Friday Feature ~ Jackie's Plushies

This week we are featuring Jackie's Plushies. Jackie has been making felt plushies since 2008.

1. What is your Shop Name and URL ?

Jackie's Plushies, www.etsy.com/shop/rawien8706

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

SF Etsy, For the love of plush, Etsy Worldwide, Deviant Art

3. Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?

I make hand sewn felt plushies that are fanart inspired. I usually create the characters that I like the most from things I'm into (IE: Kingdom Hearts, Disney, etc). I learned my craft through trial and error mostly...I made "monsters" back before 2008, but decided I would make some "personalized" ones as gifts for my friends and they've been a big hit ever since.

4. Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you.

I cosplay and am an amateur photographer.

5. Where else can we find out more about you and/or your creations?

Tumblr: jackiesplushies.tumblr.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/jackiesplushies Storenvy: jackiesplushies.storenvy.com

6. What is your favorite item in your shop (currently for sale or previously sold)? Why is it your favorite?

I like all my plushies equally, if I liked one more than the rest I would want to keep it for myself! Hah. Of the ones I had listed though, I would have to say my hand sewn Cosima from Orphan Black felt plushie. There aren't too many fanart inspired creations out there that I've noticed representing Orphan Black so I made one. =) https://www.etsy.com/transaction/242891224?

7. What's next for you?

Continuing making plushies just for fun, as well as keep an eye out for those craft fairs within my tiny budget.

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Friday Feature ~ AvantGarde Studio

Happy Friday everyone !!! We are back this week and AvantGarde Studio is our feature this week.  Owner Elena makes some super cute clothes for kids and is currently offering 20% off . Use the code HAPPYSHOPPING to get 20% off  till October 16th at her Etsy store.

1. What is your Shop Name and URL ?

AvantGarde Studio
https://www.etsy.com/shop/AvantgardeStudio

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

SF Etsy
Etsy Craft Party Team
Etsy Success

3. Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?

I am a new mom who started AvantGarde Studio after I couldn’t find dresses for my daughter that fit my minimalist aesthetic. I decided to make my own, and the response was so positive that I made few more =) In my Etsy shop you'll find kids fashion, home decor and other fabric gifts.
I shop for fabrics, wash, design, cut, sew, photograph...I handle marketing, correspondence, shipping...I make coffee and oil my sawing machine.

4. Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you.

Born and raised in Bulgaria, I moved to North America after I graduated university. Love to travel and some of the places I've called home include Hawaii, California, Vancouver (BC) and Toronto (ON).

5. Where else can we find out more about you and/or your creations?

Instagram:
https://instagram.com/avantstu/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Avantgarde-Studio/311332799018884?ref=hl

Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/AvantStu/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AvantStu

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

Friday Feature ~ Bhairaviart

This week we are featuring Bhairaviart. Owner Bhairavi  Kulkarni is a Visual Development Artist & Illustrator. She will be participating in Alternative Press Expo which is going to be held at the San Jose Convention Center on October 3rd and 4th. She is also offering 10% off on a minimum purchase of $25 to customers who use coupon code SALE10. The sale ends October 31st.

1. What is your Shop Name and URL ?

Bhairaviart, www.bhairaviart.etsy.com

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

Favorites for Sales
Digital Prints
Increase Sales
SF Etsy
Increase your shops visibility
New Seller Tips
Illustrations (prints)

3. Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?

I sell Art Prints, Postcards, Bookmarks and Greeting cards in my shop. I love to tell stories through my Illustrations and Art.
Being born and brought up in a country as diverse as India, I was always surrounded by interesting stories and loved to draw them. I took various art courses throughout my childhood and did an Under graduation In applied Art and came to the United States to pursue my Masters in Visual Development. I studied at the Academy of Art University. Personal experiences and observation are the key to my Illustrations.

4. Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you.

I absolutely LOVE to cook and try new recipes. I get super excited at a Farmers Market when I see Fresh colorful ingredients. Lately, I have also been super obsessed with trying DIY projects for home. I gave myself a challenge to make things from everything I already had in stock!

