Etsy Seller of the Week - LadybugsDesigns!

This week's featured Etsy seller is LadybugsDesigns. Check out her shop for fun baby items, and more! Plus, if you put "Rain" in the notes to seller, or contact her before ordering, she will give you 10% off your order this week!

How did you find Etsy?
A former coworker suggested it instead of Ebay.

What do you love about Etsy?
Since it isn't an auction, I don't have to constantly check to see if someone won. And you can always find someone to answer your questions and give you advice.

What is your favorite dinner?
Macaroni and cheese casserole. It makes me feel good when I'm down.

What would you like us to know about your craft/shop?
My emphasis is on great baby things, many of them embroidered, but I also have bookcovers and cool ties, and I'm always thinking of new things to try. They might never happen, but I am thinking about them. I also carry some lovely jewelry made by one of my sisters.

If you could take an all-expenses paid trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?
If it was just one place, I'd like to go to England and tour London and Bath and some of the great houses, and stop by Edinburgh too. If I could go more places, I'd take a month and visit the museums in Washington, D.C. and tour some of the Revolution and Civil War houses and battlefields.

What do you love about what you make/sell?
I think my favorite items are my bookcovers. I take a book wherever I go, and they make it so easy to keep track of your reading material (and avoid any comments on my choices). My second favorite would be my toddler aprons, which keep little ones clean from neck to knees.

What is your favorite way to relax or unwind?
I love to read, watch movies/tv series from Netflix, play computer games, and hang out in the Etsy forums.

What do you like to shop for on Etsy, even if it is just browsing, not buying?
I like to look for soap and hair products --- one of these days I'm actually going to buy some! :o)

What's your favorite part of Etsy?
All the friends I've made in the forums. Most of us have never met or even talked to each other, but we're there for each other in good times and bad.

What A Nice Birthday Week!

Today is my birthday! Well, for 10 more minutes anyway. :)

My whole week was pretty great. Tuesday I added more products to my table in the crafters' co-op I was invited to join.

Wednesday I had my sugar scrub featured in the "Etsy Finds" email, and received four orders for a total of six scrubs sold! Not to mention the shop exposure I got!
See my sugar scrub here.

And today was my birthday and we went to my folks' house. My mom made her famous potato salad and I totally pigged out (hey, nursing moms are allowed to do that, right? Right!)

My husband gave me a "free day pass" so I can spend a full day all to myself one of these weekends. My parents gave me a gift card to Best Buy so I can get the WiiFit, once they get more in (yeah, none of us thought to reserve it.)

Now if only my kids would sleep in till 10 am tomorrow! I'm not holding my breath though. Our middle one loves waking up at 5:30 am. If I hadn't given birth to him myself, I'd doubt he really was my son!

Etsy Seller of the Week: Circleinthesand

This week I am featuring CircleintheSand! Check out her shop for fun supplies and a variety of handmade items! PLUS, put "Rain" in notes to seller, and she'll give you 10% off your order while she is featured.

How did you find Etsy?
Our local newspaper did an article on a lady in Jacksonville (thedoglady), who was making pet accessories in order to raise money for her vet bills, cos her doggies were in need of medical attention. I was intrigued, so I started browsing around on Etsy looking at all the wonderful handmade items. I did that for almost a year before I had the nerve to actually sign up.

What do you love about Etsy?
Well, of course, what got my attention at the beginning was the 20 cent listings for 4 months. I had been selling on Ebay before coming here and the fees are so much better. But, after I started spending more time on Etsy, I grew to just love the spirit of friendship, helpfulness, caring and love that everybody had for each other. I have since then made some really close wonderful friendships here. And, I think it is neat as heck that I can talk to folks all over the world! Some of those close friendships that I've made are from ladies "across the waters".

What is your favorite dinner?
My favorite dinner is anything that I am eating with hubby!! We have a good time just eating together, no matter what the menu is.

What would you like us to know about your craft/shop?
I would just like for everyone to come away from my shop feeling as if they had an enjoyable experience - whether they buy anything or not. I always try to have fun, colorful items listed, I try to keep my Sections List easy to read and organized and I try to keep the number of items per section at less than 12 so that folks only have one page to look at. I am always pleasant and friendly with my customers - I want them to come back time and time again. I can't work at Etsy fulltime, so I have to try harder to compete with the larger shops, so every shopper is a potential customer, and every customer is a potential referral for another customer so I try and treat each one special. And, I'm known for my fast shipping (just read some of my feedback).

If you could take an all-expenses paid trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?
If I could have an all-expense paid trip - I would like to have a fullsized motorhome so hubby and I could travel all over the United States.

What do you love about what you make/sell?
I just love playing around with all kinds of different crafts - but I also love playing around with all kinds of supplies to make those crafts. And it gives me great pleasure to put those supplies in the hands of another crafter so that she can play around with her favorite craft. One of my favorite things to "play" with is vintage buttons, I love getting them and sorting them and grouping them together. And, I use button on some of my own creations, like the purse pouches.

What is your favorite way to relax or unwind?
I love to relax by browsing around on the internet, or reading thru several favorite magazines that I get, or sitting and watching a movie with hubby - we don't really watch any TV, but we have a ton of movies; give us a big bowl of popcorn and we're set!!

What do you like to shop for on Etsy, even if it is just browsing, not buying?
I love to browse around Etsy looking for some of my own favorite things - vintage buttons, plastic canvas items, supplies, cross stitch - and I also look for things that I can use as Christmas gifts. I did a great deal of Christmas shopping last year right here on Etsy.

Where do you see your Etsy Shop in 3 years?
I dream of being able to do this fulltime, and actually make some income, lol. It is so much fun - both being here on Etsy and searching for those special items to put in my shop. It would be awesome to have this as my sole employment.

Etsy Seller of the Week: oneeyeopen

I am re-dedicating myself to this blog, and to keep me on task, I will be featuring an Etsy seller every week. This is a great way to find new shops and get to know the owners behind them!


My first Etsy seller is oneeyeopen, who has generously offered 10% off any item in her shop if you mention "Rain" in the notes to seller at checkout!

How did you find Etsy?
I found it while I was blog hopping. It kept popping up on blogs I was visiting.
What do you love about Etsy?
I love the format, the easy navigating of the site, the fact that there are millions of goodies that you look for to buy in one place, plus the ease in selling on Etsy.

What is your favorite dinner?
Some kind of pasta with lots of red sauce.

What would you like us to know about your craft/shop?
Although my photography is completely digital, I still love to focus on alternative methods, i.e., I’m not using a Holga camera, but instead using digital processes to make that digital print look like it was taken with a Holga.

If you could take an all-expenses paid trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Tuscany. It’s my dream vacation.
What do you love about what you make/sell?
I have a penchant for aesthetics and was taught by my mother at an early age to love beautiful things, but not necessarily expensive things. I love the fact that my work is priced so that just about everyone can afford it.

What is your favorite way to relax or unwind?
S-L-E-E-P.

What do you like to shop for on Etsy, even if it is just browsing, not buying?
I love looking at the artwork: photography manipulations, digital collage, clothing for my Blythe doll, and really anything that catches my eye on the front page or the Time Machine2.

What is your personal goal with regard to your photography in the coming years?
First of all, I would love to get motivated again. I have many pictures that I have not even edited yet. I would also like to get more involved with submitting my work to stock sites and sending my work to publishers. One of my dreams is to be published on a book jacket. (Okay, maybe that’s not a big deal to some photographers, but it would be to me.)


Frankie Kins
oneeyeopen.etsy.com
Blog: www.bluemoonstudio.typepad.com