Featured Etsy Shop

"You walked in, I woke up
I've never seen a pretty girl look so tough
Baby, you've got that look"
~Prince

I'd like to feature another Etsy seller with whom I have received excellent service and the item more than exceeded my expectations:  Art of Spirit Leatherworks, by Kathy Fowler.  I ordered this bracelet in both brown and black a couple of years ago, and LOVE IT! 

I have very small wrists, so I requested that the bracelet be a bit smaller than normal.  Actually, I think I just gave Kathy my wrist measurement and she figured out what size to make the bracelet.  It arrived quickly, especially considering it was made to order.  The bracelet is made from very heavy leather and embossed with a lovely vine design.  The double snap closure is super-strong. 

I wear this bracelet all the time with the pieces that I make, even other bracelets like this:

Compositions Bracelet

I love the toughness of the leather matched with the antique elements of my jewelry, the organic leather accenting the gleam of aged brass, sparkle of czech glass, and creaminess of glass and freshwater pearls.  It's like bohemian biker chic meets tea party;  everything rounds each other out rather nicely.  A great way to introduce edgy to your wardrobe. 

Leather is very popular now-I am seeing it everywhere-but I believe this is truly a better bang for your buck than the trendy ones at Target or Macy's that have flimsy leather and glued-on rhinestones.  I doubt you'd get two years of good wear out of those. 

Head on over to Aos Leather and tell them In Small Spectacles sent you!



Sara

And Another Thing...

...about Etsy:  Their homepage features a collection of 12 items that an Etsy member has assembled according to themes, textures, colors, etc.  This collection, or "Treasury," changes hourly and it is a real coup to have one of your items featured on the Front Page.  I have always wanted one of my items featured on the Front Page as it generates traffic to your store and hopefully, sales.  An employee of Etsy picks the Treasury to be featured, so it really depends on that Treasury collection as a whole instead of an Etsy person just liking your one item.  Once you have an item featured on the Front Page, you can label it as such which is really impressive.  At least I think so. 

This Front Page is so competitive, so important to Etsians, that there is a website, Craft Cult, devoted to the statistics of your page:  How many people "favorited" your store or a particular item, and if a treasury you've created or a treasury featuring one of your items has hit the Front Page.  We Etsy sellers live for the favorites....and the sales.  This site is considerably easier to decipher than Web Analytics and is very helpful as we can't visit Etsy every hour of every day to see if we've made the Front Page.  Well, most of us can't.

I have found that the more prominent your presence in the Treasury realm of Etsy, the more likely you are to get shop traffic and be featured in another's Treasury.  I have made a bunch of Treasuries and been featured in some as well.  Here's the link to them, if you're interested.

I hope you've had a chance to peruse Etsy since my last post, have enjoyed your time exploring the incredible goodies there, and have committed to buying handmade forevermore, never to darken the doorstep of another mall or retail chain without first having searched on Etsy. 

Keep quality and creativity alive.  Shop Etsy.

Sara

For the Love of Etsy

I love Etsy, don't you?  If you don't, you really should.  Etsy is an online marketplace that hosts thousands, literally thousands of "stores" (in addition to mine) where people sell their handmade items, craft and art supplies, and all things vintage.  Something has to have one of those three criteria in order to be sold on Etsy.  The work that artists sell is incredible and I have to practice self-control because there are so many things that I love and one could go absolutely uber-crazy with all the choices available to them.  A Paypal account is great, but it's not a never-ending well;  at least mine's not.

It's amazing the number of different ways a bracelet or necklace can be made using the same componants of beads, metal, wire, glue, paper, fabric, etc.  I find that Etsy increases my drive to be more creative, and to try my hand at different jewelry-making techniques.  It also pushes me to bring something more unique to my pieces to stand out among the throngs of jewelry sellers on Etsy.

I love to promote and celebrate other Etsy artists, so periodically I'm going to feature some of my very favorites that I have had experience purchasing from.  In each of these cases, the items were exactly as described, if not better, very reasonably-priced, and the shipping was quick. 

I'm going to start with Gothic Crow, who's tag line is "Gothic Raven Images... with a touch of odd."  I love odd.  I purchased this picture a couple years ago, framed it in an 8 X 8 black wood frame from Michael's, and it has been hanging in my family room ever since.  I absolutely adore it. 

Take a look-see through Gothic Crow's shop and try and limit your "I love this's" down to a handful.  I don't know how the artist takes these pictures and doctors them up to achieve the end result, but they very beautiful and quite unique.  Now this is the kind of shop that gets me in trouble.  I love everything about the images:  the weathered architecture, the statues, headstones in graveyards, the stark black crows, and the aged patina over the entire picture.  And the price!  Really?  $16?  You couldn't find something as unique with as much quality at a Homegoods, sorry. 

Share the Etsy love and start clicking.

Sara