Etsy :: The Storque :: Spotlight :: Fresh Shops: The Felted Finds of Belokrinitski

Fresh Shops: The Felted Finds of Belokrinitski


Story by belokrinitski Published on February 27, 2009 in Spotlight	Photo by Michael Ivnitski

My name is Elena Belokrinitski, and I was born in Moscow, Russia. At the age of 12, I moved to Israel with my family. I currently live in Israel near Tel Aviv. Officially, I am a textile designer, and I now design wallpaper, which is my passion.

My other passion is creating toys and accessories (I began creating dolls at 5 years old!). I learned to sew and knit very early, and have been making things for as long as I can remember.

I found Etsy by accident, browsing somebody's links. I thought that this could be the ideal place for me to show off and sell my items! In Israel, I occasionally participate in street markets, designer shows and festivals. But really, I prefer to sit at home and prepare all kinds of projects instead of burning under the sun with loud music blaring at the festivals (the summer is 9 months long in Israel). I love Etsy a lot; the site is very user-friendly, and so pretty! However, I haven't yet figured out how to push my sales or where to advertise. If any of you have tips on that, I would love to learn. (Post in the comments!)

Meanwhile, I'm concentrating on my latest handmade project, which is felt jewelery. I just love working with felt! My other favorite materials are: plush, polymer clay, paper, papier mache, and many more.

My home is in Ramat-gan, and my studio is my balcony. I love my quiet green neighborhood. Living in Israel seems pretty dangerous for foreigners, but I consider Israel home. Among designing, I love to communicate and meet new people, amateur theater, walk on the streets of Tel-Aviv, and buy new shoes.

Shop Local Israel | Fresh Shops Series | Etsy International

Below you'll find items from other talented Etsians who hail from Israel!

Tags	accessories, belokrinitski, design, Elena Belokrinitski, Etsy International, felt, Fresh Shops, Israel, jewelry, Moscow, Ramat-gan, Russia, Tel Aviv, textiles, wallpaper

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71 comments Login to add your own!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 5:37 p.m.

TrendyCards

What CUTE birdies!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 5:41 p.m.

zwzzy

Love the tails on your birdies!

That Black Fire necklace is amazing!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 5:45 p.m.

CatTingles

ohh this is great!! I love felt, and birdies!!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 5:46 p.m.

DownTheRabbitHole

very pretty items, felt is such a lovely fabric to work with and wear.

Feb. 27, 2009 at 5:49 p.m.

BlueTerracotta

Your creations are absolutely beautiful!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 5:51 p.m.

WingsDove

Your work is very cute and colorful.

Many of my web ad customers advertise with CraftCult.com (Majaba.org) and ProjectWonderful.com.

Buying shoes is always fun!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 5:57 p.m.

littlepancakes

cute stuff!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 5:59 p.m.

yaelfran

lovely shop belo!!!!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 6:03 p.m.

soap

ooh, cuteness! love the birdies (and i'm not a big birdie fan usually).

Feb. 27, 2009 at 6:07 p.m.

punkybunny300

The birdies are gorgeous!

I've had some success with both Craft Cult and Project Wonderful (as mentioned by WingsDove), you should give them a try if you have a chance. I also use twitter.com and I definitely get a bunch of traffic from there.

Feb. 27, 2009 at 6:26 p.m.

4TheSparrowsNest

What adorable items! You have lots of talent Elena!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 6:27 p.m.

CwButcher

great shops love goth girl

Feb. 27, 2009 at 6:32 p.m.

ToujoursTu

Beautiful!!!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 6:37 p.m.

BeSomethingNew

fun stuff!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 6:42 p.m.

PetitOiseau

i love her birds! i just bought a pink petit oiseau :)

Feb. 27, 2009 at 6:54 p.m.

Yokoo

Designing wall paper, sounds perfect!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 7:18 p.m.

AdaRosman

Love the vivid colors! Also, really like the tails of all the lovely birds.

Feb. 27, 2009 at 7:27 p.m.

kiwigemwraps

that is really cool, I'd never thought of doing felt jewelry!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 7:38 p.m.

worksofwhimsy

Love the whimsical look.

Feb. 27, 2009 at 7:38 p.m.

BabbidgePatch

fun art !

Feb. 27, 2009 at 7:40 p.m.

IcingOnTheCupcake

Your little birds are so pretty!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 7:48 p.m.

popsiclestick

Search for Timothy Adams Designs posts in the Forums - he has such great promo advice - he started a whole website with tips, so you can probably just go to the Profile part of his shop and he should have a link. I've seen a lot more traffic since using his ideas.

Feb. 27, 2009 at 7:48 p.m.

popsiclestick

Oh, love everything!! Thanks!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 7:48 p.m.

mealymonster

Oh my gosh, the birds are adorable!!!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 8:04 p.m.

frostingcouture

Gorgeous
Gorgeous
Gorgeous

Feb. 27, 2009 at 8:16 p.m.

odiliafu

Cute birdies!!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 8:36 p.m.

CutieDynamite

Those birdies are too cute!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 10:03 p.m.

45DegreeDesigns

BEAUTIFUL! I just recently found a love for felt too!! Very addictive :)

Feb. 27, 2009 at 10:59 p.m.

SeventhCloudStudio

I LOVE the green bird with pearls necklace--beautiful and whimsical! Great shop! Thanks for sharing!

