Meet Diane, the creator and artist of 1CardCreator.etsy.com. Diane is a handcrafted greeting card designer and a fellow member of the Etsy Greetings Team I am involved with. She specializes in detailed handmade cards and is passionate about creating her art. Diane was featured as the winner of the 2008World Card Making Day contest through PaperCraft Magazine! Diane loves to converse about card making designs and processes. She is currently on a design team for the Die Cuts R Us site. Visit her blog at 1CardCreator.blogspot.com to read more!

One of the unique aspects of her store is her Handmade Greeting Card Mailing Service:

Choose your handmade card; select your greeting; personalize with names, dates or anything else you want to make it special. I will schedule, sign, address, stamp and mail it for you. I will also remind you to do it again next year.

Her mailing service makes it so convenient to order a card and with a personalized greeting, mail it to your friend or family member without having to stress about getting it to them on time.

Spinning Baby Rattle Card by 1CardCreator

My most favorite card/s in Diane’s shop are her spinner cards. The picture above is of an adorable Spinning Baby Rattle card. The rattles along the side of the card run along a track attached using pennies that spin as you move the rattle up and down. She has a variety of these cards so check out her shop for more!

Thanks for creating with us!

Merit Market on Etsy

This is one for the crafty photographers! Mendy, the creativity behind Merit Market, lives in LaFayette, AR with her husband and daughter. She makes beautiful coasters, craft aprons and Prop-and-Shoot camera sets and market totes. Anyone who uses a point-and-shoot camera would be well-advised to invest in her Prop-and-Shoot camera sets! After you check out Merit Market’s etsy sit at MeritMarket.etsy.com, visit her blog at MeritMarket.blogspot.com and follow her on Twitter!

Prop and Shoot Camera Sets

Prop-n-Shoot with Wrist Strap in Mod Dots and Stripes from Merit Market

As a happy user of point-and-shoot cameras, I love her Prop and Shoot camera sets! For those who aren’t sure, point-and-shoot cameras are the small, simple cameras most people carry around – this camera (the Canon Powershot SD790 IS), for example, is the one I have. Merit Market’s Prop and Shoot Camera Sets come with a wrist strap and a little cushion that functions as a tripod (otherwise known as a Prop and Shoot!). These are great sets for anyone who loves to take pictures – even if you’re like me and just photograph your crafty projects! The fabrics she uses are fun and vibrant. She uses a wide variety of patterns and colors so you are sure to find a set you love!

Craft and Sewing Aprons

White Cotton Duck Craft or Sewing Apron with Pincushion from Merit Market

In my craft hobbies, card making and scrapbooking, I love wearing aprons. Things can get messy – especially using glue, embossing powder, inks, glitter, etc. Aprons are great for keeping those messes off your clothes! Now if we could just figure out a way to keep all the ink and glue off our fingers! Merit Market’s craft aprons are even better than regular aprons because they contain many pockets for all your tools! Hold your scissors, rulers, paint brushes, hole punches and thread in the great pockets available. Her aprons are all tied at the waist and are made with beautiful, durable fabrics. The one pictured above comes with a pin cushion even! Check out her listings for full details of each apron, as well as the measurements of each!

Coasters

Coasters - Modern Numbers by Merit Market

One of Merit Market’s product lines both my husband and I love are her coasters. She makes all her beautiful coasters out of an unbleached cotton fabric that goes great with her designs. She has an assortment of patterns including a cute shish kabob (available in green, blue and orange), leaves (available in blue or green), lovely blue birds and numbers. The numbers are probably my favorites – she handprints the numbers on each coaster using a different placement and color for each number in a beautiful modern font. Each set of coasters contain 4 coasters, but contact her if you want more!

Market Totes

Market Tote - Natural with Blue from Merit Market

Canvas market totes are all the rage now – especially with some grocery stores now charging for grocery bags. They are environmentally friendly, reusable (washable!) and so cute! Like the rest of her products, she uses an unbleached cotton fabric and accents with beautiful, colorful fabrics. Each bag contains a front pocket for more storage and a little loop to to slip over plastic bag dispensers at the grocery store. Her tote bags are designed and made from scratch – no embellishing on a previously made bag! These are not just for grocery shopping, though – they are great for teachers, moms and crafty persons to carry around their books and tools too!