5. Where else can we find out more about you and/or your creations?

Blog : www.bhairavi-k.blogspot.com
Website : www.bhairaviart.com
Pintrest : https://www.pinterest.com/bhairavi2788/
Instagram : https://instagram.com/bhairavik/

6. What inspires your creations?

Stories and personal experiences. I love to illustrate stories that people can connect with. A painting they look at and feel an emotion.

7. What is your favorite item in your shop (currently for sale or previously sold)? Why is it your favorite?

Couple Art Print
This is a very special illustration. This is how my husband and I look when watching television. Very special memories.

8. What crafting skill(s) do you wish you had or hope to learn someday?

I would love to learn wood working. I have a long list of DIY projects!

9. If you had a gift certificate to Etsy for any one item you wanted, what would you buy?

Whale Bookends
I fell in love with this shop! They make super cute stuff. I know this is for a kids room, but, I would proudly display these in my home office.

10. What has been your biggest success and/or proudest moment since opening your Etsy shop?

I had an order for 2 sets of postcards. I got a 5 star review and the customer sent a hand written note to tell me how much she loved the postcards and she would definitely be a return customer! It was a very special moment.

11. What's next for you?

I am working on creating some handmade stamps with my illustrations and make hand stamped Art Prints and Greeting Cards. I am also preparing for Alternative Press Expo that is going to be held in San Jose on October 3rd and 4th. Lot of new products and exciting news coming up.

Anything else you would like to add?

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

Friday Feature ~ Heinonen

Friday Feature is back after a long summer break, just in time for fall. Hopefully everyone had a fun and productive summer.  We are going to have a feature each week for the next few weeks and are starting off with Daisy Debelle's shop Heinonen. The shop name is her mother's family name and it is her way of staying in touch with her Finnish roots.

Happy Friday and do pop by to say hello to Daisy. She will have more products to add to her shop after mid October.

1. What is your Shop Name and URL ?
Heinonen, https://www.etsy.com/shop/heinonen

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?
San Francisco Bay Area

3. Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?
I am half French and half Finnish, having lived in Paris before moving to San Francisco in January. I am doing paintings and drawings but also ceramic and origami mobiles.

I studied painting in school and I also have a bachelor’s degree in history of art from the Sorbonne in Paris.

About my creative process, everything starts with a sketch. From there, it's draw, paint, cut, over and over again until I feel the art looks finished. I use some books and images to get inspirations, putting together memories and dreams that I see on the paper. Also traveling to different countries and see other cultures gives me a huge inspiration! I really love Asian art.

4. Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you.
I just finishing a PhD thesis in Geography which I will defend in September. I am working on architecture in China and urban planning. I love mapping, I really like how the design rivers, building and study the shape of cities. Maps appeal to our pride, our sense of belonging, and our aspirations and to do this, they employ artistic motifs, devices and meanings.

5. Where else can we find out more about you and/or your creations?
My pinterest account:
https://www.pinterest.com/daisydebelle/my-work/

6. What inspires your creations?
My travels around San Francisco, I try to leave the city every week-end and go into the wood or the coast where I collect wood, feather, stones. I am also attending a baby boy for July and these last couple of months I am focusing more on baby nursery decorations, like paintings, mobiles.

7. What crafting skill(s) do you wish you had or hope to learn someday?
I just start working with naturals materials, I will love to perfom my woodworking techniques. I already working with ceramic for home design but I want to develop more skills on sculpture for a complete experimentation.



If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

Friday Feature ~ Pamela Baron Designs

It's Friday Feature time again and this time we are featuring Pamela Baron Designs. She makes some beautiful watercolors and also does custom house portraits.

1. What is your Shop Name and URL ?

Pamela Baron Designs, https://www.etsy.com/shop/PamelaBaronDesigns

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

SF Etsy, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)

3. Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?

