Sep 2007
19

Sharing The Love Contest

by Desirai in Uncategorized

Hello happy readers! It may surprise you to hear that I finally got to open my package from The Sampler today. I participated for the month of August and had my package shipped to FL; I’m only now getting to it.

It occurred to me that not everyone has heard of The Sampler and I thought having a little contest would be a great way to spread the knowledge and the love. So… here’s how it works. From now until September 26th, everyone that leaves a comment on this particular post will be entered into a drawing to win a small package of goodies. Said goodies will be items from my personal August Sampler package. Keep in mind it won’t be the entire Sampler package as I am sharing the love not giving it all way.

Comments can be about how much you want to win, how much you like my blog, or about what you did last Friday night behind the 7-11 on Washington Street. They can be about anything really. Just make sure you include your email or a way for me to contact you should you win.

I’ll be writing another entry about the winner after the drawing. Good Luck everyone!

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Sep 2007
17

Monsoon Artisans On Etsy Mondays

by Desirai in Uncategorized

Finding new shops on Etsy is always so exciting for me, especially when I know it’s a shop I’ll definitely be buying from. Just recently I discovered the beautiful silver jewelry of Monsoon Artisans.

Monsoon Artisans is run by Daniel and Beth Sobel. They are currently selling their jewelry on Etsy and through their website: MonsoonArtisans.com.

“This is a part time job for us, but a full time passion. We love what we do! We’ve been making our leaf message necklaces for about 2 and a half years now, but we just started another line of one of a kind jewelry at the end of July.”

The leaf message necklace (featured on left) is individually handcrafted from fine silver. Each pendant is sculpted, burnished an inscribed with the message of your choice, which can be up to eight words long! No two pendants are ever alike and make the perfect gift for that special someone. How romantic! I would love to receive this pendant as a gift. I’m a big fan of silver jewelry so the Monsoon Artisans shop is much appreciated! I can’t wait to do a little shopping.

Interestingly, while perusing their store I noticed each piece was named after a different woman. I’m very curious about why. Maybe if we’re lucky Daniel or Beth will comment and fill us in.

Aside from producing beautiful jewelry they also left us with some wonderful insight:

“Make sure you have a really solid product, and then get your products out there! Our marketing strategy is permission based, so we always give away as many necklaces as we can. Find local causes and contests and offer your work as prizes, run contests of your own, and approach organizations or websites with compatible content with the possibility of a jointly sponsored contest. All of these things help get your work seen, and make potential customers seek you out, instead of the other way around. “

To find out more about Monsoon Artisans or to purchase one of their lovely pieces, please visit:

Monsoon Artisans on Etsy
Monsoon Artisans Website

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Sep 2007
10

Lindsey Porter On Etsy Mondays

by Desirai in Uncategorized

I was seriously tempted to start this feature off with a list of “You know you grew up in the 80’s if…” but then I realized everyone’s probably read it and that it makes no mention of cassette tapes and therefore is a pretty crappy segue. Ahem… Let’s try this again shall we?

Last week I was cleaning the house and my 6 year old son was very eager to help. We looked through books, packed them in boxes, and as we were straightening up we happened to stumble upon a cassette tape.

“What’s that mom? It looks like a little VCR Tape” he pointed out. I wasn’t sure whether to be shocked he had never seen a cassette tape or be happy that he at least knew what a VCR was. God, I feel so old. My upcoming birthday is no help either.

But ah… Cassette tapes. Are those things even sold anymore? I remember I had a cassette of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. I played it so many times the quality degraded so much it sounded like someone was repeatedly speeding it up and slowing it down.

These days cassettes are no competition for CDs. So how do we preserve the memory of cassettes and what they meant to us children of the 80’s? Well, we can probably start by buying one of these ridiculously cool pouches by Lindsey Porter, that’s how!

“I started when I graduated from community college, with an AA in Apparel Design and Merchandising (Fashion Design). I had made my first Nintendo controller pouch for myself to carry around my pencils, pens, thread and other sewing supplies while I was still in school. I didn’t use a pattern to make it so it looked like abstract art. But after I graduated I decided to join etsy to make a little extra money and just listed a Nintendo pouch not knowing whether or not anyone would buy it. I didn’t realize that I would end up making and selling so many of them, along with my other pouches, too.”

Lindsey’s work can also be found on adorkablecrafts.com, maustudio.com,Wholly Craft, a store in Ohio, White Rabbit Gallery, a store in Iowa, Site, a store in New York, and Popcorn Heart, in Paris, France.

That Nintendo controller pouch is so mine, and I bet I know someone else who might be interested in it (that’s right Diana I’m talking about you, lol)

Lindey left me with some advice, it was:

“work hard, don’t sell yourself short, and try to come up with ways to keep your ideas fresh, because if you have a short attention span like me, you’ll get bored if you don’t!”

You can take a look at more of Lindsey’s Pouches at:
Lindsey Porter on Etsy

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