Search results (tags) for: "etsy love stories"

Etsy Finds: A Dark Romance

2009-06-18T12:08:00-05:00

Lately I've found myself gravitating toward the idea of a Gothic love story. I've fallen prey to the hit vampire series True Blood, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming sequel to Twilight, a movie series depicting the notion of a forbidden dark love. There's just something mysterious about an unattainable, slightly supernatural romance: am I right, ladies? If you're drawn to a darker aesthetic, I think you might like our Steampunk and Noir style guide.

Without further ado, I bring you my Etsyfied interpretation of a dark romance.

Coffin Couch

By VonErickson, $3500.

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Wolf ring

By DiscreetCharm, $350.

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Willow Camisole

By Hopeless, $160.

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Custom Monogram Coffin Wall Art

By Pillboxdesigns, $19.99.

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Memento Mori Relic Locket

By redheart13, $51.

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Hearts desire.

By NewFashionedWhispers, $39.

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Sanguis Perfume Oil

By amandalouise, $15.

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Black Rose and Veil Head Piece

By tiedandfeathered, $45.

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Fangs Hoops

By designsbygalina, $18.

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Fog 8x8 graveyard

By gothicrow, $16.

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Coffin - table shelf

By HellsElves, $275.

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Unearthed garnet ring

By idlehandsdesigns, $120.

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MOSS and IVY Aromatherapy

By ForStrangeWomen, $19.

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Wolf Ink (men's)

By shipwreckdesign, $28.

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A Bit of Romance Lace Headband

By sugarlotusdesigns, $30.

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Dagger Lariat

By AntiGenre, $38.

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Bite Me Moveable Vampire Teeth

By silverlantern, $35.

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Ghost Story - Original Collage

By noflyinginthehouse, $50.

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Venus In Furs - Volcanic Beauty cuff

By mythunderstood, $52.

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Black Love Ring

By missyindustry, $83.

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Shapeshifter Ritual Perfume Oil

By whitemagic, $12.

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Transmutation photograph

By zuppaartista, $14.

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Goodbye Altered Art Locket

By badinfluence, $22.

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Vampire Bat in Coffin Wool Felt Doll

By blacklilypie, $75.

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Forever and a day . antiqued brass

By trystbykerry, $26.

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Carnelian Fang Sterling Necklace

By skaior, $19.

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Tshirt - The Black Rose

By AkumuInk, $21.99.

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Silver Evil Eye Adjustable Ring

By billyblue22, $65.

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CROWN COFFIN LOCKET

By pinktophat, $22.

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Plush Stake - Essential Tool

By FurWillFly, $16.

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Once Bitten necklace

By kalliART, $42.

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COFFIN RING with hinged lid

By jewelsvine, $83.

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Looking for more Etsy Finds? Try these links:

Steampunk and Noir Style Guide | Guest Curators | More Gothic Posts

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Etsy Love Stories: HannahMade and Mcaplan

2009-02-12T13:46:00-05:00

We don't want the Season of Love to ever end, and we're searching the community for Etsy love stories. The fourth story we're sharing with you this year (and it's so sweet!) chronicles the friendship of HannahMade and mcaplan.

Mcaplan: I am really excited to get the opportunity to gush about my collaborations with the great Hannahmade! Hannah is one of my dearest friends and we frequently team up to do shows together. We also spend a lot of time working in the same space (we currently share a studio in my house!). Even though our genres are totally different (I am art, she is jewelry) we seem to be able to find inspiration from watching each other work. This can be a very solitary occupation, and having another creative person around to bounce ideas off of has really been invaluable.

Last year Hannah made me a very special birthday pendant that showcased one of my favorite collages of Eucalyptus leaves. The moment I got over how incredibly thoughtful and gorgeous it was, and the fact that she had sculpted it with her own hands, I knew that she was onto something.

It didn't take Hannah long to start planning which pieces she wanted to frame next, and I loved seeing which stones she would incorporate into the tassel in the adjustable chain in the back. Whenever I wear any of the pieces I get tons of questions and requests. Several of my clients who have had personal portraits commissioned have ordered pendants with their pieces in the frame. It is really cool to see that others are enjoying the fruits of our collaborations.

It isn't often that one finds their "soul sister," but I have been lucky enough to have been teamed up with one of the most creative and talented women out there! She is SO gifted and her work is absolutely impeccable. Hannah thrives on working with others and finding a muse for her pieces. I am honored that she wanted to team up and make each piece her muse. She really has outdone herself with each one!

HannahMade: It all started with a birthday, Michelle's 31st, to be exact. I had been sculpting frames out of PMC for a few months at this point, and knew Michelle's artwork would be the perfect fit. It was her piece "Eucalyptus" from Collage Lab that inspired the first collaboration AND birthday present! Once she saw it, we both knew there was an undeniable partnership that needed to happen. I basically harassed her to choose piece after piece for me to set in my frames that we would ultimately sell on Etsy and at various shows we did together. It was a serendipitous way for people to wear Michelle's art! Each frame is sculpted in the proportions of the art work and sealed with a UV resin gel. I also accent each necklace with semiprecious stones that compliment the colors featured in the correlating piece.

