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 -- Tir na nOg Faery adoption

This week's featured SF Etsy member is Jesse, the creative force behind Tir na nOg Faery adoptions. Her Faery creations are gorgeous works of art -- and they get a big squeal of approval from my 5 year old daughter, who was looking over my shoulder as I explored Jesse's shop. Every doll received approving "Oohs!" and "Aahs!" Clearly, Jesse knows her target audience! I think my daughter likes this Pixie Mermaid best:



Enjoy the interview!

1. 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?

At the moment, I have my shop loaded to the gills with what I call 'pipe cleaner pixies'. For anyone familiar with the Waldorf schools, the style is based off of their 'Flower Fairy' dolls. When I was smaller, my Mum bought a Flower Fairy tutorial sheet from a Waldorf festival and made a couple for me, which have followed me from home to home ever since. I actually started making dolls of my own rather spur of the moment. I was at the Faerieworlds Festival in Eugene Oregon five years ago and decided that my costume was missing something. So, I got out the old instruction sheet for the flower fairies and went to work. After the festival, I realized that I really enjoyed creating these little dolls and as the months went by, I started to play more and more with their design. It wasn't until my sophomore year in college that I actually started selling my dolls. There was one project in particular where we were asked to craft a book. I chose to illustrate mine by posing some of my faeries and photographing them. My professor saw some of the pictures and suggested that I try vending them at the Denver Waldorf's Festival of Light. The entry fee was within my budget and I figured "sure. Why not?" The festival was a gigantic success for me and opened my eyes to a new possibility; selling my dolls online. I have been a vendor at this festival for the past four years. I even earned a nickname within the community, which I use as my online handle ("The Faery Lady")

As for my creative process, its all rather fluid. I start by making the 'yarn skeleton' and once that's done, I hold it up against all my fabrics and flowers to see which feels the best for that particular doll. I usually just go where the inspiration takes me, which is how the mermaid dolls came into being. I was looking at my betta fish one evening when all of a sudden a thought popped in. I wonder how I would make a mermaid doll...
Now that I've figured that one out, the next thought bubble to tackle is dragons.

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?
SFetsy, Dollmakers, Dollmakers of Etsy, Etsy Success, FAE, and Sonoma County Etsy

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

Within the last couple of months, I've picked up face painting. I had always been really interested in the art form, thanks to the painters at Disneyland, but it had never occurred to me that I could do it too. After pouring over a bunch of face painting tutorials on youtube, I finally decided to just go for it. It's been one of the best late night choices I've ever made! I'm really excited about doing some painting for Valentine's day, especially since I just bought a few new pigments....one of which is a fantastic copper color and a rainbow cake called 'Fairy Floss'.

I'm also expanding into cut paper illustration. It has this lovely folk art feel to it, which I love and the medium is a bit more forgiving than others (like pencils or oil paint). There's this artist named Brittany Lee who has done some beautiful, beautiful pieces with cut paper and acrylic paint. Every time I see her work, I get the same " I wonder how I could do that" bee in my bonnet that I get with my dolls. It's brilliant.

As for other interesting facts, I have green/purple/blue and brown hair, I have a cat with six toes on her front two paws named Nimuae (Nim-oo-ay), I love sculpting creatures out of polymer clay, I'm obsessed with empty notebooks, and Art Nouveau is my favorite artistic style.

4. What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop?

My biggest challenge has to do with pricing my work. I'm learning to take my work and myself seriously, but there's still that little tickle in the back of my mind that says I shouldn't charge a lot of money because no one will buy from me if I do. As of late, I'm beginning to see what a destructive belief that is and how it is my responsibility as an artist to educate others on the value of any piece of art. One of the things that never really sunk into my brain when I was at art college was that not many people can do what we artists do. We provide a service and that service has a definite value. It takes a good amount of soul searching and research to find a value that is both fair and reasonable to you and your customers, but it is very much worth your while to do it. Life lesson learned.