My shop houses my prints, paintings and hand-cut sticker packs. I make everything from my studio in Oakland and take pride in selecting high quality materials, locally whenever possible.

I got a degree in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design, but it took me several years of working and collaborating with other artists in a variety of fields before I ventured out on my own. 

4. Tell us two (or more) interesting things about you.

In college, I worked as a glass blowing assistant and still continue to blow glass as a hobby. My boyfriend is a professional glassblower so sometimes we get to work on projects together although our styles are very different. My glass tends to looks like wonky children's drawings, and his are very elegant and complex.

If I am not painting, blowing glass, or hiking, I can be found fussing over the many plants. Many of them I have grown from tiny sprouts, or received from close friends. At this point, I kind of consider them my pets.

5. Do you have any other sites you would like featured?

https://instagram.com/pamelabaron/

My Instagram account is the best place to find new work and see what I am up to.

6. What inspires your creations?

I love getting out into nature and engaging with my environment. Almost all of my work starts from something that I have taken a picture of. Living in the Bay Area brings so much inspiration.

7. How did you get involved with Etsy?

I learned about Etsy in college but only seriously started using it after joining the SF Etsy Team. It's been so wonderful and inspiring to be a part of such an activate community.

8. What is your favorite item in your shop (currently for sale or previously sold)? Why is it your favorite?

My favorite item in my shop is the custom house portrait!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/218375708/personalized-housewarming-gift-custom?ref=shop_home_feat_2

Architecture has always held a special place in my heart. There is so much rhythm and character in all the line work involved, it's almost musical. From painting a client's five cats peaking out of the windows (true story!), to obsessing over special plants in the front yard, my favorite part is adding the meaningful details that make a space personal.

9. What crafting skill(s) do you wish you had or hope to learn someday?

Embroidery! Someday I'll embroider mini portraits of all of my plants.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

Friday Feature ~ Frances Marin

Our Friday Feature this week is artist Frances Marin. She paints custom portraits of people and pets, illustrates logos, paints and makes textiles.

1. What is your Shop Name and URL ?
My shops name is Frances Marin and the URL is www.francesmarin.etsy.com

 2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?
SF Etsy

 3. Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?
I sell custom portraits, prints of my artwork and some original work on Etsy. I also get custom requests for special projects. 

I have been painting and drawing since I can remember and I went to school for my BFA. 

My creative process involves being in a good headspace and environment, first and foremost. I get into the flow of working and lose track of time. I experiment with every brush stroke, learning new things and revisiting technique from years of practice. These days, I like to work loosely and simplify. I often conduct a little research to look at patterns, colors, places, so I am always learning new things by making art. That is an important aspect to my process. 

 4. Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you.
I went on an art residency in Cadiz, Spain last November. It was an incredible experience, working in a studio on the top floor of a museum that overlooked the sea. The ideas and influence that has had on me has been immense on my recent work. Also, I dropped out of high school my freshman year and later on received my BFA in pictorial art and and an MLIS (library science). I guess I like to do things my own way. 

 7. Where else can we find out more about you and/or your creations?
http://www.francesmarin.com/
https://instagram.com/francesmarin/

8. What has been your biggest success and/or proudest moment since opening your Etsy shop?
When the editor of HGTV Magazine ordered from my shop, as well as when I received custom portrait orders from actors in Belgium and from a band I love. Also, when Etsy featured my portraits on their blog in 2012. That's how the portraits took off! Thank you, Etsy. 

9. If money were no object for just one day, what would you do?
I would sail a boat to a tropical island, swim for a little while in the crystal clear water. Jump out, eat some plantains, black beans and fresh fish. Then, lay in a hammock and sketch all day. Later on, have a bonfire with some good family and friends. 

10. Give us some insight on how you personally, or your shop, gives back to your community.
I love sharing my knowledge with others. Between my art and library science education, I have a variety of creative and research skills. I have developed a good knowledge of art business skills from a course I completed as well as the internet so I try to answer questions people have for me regarding creative business. If I hear of an opportunity that would be a good fit for an artist or maker I know, I will reach out and send it to them. Last summer, I was an instructor for the Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship Program and this has led to some potential future opportunities for teaching. I have taught art to children and adults, even in a juvenile hall for girls some years ago. That was one of my favorite experiences in giving back. 