We've graduated to custom orders — people who commission Michelle with their own photographs are now requesting framed versions of these pieces with their orders. It's a real honor to make Michelle's work into another tangible form — one that can be seen when walking down the street, ultimately creating other ways people's memories can be captured and shared.

Check out more Etsy Love Stories here!

Season of Love Posts | Season of Love Gift Guides

Etsy Love Stories: HendersonPipes and SofterFire

2009-02-11T11:15:00-05:00

We don't want the Season of Love to ever end over here at the Etsy blog! There many sweet Etsy love stories, and many folks will relate to this one, as it centers on the tension between gaming and crafting. While many people have been brought together by their mutual geekiness and craftiness — alas, in this love story, craftiness vanquishes!

Starting with an Atari, I have always been a video game player. That's how most of my free time was spent before meeting Jessica (aka SofterFire and umlauf).

As our wedding approached, I was stressing about money, so I took all of my video games and machines and sold them for some extra cash. On February 15th of 2008, I married my dream girl. She's smart, beautiful, and incredibly creative. I didn't mind selling off my gaming machines if it meant a nicer wedding. I adore her, after all (and I also had games on my computer!).

I watched her start up her Etsy shops, having so much fun creating and working in her free time while I sat at the computer playing my games. I got a bit envious of the fun she was having while accomplishing so much. I knew she wasn't exactly thrilled with all the time I was spending online, taking over fake worlds and crafting starship engines, though she didn't complain.

That's how I got started thinking about what I could make, and HendersonPipes was born. What could I create in the real world? Within the week of making my first pipe, I canceled my subscription to the multiplayer online game I was a member of, put the rest of my games away, and haven't played once since I started.

We have so much fun together working on our Etsy shops! Every day we get to show one another our new creations, talk about our views and hearts, and celebrate each others' sales. Christmas was awesome, buying each other equipment and supplies for our shops.

Our first year of marriage has been GREAT, and Etsy has played a big part in that.

Check out more Etsy Love Stories here!

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Etsy Love Stories: VerreEncore

2009-02-04T16:00:00-05:00

We're getting into the Season of Love spirit here on the Etsy blog, and we're searching the community for Etsy love stories. The second story we're sharing with you this year (and it's so sweet!) chronicles the love story of VerreEncore and her man.

Patrick and I attended the same high school. He was cute, artsy, and two classes my senior, which means we didn't talk a great deal back then.

Time passed, I graduated both high school and undergrad. In early spring of 2008, 6 years after high school, I found myself needing an emergency letter of recommendation. I went to the high school office where Patrick's mom works. His mom and I chatted about what I was up to (running VerreEncore and applying to graduate schools) and what Patrick was doing. He sounded like a dream. Of course we lived 150 miles apart, so I figured he would stay that way, a dream. Turns out Patrick's mom gave him my Etsy business card. He bought his at-the-time girlfriend a necklace from my shop. (I promise, not as scandalous as it sounds!) At any rate, that was our first time being in contact in over 8 years.

Patrick noticed my flickr account and added me as a contact. We had more in common than we would have imagined, which we were soon to find out in the months to follow. Conversation was kept to a simple "glad to see you're doing well" kind of dialogue… Until he and his girlfriend ended their relationship.

It was a couple months later that we started sending brief messages on Facebook, a comment or two. Those small comments turned into daily long emails, and I looked forward to every message. Each time we shared a little more about ourselves… Not 20 questions; more like 2,000 questions. With every email, I felt as if he were really too good to be true; funny, smart, interesting, passionate, adventurous. Surely this was a dream...

He finally stated the obvious, that we didn't have each others' phone numbers, but we should. He found an excuse to make a trip to our hometown, and asked me out on a date Mother's Day weekend. I could have cried, I was so nervous and excited.

If I wasn't nervous enough for our date that night, Patrick ordered 3 necklaces for his mom, sister, and grandmother for Mother's Day, and with little notice he headed over to my house. I was busy in my studio working and was not looking my best. He walked in and we saw each other for the first time in years. I was wearing old jeans, a Hoosier sweatshirt, striped clogs, safety goggles and a respirator. I turned red, and to offset my ridiculous attire, I immediately showed him my flawed pile of enameled pieces. But he didn't mind that I made mistakes, and he didn't mind that I looked like a complete mess. He smiled and told me how amazing I was.

Our date night was perfect, and I'll spare you the mushy details, but we talked and laughed the whole night, staying out from 5 in the evening till 3 in the morning, doing everything from going to an art opening and having a lovely dinner, to buying a lotto ticket (since we were feeling lucky).

We've been together now for almost 8 months, and I cherish each day! Although I'm away at graduate school, and the miles between us have increased, our love holds us close together. (He's even going to be starting an Etsy shop soon with his illustrations!)

Long story short: Patrick and I would not have been reunited if it weren't for the amazing opportunity Etsy has given me to run a gratifying handmade business! THANKS ETSY! I am with the man of my dreams, we love each other and each day I'm thankful for the chance of being reconnected after so many years.

Check out more Etsy Love Stories here!

