Seller Spotlight - Dayzee Love Designs

Seller Spotlight: Dayzee Love Designs @ Etsy

* Tell me a little about yourself?
My name is Stacey, often confused with Dayzee and I am a Graphic Designer / Games Tester from Birmingham.

* What is your shop name and what do you sell?
My shop name is Dayzee Love Designs. I create custom designs for business cards, labels, pin buttons and various other promotional items.

* What inspires you to create?
I love video games, music and cakes, these three things along with my partner have motivated a lot of my own work. My customers are very inspiring too, helping them create what they had envisaged is a very exciting process and the lovely feedback they have left me makes the long hours worth it.

* What is your favourite item from your shop?



* How and where do you promote your shop?
http://dayzeelove.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/dayzeelove
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dayzee-Love/122895620318
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6413132

* What do you find to be the biggest challenge of running your own shop?
The biggest challenge is finding the time to fit it all in. Sometimes there just isn’t time to create new items then get them listed so you can give your customers some more ideas. Procrastination also plays a big part.

* What advice would you offer to new sellers?
I think you should get in the forums and in chat and make as many friends from around the world as you can. This is the best way to learn about Etsy and running your own shop.
Finding a local team is also a good way to get more regional / local advice and to feel like you have a closer connection to the community.

Fun Questions -
* Favourite Colour? – Purple / orange
* Favourite Book? – Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
* Favourite Music? – Drum n Bass
* Favourite Season? - Autumn
* Favourite independant sellers? There are many but I am just going to list 5.FullTilt, LucidOpticLab, Dr Strychnine, MissElany, Titchables (aww thanks!!).

WIP

I thought I would show you a little sneaky peak at some of the new brooches I finished at the weekend. I bought the teeny tiny pom pom trim a while ago and was racking my brain for a use for it - finally decided it would make a cute border. :)

I really love how these turned out. I will probably start listing them tomorrow. Just waiting on some decent light - very dark and rainy today!

Flickr Friday - Spring!

Well Spring has definitely arrived. Pretty flowers, lovely blue sky - it's even starting to feel a smidge warmer outside! Yay!


1. Spring snail magnets, 2. spring boxes, 3. Girl in Spring Flower Garden Original Mixed Media Collage Painting by Sascalia, 4. spring antlers, 5. spring chicks, 6. Tone - a breath of spring!, 7. Bunny Gardener Yarn Wreath, 8. yellow tweets, 9. A Spring bracelet

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Don't forget about my Free Shipping on handmade items over at the Titchables Etsy Shop! Continues until Monday at Midnight!

Special offer!

Hi all! Hope you have all had a good week so far. Just wanted to let you know about a special weekend offer I am doing over at the Titchables Etsy shop!

You may or may not be aware, but this week is Euro Week on Etsy. Because I am hugely unorganised, I hadn't really thought to do anything to celebrate but I thought I would do a special offer for the last few days.

From the moment this post goes live until Monday at midnight, I am offering FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING on ALL HANDMADE ITEMS - this also includes the fabric buttons sets. To claim this offer, just progress through checkout as normal and EITHER wait for me to send a new invoice OR pay and I will refund the postage via paypal asap!

Sorry I can't extend this to my craft supplies, but I can't afford to do that right now. :)

So check out the Titchables Etsy shop!

Seller Spotlight: Pink Tiger Textiles

Seller Spotlight: Pink Tiger Textiles @ Etsy

* Tell me a little about yourself?
Hello, my name is Anna and I'm currently based in Hull, East Yorkshire.

* What is your shop name and what do you sell?
My shop name is Pink Tiger Textiles and I sell textile related goodies. Embroidered wall hangings are my speciality but I also dabble in illustration and accessories.

* What inspires you to create?
Lots of things I guess, could be a piece of fabric I've found that has a great print on it that I know I could turn into a great product, or something I've read about or seen. I think animals are a big inspiration for me, I like to try and create characters from them!

* What is your favourite item from your shop?
I have a couple of favourites so it's hard to choose but I would have to say this item is my fave (below). I think it is because of the time it took, there's a lot of embroidery involved..so it feels worth the effort!


* How and where do you promote your shop?
I promote my shop on Facebook

* What do you find to be the biggest challenge of running your own shop?
The time it takes to promote! At first I thought Etsy would be easy, I'd just add items to sell and they would, but now I know that you really have to put the time in to actively go on the forums and promote your wares.

* What advice would you offer to new sellers?
To promote! haha, that and have fun and try not to get too upset if you haven't had a sale in a while...it can be disheartening but Etsy is a big place!