Check out MeritMarket.etsy.com for more!

Thanks for creating with us!

Scrap Addict Etsy Spotlight

Meet my friend Anne, the creator and talent behind the Scrap Addict etsy shop. Anne, along with her husband and three children, bases her brilliant shop out of their dairy farm in Minnesota. Anne displays her incredible creativity throughout her shop with page layouts, 6×6 albums, cards, scrapbooks, and page kits (amongst other products!). Scrapbookers everywhere would be doing themselves a favor by shopping at Scrap Addict’s etsy shop. I get inspired just by looking at her creations!

Scrap Addict posts pictures of her various projects on Flickr and is also a Twitter user (and posts some great comments and tid bits! User name: ScrapAddict). Also, show your support and become a Fan of her shop on Facebook (click on the link to view her Facebook page, or search for ScrapAddict)!Check her projects out and prepare to be amazed! She ships all of her products priority mail, carefully packed so your items arrive without tweaks! She prides herself in producing beautiful creations and aims to keep them perfect for you when you receive them – what a great way to preserve your memories! Visit her etsy shop at ScrapAddict.etsy.com!

Scrapbooking

Pooh Bear 12x12 Scrapbook Page - ScrapAddict

True to her name, Scrap Addict’s shop is packed with scrapbooking layouts and designs including 1 and 2-page layouts, 6×6 scrapbooks and 6×6 scrapbook kits. I love her designs – so many creative ideas, layouts, use of colors and embelllishments! She embraces her gift of creativity to the fullest and it is really evident that she loves her craft! As a true scrapbooker, she uses only acid-free, photo-safe adhesives, and all of her page layouts come enclosed in a page protector.

Purrrrrrrfect Cat and Kitten 6x6 Scrapbook - ScrapAddict

She has a wide variety of themes, patterns and occasions represented in her shop. The photo pictured above features a 6×6 scrapbook with a cat theme (Click on the picture to view the listing in her shop) – perfect for those of us with furry feline pets at home! She has a number of 6×6 albums – all of her 6×6 albums are pre-made and designed, so all you need to do is insert your pictures! They include a chipboard cover, with 5 pages and are tied together with multiple pieces of coordinating ribbon around binder rings. The 5 pages of these albums leave you room to put 10 pictures in (more if you crop your pictures well!).

Happy Halloween Scrapbook Kit - ScrapAddict

Along with pre-made pages and albums, ScrapAddict also has a variety of scrapbook kits – great for those who love to be crafty, but either don’t have time to do all the shopping for everything involved or aren’t sure what coordinates together! The picture above shows her Happy Halloween kit. Her kits include 10 6×6 patterned sheets of paper (2 sheets of each pattern), coordinating tags, brads, buttons and ribbon. Everything featured in her pictures is what you will receive in your kit! Along with her Happy Halloween kit, she also has a Dog kit!

Cards

True Friends Leave Footprints On Your Heart Greeting Card - ScrapAddict

Along with her various scrapbooking creations, Scrap Addict also designs a wide variety of greeting cards. Her handmade cards and notecards are beautifully designed, like her scrapbook creations. She uses an arsenal of techniques, tools, designs, patterns and colors to ensure your card is beautiful and original. She has cards for almost every occasion, including birthday, friendship, thank you and a wide variety of generic cards good for any occasion! Her designs are beautiful and timeless and perfect for anyone at any time – a great addition to any card collection!

Brown OWL Notecards Set of 4 - ScrapAddict

Along with greeting cards, ScrapAddict has a variety of mini card sets and notecard sets – including this beautiful Owl notecard set (includes 4 notecards) that features a die-cut owl. Her mini cards are perfect if you love to send out lots of notes. She has a great set of Midnight Blue Thank You cards that would be great for wedding thank you notes (she also advertises them for etsy sellers’ thank you notes!)!

Tags, Flowers and Die Cuts

Golden Yellow Tags With Flowers and Red Ribbon - ScrapAddict

ScrapAddict also sells a variety of scrapbooking and card making materials including die cut shapes, paper flowers, and handmade tags. Her tags are great for gift tags, or as embellishments in scrapbook albums. Click on the links to explore ScrapAddict’s etsy shop!