Season of Love Posts | Season of Love Gift Guides

Etsy Love Stories: Metalicious and OneGarnetGirl

2009-01-29T16:37:00-05:00

We're getting into the Season of Love spirit here on the Etsy blog, and we're searching the community for Etsy love stories. The first story we're sharing with you this year (and it's so sweet!) chronicles the friendship of metalicous and onegarnetgirl.

Metalicious: This is a story about two jewelry nerds who became friendship-soulmates thanks to Etsy.

Last year I had been struggling to sell on Etsy for a few months. This past July I was getting pissed off that my stack rings weren't selling so I did a search for stack rings to see what the heck WAS selling.

OneGarnetGirl's rings came up and I fell in love with an emerald-cut iolite ring in her shop. I had to buy it. Some jewelers can be cautious of other jewelers buying their stuff, but I figured I'd convo her to see what she said. She said yes. AND she was really smart and made me laugh — a lot. It turns out we had lots of things in common in addition to our passion for making jewelry and our addiction to Etsy.

We convo'd back and forth a lot...but who really makes friends on the internet, anyway? Crazy people, ax murderers, people looking for romance. As a jaded New Yorker I thought you just didn't make friends online.

I was wrong. Our convos led to phone calls, endlessly prattling on about kids and life while we each made jewelry in our separate corners of the world. In October Madelynn (that's her real name and isn't it fabulous?) came down from Massachusetts to New York when we finally met in person...and we both decided it would be hilarious if we went to visit the Etsy HQ during her visit. Not only was it fun, but we taught a virtual lab about polishing techniques. We were ridiculously nervous about it, but we got through it together. We even joined the JET team together.

Since then our families have met, our sons have a goofy love-hate relationship and we are growing our Etsy businesses separately...but together. I have learned so much from Mads and can't thank her enough for her advice and support of my shop. You can see the difference in my sales since I met her. I don't know what she gets from me, except that I tell her when her photos stink. Other than that I dunno. But I love her and cherish her friendship.

[From left: onegarnetgirl and metalicious]

onegarnetgirl: Awww, isn’t she sweet? She really is, but she bites. And she’s right, sort of. We are super jewelry soulmates, but jewelry nerds we aren’t. We aren’t nerds.

Stephanie has had an impact on my life and my business in so many ways, but one in particular sticks out.
She corrects the horrendous grammar in my listings. Most memorable is the time I described a hammered texture as “rouching." She quickly shot me a convo with the definition for rouching. That was DEFINITELY not the technique I used. It’s dirty, and it’s hilarious, so Google at your own risk. I meant "ruching."

She’s become invaluable. She’s super funny, and she just gets me — and you all know how precious that is. We talk daily about how to make it through another day with a 3 year old, how good/bad we are as mothers and how to diversify our businesses. Very seldom do you meet someone who is in the same business that tells you how to improve your skills. Also rare is a friend that cares enough about you to be honest when your cool new idea falls flat. Stephanie is the first person to give you a boost, and the first to lend a hand when you need it.

She’s not a nerd, she’s a dork. She gives everyone nicknames, as do I. She is a nonsense talker. We can communicate in one word sentences. If I ask her to photograph my rear in a train station she does it, so I can see if it’s as big as I think. She does this because she knows the importance of having a panoramic view of a butt. No judgment there. We can talk about conversions between pennyweights and ounces, but only for a short period of time before my brain hurts. We lie to each other and laugh when the other says “you're lying."

Stephanie and I both love cheese. We like to use obscure phrases with each other. We laugh so hard when we're together, we cry. We can talk about jewelry for hours on end. I can assure you, our husbands appreciate the fact we now have a different outlet for jewelry talk besides them. My husband probably was going to leave if he heard anything more about culets and bezels and flex shafts. She’s my friend for life, and it’s basically because she’s nosy and started asking me all kinds of personal questions. I’m so glad she did.

Check out more Etsy Love Stories here!

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Handmade Weddings: LoucheLab's Love Story

2008-09-05T14:00:00-05:00

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[music by Barry London]

This article was originally published on March 28, 2008. We are reviving it as part of the Best of the Storque series. Enjoy!

If you're following the Handmade Wedding Series, then you probably appreciate a good love story. LoucheLab and her husband Ned have a particularly handmade story of falling in love (well, it's high tech, too). Blogging, artwork, photography, web cams, artist books and international romance all converged to get these two souls together. Below, you'll find LoucheLab's account and photographs, as well as a special video portrait we produced with them (which does have some spicy mature artwork by the artists, so be forewarned if you are watching this with your child — this is an adult love story, after all!).

Ned and I met by accident. (Which is a pretty big accident, considering that we lived about 7,000 miles from one another.) I was living in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Ned was living in the Meat Packing District in New York while packing up his studio to move to Brooklyn. We had both started blogging 9 months before — after painful break-ups. So Ned was surfing random blogs and got into mine, went to my Flickr page and looked at my art and then wrote me an email.

It was basically my art and his words that brought us together.

We spent almost a year apart; then I flew to New York at Christmas to meet him for the first time. Before I came he said, "I want us to make art together while you are here." My art was always very solitary, so I asked, "What do you mean?" and, he said, "I don't know, but we'll figure it out."

