Interview with Kelly of KEBO

Tell us a little about yourself and when did you start crafting.

My name is Kelly Boulter and I am a 31 year old spendaholic living in Surrey, UK *she says standing up in the circle of addicts*!!! I truly am the worst spendaholic I know (and my friends and family know for that matter!!) and making jewellery really doesn’t help as I am a bit of a magpie, I have to have anything that it pretty and sparkly!!! Because of this I have huge amounts of gemstones and artisan lampwork!! I starting ‘crafting’ about 7 or so years ago when a friend came for a visit from Australia and showed me some cards she had made. I couldn’t believe that someone had made them and then she starting telling me about all the stuff you can buy and that was it, I was hooked!!! I progressed from greeting cards on to wedding stationery and had my own business which used to appear in some of the wedding magazines. After a while, I found I was turning orders away as the thought of doing hundreds of cards in the same design drove me to insanity!! About 3 or 4 years ago, another friend asked me to do a part-time jewellery making course and I thought, why not…big mistake…walking around the bead shops in London felt like I was one of the kids in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory!!!!!!

2. What do you sell in your Etsy shop and how long has it been open?

I have only opened my Etsy shop a couple of weeks ago but I sell jewellery that I have designed and created. My favourite materials to use are gemstones, artisan lampwork and silver.

3. What is your favourite item in your shop?

As I say, my Etsy shop is still very new so there is only a couple of pieces in it…but watch this space!!! I think my favourite may have to be the Murky Waters bracelet or the Candy Corn bracelet. Bracelets in general are my favourite pieces as I never leave the house without a bracelet on, my right arm feels too bare!!

4. What other craft would you like to try?

I have always dreamed of being a painter but alas, I am rubbish at it!!! If I win the lotto I am going to go to one of those retreat places and stay there until I can at least do something that looks like art, even if it is very abstract!!! I also want to learn how to sew and would love to make handbags…as I spend so much on them!!! My mum is a great sewer so I have asked her to teach me….we are just waiting for a day when we are both in a happy and patient mood…it may be a while!!!

5. Do you have a blog or website?

I have both…and some other sites, greedy I know!!!

My website – www.kebojewellery.co.uk

My Blog - http://www.kebojewellery.blogspot.com/

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kebojewellery/

Etsy – http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5644114

Folksy - http://www.folksy.com/shops/KEBO

New Card set

Card set
Originally uploaded by sallers

This is a set of cards I had made up from Moo of some of my flower pictures. The Yellow flower was taken in Florida, but the other two were in my back yard!
I just need to get round to listing them now. Maybe sometime this week, if I get organised.

GET 20% OFF from September 15-30 with EFA Birthday Bash Code!

CUSTOMERS CELEBRATING THE Etsy For Animals BIRTHDAY BASH AT ETSY: Are you shopping with a coupon from the EFA birthday bash?
If so, during the checkout process in the "Notes to Seller" just enter the coupon "code" you were given.
Don't have a coupon yet but want one? Please use mine, "SALLS", here or in any store participating in the bash (everyone has a different code and we get prizes if ours is used the most, so be careful not to switch codes!)
To find out who's participating or more about the EFA Birthday Bash Extravaganza and how the coupon works, please check out http://efaartistshelpinganimals.org/index.php/promotions/27-bday-bash/11-bday-bash-finale-coupon-commotion

Over 120 Etsy shops are accepting the coupon!

Check your popularity status

storybeader over at etsy bloggers posted this link

http://www.assets.cc/link_popularity.php

Where you can check the popularity of your domain.

It makes for interesting reading!

Xmas planning it's never too early!

Tiny Fig has a fab guide to planning for the holiday season ie Xmas!!! here.
Her etsy shop is here.

Maybe I'll have to have a long hard read of it tonight and formulate my plan!

August featured blogger

This month's featured blogger is Tulips Treasure Box

Her Blog is here.

There are some lovely pictures taken from around her home, which are lovely.

I especially love this wrist cuff available on etsy. The colours are lovely very summery!

Congrats to Tulip on the honour!

Childhood memories

September 1st's blog carnival topic is about chilhood and what you remember doing as a child.

I used to really like making model kits when I was a kid, and that's what I remember really enjoying.

They were usually little houses either in a kit form or from a book.

I had a whole little village at one point!

My love of making things has obviously stayed with me into adulthood. There's always a cross stitch or some arty project on the go in my house.