Also, a very big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scrap Addict! She celebrated her birthday on Wednesday, the 24th this week! Best wishes Anne!

Thanks for creating with us!

A few weeks ago L7Designs shop and blog were featured as a spotlight post! Lemon Drop Studio (aka Shauna) featured my shop last week in her blog. It’s such a sweet post! Check out lemondropstudio.blogspot.com for her other great posts and her shop at lemondropstudio.etsy.com for her fantastic products! Read the post on L7Designs HERE.

Last but not least, a very large THANK YOU to everyone who took advantage of my Yart Sale on etsy! I truly appreciate your business and I hope you will come back for more! I am on a creating spree and will be updating my shop frequently with brand new cards using new techniques and materials!

Crafty Mama Creations

Crafty Mama Creations is operated and inspired by funky crafty mama Kelci from California’s central coast. Kelci is a stay-at-home-mom (though I believe she recently started working part-time on evenings and weekends) to two adorable little girls. She somehow finds the time to create one-of-a-kind purses and totes – she is a mom to two young girls so most of her purses and totes also double as diaper bags. She has started making some really cute clothes for young girls as well as some beautiful jewelery and a gorgeous baby quilt!

Kelci is continually inspired with great ideas and crafty creations that she loves to share on her blog: CraftyMamaCreations.blogspot.com. Read about personal and etsy projects she works on, great fabric she finds and lots of other creative tid bits!

Crafty Mama’s Creations

Quilted Birdie Cage Book Bag & Market Tote - Crafty Mama Creations

When I first saw Crafty Mama Creations’ etsy site, she was selling only purses and totes. As a mother of two young children, her purses and totes tend to be on the bigger side; her purses doubling as totes and her totes as diaper bags. I have one of her smaller purses and a tote and they work fantastic for traveling in particular. I can fit any books or magazines as well as my Nintendo DS and medications in her tote that I carry on the plane with me. She uses adorable fabrics with a wide range of colors and patterns – she loves to use Amy Butler fabrics! Lately she has branched out her designs and is now making really cool market totes/book bags as well as an adorable gathered hobo bag. In the couple years I have kept up with her creations and products, her designs have really matured and grown in detail!

Amy Butler Baby Girl Quilt - Crafty Mama Creations

This year, Crafty Mama started creating beaded jewelery pieces – earrings and necklaces. I generally don’t wear earrings that dangle – I prefer simple studs, but her earrings are really pretty. The picture below is of her Golden Brown Beaded Owl Earrings I think are so cute. Her other earring and necklace sets are just as adorable. They are perfect gift ideas!

Golden Brown Beaded Owl Earrings - Crafty Mama Creations

Browse through Crafty Mama’s shop at CraftyMamaCreations.etsy.com for more of her fantastic products!

Thanks for creating with us!

Next week we are going on vacation to Iowa to visit some extended family in good ol’ farm country. I’m fairly certain I won’t have much internet access, so I probably won’t be updating my blog next week. I’ll be back soon though! (any purchases from my etsy shop will be mailed on Monday, June 1 when I return)

And now, without further ado let me introduce you to this week’s Etsy Spotlight: Cherie Blossom Designs!

Cherie Blossom Designs

Cherie Duggan is the wonderful crafter and artist who founded Cherie Blossom Designs, based out of our friendly neighbors to the north, beautiful British Columbia, Canada where she creates with her supportive husband and two children, er, cats. Her cards are BEAUTIFUL and her tub tea is DELICIOUS! (I should know, I bought some!) Cherie is constantly working on new projects for her shop so keep checking back! Her shop’s address is: http://www.CherieBlossomDesigns.etsy.com

Cherie Blossom Designs’ Cards

Cute Mini Owl Flat Note Card - Cherie Blossom Designs

I love Cherie Blossom Designs’ cards. They are beautiful; simplistic, but so timeless and sweet with just the right amount of texture and detail. Her notecards come in sets of 4 and are perfect for just about anyone! Pictured above are her Cute Mini Owl Flat Note Cards and I LOVE her adorable owl with yellow pearl eyes! Each of her note cards are two sided – with a solid color on one side and a pattern on the reverse. She also takes the time to put a little coordinating embellishment on the envelope flap! Click HERE to see more of her beautiful cards!