And we have: we made graffiti and paintings, and we took a lot of pictures of one another. After I went back to Israel, we kept on talking on webcam all the time; it was on 24 hours a day. He would wait 'til his midnight, which was my 7:00 AM, and we would talk before I would go to work, and I would rush home from the office to see him. It was like living in one apartment with a window into the other room where he was, without being able to touch one another — besides with words and art.

In the course of the months apart, we both created a lot, we expressed our love, the sexual frustration and the emotional roller coaster state with photography and paintings and street art and t-shirt making and computer art and so on. The whole relationship, between his blog and my blog and our Flickr accounts, was very public, and we had people all over the world encouraging us through the difficult times and happy for us, when finally, we made the choice of me moving to New York so we could start a life together offline.

[Me signing our Ktuba (illustrated wedding contract in the Jewish tradition). We wrote the text together and I illustrated it.]

We first decided to get married so I could stay in the United States, but as the preparation started, it became a very small part of it all. Because art was such a big part of our relationship, and because as a part of our relationship we beat all odds and made the rules as we went along, it was really obvious to us that our wedding would also be like that — intimate and important and very art inspired.

[This is me working on the Hupa. It's a big blanket like thing that in Jewish tradition serves as a roof the couple need to get married under. I spray painted about a 100 ravens on it, and my hand was sore for about a week after. The stars in the middle are tattoos we got together when I came to visit New York and met Ned for the first time.]

The theme of the wedding was ravens, because of — well, a lot of things, but also because they mate for life after having a relatively long period of just playing the field. (Below, you'll see me getting my wedding tattoo. I illustrated it.)

It was basically a Rabbi who is a friend and about 20 friends and family members in our studio in Williamsburg. A lot of what we made was a spur of a moment idea that took shape. Ned edited a cool music mix and we thought "this would be a nice give-away," which lead to me spray painting 40 CDs with a cool pattern, and us burning copies 'til 5:00 in the morning.

Our Rabbi told us that although we didn't want rings, we needed to exchange something of value. So we decided to get rings after all, and on the train on the way to the store, we tried to figure out what they would symbolize for us — and what being married means to us. We talked about learning and making mistakes and this being a beginning rather then a happy ending: we got both rings engraved with "Human" on the inside.

The idea of writing and illustrating our own Ktuba actually came from Josh the Rabbi, which I was really grateful about. I wouldn't have thought about it myself. Also, he suggested making some art or writing something to express how we feel about weddings and marriage, which is how the wedding book I made came to be.

We didn't have a DJ or a band or 300 people in fancy dresses or flowers or a white dresses: we had only people that we wanted there (including my sister on webcam from Israel). We had to deal with a lot of feelings and fears beforehand, rather than having too many arrangements to take care of. While the wedding was going I realized I forgot one of the decoration projects I wanted to do, but it didn't matter. After the ceremony, Ned's parents took everyone out to Union Picnic for dinner, which was at the time our favorite restaurant. Even still, we hear from people who were there about how significant and intense the whole event was, and how it's one of the most memorable events they can think of.

[Ned getting his wedding tattoo. He designed it.]

The handmade wedding theme caught on, and we got artwork from three or four artist friends as gifts, and Ned's dad designed and printed a book of the wedding pictures for us which we show off to anyone who wants to know what the wedding was like.

I always hated weddings before. I used to work for a catering service and the way so many wedding are about food or about showing off was really repulsive to me. With the way things went with our wedding, I can say that this was the best wedding ever, which is cool because it was mine!

[Married!]

What an inspiring love story. Leave your thoughts in the comments!

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Handmade Weddings: an Etsy Wedding with shoofly and scenicartisans

2008-04-06T13:26:00-05:00

Here's the latest real wedding story in our Handmade Wedding Series, shoofly and scenicartisans.

I'm shoofly on Etsy, the groom is scenicartisans, and we're both artists. We met in the lobby of the Shakespeare Theatre admin offices on my first day at work in 2000. He was the props painter/sculptor and I was the new graphic designer. We come from very different backgrounds and we decided to incorporate elements from our different cultures into our wedding- to do so, we went straight to the people who knew us best for help, our dear friends of course!

I’m a graphic designer, so all of our printed materials had to be perfect.

My parents hired a calligrapher in Lebanon to write our names together in Arabic. I took that and combined it with our names in English. That set the tone for all of our printed material.

Each of the invitations was a handbound booklet made of handmade papers, printed on an inkjet printer, hand trimmed and bound together with ribbon. I used a variety of papers, so each guest's invite was slightly different. I printed everything at home and used My parents, brother and scenicartisans as an assembly line. After many sleepless nights, trimming lessons, and paper cuts, the invitations were done!

For wedding favors we had handmade pouches filled with little Lebanese goodies: chocolates, Jordan almonds, and a blue heart-shaped glass evil eye for good luck. My parents traveled to Damascus where they selected traditional fabrics, and hired artisans to make the pouches.

Magpiedc , a dear friend of ours did all of our flower arrangements. Two days before the wedding we
visited flower warehouses and picked out everything. Lots of lime greens, reds and oranges.
Magpiedc wrapped the stalks in a bonnet that was a gift when I was born for my bouquet.

