the ability to organize my shop without renewing items and put items into more than one shop category.

8-Apart from creating things, what do you do?

Well, I parent my boys, which keeps me quite busy. I have served on PTA boards for the last 6 years (this year, I am the treasurer for the middle school PTA). I have a weekend job in retail. And every night before I go to bed, I have to read, no matter how tired I am.

9-Read any good books lately?

Just finished “The 39 Clues” (Rick Riordan, the author, also lives in San Antonio), and I’m looking forward to the next one in this series (Put down the book, people – I’m going to win the prizes!)

I’m also working my way through the Bones series (although I found I could not stand the TV series based on these books! Weird, huh?) My favorite place in the world is a library.

10-In ten years I'd like to be…

Watching my 2 oldest sons graduate from college, DS3 graduating from high school, and seeing my youngest son enter teenage hood. Professionally, I would love to publish some of my original crochet designs.

11-How did you pick your business name and your etsy avatar?

Both The Lavender Lizard and The Lavender Ladybug were named with my favorite color in mind. Also, when I was growing up, my nickname was Lizard. My friend Photoshop and I created both of my avatars.

12- What is the connection between being a Crafter and being a Brat?

It doesn’t surprise me that a lot of Brats also craft. It must have something to do with the ability to be creative on the fly, to adapt to new situations quickly, and to use crafting to stay grounded in our lives. Growing up as a Brat, I was terribly shy and hated meeting new people. I still feel that way sometimes, but I also found that I can relate to most people on some level because of my life experiences. I think that’s probably true of most Brats!

~Liz

Military Friendly Shops ~ A web based network for help and discounts

Today I got notice that I was one of the "Shops of the Week" on a web site dedicated to help with shopping and shipping for military families, especially those overseas! COOL! Check it out!

http://www.militaryfriendlyshops.webs.com/

This is how they describe themselves and the web site....

Who We Are
We are two Army wives & mothers! Yep just like you! We love to shop and have our own business making hair items for lil ones. We come across many sales and specials and thought..why not share them!!
We are avid online shoppers, we can and will (try!!) find every discount for you!
Our personal shops can be found at:

Lizzies Little Liahs Baby Bows Site

A Soldiers Flowers Etsy Site

And we offer FREE shipping to all APO, & FPO address's!
Any questions for us or about us?? Just ask!
Angela & Elizabeth

I Won!

Yesterday in the mail I received these two cute buttons by mechelledesigns.etsy.com

She had a little contest on her blog http://mechelledesigns.blogspot.com and

♪♪♪♫♫♫♪♪♫♫♫♪♪♪

I WON!

They are so adorable, you should see the other neat stuff in her shop! She explains herself this way:

With a background in design and illustration, Mechelle would create handmade cards for the Christmas holidays to send out to family and friends. After getting married and starting her family, she stopped making cards for a while. She started making cards again as gifts for her children's teachers and selling them at art festivals in which she exhibited her work. She decided to create her own line after encouragement from fellow artists and other recipients.

I am enjoying my little buttons!

indigobaydesigns and littlepinkplum ~ Brat Feature

The Military Brats of Etsy Global Street Team

~ Fall 2008 Brat Feature ~

Every few weeks we feature one of our members, this time we are proud to Feature:

indigobaydesigns and littlepinkplum
Double Brat with two stores!

See her etsy shops here;
http://www.indigobaydesigns.etsy.com/
http://www.littlepinkplum.etsy.com/
Her flickr photos here;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30849866@N07
See the post on our Bratty Blog here;
http://etsymilitarybratteam.blogspot.com/

1-Tell us a bit about yourself (name, location, affiliations, and personal stuff).

My name is Janet and I’m married with 3 kids. I live in El Cajon, CA (same place as our team leader oceankisses and also lizedgar). I am an Army brat and was born in Maryland. I graduated from high school in Japan and then my father was transferred to Arizona. A friend of mine was living in San Diego and asked me to share an apartment with her. So I moved out here and that was almost 20 years ago.

2-What is the first thing you can remember making by hand?

How and why did you make it?

I remember in elementary school gluing Popsicle sticks together to make a picture frame, and then gluing macaroni shells onto the Popsicle sticks. My teacher spray painted the frame and I gave it to my parents. It was something all the kids in my class made to give to their parents for Christmas.

3-What inspires you? Where do your ideas come from?

With my pocket mirrors, I look at various types of paper and try to figure out if that particular paper would be a good design for a mirror. And I make a lot of pendants based on what my two daughters like or ask me to make. I have recently started to experiment with my original drawings and digitally coloring them, and hope to turn them into mirrors and pendants soon.

4-What are your favorite materials?

Paper and more paper. I also like fabric. I sew a little and just made some lavender sachets to give as gifts this Christmas.

5-What have been the most valuable lessons learned from other artists on Etsy?

One important lesson I’ve learned from other artists on Etsy is to take great pictures since that is what is going to catch the eye of a potential buyer. That is something I still need to improve on, but I have come a long way from when I first started listing.

6-Why should people buy handmade?

People should buy handmade because it’s not a mass produced item that a million other people are going to have. You’re getting something very special that had a lot of attention, caring and pride that went into making it.

7-What features/services would you most like to see on Etsy?

One feature I would like to see is to be able to block non paying buyers from returning to your shop. I would also like to see Etsy become just as well known as the other “E” site. When I tell people that I sell on Etsy, I usually get a blank stare.

8-Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I love to read and I usually go to the library at least once a week to check out books or to get on the waiting list for the latest bestseller. I’ve been a stay at home mom since my son was born 3 years ago, and I spend a lot of time chauffeuring my kids around to school, after school activities, etc. They keep me busy.

9-Read any good books lately?

I just finished reading a book by Anne Perry. I love her Victorian murder mysteries.

10-In ten years I'd like to be…

... happy and successful at whatever I’m doing. I would also like to have some wholesale accounts. I just completed a small order for a boutique in Los Angeles, and I would love to sell my pendants and mirrors to more shops.

11-How did you pick your business name and your etsy avatar?

For littlepinkplum, I chose that name based on my favorite colors and the “little” part comes from me being not quite 5 feet tall. Indigo Bay is the name of a beautiful island resort near the Indian Ocean. I would love to vacation there someday.




12- What has being a brat at Etsy meant to you?


Not only is there a common bond of being crafters, but there’s also a special connection because of our unique background as brats.