Storque articles by AshleyJacobsen

Etsy Finds: It's About Time...

2009-01-05T07:38:00-05:00

...to get this new year off to a great start! Greet 2009 with a fresh outlook, starting with your home decor. This collection of handmade clocks should help you keep track of the hours and minutes in style.

doily clock

By andfurthermore, $28.

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Goth Clock in Vampire Red and Black

By EyePopArt, $65.

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clock made from a recycled bike wheel

By pixelthis, $89.

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Crazy Thermometer Wall Clock

By IMOTIME, $29.

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CLOCK RECYCLED from REAL MACARONi and CHeeSe BOX Made into Wall Clock

By AlienBacon, $19.99.

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Recycled Record Clock A NIGHT TO REMEMBER by CYNDI LAUPER

By retrograndma, $25.99.

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yellow campy recycled bike clock

By 1byliz, $36.

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1969/70 Mustang Hubcap Clock

By 8milecreekdesigns, $60.

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Petal Manhattan Modern Wall Clock

By pilotdesign, $60.

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Looking for more home decor Finds? Try these Etsy links:

Entertaining and Decor Gift Guide | Housewarming Gift Guide | Housewares Category | Vintage Housewares

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Holiday Shopping Lists: Winter Wonderland

2008-11-23T10:13:00-05:00

Get ready for icy times, my pretties. As winter approaches and the nights grow colder, get inspired by the wonder that is snow and ice. Even if it makes life more hazardous, it's truly one of nature's wonders. Enjoy the snowflakes!

Winter Accessories Gift Guide | Seasonal Fashion Gift Guide | More Holiday Shopping Posts

Etsy Finds: To My Beloved Geek

2008-11-19T09:03:00-05:00

Today we present a Holiday Shopping List for the geek in your life. We've found nine unique items to make great gifts — perfect for a science teacher, a gadget-obsessed buddy, or anyone who appreciates Geekery!

Microchip cufflinks

Keep your cuffs looking extra smart! By digiBling, $12.

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Blackboard Coasters

Even if you can't solve most of these equations (or even if you can!), these blackboard coasters are pretty fun to look at. By avrilloreti, $14.

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Green One Eyed Alien

This little guy is so cute! By leroylovesmabel, $10.

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Oxidation L T-shirt - Black

I love this fun illustration! Check out Ikyoto's shop for more shirts like this one. By Ikyoto, $15.

View item | View Shop | Add to Etsy Favorites

Sun and Moon Mason Jar Night Light

This is by far one of the coolest geekery gifts out there! By GeekGear, $15.99.

View item | View Shop | Add to Etsy Favorites

Hyperbolic Marco OOAK Art Doll Monster

As the seller says, this is "creepy but harmless crochet." Very fun! By knotbygranma, $10.

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Fresh Water Fossil Find

What a fun creature from the past! Unusual and amazing! By TheSideStanceLife, $550.

View item | View Shop | Add to Etsy Favorites

Electronic Circuit Board Notebook

This notebook is composed of recycled circuit boards. Go green! By susanporteous, $20.

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Some Elements of Sculptural Crochet

A cabinet of crochet specimens, mixing science and craft into awesome! By jpolka, $180.

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Looking for more Etsy Finds? Try these links:

Geekery Category | Gift Guides | Storque Featured Buyers | Gift Ideas

Need a daily fix of Etsy Finds? Sign up for the Etsy Finds e-mail! Conveniently delivered to your inbox!

Holiday Shopping Lists: Calendars

2008-11-14T15:20:00-05:00

Time flies in this digital era. Give the gift of a handmade calendar: your friend, office-mate, or loved one will be reminded to thank you every day!

Etsy's Paper Goods Category has many types of calendars: search for letterpress, desk calendars, wall calendars, planners, or even to make your own with calendar tags (also great for scrapbooking) to tuck into a wallet. We also found some unique advent calendars in Etsy's Holiday Category.

Gift Ideas | Holiday Shopping | Calendars on Etsy | Coworkers Gift Guide

Holiday Table Decor

2008-11-07T12:26:00-05:00

With the holidays quickly approaching, a warm and inviting table is something (the one thing?) that everyone in the family can agree on. Who doesn't love sitting down to a home-cooked meal, candles aglow and holiday finery displayed with pride? This year, utilize handmade items to reflect your delicious menu (cranberry sauce, anyone?) and make your table decor the best it can be.

Holiday Parties and Decorating Gift Guide | Home Decor Posts | For the Table

Vote!

2008-11-04T08:04:00-05:00

Don't forget to vote today, fellow Americans!

See more Election related posts.

Mega-Beth Tour: Washington, DC Edition

2008-08-11T11:57:00-05:00

Ashley and I headed down to Washington, DC last week to attend eTail, an e-commerce conference. We were privileged to see Rob Walker, author of “Buying In: The Secret Dialogue of What We Buy and Who We Are”, speak at the conference. We were pleasantly surprised that he highlighted Etsy as a prominent example of a positive movement where consumers have decided to participate.