...And my mom wrapped all the glass vases in ribbons.

Our cake was made by theatre artisan extraordinaire Marie, who's work can be seen on Broadway, the Kennedy Center, the Seattle Opera, yeah, pretty much anywhere! The cake was a giant chocolate truffle. Pure yum. Marie decorated the cake with ribbons, and together with magpiedc, made our awesome cake display.

My wedding dress has quite a history. In Lebanon in 1970, my mom and her designer picked the fabric and pattern piece by
piece and designed the dress together. Shortly after my parents married, they moved from Lebanon to New York City, and the wedding dress stayed at my mom's house in Lebanon. The house was bombed and taken over by squatters, and my mom thought her dress was gone. But a few years ago, she found it crammed in a corner of her childhood closet. She took it to the cleaners, and it came back looking new again.

We're not sure what happened to the original head piece, but Marie ended up constructing a new one for me using the buckle that had been on the front of the dress. Marie had to sew me in to hide the zipper!

Even though I would have loved an outdoor wedding in the woods, we ended up going with a wedding in Downtown DC. We got married on the roof of the Hotel Washington in April of 2004, overlooking the Washington Monument and White House.

Between the ceremony and the reception we snuck away for a break and take fun pictures in the city. Walking around all dressed up was the most surreal thing ever. People wanted to take pictures of us, they asked for our autographs (probably because we looked like rock stars!), cars were honking, the crowds were wild. We could have pretty much done anything we wanted and gotten away with it.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and just like any other lovely Saturday in DC, the date happened to fall on a major protest weekend; IMF/World Bank on Saturday, and Code Pink on Sunday.

There was a huge sea of bicycle cops on Freedom Plaza. We asked politely if we could take pictures and next thing you know, I'm sitting on the bike and scenicartisans and I are handcuffed together. I laughed so hard I cried. I’m looking forward to explaining these pictures over and over!

Even the music was handmade! scenicartisans worked with my brother on playlists, and then it was all mixed together and streamed through my brother's ipod. At dinner, we walked in to the theme song from the Muppet Show. Why?, why not? It's time to play the music! It's time to light the lights! That's why!

We pretty much did everything we possibly could do ourselves. If my mom was given the chance, she would have even cooked the whole dinner. She actually did end up making hommos and olive tapenade, and my dad made bagel chips!

Oh how I wish Etsy was alive when we were planning our wedding. I would probably have had letterpress cards, or maybe even gocco printed them all. Yes, I do still think about all the fun things I could have done if only I had my print gocco back then.

Our wedding was four years ago, and then I did exactly what my mom did with her dress, I just packed it all away. Thanks to this Handmade Wedding series, I decided to dust off my albums to re-remember how hand made it all was. And now my mom has you to thank for my wedding pictures she's waited years and years for!

Your wedding only lasts a few hours, and then that's it, all you'll have are the memories. Have fun!

Wedding Gift Guide | Wedding Category | Wedding Showcase | Handmade Wedding Series

Etsy Love Stories: Tinymeat & Mamadelic

2008-02-14T16:39:00-05:00

Mona aka mamadelic and Michael of tinymeat met on Etsy and below, she dishes on how this crafting power couple fell in love love love! So romantic! You can check out all our Etsy Love Stories too.

Michael and I met on Etsy.com, where we both are sellers. It was June of 2006 and I was browsing the Etsy forums. I saw this crazy little pickle avatar with some really snarky comment posted next to it. I did a bit of snooping around online, trying to figure out just who this new person was. I found that he had blogged about one of my mamadelic bags a day or two before. I took this as a sign. I had to know more about him! I checked out his shop tinymeat. I was intrigued, I LOVED what he was making. So over the next week or so, I watched the forums to see if he was around and always made a point to comment on his posts. We'd banter back and forth. I felt a connection, but had still never really talked to him, so had no idea if he was feeling it too.

Eventually I mustered up the courage to ask him to meet me in the chat room under the guise of asking business related questions. We talked for hours ... and not about business. We sent each other links to our pictures in Flickr. Oh boy. I though he was HOT! He thought I was too, good thing! I couldn't stop thinking about him for days after that chat. I even ordered something from his shop, just so I could have something to hold that he had touched. (I bought this wallet in case you are wondering ;)

After a few days, we started chatting on instant messenger and then on the phone. Eventually we got to the point where we were both so overwhelmed by the feelings between us that we HAD to meet. I had already planned a trip to NYC (this was in September) and Michael decided to fly down to the city to meet me in person.

I arrived in NYC a few days before Michael. On the day he arrived, he went to his hotel to check in, then came over to the Jacob Javitz Center where I was working at a trade show. He called me to say he was there and I rode up the escalator to the entry. I saw him across a very long room, leaning against a coffee stand. He was so far away from me but I could tell immediately that he was the ONE. I started the long walk over to him. It was very uncomfortable for me. I was crazy nervous and felt like I was on display. I just knew I would trip and fall or something. But I didn’t. I made it over to him and he bent down and hugged me. He was so much taller than I had imagined. I mean, he told me how tall he was, but until you are face to face it's hard to understand the difference between 5'3 and 6'8.