Tub Tea

Relax Tub Tea - Cherie Blossom Designs

How does a nice steamy, relaxing soak in the tub sound? Ok, how does an aromatic delicious cup of tea sound? Well, you’re in luck! Cherie has combined the two and brewed her own tub tea bags! She has three flavors: Rejuvenating, Romantic & Relaxing! She also sells the Three R’s together in a Mixed 3-pack. I purchased her Relaxing Tub Tea and it’s bliss, let me tell you! Perfect for the end of one of THOSE days when your brain is ready to explode from overexertion! Try one or try them all!

Facebook & Twitter

Custom Mini Cupcakes - Cherie Blossom Designs

Aside from Cherie Blossom Designs’ Etsy Shop, you can find this wonderfully talented artisan on Twitter (http://Twitter.com/CherieBlossom/) and Facebook under Cherie Blossom Designs. I especially want to encourage you to become a fan of her Facebook page because not only does she create great works of art and aromatics, she also bakes custom sweets. As she is located in beautiful British Columbia (seriously, just read their license plate! It’s true!), some of us here in the States might be out of luck with her delicious cupcakes, but just looking at the pictures of her creations makes my mouth water. I’m partial to the color yellow, so I love the cupcakes she made for her Grand Opening Spring Party event. Yum!

Like a lot of etsy artists, Cherie loves custom work – send her a convo through etsy to find out more! Otherwise check out her shop at CherieBlossomDesigns.etsy.com!

Thanks for creating with us!

Also be sure to check out my new Card of the Month Club on my Etsy Shop! Get a full year’s (12 months plus TWO additional FREE cards!) worth of cards – one card for every month! Choose between receiving the cards put together or in a kit to do it yourself! The $48 includes all shipping for each of your cards! CLICK HERE or go to my etsy shop at L7Designs.etsy.com to find out more!

Friday Favorites!

Confections Brads from Doodlebug Design

Last week at Archivers, I found some new adorable paper and embellishments from Doodlebug Design Inc. I’m a sucker for cupcakes, whether they’re in my mouth or on paper. The assorted brad packs that came with this paper are just adorable. I took them all out of the packaging since I put all my brads in handy little compartment caddys, but if you click on the Confections Brads link above you can see a picture of them. Presents, glittery flowers, cupcakes (yay!), ice cream cones and some cinnamon roll looking ones! I’m excited to do something with them!

Rag Quilt Pincushions from P and J Crafts’ Etsy Store

Don’t get your hopes up, I don’t sew. Other than putting on buttons and doing a rough job on a split seam or two, you won’t see me at a sewing machine or sitting down with a needle and thread. But I do love Julie’s rag quilt pincushions! They’re square, made with adorable fabric prints, decorated with a beautiful button on both sides of the cushion, quilted (I LOVE quilts), cost effective, beautifully designed and made! They’re great!

Score-It Boards from Score It

My husband and I have two of these boards, a large one for bigger projects and a small one, perfect for my cards. I LOVE these score boards. They make scoring paper and folding cards soooo easy and simple! Not to mention take a lot less time than doing it by hand. When I first heard of these score boards, I thought they sounded kinda hokey and for lazy people. But then I started making my Christmas cards and realized how fantastic they are and how much more motivated I was to make my cards when folding them got a little more simple!

Blizzards from DQ (Dairy Queen)

Normally I stay as far away from fast food “restaurants” as I can, with the exception of the rare trip to Taco Bell or Arby’s. But DQ’s Blizzards (and Peanut Buster Parfaits) are a completely different matter. If you have never tasted a DQ Blizzard before (the McDonalds McFlurries are rip-offs and don’t count), you need to head out and get one right now. This months Blizzard of the Month is Raspberry Truffle.

Stampin’ Up Stamps

Some day I will do a larger post on a Stampin’ Up review, but for now, let me just say that I love these stamps! Stampin’ Up is, for all intensive purposes, the opposite of Close To My Heart. CTMH features acrylic stamps only, where Stampin’ Up sells only rubber stamps mounted in wood blocks. I only have a couple sets of Stampin’ Up Stamps (both Christmas-themed), but I love them and have my eye on some other stamp sets. Their stamps have great detail and like most acrylic stamps come in a set of multiple stamps. These stamps are also kind of Do-It-Yourself. They give you the blocks, the label stickers and rubber stamps, and you get to put them all together! It’s kinda fun – like putting together a puzzle!

