Search results (tags) for: "arizona"

Etsy Teams Digest: Local Teams!

2008-09-19T11:00:00Z

Support your Local Etsy Team by checking out some of these upcoming events! Location based Etsy Teams are sellers and buyers who team up based on where they live to encourage their local communities to buy handmade! These dynamic groups of Etsy members are passionate about educating their friends and neighbors about their craft, meeting and networking with other crafty people where they live.

Here's a glimpse of what some Teams are up to in this month. If you're interested in finding a Team where you live, you can check out our list of existing Etsy Teams, learn how to join or start your own!

The CT Etsy Team will be holding their Shake 'n' Bake Indie Craft Fair on October 4, 2008. The show will feature over a dozen Etsy Sellers including soapers, crafters, jewelers, vintage clothing sellers and more. This creative Team has paired up with Trash American Style, a mobile purveyor of fine quality records, LP's, and other hard to find musical goodies for the event, and will also boast a bake sale! All the vendors will be baking delicious treats as a fundraiser. 50% of the money we earn will be donated to Escape to the Arts, a local YMCA community art program located in Danbury, Connecticut. For more information on this wonderful, active Team, check out their Team blog!
As the Arizona Crafty Burrito Collective continues to grow, they are at the important stage of organizing their group to provide the best support and networking possible. Since the temperatures remain extremely hot in the Arizona desert, it's been a great time of year for the Crafty Burritos to get fully prepped for the Holiday Season. They're gearing up for the First Friday Art walk in October, where they'll be spreading the word about Etsy and their Team.
All the details have been set in place for the Uber Crafters of North Central Worcester County's first Holly-Day Craft Fair! Mark your calendar for November 29, 2008 and bring a canned good to help those in need in the community. The Uber Crafters are a small and fairly new Team, located just outside Boston, and they're excited to get together for this holiday selling event. For more information on this Team's inaugural show, check their Facebook blog or member EttiandOttisAdornment's blog.
The NC Triangle Team has had quite a month! Check out their recent featured Team article here in the Storque, and they were also recently featured in the local News & Observer in North Carolina. On Saturday, September 27, 2008 a member is holding a Fall Boutique Open House, where 13 members will be selling their wares! Sellers include VintageScraps, KarensSoaps, BellaMiaDesigns, Scatterbox, SydneyAustinDesigns, FadedBlues, PhroggyDee, CinnamonSpice, Vintage2Creations, TrashyBroad, JessiJeanJewelry, BibsBurpsAndMore, and RippasCustomSilver. Visit their Team blog for more information.
Fifty-four shops will be participating in the European Street Team's upcoming Secret Santa game. To learn more about this International Team, check their Team blog.

Support Etsy Teams by searching "Team", and to learn more about the Etsy Team program, please join us in our weekly round table workshops, held in the Virtual Labs each Thursday! You can also find information about Etsy Teams at http://team.etsy.com.

Etsian and Blogger Critically Injured in Plane Crash: Nienie Recovery Project

2008-09-12T14:43:00Z

On Saturday, August 16, 2008, Stephanie Nielson was in a plane crash with her husband, Christian Nielson, and his flight instructor, Doug Kinneard, near St. Johns, Arizona. Doug Kinneard passed away soon after arriving at the Maricopa County Hospital.

Christian and Stephanie remain in critical condition at the Maricopa Burn Center. Christian has sustained burns on over 30% of his body. His wife Stephanie’s body was burned over 80%.

Since 2005, Stephanie has welcomed us into her charming abode through the NieNie Dialogues (nieniedialogues.blogspot.com). Woven into enchanting stories on home décor, vegetarian cooking, and joy filled parenting, a handcrafted life came into focus. Weeknight dinners were carefully conceived, organic celebrations, walls were an opportunity to display needlework or framed artwork by a four-year-old, and Christmas was a time dedicated to exchanging handmade treasures.

Afternoons were often spent crafting home art with her four children, all under the age of 6. The results ranged from portrait silhouettes to Vintage Jane baby blankets. Stephanie was dedicated to a handmade lifestyle because she enjoyed the romance that came from using something that was infused with someone else’s love and talent.