He was just as he was in the pictures he'd sent me, big and tall and handsome with striking blue-grey eyes. We spent about 10 minutes in awkward discomfort. We tried to make small talk, but it was weird. The fact that I had completely lost my voice the day before and could barely manage a squeak did not help. I finally asked him if we could go out for a walk.

We left the Javitz and started walking into midtown. We spotted a coffee shop and I asked him if he wanted to get a drink. I had tea to help my throat. We sat at a table by a window and started talking. Things seemed to flow much better for us now. It was so surreal to be sitting across from the man I had been talking to online all these months. And in Manhattan of all places, how romantic! Michael made a few phone calls to some friends that we had plans to meet later that night. At some point, the reality of it all sort of overtook me and I reached out and grabbed his hand. I think I squeezed it tight, and maybe kissed it. He told me later that he fell in love with me right then. I told him later that I had already been in love with him for a long time.

That night we went out to dinner with our friends Emily Martin aka theblackapple and KateBlack. We ate at this crazy Japanese place in the East Village. We feasted on takoyaki and bull penis, mmmm. After our meal, we spun our own cotton candy. Emily headed home to watch Project Runway and Kate took us to a bar for drinks. We had a great time with them both. Once we left the bar at 1am, I realized that I did not have a key for my hotel room and could not possibly wake my boss so late at night to get it. I asked Michael if I could stay with him. He said yes of course!

I think I told Michael that I loved him that night. I'd never felt so intensely for anyone. I wanted to crawl inside of him and live there forever, as the same person. I still feel that way. The next morning we went to my hotel and moved all of my things out and over to his. We spent the next 2 days together exploring the city and loving each other. Honestly I think that the way we met and grew our relationship was the best. We got to know each other on an emotional and intellectual level before bringing anything physical into the equation.

The day we left New York, we road in a cab together to the airport. We were quiet and I think a bit sad. I cried as he got on his plane. I had no idea what the future would hold for us or how we'd manage to be together. We spent the next few months flying back and forth to Miami and New York. Finally we saved up enough money and Michael moved down to Miami to be with me. As soon he moved in we began our plan to move to Portland Oregon together. We've now been living in Portland for 7 months and could not be happier. We've been able to really expand our business since moving here. I feel like with the 2 of us working full time, we can bring it to the next level. We are getting ready to open a retail store in the front of our office and have hired a full time employee. Life together has not been without its challenges, but all in all, it's been great! Thanks to Etsy for bringing Michael and I together!

Etsy Couples: Check out These Pairings!

2008-02-13T15:03:00-05:00

In this season of love, we have to showcase all the love betwixt Etsians and their handmade wonders in our series Etsy Love Stories. With a community as great as Etsy, lots of fantastic brains get to interact and it can turn into a craft coupling! We found out about these collaborations in the Etsy Forums. Check out these pairs.

This beautiful Japanse inspired vase was created by woodturner FlintRidgeWoodWorks, with artwork by friend and new Etsyian banshuwa.

Two-year Etsy veteran sweetestpea and hubby Goobeetsa opened a new shop called drperfect. In this new shop they are collaborating on some great new plushie characters.

Totusmel and electrofork have teamed up to make some amazing tatted necklaces with resin pendants.

Another husband and wife team works together to design and create magestic dream catchers. Mindysembroidery is responsible for the detailed threadwork and beadedart is the hands behind the dream catcher construction.

Polymer clay artist Alaliese works with Etsy artists to make a series of Etsy artists on clay, this one is from AshleySpatula.

Love, love, love! Have you collaborated with another artist in the past? Tell us about it in the comments!

Etsy Love Stories: GreenSpaceGoods

2008-02-13T11:00:00-05:00

This edition of Etsy Love Stories features Michael and Lani of GreenSpaceGoods. This is their story, from the Etsy Love thread in the Forums. Here's Lani.

Michael and I started our Etsy shop together. We've always worked together, even before we were dating. Everything in our shop is something we both contributed to. Our favorites are our ink blot collection. (Shown above.)

Not long after we started dating, Michael was moving into a new apartment. While helping him pack, I opened one of his sketch books and became incredibly confused. I couldn't figure out how he had gotten one of my sketchbooks! I turned several pages before realizing that they weren't my drawings. While I recognized the style and shapes, I didn't recoginize the complete images. It turns out we've been drawing the same types of images since before we even met. So, it just made sense to start drawing them together.

We sit down with a piece of bristol board and one person draws a shape. Then the other person adds a shape. We don't know what we're going to draw, it just slowly emerges on the page. (And it's all in ink from the beginning, so no mistakes, no changes!) I guess you could say that the ink blots represent two intertwining souls. We think of them like children. They might not be perfect, but they represent the twisted thoughts of two kindred spirits.

That's love. What's your Etsy Love Story?

Etsy Love Stories: ElenaMary

2008-02-12T12:11:00-05:00

This edition of Etsy Love Stories involves ElenaMary and an anonymous shopper. Their story is one of shop owner and loyal patron, joined by their love of bookmaking. Enjoy!

I have a buyer from Georgia who returns every so often when I have a new batch of unique books listed and buys them all up. She has been returning for years now and has the largest collection of my work anywhere. She is so dear and I feel like I know her.