Fun Questions -
* Favourite Colour? It changes quite a bit but I do love Navy blue :)

* Favourite Book? The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

* Favourite Music? I like lots of different genres of music, but at the moment my favourite band is Friendly Fires. They're amazing live!

* Favourite Season? Autumn, the season I was born in and I just think it's so inspiring!

* Favourite independant sellers? There's a little shop near me in Hull called Pollyanna which is great, it sells lots of cute and interesting gifts, a lot of them handmade by local people too. On Etsy I love Polkadotscloud, really quirky illustrations!

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Thank you Anna for taking part in this week's seller spotlight!

If you would like to be featured on an upcoming spotlight, feel free to send me an email here: titchables(at)gmail(dot)com. I welcome any kinds of artists/sellers so do get in touch!

Buttons, buttons, buttons!

I have been busy making buttons over the last week or so. Stocking up on my current sets, as well as creating 9 brand new sets! These have been proving really successful for me so far this year so I'm excited about introducing some new designs. I hope you like them too!



All are now available to purchase at my online shop and most are now available at etsy too!

RIP Pretty Fabric

It should come as no surprise to you that I love supplies. Love buying them, love hoarding them. Do NOT like using them.

Now that I'm full steam ahead with my business, things need to be used. I need to stop buying things for the sake of having them. I need to fight the giant urge of "WANTSIES" and really consider if it is something that is usable in a new product.

My fabric buying of late has definitely reflected this. As I make lots of fabric buttons, the designs need to be very specific to my needs. I need to make sure that it will fit the size of button I use, how many sets I can make from one fat quarter/half yard, how close together are the little designs (so I don't have to cut into too many that I need), etc etc. I occasionally slip up and buy the wrong kind of fabric - but I'm learning to develop ways of incorporating them somehow into my projects.

Anyway, I posted the picture above as a little encouragement. It really is okay to cut your fabric up people! You never know what lovelies you will end up making with it!

Naturally part 2 of this post shall be coming soon wherein I show you what I'm making (shhhh.... brooches!).

Flickr Friday!

Today, I am featuring plush food! Hope it doesn't make you too hungry! :)


1. Felt Food - Cute Mini Box of Chocolates, 2. Pizza Play Food Set, 3. ice cream in a dish, 4. cotton candy group, 5. I Loaf You, 6. Box of Felt Chocolate Truffles, 7. sushicombo#1 1, 8. monster cookies, 9. Cupcake Group

Seller Spotlight: Tantania Rosa

Seller Spotlight: Tatania Rosa @ Etsy

* Tell me a little about yourself?
Hi, I’m Heather Buckman. I'm a geeky goth who lives on the Kent cost. Last year I graduated from Uni in Wales where I studied Ancient History. A few years ago I started tatting and have been hooked ever since.

* What is your shop name and what do you sell?
My shop is Tatania Rosa and I sell gothic and historically inspired tatted jewellery.

* What inspires you to create?
I’m inspired by all things gothic and different historical periods, especially Medieval and Tudor.

* What is your favourite item from your shop?
I think my favourite item is the Elizabeth Royale choker / necklace. I really love how it all came together.


* How and where do you promote your shop?
As soon as I list an item I like to go round and promote in a few places:
http://twitter.com/TataniaRosa
http://tataniarosa.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/TataniaRosa
I also like to get to know and chat with crafty people. This is very easy to do on Facebook and Twitter.

* What do you find to be the biggest challenge of running your own shop?
Taking good quality photos is always one of my biggest priorities and challenges.

* What advice would you offer to new sellers?
Try to spend a lot of time on your photos. Your customers can’t feel your products so you need to capture their attention through your pictures.

Fun Questions -
* Favourite Colour? Blue

* Favourite Book? A Crowning Mercy by Bernard Cornwell

* Favourite Music? Darren Hayes, Mediaeval Baebes, Within Temptation

* Favourite Season? Summer

* Favourite independant sellers? All on Etsy: Damsel in this Dress, C Line Creations, Petal Mix, Cute Designs, KDemARTe.

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If you would like to be featured on a future "Seller Spotlight" post, please send me an email here: titchables(at)gmail(dot)com! :)

Bunnies!

My newest felt creations, Bunny Brooches! They come in 5 lovely pastel colours and they are now available in my online shop and etsy!

Fantastic Mr Fox

Something you should know about me: I am a huge fan of stop motion animation. I think my first exposure to it would be the pretty awesome Clash of the Titans which as a kid I just thought was out of this world. Of course, to me, it was actually an old film but still one that I loved. My big favourite though is the quite amazing Nightmare Before Christmas. I watch it every year.

I just find these films so inspiring on a visual level. The amount of work that has gone into making all those frames so fluid as a film. A.MAZING.