Thanks for creating with me!

It’s an amazing club by Sew Easy Inspirations (SEI) – one of my all-time favorite scrapbooking companies. Sign up for either the Mega or the Mini or sign up for both and receive an amazing package every month! Each kit comes with a wide variety of paper and embellishments from one of their fantastic product lines – usually a newly released line of paper and products too – at least one-two pages FULL of project ideas featuring the contents of your kit. Each kit also features additional ideas and add-ons that you can download for free from their website (available only to Club SEI members) or purchase additional bits and pieces at a reduced cost. It’s amazing and I highly HIGHLY recommend you sign up and check out this amazing kit club!! Go to ClubSEI.com for details!

Etsy Spotlight: Lemon Drop Studio

Spring Is Here Penny Ponytail Holders - LemonDropStudio

Meet this week’s wonderful, talented designer, Shauna, from Lemon Drop Studio! Shauna is a card maker and crafter masquerading as a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) outside of Portland (Hillsboro), Oregon. Lemon Drop Studio is also a proud member of the EtsyMoms Team through Etsy.com. I love the way her profile is worded on her blog (LemonDropStudio.blogspot.com):

Shauna Rogers developed lemon drop studio based on the notion that correspondence with friends, family and even the electric company should be personal and fun! From there, her products have expanded to include all kinds of fresh-squeezed gifts.

Lemon Drop Studio’s products include a wide range of handmade cards, gift tags, magnets, note cards, silhouette prints, punched shapes, pony tail holders and hairclips, and lots of other great handmade creations! Let’s check ‘em out! Check out her shop at LemonDropStudio.etsy.com, her blog at LemonDropStudio.blogspot.com and follow her on Twitter! (http://twitter.com/lemon_drop)

Inside LemonDropStudio.etsy.com

Handmade Paper Crafted Goodies

Scarlet Sweet Wish 10 note card flats - LemonDropStudio

Lemon Drop Studio’s many paper crafted products include handmade cards, note cards, gift tags, scalloped and other shaped punches. I love her note card sets especially. The beautiful set pictured above, the Scarlet Sweet Wish set of 10 Note Card Flats is one of my favorites. All of her note card sets come in a set of 10 and are made with a great quality paper – 80-pound weight so it’s not a flimsy paper stationery. Her note cards are stamped and embossed with a simple but beautiful design and include coordinating envelopes. Her handmade cards, too are beautifully designed, so cute, sophisticated and classy! A lot of her cards feature some of her fantastic scalloped punches too that really add a punch of pizazz to her designs! I love her scalloped punches (and all of her shaped punches!) – they come in good sized packages and at great prices. Better yet she uses a wide variety of patterned papers and groups her shapes together in themes! Click on the links above to see all of her great paper crafted products!

Prints and Invitations

Custom Silhouette - LemonDropStudio

Not only does Lemon Drop Studio create handcrafted products, she also designs fabulous digital prints, invitations and silhouettes. Featured in her shop are three kinds of digital invitations: Birthday and two Baby Shower invitations. One of the great things about her digital invitation designs is how customizable they are. For her Happy Hedgehog Birthday Invitations, for example, when you purchase her invitations you are invited to customize the color and wording (even font!). She then sends you a high resolution file of the invitation for you to print wherever and on whatever you choose! Great idea! Her Silhouette Prints are a great product as well. They are customizable with up to 15 different colors (pick two!). Just send her a digital photo of your loved ones’ adorable face and she compiles your silhouette from there. Choose from 3 different printed sizes (order additional prints, too!). What a FANTASTIC idea for a baby room!

Fun Stuff!