The Etsy community has swarmed to help one of their own since hearing of the tragedy. Stephanie aka stephanienie had purchased on Etsy and made friends. Hundreds of community members have hosted online auctions, dedicated sales to the family’s benefit, or joined in the upcoming Etsy Benefit Sale to be held September 23rd-24th. Check into this Etsy shop for the Benefit. Etsy sellers can use this blog post as a starting point for getting involved or visit www.nierecovery.com or contact nierecovery@gmail.com.

Katie aka katelynjane.etsy.com also suggests checking for updates on Stephanie (Nie Nie) and Christian on Stephanie's sister's blog CJane http://blog.cjanerun.com/. Also see http://www.designmom.com/2008/08/nie-nie-day-is here.htm where all, most of the Nie Day auctions are listed. Their family recently appeared on the Today Show; view video here.

Quit Your Day Job: NestaHome

2008-06-23T12:24:00Z

I was recently chatting with Tandie of NestaHome about how she was recently let go from her day job. She actually took being let go as an opportunity to be her own boss and not go back into the corporate workforce. Now Tandie enjoys spending her mornings in the yard with her dogs and a nice cup of coffee before heading inside to run her own business. Keep reading below to find out how Tandie is progressing since making such a big decision.

When you first started selling on Etsy, did you have dreams or goals of eventually quitting your day job?
I knew I always wanted to own my own business, however, I didn’t think it was possible to make any money selling arts and crafts online. I figured this would be a hobby.

How long were you selling on Etsy and working your day job before deciding you were ready to switch over to Etsy full time?
I opened up my first Etsy shop NestaUsa in October 2007. I was shocked at how well it did and decided to open a second shop, NestaHome, to branch out with more designs and mediums. Then, in February of 2008, I got laid off from my job as a Landscape Architect, along with many of my fellow co-workers and friends in the profession. There was no local job availability and people began to move out of state for work. I had recently gotten married and purchased a house with my husband so the thought of packing up and moving was both financially and emotionally distressing.

How did you decide what to do next?
Well, for me, it was not going back into the workforce. After examining my budget and expenses, I realized that the money I was spending on gas, car maintenance, lunches, work clothes, car insurance, etc. was unnecessary now. That was huge chunk of money that I didn’t need to make anymore.

How did you know you were ready to take the plunge?
I actually wasn’t ready at all. But, with very strict budgeting and lots of books on business and marketing, I figured out a way to make it happen. There are so many free resources out there on Etsy and the internet in general that can help with many aspects of starting a business.

Did starting from the point of being laid off impact how you moved forward?
I am working backwards, in that aspect. I am very limited on what I may spend on my materials, so I have to be a little more creative. I reuse more and waste less. Also, before I do any piece involving expensive materials, I sketch out my ideas and figure out what I need from there.

What goals have you set for your Etsy business in the next few months and year?
To be honest, my biggest goal is to get through the year and re-evaluate what worked and what didn’t work. This is all pretty new to me and I don’t expect it to be an easy journey. The best I can do is get better and learn from my mistakes.

What are the most effective ways you have promoted and marketed your Etsy business?
I don’t market much outside of Etsy at the moment. I market for free with my blog and flickr accounts and pass out as many business cards as possible.

How's it going so far? Are you getting by?
I’m not able to buy all of the things I used to and travel as much as I would like, but that doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Sacrifice isn’t so bad when it’s for your own business. Plus, technically, I am in even more control of my future and financial stability then I was before. I can’t get fired!

Can you walk us through what a typical workday might entail now that you have no day job?
I normally get up around 8am, make some coffee and hang out in the yard with the dogs. We are all wondering how it is possible to already be 90 degrees outside, and on that note, slowly wander on into the office to check emails and package up any orders that need to go out. After a quick trip to the post office it’s usually time to brainstorm some new creations. The rest of the day flies by. [Pssst....Check out the crisp and professional look of Tandie's packaging, it's some of the best I've seen — marymary]

What do you enjoy most about not having a day job?
Not having that feeling of dread in my stomach every Sunday evening.