Interview with Helen of cattoo

1. Tell us a little about yourself and when did you start crafting?

I'm a 30 year old British artist living in the city of Hull. Animals and nature are my main inspiration, including 'Neo' my cat, being a secondhand-shop-a-holic and travelling about in my husbands 1970s VW Campervan. I have been crafting for most of my life really, drawing and creating characters since I can remember. Art was the only thing I was ever good at in school and wished I was left to only focus on that subject alone :-). In 1999 I gained a HND in Creative Studies at Humberside & Lincoln University, then moved onto fulltime work as a Reprographics Assistant at a local news paper. After 3 years service there, I then moved onto volunteering and freelancing in the community, running arts and media workshops. This then led me onto my current job at a youth council, were I qualified as a nationally qualified youth worker at Hull University in 2007. Here I listen, support and help young people campaign on issues that they are concerned about in there local area.It was only around a year ago that I started crafting properly again, it is hard fitting it all in when you work fulltime. Spending a little less time infront of the box and net is the key to finding more crafting time I think :-)

2. What do you sell in your etsy shop and how long has it been open?

In my shop I currently sell prints of my illustration's, including brooches inspired from my artwork. These illustrations are of eccentric cats called Cattoo, who love their tattoo's 'cat+tattoo=cattoo' :-). I'm not fully sure where the idea came from, I just love cats, enjoy drawing them and having them as pets.Cattoo.etsy offically opened on 28th July 2008, so it's a baby really. I am currently working on some other items, such as tote bags, cards and plush toy cats, so watch this space :-) Through my sales on Etsy I am also raising money for Cats Protection and am a proud member of Etsy for animals ( http://etsyforanimals.etsy.com/ )

3. What is your favourite item in your shop?

My faviourite item in my Etsy shop has to be 'Hello Sun' http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13764490, as it not only represents the simple enjoyment of a cat sunning itself but it also has a beautiful oriental look about it.

4. What other craft would you like to try?

I would love to have a go at every possible craft I can get my hands on really, although if I had to choose one new craft I would like to have a go at Gocco printing. As I think this medium could work well with my Cattoo illustrations.

5. Do you have a blog or website?

My website is ( http://www.cattoo.co.uk/ ) and my blog is ( http://www.justalittlepeek-justalittlepeek.blogspot.com/ )

Interview with Sharks and Static

1. Tell us a little about yourself and when did you start crafting.
I've always been a bit of a crafty lass making my own bags and skirts - I think it comes from wanting to look a little different from everyone else!
I set up Sharks and Static 2 years ago making alternative and hand made jewellery.

2. What do you sell in your etsy shop and how long has it been open?
I've only just recently opened a store on Etsy as I wanted somewhere to sell one off items. My main lines which I try to change every season through my store on the website http://www.sharksandstatic.com/.

3. What is your favourite item in your shop?
I the custom Tattoo Banners as they're so indvidual and you can really make a statement with them. I have made ones for myself which say: Femme Fatale, Hello Sailor and Zombie. You can have a lot of fun with them!

4. What other craft would you like to try?
I'm really inspired by Burlesque. I love the combination of saucy and cheeky! I'm just beginning to play around with fascinators, frilly knickers and pasties. Once i've got a collection together i'm hoping to launch it under D.D. Divine's PinUp Palace!

5. Do you have a blog or website?
ooooh lots of places:

http://www.sharksandstatic.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5181796

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sharks-and-Static/9847399490?ref=s

http://www.myspace.com/sharksandstatic

More Moo's

More Moo's
Originally uploaded by sallers

You can now link your etsy photos to http://moo.com and get some great things made up. I decided to get some more mini moo's printed. It's a great way of showcasing your products and I will be using them as business cards when I send orders out.

Tile project

DSCN3065
Originally uploaded by sallers

pcagoe.com's artists are making two joint project alphabet boards for childrens charities.
There are some lovely tiles already and this is my contribution.
Find out about pcagoe at pcagoe.com

100 Books to read

The Big Read says that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.


Here's how it works.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.

2) Italicize those you intend to read.

3) Underline the books you LOVE, and strikeout the books you read but didn't like.

4) Reprint this list so we can try and track down these people who've read only 6 or less and make them read.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4. The Harry Potter Series JK Rowling

5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh .
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen .
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan .
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov

63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry .
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down. Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Well I think thats 46 that I've read well above the average!
Confession thou most of these were enforced reads at school ie the Dickens and the Austen. Not that these are bad books far from it, but not my choice. I think my favourite on the list would have to be The Wasp Factory - cracking read!
Thanks to Made By Melissa where I found this and A Cozy Life for originally putting this on their blogs.

Currently I am taking part in a challenge I found on librarything that involves trying to read 50 books in a year. Since March I have read 24, I don't think that's too bad, well on target I think! heaven knows how I've done it since I only read on a night for about an hour, must be a fast reader I guess!

