Mosaic Monday - Love Exists

From top, clockwise:

AgelessThings

Waterrose

MariaLuna

MollysMuses

BySaraLynn

justbecreative

Mosaic Monday - Warm and Fuzzy!

From top left, clockwise:

ReIncarKnits

DaisyDoe

SevenSails

yarnabees

AngelPearls

laurelszoo



Introducing.......

Its a bit late but please give a big squeak for our new December members.

I am sure we have already met them in the labs but I would like to take this time to officially introduce them to the rest of the rats and I hope you all welcome them with open arms and lots of virtual hugs.

First up.....
kiwichris

What is your given name?
Christine Baker
How long have you been on Etsy?

Since July 2010

How long has your shop been open?

Since July 2010

What do you enjoy doing when not creating for your shop?

As my shop is new, I'm always on the computer researching how to make some different jewelery. I also like to work on my family tree and ancestry.

What question would you like to ask your new team mates?

What Etsy application or tool do you like to use and why? I love explorer.

_________________________________________________________

JacquelineJewelry

What is your given name?

Jacqueline Gikow

How long have you been on Etsy?

Seven months

How long has your shop been open?

Seven months

Which item in your shop is your favourite?

Oh, groan, I don't have a favorite. :-) I make ooak items and usually the most recent listing is my favourite. I just finished designing these sweet dangly chandelier earrings so I guess I'll use those for this questionnaire.

What do you enjoy doing when not creating for your shop?

I like reading, hanging out with friends, going to the movies, writing on my blog, and of course, spending time with my boyfriend.

What question would you like to ask your new teammates?

I don't have any questions in particular other than wanting to get to know them and maybe becoming friends with a few.

_________________________________________________________

TangoCreations

What is your given name?

I'm Valeria Thomason

How long have you been on Etsy?

I've been on Etsy since January 2009.

How long has your shop been open?

My shop has been open since august 2010.

Which item in your shop is your favourite?

Each item has a time like my "favorite" until I create something new. Neck warmer and Hat in Summer colors has a lot about my country (Argentina).

What do you enjoy doing when not creating for your shop?

I enjoy my time working for charity with "Share a Square" program read more about the program  http://thiseclecticlife.com/2010/11/09/tie-one-on-with-me/

What question would you like to ask your new teammates?

None yet, I just have a huge thank you for letting me be part of the Lab Rats team!!

_________________________________________________________

CafeD

What is your given name?

Dana

How long have you been on Etsy?

As a buyer, I think I started with Etsy sometime in 2008.

How long has your shop been open?

I opened CafeD in October 2010.

Which item in your shop is your favourite?

Right now it's my line of Rustic Candles which burn slowly with a gentle vanilla scent and are available in: Creamy Beige Sisal, Natural Light Tan Hemp, Dark Chocolate Brown, Dark Forest Green, Rudolph Red.

What do you enjoy doing when not creating for your shop?

Traveling with my husband and step-son to find the greasiest, tastiest cheeseburger and prettiest campground.  (My sweetie and I are newlyweds.)  I love vintage, antique-ing, traveling Route 66 and cooking.  

You can learn more about us at:

My food and etsy blog at http://www.cookingatcafed.com/

My vintage travel blog at http://www.feastingonamericana.com/

What question would you like to ask your new teammates? 

I get most of my questions answered right away in the labs and forums.  There is so much to learn.  Most of all, thank you all SO VERY MUCH for the camaraderie already expressed by the Lab Rats.  Your friendliness and helpfulness has made my first few months a real pleasure.  :)  *squeek*

_________________________________________________________

Hedgehogandrabbit

What is your given name?

Lindsay Hartwell

How long have you been on Etsy?

I've been on Etsy since 2007. 

How long has your shop been open?

HedgehogandRabbit has been open since August 20, 2010

Which item in your shop is your favourite?

My favorite item is my garnet pomegranate brooch. I loved the process of making it and how it turned out.

What do you enjoy doing when not creating for your shop?

I make ATCs. I've been trying to get into the habit of making art for the sake of it. ATCs are my gateway art. I hope to someday be making useless impractical beautiful things in the future. It's my dream.

What question would you like to ask your new teammates?

I'm not famous for asking questions. Just the opposite. I look forward to seeing everyone in the labs (the one's I remember to get to). :)

_________________________________________________________

Well that wraps up the December memberships, I will be back at the end of the month to introduce the January members. An English Squeak to you all.