She is a grandma and tells me she likes to share my books with her (26!) grandkids so they can learn to make their own books. I had not sold anything in a while and last week she swooped in and bought 9 items from me, one being a book priced at $100 (which I thought I would never sell on Etsy). I have a special affinity with her, as I am a first time grandma with a gorgeous seven month old granddaughter who I hope to teach bookmaking to one day.

I have asked her to leave feedback in my shop after a sale but she never does. I think she does not know how or can't be bothered. She has no favorites listed and never reads the Forums, I am sure. She is the best kind of buyer there could ever be: an admirer of my aesthetic, pure and simple. I feel blessed!

What's your Etsy Love Story? Share the love this Valentine's Day!

About Us: Welcome Aboard, First Etsy Admin Baby

2008-02-11T17:57:00-05:00

We are happy to announce Anda and Pete's little bun has arrived! Her name is Sidonie and she is mighty cute. They are resting in the hospital and they are all happy and healthy — except for Pete's car, which got towed! Anda was at work yesterday (now that's just crazy!). We'd been laying our bets down on weight and date. Alec won — though Michelle disputes this and is settling for bragging rights.

I was kinda expecting the wee girl to pop out in an explosion of diamonds and tears and for her to have a siamese twin, but nope. She's pretty normal and that's awesome. Danielle, Mary, and Christine and Lori went to go visit them in the hospital and took these adorable photos. More here!

Lots of love — Vanessa et al

Etsy Love Stories: LazerBeanz

2008-02-11T12:05:00-05:00

We're doing a sweet lil series on the Storque with lovey dovey stories. Below you'll find the story of LazerBeanz, the adorable young couple who also run their shop together. ...Hey, is Justin wearing a toybreaker tie?...

We are Justin and Elise, the newly wedded Etsians who run the shop LazerBeanz as a team. We have always said, “Elise is the hands and Justin is the moustache of the operation.” That is our absurd way of describing how we work together in the shop. Elise makes a big mess all over the studio/kitchen, cutting and sewing peculiar appliques on recycled clothing and Justin makes sense of the situation. He takes care of the listing and business type stuff that Elise is terrible at.

We got started making and selling clothes together when Justin got a big pizza stain down the front of his favorite plain and nicely fitted shirt. We both fretted until Elise got the idea to sew a patch over the stain to cover it. The design was a tooth stitched with red thread and we both thought it looked boss. Justin wore the shirt around and charmed people into placing orders. We started selling by immersion and have definitely grown along the way.

We joined Etsy not long after the pizza incident and have loved working together on our shop. We both have also enjoyed the community aspect of being a member of Etsy. Elise is regularly in the forums and we both enjoy occasionally joining in on Self Portrait Thursday.

Sharing the same shop can be challenging as a couple. It’s especially tough when we want to buy secret surprises for each other. We also have had disagreements about what we want LazerBeanz to be and what our long-term direction is. Fortunately, we learned back in high school that the best way to settle our arguments is an intense game of Rock Paper Scissors (seriously). That is how we chose our shop name. Elise would like to point out that she lost that particular battle.

When we aren’t working on our shop, we like to play Dr. Mario, read to each other, ride our bikes at night (don’t worry Mom), and snuggle with our bunnies, Hodge and Yoshimi. Elise works at a bakery and we also work together at an independent movie theater.

We both feel very lucky to have each other as partners and it’s mega romantic to work together on something and watch it grow.

Check out our previous Etsy Love Stories here too!

Etsy Love Stories: ArtWearbyCaron and MissMeander

2008-02-05T15:57:00-05:00

We at The Storque have recently been canvassing the Etsy community for love stories, be it romantic accounts of meeting a significant other through Etsy, a friendly collaboration between Etsy members or the story of how that one Etsy item made a difference in your relationship with someone else. This is the story of ArtWearbyCaron and MissMeander and the wedding ring that brought their shops, and lives, together. So sweet! Complete with an "unboxing" video.

Caron: The story is really simple. I hadn't made a ring except while learning to be a metalsmith. I started off on Etsy only offering pendants. One day I got a convo from another Etsy shop owner, MissMeander. She asked if I made rings. I said that I would think about it. She nearly scared me off when she said that it would be her wedding ring - but I had NEVER made a ring!

She just kept sending me convos full of encouragement until I agreed to try. I started making rings and she kept sending me convos. After about four months of talking, I made her ring. I took pictures of the process and made her a small scrapbook as a surprise. She surprised me by making a YouTube video of herself opening the box when it came in the mail. What a special gift! When do we ever get to see our buyer open their package? We have kept in touch and I have gone on to make many more rings including two more wedding rings. She really changed my shop and my art. Thanks for the opportunity to tell my story.

Meander: I found Caron while searching for blue topaz items on Etsy. I've wanted a blue topaz wedding ring for so long and I'm always on the lookout for the perfect stone. I mean, I was anyway.