What piece of advice would you give someone thinking about taking the plunge to sell full time on Etsy?
Talk to someone who has done it. It’s a lot less painful to learn from other people’s mistakes. Save up before you take the plunge and always have a plan B.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?
There were two peanuts taking a leisurely, peaceful walk through the neighborhood, and one was a salted. (My jokes are pretty bad.)

Thanks to NestaHome for sharing her story of success with us! Check out the gallery below to see some of Tandie's items. Check out some of our previous Quit Your Day Job posts.

Etsy Teams Digest: Local Teams Bonanza

2008-04-04T16:56:00Z

With the Etsy Teams having just reached the milestone of having 10,000 members and over 250 Teams, you can imagine how much there is to report on! To make things a little more digestable, this month's Teams Digest is split into Local Teams and Global Teams. To get the scoop on Global Teams, check out the Global Teams Digest!

All the Teams have been busy bees, promoting their shops, their Teams and Etsy, this is just a short list of some of the Events and news bits from Local Etsy Teams:

Boston Handmade is one of Etsy's newest teams. Based in the Boston, MA area, Boston Handmade is a juried team and includes members located throughout the Commonwealth. To stay connected, the team has an active blog where all members contribute articles, photos, and announcements. The Boston Handmade blog is one location to find links to all team members' Etsy shops and personal blogs. This spring, members of Boston Handmade will be showing their handmade work in FOUR self-produced Artisan Fairs in Jamaica Plain, MA. This is the second season of the JP Artisan Fair, which is sponsored by JP Centre/South Main Streets and will be held during the neighborhood's monthly First Thursdays evenings of art, music, poetry, and outdoor performance. The dates of the Boston Handmade Artisan Fairs are Thursday, May 1, Thursday, June 5, Thursday, July 3, and Thursday, August 7, each evening from 6-8pm on the lawn of Curtis Hall located at 20 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA.

Photo by MuchachaK of Boston Handmade on Flickr

After a long and painful process of reorganizing and regrouping, the Indiana Etsy Street Team can proudly say it has made it to 100+ members. "It was a long time coming," says Kim of The Peach Martini. "After a few months of existence, the IN Crowd imploded and many of the original members walked away. Now we've got a strong blend of new and old members and have completely reorganized the layout. It's great!" The IN Crowd is made up of artisans who call Indiana home — from the shores of Lake Michigan to the Kentucky border — it's easy to see there truly is more than corn in Indiana! Any Hoosier on Etsy is welcome to inquire about membership – all contact information can be found on The IN Crowd Team Page.

The Connecticut Etsy Street Team is proud to announce it's first craft event, Craftastic! It will be held on Sunday, April 13th from 10 am to 4 pm at The Space. The Space is a great alternative venue that deals primarily with indie bands and cultural events throughout the New Haven area community. The are located on 295 Treadwell Street in Hamden, CT. The team is offering free goodybags to the first 150 people through the door. Every single item within the bag was donated by individual Etsy sellers as well as members of the NewNew York and Connecticut Team! Music will be provided by Fusion Sound DJ. There is also an on site cafe and vintage shop! So please come down and show your support for the Connecticut Etsy Street Team! Live in CT and interested in joining this fab team? Just convo Ms.KittyFantastico for more details! This way you too can take part in more great up and coming events!

The Made In Vermont Etsy Street Team is a new team started on March 8, 2008. We already have over sixty members and welcome other Vermont Etsy shop owners to join us. We have a chat forum donated and made for us by two of our members. Our committee members are working hard on projects to benefit the team. We have a group blog where members have been busily posting. You can visit our blog at http://vermontetsystreetteam.blogspot.com.

Photo by Staceyrebecca of the Arizona Crafty Burrito Collective on Flickr

The Arizona Crafty Burrito Collective of Phoenix is a busy bunch over the next few weeks! They'll be participating in First Fridays in Downtown Phoenix. On Sunday, April 27, from 10-4, Paper Studio is hosting Etsy artists in a parking lot show/sale at 520 E. Southern, Tempe (across from Tempe Public Library). Meet loads of talented artists, shop local, buy handmade!