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



Rori, my little acorn faery, would have to be one of my favorites. I was a little sad to ship her to her new home. One of my favored yarns to use for hair is that 'ginger' color. That, coupled with the green dress and acorn hat just makes me so giddy when I look at pictures of her.

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

This one's a toughie because there are so many wonderful items out there that I would be ecstatic to have as part of my home decor or personal wardrobe. If I were to pick just one though, I'd have to go with....one of these or...quite possibly this.

7. If you had to live out the rest of your life as a famous fictional character, who would you be and why?

Bilbo Baggins! The Hobbit was the first novel I read by myself as a child, so Mr. Baggins holds a very special place in my heart. He goes on grand adventures, writes books, smokes one awesome looking pipe, and lives in a hobbit hole. Sounds like a perfect life to me...especially if there's a hobbit hole involved. I promise you, one day I will have one for my very own.

8. Which one song describes your life the best? Why?

Again we turn to The Hobbit to answer this one, except this time it's the animated feature film instead of the book. The Greatest Adventure by Glenn Yarbrough sums up my life and how I aspire to be remarkably well. The whole song is basically talking about how you are in complete control of your life and how it plays out. If you want to live your ideal life, you have to get out there and just do it, rather than sitting on your hands dreaming about doing it.

9. If money were no object for just one day, what would you do?
Let's see. If money were no object and I could do anything I wanted...I'd get up at midnight, buy myself a proper art studio loaded with everything I could ever hope to play with before six am and then I'd go to Ireland for a long visit.


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

I have a twitter, blog, and deviantart, which can be found at:

Twitter
Blog
Deviantart

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Friday Feature -- Mediums To Masses

This week's featured SF Etsy teammate is Sarah, the glass artist who runs Mediums to Masses. I am a huge fan of handcrafted glass, so it was a wonderful treat to check out Sarah's shop! I love the way she combines textures and images with bright colors, as in this Modern Glass Plate in orange. Just stunning!
Enjoy the interview!

1. 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 fused glass jewelry and home decor that combines vintage textile patterns with modern, vibrant glass colors. The patterns are screen printed onto the glass, then fired into the surface in a glass kiln. I spend lots of time looking for new patterns and watching to see what trends are for colors/ styles (otherwise everything in my shop would be green since that's my favorite color!).

I've been working with glass for over 16 years and actually studied glass as an undergrad at Rhode Island School of Design and since then have worked for a variety of glass artists but am very happy to be working for myself now. I'm still totally enamored with glass as a medium due to all the various ways you can manipulate it and am constantly thinking about new ideas.

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

I received my MFA in sculpture last May from Mills College and when I'm not working on my glass wares I am in my art studio making sculptures and installations. (Too big to sell on Etsy!) I also am the mom to an awesome 4 1/2 year old daughter name Ahmory and have another baby girl on the way (due in April) and a wonderfully supportive husband!

3. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

SF Etsy, East Bay Arts Collective, Rhode Island School of Design, Heartsy Official


4. How did you get involved with Etsy?

I had been selling my glass wares at wholesale trade shows, but after my daughter was born I wanted to figure out another way to get my glass work seen without having to travel and pay hefty booth fees. With my second daughter on the way, I'm once again really trying to promote my Etsy store since I seem to have ended up doing lots of retail shows to get my work out there.

5. What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop?

Promotion (as related to the above question). I closed my shop for the last few months of grad school and it really made me lose momentum. So, now I'm working on getting more views and playing with keywords since the change to search by relevancy also has made it harder for me to get views. I guess I also need to break down and make my own blog & facebook fanpage too!

6. If you had to be an animal for one week, which animal would you choose to be? And what would you do?

Without a doubt I would be a cat- they truly have the life getting to lounge around in the sun, get pet and held and they are so cute (all of them)! I really like cats and have 2 of my own plus a 3rd who lives outside and thinks he's my cat but my husband thinks otherwise. My week spent as a cat would be very relaxing!