At the weekend I checked out Fantastic Mr. Fox. I will admit that I am not familiar with the story but goodness, this film was SO pretty! I just felt hugely inspired when I had finished watching it. If you're a stop motion film fan - do check it out!





How about you? Do you share the same sentiments?

Incidently about a month ago I sketched out a fox plush and I'm now dying to cut the felt out and sew him up!

Giveaway Winner!

First of all, thank you to everyone who entered my little giveaway! I hope you continue to enjoy my blog (if you followed it), I really appreciate the support! Sorry if you didn't win this time, but I am planning more giveaway's in the future so make sure you keep an eye out!

Okay so we had 23 entries, and I popped that number into the random number generator at Random.ORG.




Congratulations feltgirl! If you could please email me here: titchables(at)gmail(dot)com with your address and I'll get your prize package out ASAP!

Flickr Friday!

It should come as no big surprise that I have a huge crush on anything kawaii. I love it, I can't help it. One day I hope to visit Japan, when I have the money, because I know I would go to town on all the cute stuff there. Anyway so today I am dedicating Flickr Friday to some of the kawaii stationary photos.*


1. Japanese kawaii letter set - Hello Cherry, 2. Japanese memo note - Moco Rabbit (By Kamio), 3. Sweet Pudding Deer, 4. Kawaii Cute Q-lia Animal Town Memo Pad with Sticker Set Japan, 5. Kawaii Cute Japanese Memo Pad - Cafe Cafe, 6. Japanese memo note - Panda (by CRUX), 7. Mini Greeting Card Series 1 #11 (Congratulation), 8. Kamio Cafe Cafe Bear Cupcake Memo Pad, 9. Kawaii Cute Pankunchi Pen Sanrio Panda Character Pankun Japan

* = Really shouldn't have done this post. I now want to buy everything!!

This is the weekly post that is replacing "Inspiration Monday." Seeing as I was only posting photos from flickr anyway, heh.

Re-Stock

Well I have to order my first re-stock of felt this week as I was getting low on some colours. I so love receiving these big boxes of felt and then organising them all again! I had been keeping them in their plastic wrap just while I get used to which colour is which, but they're now out of their bags and I have a very nice giant rainbow on my shelf!


I also received the cutest cards today from HK! These will either be used as address labels or used as little notecards for me to write my thank you messages on. Every card is different, I love them! I got them from Buffet @ Etsy and they sell all sorts of cute little things. :)


I'm now off to sew some new Spring lines! Exciting!

Seller Spotlight

Every Wednesday I will be featuring a new independant seller. This is a great opportunity to get to know these wonderful artisans as well as maybe expose you to the wonderful range of art and craft that is available out there. I hope you'll join me each week to celebrate these lovely people. :)


Seller Spotlight: ArtAngel @ Etsy

* Tell me a little about yourself? I'm Angie, I live in Manchester with my partner and teenage son. I work 3 days a week in occupational health, and devote the rest of my time to art (and a bit of shopping!)

* What is your shop name and what do you sell? My shop on etsy is http://artangel.etsy.com, and I sell my original, affordable paintings and mixed media art.

* What inspires you to create? So many things! I've always loved playing with colour and texture, and re-cycled bits and pieces. I'm fascinated by collections, and things that already have a "history"; I love making something new from them.

* What is your favourite item from your shop? At the moment probably this one. I love the way it turned out, and it was great fun finding all the old bits of ephemera!


* How and where do you promote your shop? I have a blog, and I use Twitter, Flickr and have a Facebook fan page -
http://www.artangeloriginalart.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artangelstudio
http://www.facebook.com/pages/artangel/72301959046
http://twitter.com/artangel11

* What do you find to be the biggest challenge of running your own shop? Being visable amongst the several trillion etsy shops out there, and finding the time to keep up with all the listing, photography, updating, marketing ... as well as the actual painting!

* What advice would you offer to new sellers? Never under estimate the importance of good photos (still working on this myself!) online, they're your most important tool. Take photos in natural light, and use all 5 slots to show your work from every angle.

Fun Questions -
* Favourite Colour? Deep deep red, and turquoise
* Favourite Book? Can't pick just one! I loved 1984, Lord of the Flies, A Prayer for Owen Meaney, We Need to Talk About Kevin.
* Favourite Music? Eclectic! Everything from Oasis to Aretha
* Favourite Season? Autumn for the colours
* Favourite independant sellers? Locally, I adore the Creative Re-cycling Gallery in Chorlton - they do an amazing job! Also the Manchester Craft Centre - lovely shops and the best muffins in Manchester! . On etsy, there are hundreds of sellers I could mention, but I'm a long time admirer of the work of ThisYearsGirl and ChristinaRomeo.