Chicago Style Crafters meets monthly at local hot spots to discuss promotional ideas, business opportunities, Etsy, crafting and all the latest craft gossip. Their website contains all the latest details about crafting in and around Chicago. We also maintain a calendar of events and deadlines related to Chicago crafting, and routinely post our newest projects on Flickr group, Etsy Illinois Street Teams. We hold crafting challenges that feature Chicago in design or function and will be having a field trip the first weekend of May to visit the Kane County Fair on a supply finding expedition. We are also considering caravaning to participate in Art vs. Craft as a group. We'd love to have enough members sign up that we can make a miniature, handmade version of Michigan Avenue in Milwaukee.

Photo by JDStar of the Oklahoma Team on Flickr

On Sunday, May 18th Etsy Dallas will kick off the summer season with a festive trunk show at the home of one of its members, Larry, a.k.a. the Kessler Craftsman. Etsy Dallas’ first annual Beer-B-Q will boast over 20 local artists and crafters selling their handmade goods. Shop for jewelry, stationery, photography, bags, hair accessories, glass art, soap and bodycare, clothing, home décor, and so much more! Customers will also be greeted with the delicious smell of grilled meats and veggies, cold beer on tap, soda, and live music — all free to the public! The first lucky 25 customers will receive a goodie bag chock full of promo items and coupons. Etsy Dallas will also offer a Make-&-Take booth for all ages. Customers can explore their creative side for free and experience first-hand the joy of the handmade way! All unused supplies will be donated to a local children’s charity. So bring your appetite, your creativity, and your support for local artists and crafters, and get ready for a day full of handmade food, music, and fun with Etsy Dallas!

Members from the SFetsy team will be selling their handmade wares at the upcoming Bazaar Bizarre that will be happening as part of the 2008 Maker Faire. The event will take place Saturday May 3rd & Sunday May 4th at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. The Maker Faire celebrates the DIY movement by exhibiting works made by creative people ranging from crafters to scientists. Etsy stores that will be participating in the faire are: mediumstomasses, nouveaumotley, scabbyrobot. Click here for info on the Bazaar Bizarre & the Maker Faire.

The Local Etsy Teams are doing such a brilliant job getting together and getting things done! There are all sorts of new Etsy Teams forming daily all over, so be sure to check the list of Etsy Teams to see if there are any where you live, and browse the Etsy Teams Blog Ring to stay up to date on all the Teams' events!

Where Do Beads Come From? Tucson, Sweet, Tucson!

2008-02-19T18:20:00Z

Etsian Jenni Pagano of PaganoDesignWorks recently attended the International Gem and Mineral Show in Tucson, Arizona and wrote up her experience for the Storque. Enjoy!

Every February, bazillions of mine owners, bead and pearl manufacturers, bead shop owners and jewelry designers of large and small collections converge in Tucson for the International Gem and Mineral shows. One can find fine cut gems to tumbled rocks, black diamond beads to $1 strands of pearls, antiques from around the globe and fossils from ancient history. The scale of the operation is very hard to convey. My 2008 show guide lists more than 40 locations around town. Most shows have more than one football-field sized tent. Each vendor has numerous tables in their space piled high with beads. Here is a photo of one tent at the Holidome show. You can't see to the end of tent, and there are at least 4 tents here. Plus, hotel rooms turned into fully stocked jewelry stores or beads simply piled on the beds!

This year sees a preponderance of large stone beads: more of the flat, graphic looking beads that have been popular in previous years (unfortunately, I find these so hard to work with!). I prefer large rondelles, and they are getting harder and harder to find. In gemstones, the newest shape is a puffy faceted cube, and twisted and marquise shapes seem to still be popular.

The big news is in the metals. With silver prices going up, manufacturers are turning more and more to copper. Many more vendors had copper beads in the Bali style, as well as chains with large, graphic links. Brass chain was still hard to find, which I found interesting, since many of the copper pieces are simply plated brass. Solid copper is quite expensive, but also available. I seemed to see a lot of chrysocolla and more boulder opal than ever before. The artificial fruity quartzes are disappearing, and in their place are piles of shell pearls. Huge and perfectly round, they have a nice luster and are made with ground up shells. They seem to average around $6 a strand while freshwater pearls can be had from anywhere from $1 to hundreds of dollars per strand. (In horrible day-glo pink to absolutely gorgeous!)