11.What's next for you?
I will be creating an art installation for the SubZERO Festival in San Jose June 5th and 6th. I love this festival since it is in my city and shows off all the artistic talent we have to offer. The range of art and music is mind-blowing so don't miss it!

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

Friday Feature ~ MiaView

This week we are featuring MiaView. Maria Ines Adover is the owner and she makes some amazing acrylic jewelry.

1. What is your Shop Name and URL ?

MiaView, miaview.etsy.com

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

SfEtsy - https://www.etsy.com/teams/5196/sf-etsy
Etsy Success - https://www.etsy.com/teams/5002/etsy-success
Kawaii Jewelry - https://www.etsy.com/teams/18746/dkawaii-jewelry3

3. Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?

My name is Maria Ines Adrover (M.I.A.). I am a fashion designer from Argentina and came to California in 2011. Since then, I have had the idea of doing something related to jewelry, but it wasn't until 2014 that MiaView was born.

My shop is about fashionable perspex rings, earrings, brooches, necklaces and everything related to beautiful accessories for your everyday outfit. And all in an original packaging that is the essence of the brand.

All the process of creation, elaboration, design, material selection and even the final packaging is entirely done by me. The desings are inspired from many places, things, drawings, paintings, I take common elements out from their comfort zone and place them in a newly different dimension.

I want to give a touch to the outfit, mark the difference, create color without using it, and go beyond.
I am surrounded by technology, we are all surrounded by technology, technology is in the air.
I want to combine the structure of the technology, represented with the laser cut of the products, with the volatility of the art, the drawings, the touch that comes from the hand. That is MiaView a combination of form and counterform.

4. Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you.

I had a job in Argentina as a fashion assistant until we decided to move to California for my husband job, so everything was hard to get started. I did not know anything about best places here for my designs and everything was IT related, so I decided to make jewelry with a technology touch.

I watch all kind of movies and tv shows, really, all, so I am in charge of the remote control in my house. I like hiking, though you should focus more on the "like" rather than "hike", as I barely have time! I love traveling and enjoy meeting people here from all around the world, the mix of cultures is what I love most from California, I even have "International dinners" regularly with my friends from many parts of the world.

5. Where else can we find out more about you and/or your creations?

www.miaview.com
https://www.pinterest.com/MiaView/
https://instagram.com/miaviewdesign/
https://twitter.com/MiaViewdesign
https://www.facebook.com/miaviewdesign
https://www.hatch.co/maker/miaview
https://www.aftcra.com/miaview

6.What is your favorite item in your shop (currently for sale or previously sold)? Why is it your favorite?

My favorite item in my shop is "Milk With Tea" ring. Because I love wearing rings all day (my husband is all the time trying to protect his body from my sharp rings!) and because it makes me smile everytime I see it.

7. What crafting skill(s) do you wish you had or hope to learn someday?

I am everyday trying to incorporate new techniques to expand my shop sections. I am also doing some online trainings.
I like innovating and doing different projects at the same time, I cannot be just doing the same type of activity, so I am now starting with softies like https://www.etsy.com/listing/231267368/doll-softie-cotton-handmade-sewed

8. What has been your biggest success and/or proudest moment since opening your Etsy shop?

My first admirer! It was beautiful that somebody from very very far likes what I love doing. It made my day.

9. Tell us about your first sale ever?

My first sale was to a woman that bought my coffee brooch to give it as a gift to her friend that just opened her new coffee shop.
I really think it was a beautiful idea that many other people can use!

10. What's next for you?

I plan to give more exposure of my products and participate in some upcoming shows.

11.Anything else you would like to add?

Being a designer is a really tough path, so no matter what, you have to enjoy what you do

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!