Featured Artist - Bijoux Designs For You

-What’s your name and where are you from?

My name is April and together with my mother Glenda we are Bijoux Designs For You. We hail from just outside of Toronto, Ontario Canada.

-What is your shop name and what does it mean to you?

Our shop name is Bijoux Designs For You. We wanted something a little fancy but a little everyday! Bijoux is French for jewelry so we thought it gave our shop a bit of exoticism while staying true to our desire to reach the everyday woman.

- What websites do you sell on how did you decide on which ones?

We sell on both Etsy and Artfire. We sold on Etsy first after specifically looking for an online venue for handmade items and we thought it was a good start for our first virtual shop. It wasn’t until this past November that we joined Artfire after looking into several other markets. We decided on Artfire because of the flat monthly fee and really enjoy the community there.

- How long have you been crafting?

I have been crafting my entire life. The “fever” was instilled in me by my mother who is multi-talented. For as long as I can remember she has sewn and done folkart and that is where my own crafting journey began. About 4 years ago I took her to a jewelry making class for her birthday and we were both instantly hooked!

-Tell me any interesting things about you that you would like to share.

I am the mommy to a beautiful almost 7 month old baby boy! In my pre-mommy life I used to be involved in the local theatrical community. I have had my Oscar speech ready since I was a little girl! I have an English degree and met my wonderful hubby while working at a newspaper as proofreader (office romance!)

-What do you sell in your shop?

We sell affordable and fun jewelry and gift items for women who still want to be stylish but are on a budget.

- Tell us about your crafting space.

My craft space is a disaster! I try to keep it organized but it just never seems to work out that way. Some how I know where everything is though. My mother on the other hand, has a whole room for her studio. She has everything labeled and hanging on pegboards and in containers…I’m so jealous!

-Do you belong to any guilds, teams or other indie craft organizations?

On Artfire we belong to the Artfire Jewelry Design and Jewelry Supply Guild, The Canadian Guild and the Crafty Moms Guild. We currently don’t belong to any Etsy teams but there are a few that we have looked into.

-Where do you find inspiration?

Sometimes inspiration comes from making a piece for myself to match an outfit, sometimes it’s a great bead or charm, sometimes you just wake up at 3am with an ah-hah moment!

-Tell me a bit about your creative process.

My mom likes to lay everything out first and then put a piece together. I am more of a build as I go type.- Where have you learned to do what you do? My mother taught me to sew and paint. As mentioned above we took a class a few years ago and have just learned from there.

-What is your favorite item in your shop right now?

The pink and white MOM bookmark

-Why is it your favorite?

I love to read and remember going to book fairs as a kid and searching for the perfect bookmark. Being a new mommy I am also addicted to anything that announces it to the world (as if I don’t do that enough). Plus its pink!
You can find it in our Artfire studio http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=ViewListing&product_id=38540
and our Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19548452

- What is your favorite part of your craft?

Seeing an idea go from concept to completion and then having a customer get as excited about a piece as I am!

- What is your least favorite part?

Sometimes I feel like I spend SOOOOO much time promoting and not enough time creating.

-If you sell on more than one site which is your favorite and why?

I enjoy certain aspects of both selling venues. I think that you have to find what works best for your own shop but a supportive community is definitely a necessity for us.

-What makes your shop unique?

Our bookmarks and microwave mitts are extremely popular and we have scoured many suppliers to find great charms and materials at a good cost so that we can bring them to you at a very reasonable price. It’s nice even on the tightest budget to be able to treat yourself to something special.

-What advice do you have for other independent crafters just starting out?

Be prepared for A LOT of work, not just the work of creating. Learning to take good pictures, write good descriptions and the sheer amount of promotion involved can be overwhelming. I think that many people are under the illusion that if they just make and list items the business will start pouring in. While that may be true for some, for most it is a long journey (one that we are having a blast with!)

-Where else can we find you on the web?

You can also find us at http://www.bijouxdesignsforyou.etsy.com/,
you can tweet with us at http://twitter.com/bijouxdesigns
and find our blog at http://bijouxdesignsforyou.blogspot.com/

Featured Artist - Rue Kream of Peaches & Kream

- What’s your name and where are you from?

My name is Rue Kream, and I live in Massachusetts.

-What is your shop name and what does it mean to you?

My shop name is Peaches & Kream. When we moved to our current house nine years ago we were excited to find we had inherited an old peach tree. It yielded a huge amount of fruit, so I gave myself a crash course in canning. My sister made ‘Peaches & Kream’ labels for my canning jars, playing off my last name. So for me my shop name is all wrapped up in the taste of sunshine and the connection of family.

- What websites do you sell on how did you decide on which ones?