7. If money were no object for just one day, what would you do?

I would buy all of my favorites on Etsy!! Not only would I be supporting other small business owners and artists, but I'd have an amazing wardrobe with lots of great accessories and my home would be filled with lots of wonderful handmade items and I'd have a selection of great gifts to give out to my friends and family.

8. What does buying and selling local handmade mean to you, and how has it affected your life?

I have always been a maker and truly appreciate other hand made items. As a teenager I made most of my own clothes since I didn't want to dress like everyone else. As an adult, I try to always support local businesses and buy handmade from Etsy as opposed to big box stores (and hopefully this helps instill an appreciation of handmade in my own daughter). I also love owning & gifting unique items that you can't find at regular old retail stores.

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

The Mediums to Masses website or my artist site.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Friday Feature -- Honey From The Bee

This week's featured teammate is Janet, who runs Honey From the Bee. I love the gorgeous colors and textures in her artisan jewelry! This Black and Red bracelet particularly caught my eye -- isn't that lampwork gorgeous?
Enjoy the interview!

1. 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 create one of a kind and limited edition earrings, bracelets, brooches and necklaces. I'm a recovering workshop junkie. I've always loved to learn and find spending several days with like-minded people is very inspiring and comforting. Everyone is supportive and "gets" your creative side. I touched beads for the first time at a local bead store near Portland, Oregon about 13 years ago. Besides workshops at retreats I've taken a semester of a small metals course through our local junior college. Practice, practice, practice...

I find it difficult to create when I'm not in the mood. However it doesn't take much more than flipping through some magazines or books and pulling out drawers of my stash to get back in the mood. I like to create pieces that tell a story so there will be a bead or a photo that stirs something in me or some memory that I want to capture. Then I will spend some time pulling colors from my stash before sitting down to either draw a potential design or I might go right to playing around with the beads and wire or silver pieces I've created to see what's pleasing.

2. Aside from SF Etsy, to which Etsy Teams do you belong?

Unique Women in Business (UWIB)
Blogging Business Artisans (BBArtisans)
Those are the ones I'm active in. I belong to some others related to treasuries and the Etsy Blogging team.

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

I started out college prep and after a brief time in accounting I loved my job as a computer programmer. I found it to be a creative outlet and very satisfying. Working long hours wasn't a problem much like when I am really focused on a new piece of art jewelry.

After falling in love with someone else's Springer Spaniel named Gus my husband and I have owned three ourselves. If you've ever had one you know what I mean when I say they are the most fun and loving dogs one could adopt. Currently Daisy and Moose grace our lives with their silliness and cuddling requirements.

I'm currently exploring fiber again with my knitting, weaving and hooking. I love mixed media so am also exploring more in that area, too. I'm trying not to think ahead to what that means. I think I'll always create jewelry, but maybe there will be a crossover?

4. How did you get involved with Etsy?

I used to do just art shows, but wanting a year-round exposure of my work led me to Etsy.

5. What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop?

Getting seen! Etsy seems to promote the same look and shops over and over again. At least that's the way it seems to me. So one has to do one's best to network and get the SEO up on one's shop, blog, etc. I still don't have a handle on SEO, but I do enjoy blogging and that seems to have connected with quite a few folks. I've also gotten a following on Facebook which is another way for me to stay in touch with other artists as well as my customers.

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




Environmental issues always strike a cord with me. When the Gulf Oil Spill occurred I found I was depressed for weeks while watching this disaster and feeling helpless. One morning I woke up and knew exactly what I wanted to do. I would turn those raw emotions into jewelry. I made a series of 3 talisman pendants. This one was the one I had a clear vision for and yet was the most difficult to complete. There are a lot of techniques involved and I wanted it to be beautiful to wear yet prompt conversation. The government, BP and the local people that depend on the Gulf for their livelihood all have an interest in us forgetting what happened. I won't do that and know that if you let people forget, more horrible decisions will be made in the future.