Earth Friendly Heart Crayons - Set of 6 - LemonDropStudio

Not only does Lemon Drop Studio play with paper and scissors but she is also incredibly creative with making handmade pony tail holders, magnets, hair clips and handmade recycled crayons (yes, you read that correctly!)! Her pony tail holders and hair clips have been featured on the popular blog Dooce.com. Those lucky enough to be local to the Northwest can also find her hair clips and pony tail holders at In Other Words, a bookstore in Northeast Portland, Oregon. Most of her magnets are fabric covered buttons in adorable patterned prints and colors. She also features a fun felt mustache magnet! Her upcycled crayons, though (pictured above) are what get me the most excited! I am a big kid at heart and I love crayons! These fun, creative crayons are made from bits of crayons that can’t really be colored with comfortably any more. They are made into cute little shapes (hearts and circles) and are mixed colors (never know what you might get!)! They’re great for little kids who can’t quite grasp a skinny crayon yet and perfect for putting in a purse or tote for spur-of-the-moment creativity! She has three sets available in her shop (convo her for more!).

Thanks for creating with us, Lemon Drop Studio!

1. Die Cuts With a View (DCWV)’s new line Green Paper

   What I love most about this new line of paper products from DCWV is that it’s 70% recycled. I am a lover of all things growing and green, especially beautiful lush trees. Unfortunately, not many scrapbooking companies have embraced the idea of recycled paper. Die Cuts With a View is one of the few. DCWV recently came out with a new paper line of 70% recycled paper. A huge feat when you consider the quality of the paper, texture, colors and patterns DCWV uses. DCWV is a big distributer of paper packs (huge 12×12, 8×8 and 4.5×6.5 packs) of patterned scrapbooking paper. Their 70% recycled line features beautiful textured paper with natural patterns with forest animals and natural colors (brown, blue, yellow, orange, green).

2. Pretty Good Jokes

   National Public Radio does a joke show every year through Prairie Home Companion hosted by Garrison Keillor, featuring a variety of comedians called the Pretty Good Joke Show. Thanks to my father and uncles on that side of the family, I have a deep love and respect for great jokes, especially the cheesy ones and this fantastic joke show never fails to provide great guffaws, laughter and groans! Jokes like: What’s Irish and sits out in the rain? Patty O’Furniture. And one of my favorites: What did the grape say when the elephant sat on it? It let out a little wine.

3. Memories Cutting Mat

   A must-have for any aspiring scrapbooker, card maker or crafter of any kind. These cutting mats are black with white grid lines (with measurements on all sides). The great thing about these mats is they are thick enough to prevent any warping or bubbling. I used to use cutting mats designed for cutting fabric and they all bubbled and warped so my straight cuts ended up looking like crooked lines. Another great attribute to these cutting mats is they are self-healing. Perfect for those of us who do a lot of paper cutting. This makes these mats long-lasting without leaving permanent grooves left by Xacto knives or circular cutters. Another thing I really like about these is they are big enough to work with 12×12 paper.

4. Cookbook holder from Scrapem24.etsy.com

   My husband and I have been shopping around for a cookbook holder for a while now. We wanted something more unique, something that would be a compliment to our kitchen and go with our “style”. We searched in a lot of kitchen and home stores and I finally got the idea to look on etsy for something handmade. Originally we were looking for something wrought-iron I think, but nothing seemed like it was right for us. Then I found this wooden holder made by etsy seller: Scrapem24.etsy.com. This cute cookbook holder is designed with a wooden fork and spoon on each side and folds up for easy storage. She gives the option of a variety of different stain colors (we picked yellow to go with our Fiestaware dishes). This holder features pegs on both sides of the holder adjustable for the thickness of your cookbooks.

5. Thickers from American Crafts

   I love designing with typography (fonts, letters etc) in my cards and albums. One of my favorite Halloween card designs features white chipboard Thicker letters from American crafts. Thickers come in a pack containing the entire alphabet (with multiples of the commonly used letters) as well as a handful of punctuation marks. Thickers come in a variety of fonts, styles and materials including vinyl, leather, chipboard and cardstock (some with glitter some without). Each Thicker material features a different font and comes in a variety of colors and sizes.

Thanks for creating with me!

Etsy Spotlight: Kelp Designs

AJ Personalized Flat Notes from Kelp Designs

I found Kelp Designs … or rather, Kelp Designs found me … through the social network Twitter a few weeks ago. On her Twitter profile, she mentions that she is getting ready for the National Stationery Show in New York this May (she will be at booth #2070 for anyone attending!). I am always interested in learning about great artists selling on etsy, but as soon as I read about her going to the National Stationery Show I was really intrigued to see her work. She did not disappoint!