I sell on etsy. I’ve shopped on etsy for a long time, so I was familiar with the site and felt comfortable setting up shop there. http://ruetabega.etsy.com

- How long have you been crafting?

About ten years. Up until then I had believed I wasn’t a creative person. I was happy to find out I was wrong.

-Tell me any interesting things about you that you would like to share.

My kids don’t go to school, and I’ve written and published a book about unschooling (http://www.freechild.info/).

-What do you sell in your shop?

I make sterling jewelry, often incorporating everyday and vintage components, and I also make needle-felted items.

- Tell us about your crafting space.

We’re in the middle of creating a family studio. I love designing functional and beautiful spaces, so I’m really enjoying myself. It’s going to have a big built in shelving unit – about 11 feet wide – and enough work space that the four of us can each have a spot to ourselves while still being together.




-Do you belong to any guilds, teams or other indie craft organizations?

Not yet.

-Where do you find inspiration?

Everywhere. I love color and balance and texture and strive to really look at the world around me.

-Tell me a bit about your creative process

I have a million ideas banging into each other in my head all the time. Most often I write them down, which helps quiet things down in there. About half the time I sit down to create I have a specific idea I want to work on. The other half of the time I just get out a bunch of supplies and pick them up and move them around and let my hands lead instead of my head.

- Where have you learned to do what you do?

I learned to make jewelry by reading on the Internet. There’s so much information available. One site I found helpful in the beginning was wigjig.com. I learned needle-felting by just playing with the wool.

-What is your favorite item in your shop right now?

I’d say my Earth and Sky necklace

-Why is it your favorite?

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21365467
Because it’s the one I’d be most likely to wear myself.

- What is your favorite part of your craft?

Flow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology

- What is your least favorite part?

Poking myself with a barbed needle.

-How did you get started with your craft?

I first became interested in making jewelry when my older daughter got a wire jewelry kit as a present. She asked me to help her figure it out and I was hooked. I became interested in needle-felting when I saw some tapestries on the blog of another unschooling mom. (That artist was Julie Persons, who has a beautiful etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=44218 )

- What makes your shop unique?

Well, we all see the world slightly differently, and hopefully that comes through in my work.

-What advice do you have for other independent crafters just starting out?

I’m new to selling online myself, so I don’t feel qualified to give advice on the selling aspect yet. On the creative aspect, I’d say try new things. Don’t pigeon-hole yourself as ‘a painter’ or ‘a jewelry designer’. You can be lots of things at the same time.

-Where else can we find you on the web?

http://another-roadside-attraction.blogspot.com/

Featured Artist - The Empty Nest

- What’s your name and where are you from?

My name is Janet Metzger and I am from New York, but live in Warrenton,Va.

-What is your shop name and what does it mean to you?

My shop name is The Empty Nest so named because my two handsome sons are on their own (I miss them, they make me laugh)

- What websites do you sell on how did you decide on which ones?

For now I sell on Etsy at theemptynest.etsy.com, I found it by accident

- How long have you been crafting?

I have been creating treasures all my life and got serious back in the 80's

-Tell me any interesting things about you that you would like to share.

I am the first girl in a family of eleven. Was born in Tarrytown,NY on Sleepy Hollow Lane ...yup THAT Sleepy Hollow

-What do you sell in your shop?

I sell a very eclectic mix of handsewn, handpainted and handknitted creations

- Tell us about your crafting space.

I work from a home studio that my wonderful husband set up for me. I have a table for painting and sewing, lots of shelves for all my beautiful fabrics. I have a television, DVD player for movies and my indispensable Ipod dock. My husband teases that if I had a litter box and a refrigerator, I would never have to come out.

-Do you belong to any guilds, teams or other indie craft organizations?

Not yet a member of any org. pretty much stay in space and create

-Where do you find inspiration?

My inspiration is my life around me...where I live, my friends, the birds at my many feeders, music...everything

-Tell me a bit about your creative process

Usually a piece of fabric or felted sweater will tell me what it wants done to it by it's feel or texture and color. When I paint it's the pictures in my mind dictate what comes from my brush.

- Where have you learned to do what you do?

Mom taught me to crochet, Google to knit, Nancy Tribolet to paint and myself to needle felt

-What is your favorite item in your shop right now?

My favorite item is my Hostess apron featured in Apronology magazine http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20921801

- What is your favorite part of your craft?

The doing part and seeing the results

- What is your least favorite part?

Love it all...well maybe the cleanup

-How did you get started with your craft?

It has been so long I no longer remember

-What makes your shop unique?

Unique for my one of a kind offerings and beautiful fabrics and textures

-What advice do you have for other independent crafters just starting out?

My advice is stop thinking about and go for it!