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

This "Incredible" Chandelier

(you said ANY item I wanted... lol!)

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

Quilting... I'd like to take my love of fiber and tie it to my love of beads in art quilts

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

Blog
Flickr
Facebook
Twitter

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Friday Feature -- Scene Not Herd

This week's featured SF Etsy teammate is Holly, who is the creative force behind Scene Not Herd. I love the whimsical jewelry in her shop, and the hand stamped personal touches really add a unique element. I particularly like her "Shine" lantern necklace. She says it's "reminiscent of that old thing your dad busted out on camping trips" -- spot on!
Enjoy the interview!

1. 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 jewelry is a collection of what I like to wear, girly but simple. Many of the pieces feature hand stamped tags that make them personalized and a bit more special. I love giving gifts so many of the pieces are inspired by friends and what I know they would love to wear. I took a simple jewelry making class at a local adult ed program and learned the basics a few years ago. Since, its all been experimentation until something works!

2. Tell us two other interesting things about you.

I am also an algebra and science teacher to middle schoolers in Oakland. I originally started making my own jewelry because I often noticed I was wearing the same stuff from the mall as my middle school students. Yikes!

My husband and I are in the process of adopting two little children from the Democratic Republic of Congo! My Etsy shop is helping to offset the crazy adoption costs. I'm also hoping to raise awareness for what's going on in DRC. I would love to be able to take a huge stash of formula and baby supplies when we visit the orphanage to bring our little ones home.


3. What is your favorite item in your shop? Why is it your favorite?

I'm partial to my "Oh Snap!" necklace. My students say it all the time and it never ceases to make me laugh.


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

I have an unhealthy love for succulents, so I'd get this.

5. What crafting skill do you wish you had or hope to learn someday?

I would love to knit, I've tried but I'm too impatient.

6. If you had to live out the rest of your life as a famous fictional character, who would you be and why?

Anne Shirley...there would be no shortage of adventure. And let's be honest, who doesn't love them some Gilbert Blythe? (He's as close to my real husband as fiction can get!)

7. If your life was a book, what would be the title and how would your story end?

"Second Hand Heart" The end is the beginning of a new day, full of hope and promise.

8. What is the craziest gift you have ever received?
Some friends gave us a $5000 check to help out with the adoption costs. They aren't wealthy, it just seemed like the right thing to do to them. I've never been so overwhelmed.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Friday Feature -- Bayside Design

This week's featured SF Etsy member is Bayside Design, home to many beautiful works of art. I especially admire "Inked Impressions," a Handmade Artist Book. The combination of architecture and color is so striking! I'd love to see this in person.
Enjoy the interview!

1. 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 prints, artist books, collages, and mixed media pieces. After retiring from architecture a few years back I took an intensive training course in etching at Crown Point Press in San Francisco. This captivated me so that I have been making etchings for the past six years as an artist in residence at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. I sketched a good deal during my training and professional career in architecture so doing etching was a kind of natural extension of that work. I found that etching can take many and complex directions. In addition to using various resists (wax or liquid) on the copper plate I picked up techniques for photo etching (using a film process for an image that is exposed onto the plate) and aquatint (application of a fine powdered resin that, when heated, forms tiny bubbles on the plate resulting in a tone in the final print).

I typically use some form of stylus to make marks in the resist which, when placed into the acid bath, will make lines. The aquatint coating can be covered with a liquid resist wherever I don't want an etched tone. From then on I cover successive zones and place the plate in the acid bath each time so that areas have graduated tonal shapes from light to dark.

One of my latest techniques involves a combination of the etched plate and Japanese "kozo" paper. I compile various shapes, color blocks, and images in Adobe Photoshop and InDesign and print these on the paper. This paper is then soaked and placed on the etched plate with wheat paste so that, when run through an etching press with a fine art paper, it bonds together resulting in an interesting "collaboration" of the two techniques and styles.