From Kelp Designs Etsy Store:

My shop caters to paper-fanatics looking for environmentally-friendly, note cards, personalized stationery, invitations and other paper products in bold colors and classic patterns. All designs are created and hand crafted by little ‘ol me, in my studio in Southern California, and printed on 100% recycled (30% PCW) paper.

Brown Pinwheel Customized Invitations by Kelp Designs

I love the simplicity, modernity and beauty of Kelp Designs’ stationery products. She uses a variety of beautiful color palettes and patterns – all designed by her. She designs all of her cards, note cards, stationery, invitations and announcements on a computer (using Illustrator I’m guessing) then prints them out on beautiful cover weight card-stock. Her designs and products are gorgeous and professional quality. Many of her stationery products can also be personalized – perfect for your own personal note cards & stationery or great for a gift! She also does custom work including invitations (wedding and more) and announcements. Want another incentive? Kelp Designs prides itself on being environmentally friendly, using quality 100% recycled paper!
Check out her beautiful designs at her Etsy shop. Go to: Kelp Designs (http://www.kelpdesigns.com or http://www.KelpDesigns.etsy.com). Read her blog at: KelpDesigns.blogspot.com and follow her on Twitter! (http://twitter.com/kelpdesigns)

Great work Kelp Designs! Good luck at the National Stationery Show! We’ll be cheering for you!

Thanks for creating with us!
As always please comment or email me about any Etsy Spotlight requests! I love finding great etsy artisans!

This week, I couldn’t decide on just one seller, so I’m spotlighting two etsy sellers: Pepperberry Knits and MissCourageous! Both sellers are local to Boise/Nampa, Idaho and are active members of the IdahoIndieWorks team with etsy.

Pepperberry Knits

CASHMERE Fringe Scarf by PepperberryKnits.etsy.com

PepperberryKnits, based out of Nampa, Idaho, creates beautiful scarves, gloves, hats and other knitted items. What really makes PepperberryKnits stand out from the rest is her material of choice: 100% cashmere. Cashmere! That’s right ladies. The Cadillac of wools, cashmere comes from the underhairs of the Cashmere Goat. Unlike most wools, cashmere wool is fine in texture, and it is also strong, light, and soft; when it is made into garments, they are extremely warm to wear (according to Wikipedia). It may officially be Spring now, but it’s not too late to order one of these beautiful cashmere creations. As an added bonus, they are very reasonably priced, well below what you would pay in a department store or fancy boutique. To view more of PepperberryKnits’ creations see her etsy site at: http://www.pepperberryknits.etsy.com.

MissCourageous

Record Vinyl Brooch by MissCourageous.etsy.com

MissCourageous, also known as Millie, is local to Boise, Idaho and is another talented upcycle creator. She uses a wide variety of materials and mediums to create her one-of-a-kind jewelery and accessory pieces. Millie is a multi-talented artist with a second etsy store selling upcycled belt buckles called BuckleUp.etsy.com. Millie describes her works of art as:

All of the things I make used to be something else. It’s been called upcycling, recycling, repurposing, trash to treasure, trashion, eco-friendly, crafting green, re-use, reinvent, redesign, etc…
I call it “POP Jewelry & Accessories”. As in pop caps, pop music, pop a lid, pop art, pop culture. (from MissCourageous’ profile on her etsy shop)

According to her profile she has been “creating for as long as I can remember” and sells many of her beautiful works of art at local shops in Boise including, JuJu’s Accessories in the Boise Towne Square Mall, Hyde Park Gallery and the Boise State University Bookstore. She also has a booth at the Capitol City Public Market downtown Boise April 18 through Christmas. Visit her etsy shop at: MissCourageous.etsy.com; her blog at: MissCourageous.blogspot.com; or follow her on Twitter at: twitter.com/misscourageous.

If you have any recommendations for Etsy artists you would like to see in my weekly Spotlight, please leave a comment or email me! I would love to see who your favorite artists are as well!

Thanks for creating with me!