Interview with Gail of polkadotandpersian

1. Tell us a little about yourself and when did you start crafting?

I have always loved making and drawing, I loved making cakes out of Fimo when I was a kid. I also had huge collection of beads and making earrings and bracelets was a big hobby. I always planned to go to art college, and for as long as I can remember I wanted to study jewellery design. Which I did, at Edinburgh College of Art. I LOVED it so much and would go back and do it all again if I could. I graduated in 1999 which seems so long ago when I type it out, but it feels like yesterday. After college I exhibited in galleries throughout the UK for a few years but eventually the lure of the wage got me and I started working full time in a proper job, and I stopped be so active making jewellery. Then about 2 years ago I got sick of it, and left my job to train as an aromatherapist. So now I am working part time and doing massage and jewellery part time. I'm skint most of the time and it's hard workbeing self employed twice over, but I have never been happier!

2. What do you sell in your etsy shop and how long has it been open?

I sell jewellery and it has been open since February I think, though I have been a Etsy member for over a year now.

3. What is your favourite item in your shop?

My flower ribbon chokers.

4. What other craft would you like to try?

Dress making. I used to make a clothes for myself when I was at school, and would love to get back into it. I can never find things I love so to be able to make them would be such fun. But I think I have enough on my plate so that will have to go on the back burner for now!

5. Do you have a blog or website?

Yes!http://polkadotandperisan.blogspot.com/Another thing I have got addicited to recently.... it started as a blog about my work, but now it's a place where I chat about my life and things I love.

Tag order

Tags
Originally uploaded by sallers

I was contacted on etsy last week about my tags. A lady who owns a shop near me is interested in selling some of them!
I am making some samples up and off to see her later this week.
Her shop sells lots of handmade goodies and many of them are made in Yorkshire. It's all quite exciting!

Work in progress take two

Day 17
Originally uploaded by sallers

This is the second time I have started this piece. The last time I stuffed up and didn't read the instructions properly. I just couldn't face picking it all out so I just went and bought another kit. Luckily it was very expensive. It eventually is going to be for a friend of mine who is expecting a baby next year, so at least I have plenty of time to finish it!

One object 365 project

14/365 9-7-8
Originally uploaded by sallers

I joined a group on flickr where the idea is to take a picture each day of the same object. This is probably my favourite so far. Only about 330 more days to go!!

July featured etsy blogger

This months featured etsy blogger team member is A KeepersJackpot

shop: http://akeepersjackpot.etsy.com/

blog: http://akeepersjackpot.blogspot.com/

These green earings are really pretty. I am a great lover of all things green and purple for that matter.

Congratulations for becoming this months blogger!

Finished

Well I finished off my cat picture today. I decided not to go for the writing at the top, as I thought it looked good as it was. The picture reminded me of my cat Cleo who always hogs the best seat in the house!

Interview with Heather of niftyknits

1. Tell us a little about yourself and when did you start crafting.

My name's Heather, I'm a primary teacher but I'm not working at the moment. I started knitting again a few months ago when I'd been off sick for a while - someone suggested it was a really good way to relieve stress, and they're quite right. I used to knit years ago when my kids were small, but hadn't knitted for so long that I'd actually given all my needles away to a charity shop so had to start my collection all over again! I've been an ebay seller for years, so at first I just added my knitted items to my ebay listings.

2. What do you sell in your etsy shop and how long has it been open?

My son's girlfriend is an occasional Etsy buyer, she told me about Etsy and said I should open a shop. When I first looked at the range and quality of goods available on Etsy I wasn't sure I was up to it...but she persuaded me to give it a go, and my shop opened on April 28th this year. I sell knitted toys, collectibles, noveltie...even knitted jewelry! I've recently picked up crochet again to add to my repetoire, and have produced a few amigurumi collectibles.

3. What is your favourite item in your shop?

It changes (my favourite is often the one I am working on at the moment) but overall it wold have to be my fuschias. When I first started knitting again I worked from patterns, but the fuschia was the first time I knitted something from my head without a pattern. I'm very proud of it!


4. What other craft would you like to try?

Well - I'm not quite sure what this is called, but it's something I've been meaning to have a go at for a few weeks now. On a day out I saw the piece of artwork in this photo, I think I'd call it weaving? It was very simple, and very efffective. I've got as far as collecting some long straight sticks (!!!) and thought I'd try to do a gardenscape using my knitted flowers.

5. Do you have a blog or website?

http://www.niftyknits.etsy.com/ (of course!)
and http://niftyknits-somuchyarnsolittletime.blogspot.com/

Thank you Heather!

Catch up

This week I have been catching up with myself, as I have a weeks holiday.

What with life and work, it's hard to find the time to do the essentials like chill and unwind.

I have had some time to watch a bit of tv whilst trying to finish off some new gift tags and my cross stitch.

I want to get the cat picture finished off so I can start my friends baby sampler. It's soo cute!