I have also trained at the San Francisco Center for the Book where I learned letterpress and the essentials of making artist books. I made a series of three accordion-style books 5 1/2" x 6 1/2" (two of which use letterpress) that are based on my travel sketches and photographs. Each one used Adobe Photoshop and InDesign for image manipulation and layout. The digital files were then printed on a large format printer on Innova Smooth Cotton fine art paper. I then hand cut each larger sheet into covers and backs along with the interior pages that were then folded and spliced with archival tape at the joint. The covers and backs were assembled using PVA archival glue, wrapped around binder board.

More recently I have thrown myself into mixed media pieces and collage. I can work quickly with acrylics (since it is fast-drying), paper, sandpaper, screen material, and whatever is within reach. Sometimes I even throw in bits of a discarded etching of which I seem to have an unfortunately large collection. I just finished a collage using mostly bits of colored paper and, yes, more etching shards, that will soon end up hanging in the nursery of my very first grandchild!

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

Printmakers and SF Etsy

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

I have to take my camera and sketch book with me when I travel overseas. A lot of my travels with my wife involve home exchanges. We are trading with two couples from England this coming May and another couple in North Carolina in the fall. We find that, aside from the considerable economies, we pick up a great deal of local lore from our trading partners and have a far more comfortable living situation than a hotel.

I've also made two audio walking tours of sections of the Financial District in San Francisco that are available on iTunes for the iPad and iPhone. They are available here and here. This was an earlier passion after retiring but the art had a greater pull. Other pursuits involve running an independent study group for young architects and working on that novel-that-will-probably- never-really-get-written.

I sneak in a few rounds of golf and love to bike from our place in the Mission Bay district to points along the Bay. Other hobbies have included renovating my condo and my son's new home in L.A. My wife is a former banker who is now also enjoying retirement. I have two wonderful "kids": my son who works as a web designer for a well known entertainment company and my daughter who is with a major foundation with grantees primarily in Africa.

4. What inspires your creations?

I find that my inspirations come principally from my business and leisure travels. I guess that's when the mind is most unencumbered and is stimulated by unique and different surroundings. A good part of that travel involved working on several architecture and urban design projects in different settings including Hanoi, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, England, and the U.S. Subliminally, I found I stored away a vast amount of cultural insights from these places layered with a broader appreciation of the world in general.

5. How did you get involved with Etsy?

I had been aware of Etsy for some time. A long-ago friend talked about it but since I didn't know anyone who used the site I didn't jump in. Recently, having little luck with sales from my own web site, I thought "Hey, why not try good ol' Etsy?" I am gradually making my way around its various parts and finding it most enjoyable and educational (and hopefully some day, fruitful).


6. What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop?

My biggest challenge is figuring out how to MAKE MY FIRST SALE! I just recently joined and I know that miracles don't grow on trees (sorry for the mixed metaphor). So, more recently I have tried some "soft initiatives" like joining teams and circles and getting to know fellow Etsians' shops and how they approach setting up their own sites and products.

7. What advice do you have for other folks selling or buying on Etsy?

Be patient and be unique.

8. If you had to be an animal for one week, which animal would you choose to be? And what would you do?

Because I'm an urban kinda guy and I love waterfronts I think I would like to be a seagull. Seagulls are a more socially acceptable and elegant bird than a pigeon. I would love the feeling of flight over my domain and especially would enjoy those late night "cleanup missions" after a night game at the San Francisco Giants AT&T baseball park where all manner of leftovers is to be found. But, rest assured, I would be selective about where I dropped the aftereffects of those missions.

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

My web site. I have recently started a blog. I am hoping to get a better handle on my Facebook and Twitter sites so I'm afraid they're not all that interesting right now.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Feature Friday - MADE, Design and Crafts

Happy Friday!

Welcome to Feature Friday with Mayene of MADE: Design & Crafts!

The shop is full of adorable keychains, pillows, and fun trinkets! She even created her own whimsical fabric on Spoonflower. Every illustrated letter of her alphabet is soo stinkin' cute - "U is for Underwear" especially! (trust me!) I'm sorry, I know it's silly, but anything that's cute AND poo-related, is my favorite! That's why these little keychains really caught my eye!