The finale of our trip was a round table discussion with a dynamic group of sellers—some veteran, some new—and Sara, an active buyer from Crafty Bastards DC. The discussion was a nice mix of ideas for Etsy and sharing shop tips and promotion ideas with each other. We had a few experts in our midst:

Shoofly is featured this month in How Magazine’s special issue focused on handmade design. The article is titled "Paper Market: If you indulge your creative jones by designing your own stationery, you're not alone. Online outlets like Etsy are helping designers sell their handmade products. Meet 7 people who are doing it well."

Scenicartisans was on DC’s local Fox News coverage (second video) of the Washington Glass Studio where he does his glasswork.

To learn more about how to pitch yourself to local press check out DIY PR: Local Press.

Some of the suggestions that arose in this lively discussion included:

Ability to change name: One person told us she had changed her shop name three times, which meant closing one shop to open another each time.

Easier to get a Treasury: “I just can’t get one.”

Videos in profiles: Videos would be a great way to enhance a profile and show products in a different and compelling way.

Judaica section: “The Rosen Group, Niche Awards and many other quality craft shows consider 'Judaica' its own category. It would be great if Etsy did too!” It was discussed that it would be especially helpful for those who want to attract wholesale as well as retail. And not to mention, “There are a lot of temple shops that like to buy handmade crafts.”

Listing templates: A few of the sellers mentioned that they are cut and pasting anyway. A template would make the whole process a lot easier.

Notification when in a Treasury: Notification is “totally not spam,” one seller exclaimed.

Ability to delete items: If you sell an item elsewhere, the ability to completely delete the item from your shop, not just make them inactive. “It clutters my inactive section.”

Vacation Mode: This is a feature that launched a lengthy discussion. Many were worried about leaving their shops for a few days.

Rearrange items in shop: Ability to arrange items in your shop in another way besides chronological order. This would be great to create color stories and other relevant groupings. One seller mentioned she holds listings while she waits for other items to finish to put them in the “perfect order.”

In addition, some of the new features they really liked were the new separate policy section in shops, drop down categories when listing and the ability to rearrange photos in listings.

Thank you to all the DC sellers who came out to visit with us. We enjoyed meeting you and appreciated your candid thoughts and ideas for Etsy.

Photo at top: Back Row (left to right): AStichtoWear (Allison), bethela (Beth), pileofcraft (Sara), shoofly (Rania), scenicartisans (Sean); Front Row (left to right): geltdesigns (Rachel and Liz), finchmetal (Jill), LizzyJdesigns (Liz), thesoapseduction (Patrice). Special thanks to winenutnyc for the Megabeth t-shirt made by Spiritwear that he had designed using Alchemy.

To read about more of Beth's travels on the Mega-Beth Tour, go here!

Fresh Shops: vintagegreenpeas

2008-07-24T14:06:00-05:00

I consider myself extremely lucky to have both a son and a daughter. While there are plenty of differences, there is one that I wasn't expecting at all : people LOVE to buy clothes for girls. My son was born first and plenty of friends sent us gifts; we expected fewer gifts when my daughter was born. Um, no. People came out of the woodwork to buy her dresses, hair ribbons (despite her middle-aged man pate), skirts, and skin-care (ok, maybe not).

I must say that this extreme generosity was not guilt-free for us. There were lots of great clothes, but they were mostly only to be worn once. Sure, we gave away whatever we could, but there's still some waste.

I mentioned this phenomenon to Ashley and her eyes lit up: "I have the perfect shop for that!"

vintagegreenpeas, who opened up shop in May, makes adorable skirts and dresses from vintage pillowcases. It may only be worn once by your daughter, but it's had plenty of use before!

See more Fresh Shops and say hey to a new seller!

Handmade Kids Series | Special Kids Showcase | Baby Gift Guide | Children Gift Guide

Handmade Kids: Bold Children's Decor

2008-07-18T14:25:00-05:00

Decorating a child's room can prove quite the challenge. Traditional gender-based color schemes are pretty played out — why not try something bold and gender neutral? These bright picks would be cheerful and invigorating for any boy or girl, whether child or simply "child at heart."

Happy decorating!

Handmade Kids Series | Special Kids Showcase | Baby Gift Guide | Children Gift Guide

Handmade Kids: Beach Babes

2008-07-15T16:12:00-05:00

Heading to the beach with some babes? (Of the small child variety, of course!)

Get out the cooler, load up the popsicles and prepare for sand in unexpected places! With children in tow, any beach adventure is like being a kid all over again: sand castles, horsing around with inner tubes and other floatation devices, some amateur surfing and burying some unlucky soul in the sand. (Grandpa, perhaps?)

Put on the suntan lotion and prepare to bake like a lobster with this collection of beach-themed children's items. Last one in is a rotten egg!

Handmade Kids Series | Special Kids Showcase | Baby Gift Guide | Children Gift Guide