-Where else can we find you on the web?

My blog is http://theemptynest-janet.blogspot.com/
Featured on http://chattyhomemaker.blogspot.com/

Was featured on www.bloomacious.com

Featured Artist - Shiny Things by Orin Drake

- What’s your name and where are you from?

My name's Orin Drake, and I'm originally from Arizona. I've been living in Massachusetts for 10 years now, yet I still don't feel "like a local". Must be the snow.

-What is your shop name and what does it mean to you?

My shop's name is "Shiny Things by Orin Drake", and that... pretty much encompasses everything that I do. Whether it's jewelry, sculpture, painting, or working with fabric, I do rather like to make everything shiny.

- What websites do you sell on how did you decide on which ones?

Currently I'm selling on both Etsy and ArtFire. I started off on Etsy because it was my first real introduction to artists actually selling for themselves online, and I liked the set-up. I gave ArtFire a try because I was looking for the "second generation"; a.k.a. the newer site that had learned from the older site's mistakes, which tend to work out really well. I'm keeping both for the moment just because I've become known for my Etsy site, but... eventually I just may have to move over to ArtFire completely.

- How long have you been crafting?

For as long as I can remember. My mother taught me really simple crochet when I was young, and it just seemed to have sparked something. School was a good excuse to make all kinds of weird fun things, too, so my craftiness was encouraged. After a while it just became the best way to be creative and de-stress, and here I am trying to make a living on it.

-Tell me any interesting things about you that you would like to share.

I am a packrat. I just am. If something looks interesting and is given to me or I can afford it at the time, I will take it and I will keep it, for years, until I find some use for it. This has only served me well. Also, I'm easily able to ignore the complaints of other people for being a packrat.

-What do you sell in your shop?

Right now I'm selling jewelry, mostly. All different kinds of necklaces, a few earrings, bracelets, and my "infamous" dragon bracelets of which I always wind up more proud of than I should. Probably. I've also got some "geeky" items that prove I love video games, some sculpture, and am planning to add more plush items/soft sculpture in the near future.

- Tell us about your crafting space.

My crafting space has somehow spread from one desk to the whole of the boiler room. It's really a lot more comfortable than it sounds, especially now that I'm giving in and totally rearranging it for my needs. There's an old dresser to use for storage space, an old glass-front stereo cabinet in order to display the more fragile things, and some Sterilite things on wheels! I have no idea why those amuse me, but they do. Oh yes, and there's also a desk that I'm working on seeing again, since everything is currently piled on top of it during the rearrange.

-Do you belong to any guilds, teams or other indie craft organizations?

Right now I believe to the Whimsical and Magical Artisans Guild, which looked completely appealing since whimsy really describes the "creative process" to me. I'm also trying to start The Geekery Guild, but apparently few people on ArtFire are willing to admit they're geeks yet. The day will come, I assure you.

-Where do you find inspiration?

Anything and everything. It's a cliche answer, but it's true. I'll just see something--a form, a color, etc.--and it sticks with me and winds up in something. Music is a big inspiration, too.

-Tell me a bit about your creative process

I really don't know what there is to tell. A get hold of materials, find something to do with them, and see it through from start to finish. Some of them tell me stories, some just are as they are. Rarely do I have a clear image of what I want to accomplish first. I just like to let something be itself, weird as that may seem.

- Where have you learned to do what you do?

Mostly? The Internet. Invaluable resource. Then I just built upon basic skills, and hope to continue to do so.

-What is your favorite item in your shop right now?

I have to admit, I still feel a bit of pride every time I walk by Andrew: http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=ViewListing&product_id=90093

-Why is it your favorite?

He's such an accomplishment for me. From making the pattern all myself to sewing the wings by hand (not to mention putting him all together by hand), he just represents so much love and work and devotion to all things dragon and shiny. And I made him a necklace, an "old skill" meeting a new one.

- What is your favorite part of your craft?

The result. *grin* Something to look at and honestly wonder, "I did that?!"

- What is your least favorite part?

Often times, clean-up. Of course it's a necessary part of the process, but that doesn't mean that I can't hate it quietly.

-How did you get started with your craft?

Jewelry sort of came naturally over time because, well, I love shiny objects. So making shiny objects just seemed logical. Crochet came from childhood and the desire to make something awesome out of very simple materials. Plushes/"stuffed animals" are sort of a natural evolution too, since I like dealing with characters.

-If you sell on more than one site which is your favorite and why?

I am moving a little bit toward ArtFire, I must admit. Sure it's shiny and new, but there are just little features that I appreciate. Being updated when an item gets shipped, for instance, and having separate places for the item descriptions and story behind them. Granted at the time of this writing I haven't gotten a sale through ArtFire yet, but there's plenty of time.