Soft, cuddly, hilarious, and cute! What could be better?

Enjoy the interview!

1. What is your shop name and URL?

MADE: Design & Crafts, http://mayene.etsy.com/

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

SF Etsy Team, East Bay Arts Collective (EBAC), California Crafters Club of Etsy (CCCOE), Artisans of the California Coast, Etsy Blog Team, Super Kawaii Pop, Uber Kawaii, Unofficial Etsy Forums — I am most active in EBAC.

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 started off with "art prints" (signs that originated the need to politely tell roommates about common courtesies around the house), but without my own printer, it was getting hard to consistently produce the quality that I wanted. My shop now consists mostly of felt donuts and mini ABC products for children (or decorative purposes). The making of small felt donut keychains came pretty randomly; I wanted to use up some scrap felt I had laying around, and, as a lover of doughnuts, ended up making a small donut. I take custom orders for specific donuts as well, and in the making of donuts, any new type of donut comes most likely from having had a donut recently (especially if from Dynamo Donuts in the Mission District, with their amazing maple bacon apple doughnut). As a graphic designer, the ABC prints started with an ABC book I processed through Blurb for a baby's Christmas present, and from there, I started printing designs on fabric via Spoonflower and making things out of them.

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

I love video games and board games. When I was growing up (very tomboyish, mind you), I had the mindset that I would marry someone who knew how to cook so I wouldn't have to. After getting a Nintendo DS Lite in college as well as Cooking Mama, I started learning how to cook and couldn't stop, and it turned into a love for baking as well. So, basically, thanks to Cooking Mama, my interest in being in the kitchen whipping up stuff was sparked. I can now bake some mean cranberry white chocolate cookies as well as bacon chocolate cookies and even make sushi (ever had duck sushi?). And just earlier this month, my homemade oreo truffles were a hit with my roommates — next on the list is figuring out how to make some kind of truffle with bacon included, and I don't mean for bacon to just be the "topping" sprinkled on top of the truffles. Besides being in the kitchen or playing Cooking Mama, I'm a huge fan of the board game Settlers of Catan (Cities & Knights expansion!); despite not being a fan of history classes in school, I'm a sucker for civilization themed games.

5. What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop?

Promoting without feeling like a spammer. While there is general "internet etiquette", with social media comes more rules; how to post on sites such as Twitter and Facebook vary, and it's hard to keep track of how well you're doing versus how annoying you can be. Since most of my promoting starts with friends and words of mouth, the last thing I want to do is be seen as the self-promoter than people end up skipping over in their news feed. A lot of my friends try to help promote, and I'm very thankful for that exposure, but I don't want them to feel obligated to share my stuff just because their my friends. This is another reason I want to start getting out there locally and see and talk to people face-to-face about my donuts!

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

I wish I had the time and money to devote to learning how to work with polymer clay. So many things that I absolutely adore and love on Etsy are polymer clay based jewelry (specifically food jewelry). ShayAaron on Etsy (http://shayaaron.etsy.com) was one of the first shops I ran across on Etsy when I first started browsing for food jewelry about a year ago. His work really amazes me — the miniatures he creates are ridiculously realistic! There are a handful of other shops that sell polymer clay based jewelry as well that I love browsing through, including a lot more "kawaii" creations. This is definitely something I want to explore and experiment with in the future.

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

When I reeled in one of two of my biggest custom orders! A nurse messaged me with interest in my "Stinky Poop" products and made a bulk order to buy out all of my "Stinky Poop" products that were available at that time, and after receiving them and using them in professional presentations as a WOCN (Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurse), she decided she wanted to make an order for 24 custom Stinky Poop coin purses. I had never really made a coin purse before or worked with zippers in general, so I learned pretty quickly how to make zippered coin pouches and was able to work with her via constant Etsy conversations and complete her order. Apparently, it was a real hit at her presentations (she handed them out as "prizes" to answered questions at the end of her presentations) and her boss loved them! It was a little weird at first, since the "Stinky Poop" products are the strangest items featured in my shop, but it was a super great experience.