[This photo shows Kalapatarubeads.com, where they were selling their Indian made silver at 59 cents a gram. Just a few years ago I was buying it at 39 cents a gram!]

If you go to the shows next year, wear comfortable shoes. You'll want to be very sure-footed traveling through gravel parking lots, uneven tent floors and over power cords in the aisles. (Trust me on this one! Although passing out on the floor in front of a silver vendor is a good way to get a better discount.)

You can tell the newbies by their fabulous jewelry. Most designers choose not to wear their best work, since every other person is a designer looking for new ideas! Many people carry rolling suitcases or backpacks to carry their loot, as beads are heavy. A resale license and business documents are generally needed to get into the wholesale-only shows where you can get the best prices, although retail shows are available as well.

Turquoise is especially tricky to buy, as much of what is called "turquoise" is either ground up and dyed magnesite or dyed howlite. African turquoise isn't turquoise at all. You really must take everything you hear with a grain of salt and make your own assessment of quality. A trustworthy dealer is invaluable! Most turquoise is sold by the gram. To get an idea of how much money is on those tables, one of the least expensive strands I bought there was $12 and a middle of the road strand was $45. You do the math! I'm too tired and my feet hurt.

Etsy Team Spotlight: First Friday with the Arizona Crafty Burrito Collective

2007-11-01T21:06:00Z

The First Friday phenomenon is something I first experienced on a very small scale in Charlottesville, Virginia, a quaint little college town that likes to pretend it's a big, cultured city. I thought it was the neatest thing (and not just because many of the galleries would serve wine without carding my then-underage art-appreciating self). People of all ages to come out once a month and meet up, hob-knob around town and just be social, with great galleries and rotated museum collections as a somewhat glamorous backdrop. First Fridays can be a spectacular way of celebrating a community.

Many cities use First Fridays as a way to prevent urban decay, inviting the residents to areas of the city that aren't usually populated by so many people, especially on a weekend night, when many people are out at parties, bars, dinner (or anything else one does on a Friday night). Recently, I spent a weekend in Phoenix, and I got to experience their First Friday. There were the typical galleries open for new shows, at places like Modified and Trunk Space and there were gobs and gobs of people out, enjoying the perfect October evening weather, being seen as much as they were seeing. Artists representing themselves set up shop on street corners, and all sorts of performers tried to grab your attention with a broad range of gimmicks and costumes.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Crafty Burrito Collective, Phoenix's local Etsy Team, was all set up and ready to go at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater nearby. The Collective had definitely done their homework — the Etsy sellers who were vending all had great products and made contributions to the raffles that they planned on running every thirty minutes, they had great press in several publications and signage leading to the event. They cooperated and set up a beautiful range of handmade goods, including jewelry, handmade books, jewelry and puppets. Throughout the night, we spoke to many other local artists, and explained what Etsy is to those who didn't know, explaining not just what the site was about, but how it helps people plug into their local arts culture. After seeing this group of people dedicated to their craft and their businesses, I felt reassured that banding together for events like First Fridays and as strong Etsy Teams is vital to achieving success in a handmade business.

Etsy can be overwhelming to sellers as it grows larger, and so networking with local people or people with a common interest is a natural way of learning the ropes and increasing chances of success. Even if you don't live in a place that has events like First Fridays, you can find a community of makers to celebrate all things handmade with on a regular basis in Etsy Teams. If you live where there is no team, you can form a team yourself or you can join one of the many, many global Etsy Teams and participate virtually. The Arizona Crafty Burrito Collective uses their team for support by helping each other set up shop, encouraging one another to list more pieces, giving pointers on photo techniques, doing critiques and providing helpful constructive criticism on tricky things like descriptions and tagging, and meeting up for supply swaps and to give each other fresh ideas and inspiration. They also do bigger group projects, like their First Fridays event, or making Etsy banners and generally promoting the site and getting press for their projects as a team.

My First Friday in Phoenix was just one night, but it manifested something really important to me: artists getting together to celebrate local art and culture. It made me proud that Etsy Teams are a part of that. Meeting and talking with the Arizona Crafty Burrito Collective and seeing what their strengths are as a team and how they support, encourage and help one another was totally inspiring, as it shows what strength there is in numbers.