-What makes your shop unique?

The obvious love and celebration of shiny, of course! Well, maybe not so much that--it's a love and celebration of all things shiny and fun with a story to tell and a rather casual attitude toward... everything. Except the shiny. The shiny is serious business.

-What advice do you have for other independent crafters just starting out?

Don't get discouraged! You're going to hear that a lot, but that's because it's true. Some people just plain aren't going to like your stuff, that's just how it goes--but somewhere out there, someone will LOVE it. It's all a matter of time and trying again and again. So long as you enjoy what you're doing, focus on that and the rest will come.

-Where else can we find you on the web?

I'm a little bit of everywhere! But my base is my web site: http://www.reignofangels.com From there you'll find my omnipresence on the web, from shiny things to writing to music to sheer weird insanity. But in a fun way, of course.

Featured Artist - Linda B

- What's your name and where are you from?
I'm Linda B. from the Chicagoland suburbs.

-What is your shop name and what does it mean to you?
My shop name is http://www.lindab142.artfire.com/
When I signed up for Etsy (same name), I didn't know that would be the name of the shop, but the 1+4+2 = 7, the days of the week that G-d created. So, the number acknowledges G-d and Creation.

- What websites do you sell on how did you decide on which ones?
I sell my handbeaded jewelry creations at http://lindab142.etsy.com/ , http://lindab142.artfire.com/ http://linorstore.com/ (my Website).And you can find me also at http://onlineshoppingmall.ning.com/profile/Linda and http://yourhandmade.ning.com/profile/LindaBlatchford63

- How long have you been crafting?
I've been crafting for about 15 years, but focusing on jewelry and stamping for the past 4.

-Tell me any interesting things about you that you would like to share.
I have a tremor in my hands and head that makes me shake. It's sometimes challenging to finish off a piece off jewelry. But, I love a good challenge.

-What do you sell in your shop?
In my shops, I sell one-of-a-kind handbeaded gemstone and glass jewelry. I've been using sterling silver earwires lately, either fishhooks, which I love, and leverback, which my friend really likes. I have a ton of stamping supplies too, but there's not enough time in the day.



- Tell us about your crafting space.
My crafting spaces are all over our house, I create jewelry in the dining room, paper items and do photography at my drafting table in the bedroom, candle supplies are in the garage and my computer is in the office bedroom.

-Do you belong to any guilds, teams or other indie craft organizations?
I'm in the Jewelry Guild, Self Representing Artist Jewelry Designer, the EtsyBead Team, the EtsyTwitter Team, the EtsyChai team, and I've just been accepted into the Etsy Bloggers Team.

-What is your favorite item in your shop right now?
Right now, my favorite item is my Luck of the Irish Malachite sterling silver earrings http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21196390.

-Why is it your favorite?
I love malachite and green represents healing and the heart chakra. My husband gave me a piece of malachite years ago, and it's a feel good stone.

-Where do you find inspiration?
I'm inspired by gemstone and glass bead colors, different shapes and healing characteristics.

-How did you get started with your craft?
Years ago, I went to a women's group study and we listened to a rabbi talk about Esther and women in the Bible, and made bracelets. Since then, I've been addicted.

- Where have you learned to do what you do?
I'm self-taught and I subscribe to BeadStyle Magazine to create variations of some items that impress me. I enjoy doing custom work, based on the color of a piece of clothing or having the client show me an piece of jewelry to making a matching bracelet or pair of earrings.

- What is your favorite part of your craft?
The favorite part of my craft is creating and having people buy my creations and wear my originals.

- What is your least favorite part?
It's tough to take pictures, and promote because it takes a lot of time. I work full time, you see, and I'd rather be creating!

-What advice do you have for other independent crafters just starting out?
Advice: take excellent pictures of your items, no matter how many times you have to re-shoot them. I'm still learning and got a tripod from my cousin, who's an excellent photographer. Post in the forums and get to know people. Join teams, participate and be kind to other sellers. Chat Rooms are fun, but one can spend too much time in them, so use them wisely.

-What makes your shop unique?
There are so many jewelry designers online, what makes my shop unique is that my creations are from my heart and soul and G-d given talent. I combine gemstones and glass to make my items more affordable. I love working with gemstone or glass pendants and creating around them.

-Where else can we find you on the web?
My blog is http://linorstorecom.blogspot.com/
Twitter me at http://twitter.com/lindab142
Web http://www.linorstore.com/
http://onlineshoppingmall.ning.com/profile/Linda http://www.myhandmaderegistry.com/profile/LindaBlatchford
http://lindab142.byhand.me/ (new)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24930325@N03/
http://www.myspace.com/lindab142