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

Blog: http://mayenedesign.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mayenedesign
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mayenedeleon
Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/user/mayene (my original ABC book is available here)
Spoonflower: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/mayene

Have a great, super cute, weekend!!!

ash

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Feature Friday - SinceSass

Happy Friday, everyone!

This gorgeous weather calls for a picnic in the park! Grab a blanket, a picnic basket filled with goodies, and hide your bottle of wine in this sassy reusable wine tote.

What a better way to passively relish in your before-5pm outdoor drinking escapade! I love the irony! and the pink!

The beautiful clear photos in the SinceSass etsy shop showcase her super-cute products wonderfully! She's got plenty of trinkets that could be fun whimsical hostess gifts, or just something special for yourself!

Enjoy this interview with one of our newest members, Stephanie!

1. What is your shop name and URL?

SinceSass Shop, http://sincesass.etsy.com

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?

SF Etsy and Etsy Trade-a-holics

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 accessories with a little sass. This includes totes, wine bags,
pouches, and wallets. All items are made for daily use, but made with a
little something extra. I want the item to last and be fun. If you have to
use an item everyday, it should make you smile or make you want to show it

off!

I learned to sew when I was 11. My mom thought it was important that my
sister and I learned the basics of sewing and how to use a sewing machine,
and that's what I got on my 11th birthday. I've always had a sewing machine,
but it wasn't until a few years ago when I got into making items. I usually
made gifts for my friends or remixed thrift store clothing. I think the
combination of crafts becoming "popular" again and my mom always sewing as a
hobby influenced me to make more items. It's also great that I had the
basics of sewing already down so I could start creating my own designs right
away. My mom was right about it coming in handy one day! Props to her.

I really don't have a set creative process. Usually when an idea pops into
my head or I see something around me that inspries me, I quickly write it
down so I don't forget. Either I already have an idea when I start to make
something and find the materials to do so, or I don't have an idea and look
at what I have for inspiration. I try to make something new everyday so I'm
always experimenting with new techiques or materials.

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

I have one blue eye and one green eye. Most people can't tell unless they
are looking at me directly and in natural sunlight. I don't think my body
could decide on an eye color so it picked both.

I was born and raised in Las Vegas (Wayne Newton lived around the corner
from me) and moved to San Francisco to go to college. I've been here ever
since.

My favorite kitchen item is the crock pot. I use it at least once a week to
make delicous meals and I'm kind of obsessed with it. If you have a good
recipe, send it my way!

My dad's name is Michael Bolton but he is not THE Michael Bolton. Yes, it's
just like movie Office Space and just as painful.

5. How did you get involved with Etsy?

My coworker had an Etsy shop for a while and I was encouraged by my friends
to start one. She helped me with the details and I finally got going on it.
I actually started the process in 2008, but it wasn't until November 2010
that I actually started listing items. Now I'm on it everyday, all day.

6. What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop?

I'm still new and learning, but the first big challenge I had was making
enough inventory. Gathering materials, cutting, putting everything together
then sewing it can be time consuming and I think I underestimated that.
After a few days without sleep and nutrishment, I had to be more realistic
about what I could make in a set timeframe (and with a full time job). My
goal is to have 50 items in my shop by the end of January and I think I can
do it!

7. What advice do you have for other folks selling or buying on Etsy?

Research, research, research! The forums and community on Etsy are amazing.
I was a little naive about the process and everything that's involve. I wish
I took more time to setup the details before I dove in, but I learned fast
thanks to the forums and chats. It really is the best resource and there is
amazing support from other sellers.

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

Selling my first item! That was the best feeling and my shop had only been
open about two weeks. It was my most expensive item too!