When I saw her pendants, I really fell in love. The settings seemed to float and were often in creative locations. The metal didn't serve as a bland frame for the gemstone, the freeform metalwork was just as important as the stone, and I really appreciated that. I figured if Caron could create those looks for pendants, it was worth asking about rings. So many people on Etsy are so approachable and interested in doing custom work and I've found that asking a person for custom work is often taken as a compliment to them in the first place, so why not give it a try?

Since times can be tough, my husband joined the military to help afford things like college and medical benefits, so because of that we've been moving a lot and he spends a lot of time out to sea. We never seemed to find the right moment or be in close proximity to family to have a ceremony. We had our second wedding anniversary before I finally found Caron's work and I figured since I wasn't seeing a ceremony any time soon in my future, I wanted to have my ideal ring to make up for those memories and wedding photos I didn't have and Caron's art hit the mark.

Caron was so great to work with and she put so much effort into the ring to make it just what I wanted, which was wonderful because a lot of the ring concept had a lot of different meanings to me. I wanted the ring to look free and whimsical and not something that could be forced from a mold. Not only does that have a sort of symbolic meaning, but I believe having another human create something by hand and fire brought so much to the table that couldn't be matched by browsing a glass case in a mall. It seemed so honest and raw and true to the way life should be. The swirls and turns of the silver she created also really call to my aesthetic. In my own art, I love working with spirals and curls to reflect nature. I'm always stunned that something so hard and rough as metal can be converted into something so elegant and fluid. She even put on the specific number of 'dots' I wanted to contain my most lucky number. I was pretty impressed at how lovely her execution of the request turned out.

And of course, you can't forget about the stone. Caron showed me a few topaz stones she'd obtained and they were all so stunning and richly colored. I could tell she wasn't the sort of artist who would skimp on murky stones and poor cuts. They just seemed to glow! I've known all this time that I wanted a trillion cut blue topaz with the point facing downwards as a symbol for water. I'm really emotional and a lot of times, all my husband and I have is phone conversations where we connect with our minds and hearts, rather than physically. That seemed a fitting element. Also, an aspect of water is that although it can come in many forms like rivers and puddles, ice and mist and can be soothing or hugely powerful, it's always still water. That really reminds me of love and marriage. Despite where my husband and I are or what stages of personal and spiritual development we're going through, we can always allow for that and accept one another because love is flowing and changing and developing, but is always still your love.

I'd like to think that one day we'll have a ceremony and I envision it barefoot in the grass surrounded with trees and our very closest associates, but in the mean time I can always look down at my hand and see the most ideal ring I could have imagined. I'm so grateful to Caron just for doing the custom work for me and, just like all the other Etsiers, just for being out there being artists and putting their love and passion into what they do. This is a great place and it's making art possible for, and accessible to, so many people.

Wow. Just...wow! Leave your comments below! Check out our previous Etsy Love Stories here.

Etsy Love Stories: Whamodyne and NeedleNoodles

2008-01-25T16:51:00-05:00

We're getting into the Valentine's Day spirit here at The Storque, and we're searching the community for your Etsy love stories. The first story we're sharing with you (and it's so sweet!) is of Whamodyne, aka Ray Alderman, and NeedleNoodles, aka Christen Haden. I could go into it further, but I'll let them tell it. Ooh, so sweet!

How it started: Both of us are in the Charlottesville, VA area and were aware of the other person's shop from using the Geolocator feature to see who else on Etsy was in the neighborhood. We met for the first time at the Centerville Pumpkin Festival craft fair, which was sponsored by Etsy.

Ray - I had been jonesing after one of Christen's Amigurmi Ninjas for some time, and suddenly there they were in front of me. I was really happy to see them. Then I spotted Christen behind the table and the ninja faded to the background as I said to myself "oh my." After talking with her a bit, I felt I should ask her out sometime in the near future, and I made sure to pick up a ninja.

Christen - I'd known beforehand that a few other Charlottesville Etsians would be vending at the Pumpkin Festival and was looking forward to meeting them face-to-face. Running into Ray was just a lucky bonus...quite lucky, actually, since he helped to hold down my canopy [of my tent] when the wind started to blow it away.

Ray - I used the Etsy Convo feature to send Christen a note about how nice it was to finally get to see her in person and perhaps we could meet for coffee sometime. I knew that this was a person I wanted to spend time with, and it turned out her idea of a good time was coming over to my place and using my table saw and router. We built a little end table together and it was a wonderful bonding moment.

Christen - Heh. I was a little bit uncertain how to respond at first, but decided that anyone with power tools and an Etsy shop deserved the benefit of the doubt. Things seem to have turned out well on that account, though - I think that we're each a complement to, rather than a distraction from, the other's creativity.

We bounce ideas for new products and craziness off each other all the time. Often discussion over dinner is long term plans or ideas for a new item or how we can improve our efficiency on making stuff.

Ray - FYI, our first real "date" was going out to a local Teppanyaki resturant. That evening inspired Christen to do a Teppanyaki Crochet Pattern set. So there is one way our dating has helped develop new products.

I know that having Christen as my partner has helped me be more focused on getting the products out and playing around with ideas. She is a great creative person to talk to about ideas and concepts. It's really nice to be with someone who understands and relates at a basic level your own passion for making stuff.

What a sweet story! Share your thoughts in the comments, and your Etsy love story in the forum thread.