Feb. 27, 2009 at 11:28 p.m.

Nushkie

So sweet and unique!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 12:15 a.m.

bhangtiez

So creative, luv them...such a shining light!!!!!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 12:40 a.m.

BohemianRomance

Beautiful!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 1 a.m.

DvoraSchleffer

You do beautiful work!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 1:19 a.m.

ChocolateBeachFlower

so refreshing:) beautiful!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 4:20 a.m.

KellesKitchen

Beautiful creations! Just lovely :)

As far as increasing sales goes, I think the views from this feature will certainly help :) If you have a business card, be sure to put your Etsy shop link on there and pass it out at craft fairs, stores, etc. Blogs/Twitter help many people market. They will help bring people into your shop. Joining street teams on Etsy are really helpful as people will help eachother out. Listing or renewing items daily keeps your shop fresh and allows people to find you more readily in search (but if renewing it is 20 cents a listing). Forums and creating treasuries can help - Any way to get more active in the community :) And of course, the non-free option of purchasing advertising, Project Wonderful ads can be fairly inexpensive, you just have to find a way to target your market in a way that works for you. Come over to the forums - this topic comes up daily and there are tons of great ideas! I wish you the best of luck!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 4:28 a.m.

Iammie

Love your stuffs :)

Feb. 28, 2009 at 4:49 a.m.

belokrinitski

oh my god, thank you all soooo much for the response!!! you really made my day!
KellesKitchen, popsiclestick, punkybunny300, WingsDove
thank you so much for the advice! i will defenetely try all of the above, and will get back to you with the input,if you are interested.
I would love to get more involved with the community.
Anyhow, this article brought me 5 sales, which is amazing! im totally happy about it!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 5:31 a.m.

ALEALE

very nice !

Feb. 28, 2009 at 6:48 a.m.

lupin

Welcome to Etsy, Elena! Always nice to see a fellow felt artist & your necklaces in particular are so stunning! :)

Feb. 28, 2009 at 6:49 a.m.

Lirola

What an amazing article. I have definitely found some new favorite Israeli shops.
Thank you so much for including a picture of my dress:)

Feb. 28, 2009 at 8:06 a.m.

JANBEAU

Absolutely beautiful!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 9:28 a.m.

Kschulz

Thanks for sharing! I love hearing about artists from different places. The birds are really adorable.

Feb. 28, 2009 at 9:31 a.m.

InmostLight

hm hm, you're penelopa on livejournal, right?
i understood this from the frase "i love to buy new shoes" lol)
я периодически заглядывала в ваш ЖЖ, пока не удалила свой:)
Удачи вам с Etsy;)!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 9:49 a.m.

TreeHuggerStudio

Your birds are groovy, I am also new to esty and wish you the best of luck.

Feb. 28, 2009 at 1:09 p.m.

laurebelle

Birds are my all time fav - yours are way cute!

Feb. 28, 2009 at 1:57 p.m.

zone

Liked the Lirola item, very clean......

Feb. 28, 2009 at 2 p.m.

LeelaRocks

Browsing your site put a smile on my face! lovely :)

Feb. 28, 2009 at 5:14 p.m.

raisinlike

What a great shop

את מוזמנת להצטרף לצוות שלנו - Etsy Israel Team
http://team.etsy.com/profilest/isr.shtml

Feb. 28, 2009 at 9:47 p.m.

TheDizzyPixie

Those birds are adorable!

March 1, 2009 at 8:31 a.m.

BluCille

Cute sofa.

March 1, 2009 at 12:07 p.m.

happykimono

Great new shops! I love iluchka. Hey! Isn't that the girl from Terry Poison!? x x x

March 1, 2009 at 1:56 p.m.

belokrinitski

thank you everybody! Hello to all fellow Israeli friends!
I have just added some new items to my shop, so be sure to visit:)
Also, i will certainly be adding some of you as favorites, if you don't mind, cos i have found lots of fabulous stuff in your shops!
By the way, do all of you have blogs?
Does it help the sells?I have recently started mine- its http://belokrinitski.wordpress.com/
I have the full story in pictures for this article posted.
Lets be blogs friends!

March 1, 2009 at 3:58 p.m.

hanginmoon

Very creative ♥♥

March 2, 2009 at 3:58 a.m.

sqiddlydiddly

great work

March 2, 2009 at 5:54 a.m.

setenta

איזה פטריוטית :) שיהיה לך בהצלחה!!

March 2, 2009 at 7:37 a.m.

wooLA

בהצלחה !!! את מקסימה וכמו כן עבודותייך

March 2, 2009 at 7:43 a.m.

busterandboo

belorinitski, your work is beautiful! I do have a blog, and would love to feature you - send me a convo?
my blog is http://woolies-woolies.blogspot.com

Also, for advertising, http://projectwonderful.com is a great way to advertise inexpensively. However, I've found that there are sites out there (maybe $25/month) that have very high readership - it's a matter of figuring out your target audience, and what they read online. Challenging!

March 2, 2009 at 8:54 a.m.

bbbennyandthejet

Your whole shop is adorable! And you seem like such a fun and creative person.. I wish that Etsy was a real PLACE and that we could all hang out and drink coffee together! :D Congratulations on the exposure from the feature article and on your sales, I'm sure that there will be many more to come!
Cheers,
-Benny

March 2, 2009 at 12:35 p.m.