9. What is the craziest gift you have ever received?

A life-sized glass head from my mom on my 12th birthday. She saw it and
thought of me. At the time, I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I still
have it and it's displayed on my bookcase.

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

My Facebook page is http www.facebook.com/SinceSass and my twitter link is
www.twitter.com/SinceSass

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Feature Friday - MoMuertos

It's Friday!!

Maybe it's my affinity for green. Maybe it's my affinity for birds. Or maybe it's that Dia de los Muertos is one of my favorite holidays. This interview is so exciting!

This Friday's interview is with a superhero seller, MoMuertos. Full-timer by day. Adventurous crafter by night! You'll find all sorts of goodies - from clay skulls to fabric flowers - all there to spice up your life!

My favorite is the "Minty Green Nicho With Bird and Heart" (though the Winter Cranberries Scarf is a very close second! - don't worry- you'll see it below!) This lil shadow box is both heartwarming and contemplative. But, mostly, it's insanely creative!

Enjoy the interview!

1. What is your shop name and URL?
MoMuertos http://www.momuertos.etsy.com

2. To which Etsy Teams do you belong?
SFETSY team

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?
MoMuertos offers halloween and day of the dead inspired skull decor, fun family-made crochet scarves and shawls, and accessories. The items in our shop are handmade by my family. Mom always encouraged our imaginations and creativity ... she had us crafting at an early age. I remember drawing, sculpting, and making toys and jewelry. We hand made a lot of gifts. We got to be creative and really had fun in the process. Even today, we'll see something neat in a store and come away thinking "I can make that!"

4. Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you.
I'm a cubicle drone by day, crafter by night, and I love to geek out on Etsy. Even researching seller permit and sales tax issues was an adventure to me (I was like, look at the killer spreadsheet I made! *dance). I have a great family and we have had a fun time with the shop so far. You can see that while a lot of our items have a Day of the Dead motif, we each have our own individual style. When we’re not doing crafty things, we spend our time hanging out together, singing terrible karaoke, and just trying to live happily.

5. What is your favorite item in your shop? Why is it your favorite?

It changes from day to day. Right now, it's a sweet little bell-shaped box with a red crepe flower and sheepish looking skull. It has a bit of glitter on the stem, and polka dots painted inside the box. I like how lighthearted it is ... it would be a fun gift to get. http://www.etsy.com/listing/42312874/bloom-where-you-are-planted-black-and

6. What advice do you have for other folks selling or buying on Etsy?
Enjoy it! And let it show that you do through your products, presentation, and interactions. We don't have enough time on this earth to waste it on stressful work ... we need to focus on the areas of our lives that bring us joy. Creating and sharing our work should be a rewarding experience that we can share with the Etsy community.

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

When we opened shop, some wonderful friends purchased gifts from us. It was really encouraging to have their support. We recently had our first two sales to people we didn't know though, and it felt awesome to know that someone liked our work enough to spend their hard earned money on it. I felt like quoting Sally Field: "...this time I feel it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!"

8. What does buying and selling local handmade mean to you, and how has it affected your life?

It means supporting people in the cities and communities that I care the most about ... and encouraging people to learn to make and do things on their own, rather than looking for prepackaged solutions.

9. Give us some insight on how you personally, or your shop, gives back to your community.
I read a lot of interviews on Etsy for people who want to "quit your day job." My dream is much smaller than that. I actually like my job ... my goal is to take what I make and use it to buy handmade gifts for my family from other Etsy shops. There's such a wide range of talented people out there! I want to sell items on Etsy so that I can buy items from other sellers. I like the idea of the online community supporting each other that way and being self sustaining.

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

When I'm wearing my crafting crown, you can find me at my uber garage workbench. Or, online at the following places:

• http://www.momuertos.etsy.com
• http://www.momuertos.tumblr.com
• http://www.twitter.com/momuertos
• http://www.facebook.com/momuertos
• http://www.soopsee.com/profile/MoMuertos
• 
  

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Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!