Brand New Plush!!

I am extremely excited about this new plush! It was one of those creative moments where I had to make it then and there as the idea came to me.

I've been wanting to make a rainbow plush for a while and the idea was to basically do a larger version of my rainbow keychain, but as I was drawing out some quick sketches I changed my mind a little bit in terms of colour (I took out the orange) and decided to make it more "rainbow shaped" as opposed to the half circle of the keychain. Stitching it up was a dream. I was almost half tempted to not stuff it because it looked great laid flat, but in the end I think stuffing has given it a really cute squishy look. :)



It's now available at my etsy shop: Felt Rainbow Plush by Titchables. It will also be up in my Titchables shop soon.

I ordered a re-stock of felt yesterday and I got a call to say it's all in stock so that should be coming tomorrow. I'm really glad this little venture is doing well so far. I sent out 7 parcels yesterday which was a first. I felt (ho hum!) like a proper little business woman at the post office yesterday!

Don't forget you can still enter my little giveaway for a cute prize package. :)

Giveaway Time!

Well I did it, I finally reached 100 sales! :) Very exciting moment for me, for sure. So to celebrate I've put together a tiny package of goodies for my first blog giveaway!


Up for grabs: Matryoshka Button Set (not available in my shop), 1 metre lengths of ribbon; Yellow Check, Red Check & Green Spots, Packet of Pink Heart Buttons, Striped Heart Ring, Green Chryssy Ring, Red Rose Ring! AND the winner can also have free shipping on their next order, no matter how big!

Giveaway now closed and winners announced here: http://titchables.blogspot.com/2010/03/giveaway-winner.html

How so cute!

Made some new fabric cover buttons the other night with my new fabric. These came out really cute, I really love the little mice (or mouses as they're known in my house)!


Handmade Mouse Buttons by Titchables


Handmade Frog Buttons by Titchables

I have a wholesale order to work on this weekend, but I already have a few new items ready to go (new plush!!!) and some new brooches in time for Easter which are half done. So so cute, can't wait to share!

Next week I'll be starting some new features which I'm also looking forward to. More on that later.

Oh! And just so you know, my Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer on my Rings & Necklaces will end Sunday at midnight-ish, so if you have your eye on something now would be the time to get it. :)

Buttons!

As mentioned yesterday I received a delivery of buttons in the post. Lots of buttons in fact, in lovely little bags for you! I got some gingham buttons and nice themed buttons in a bag.

You can now purchase all of these at the Titchables shop! I will be adding them gradually to the Etsy shop too so stay tuned!

I love post!!

Look at the loveliness that arrived today in the mail! Lately the only supplies I've been receiving have been to sell on to my super customers, but this one is all mine mine mine!

Some are destined to be new button sets, and the rest I haven't quite decided yet. Don't you just love that apple print? The blue that you can see is glitter! And the mouse print is just adorable! Frogs! Dinos!! Hee! I highly recommend the lovely seller's etsy shop: bytinster so do go and check it out!

I also had a delivery of more buttons so I'll be adding those later tonight to the Titchables shop and possibly at the etsy shop too.

Speaking of which, I've added some custom listings where you can now pick your own felt colours as I've been receiving quite a few convos for this option. You can choose from packs of 10 or packs of 20. Alternatively, you can just send me a convo with what colours you want, and I'll set up a custom listing. Though to avoid all that fuss, you are more than welcome to pick your own felt at my own dedicated Titchables shop!

Next week, I'll be launching a few new things for the blog. More on that later though. :) Oh! And I will soon be doing a new giveaway. I'm nearing 100 sales on my etsy shop so I thought a little freebie was in order. Only 7 sales to go!! (Sale #100 will also be getting a little extra something!).

Mushroom Brooches!

These have been in my to-do pile for quite a while. To be fair, my to-do pile keeps getting bigger and bigger at the moment because I seem to have a bit of stitchy ADD at the moment. Either way, I finally sat down and stitched these up on Sunday.

I wasn't actually actually sure how they would turn out. They were originally going to be magnets and then half way through sewing one I decided they would work better as brooches, and I think they do. They're available in 4 colours (as you can see!) and you can now buy them from the Titchables Etsy Shop!

Offer still on!

Don't forget, I still have a Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer on all the Rings & Necklaces at the Titchables Etsy Shop!

Either pop 2 (or multiples of 2) in your cart and I will refund via paypal, or send me a convo and leave in the message to seller box which other item you would like!

(If you're wondering what's happened to "Inspiration Monday" I am currently thinking of new features for the blog to make it more interesting. So it will be back, but might be in a different form!)