Poppy

(poppyseedcats) 

Mosaic Monday

More fabulous Lab Rat Team Members...

Left, top:

Plum linen pillow cover with wool felt fox applique by: SmithAndDaphne

middle:

Eco Friendly Light Blue Tagua Seeds Handcrafted Earrings by EarthlyHabitat

bottom:

Harness Coat -Vest in Classic Red Plaid by TerrierTrousers

Right:

Chinese New Years Bunny by BonAndChi

PS. Don't forget to tag your items so we can all find you - labrats, labratsteam

Congratulations...

AngelPearls!

As always, thank you to everyone that participated making treasuries, commenting, and voting. This beautiful treasury has earned AngelPearls a spot in our Rat Spotlight in the blog sidebar. Take a moment to peek into her shop and see a variety of goodies.

Life of an Item with PoppySeedCats

Hey, I’m Poppy of Poppy Seed Cats, I live in the dull rainy UK and share my house with 3 cats that are my constant inspiration and keep me very busy cleaning dirty little paws. My shop has a mixture of wire and wool sculptures based mainly on the cat form (a few extra animals like to sneak in every now and again). My wire sculptures are my favourite and today I will be showing you the process of my latest addition to my wire range.


Unfortunately due to living in a one bed roomed house my studio is my sofa in the living room and quite often my boyfriend will come home from work to find me under a pile of wire or wool trying to find the TV remote.



My inspiration for the wire cats comes from just watching my own cats move around the house and playing with each other, the feline body is an amazing and sleek machine which has inspired me all my life. My sculpting process used to start with a quick sketch up of the position I wanted the cat to be in and then move onto a scale drawing so I could get all the dimensions exact but now I can just jump straight in with the sculpting and I know the feline form by heart, I do miss the sketching process at times but it is now unnecessary and very time consuming.



The life of my tiny wire kitties starts at the tail and I work down with the wire creating the limbs as I go until I have created a skeleton out of one piece of wire. The next step is to bulk out the frame until it doesn’t look so anorexic, after this is done the head is created separate from the body. Usually at the stage while I’m occupied with the head one of my cats (usually Kiwi) steals the body and I have to swiftly rescue it before it resembles a pile of unsalvageable wire.


I create the head by wrapping the wire evenly around its self similar to making a snowball , when it’s the right size I create the ears using a single piece of wire bent with pliers to create a definite point. The head then gets attached to the body and the finished piece is gently pressed into its final shape before photographing it to be listed in my shop.



I usually take about 20 pictures in my homemade light box which lives on a shelf in my living room just out of reach of naughty kitties since the first one I made lasted less than an hour before someone decided to run through the tissue paper and then sat inside it attacking anything that was brave enough to try and walk by. After the pictures are complete I upload them to Photoshop to fiddle with lighting levels and crop and resize ready for listing.


And that is the life of one of my tiny wire kitties, I can usually have one of these made, photographed and listed in about 1 ½ hours. The finished kitties then live on a high shelf waiting to be rehomed while dodging the paws of death.

Mosaic Monday

clockwise...from top left:

Small Collage Art Bottle by ocasiocasa

Nub Cigar Box Amp by squier

Burlap Wedding Favor Bags by WhiteThistleBridal

Vintage Rooster Creamer Pitcher by 4GetMeNotTreasures

Blue Bunny Tags by CardsBetweenFriends

Honey I'm Home Cross Stitched Picture by cowboybunny

Treasury Challenge Finalists

Congratulations to AngelPearls, SevenSails, and RolyzCreations for having our top treasuries for this month's challenge!

 New Fresh Feelings by AngelPearls

Happy New Year by SevenSails

My New Year Wishes by RolyzCreations

Vote for Your Top Treasury of the New Year!
	New Fresh Feelings by AngelPearls
	Happy New Year by SevenSails
	My New Year Wishes by RolyzCreations
pollcode.com free polls

Valentine's Gift Show

1. Hearts A Flutter 3D Hearts Linen Fabric Bin Organizer by HoganFe
2. Windswept Love 10x10 Original Acrylic Painting by Squier
3. Crochet Love Note by Giggles
4. With Love Earrings in Oxidized Brass by itsastitch

The Lab Rats will be hosting a gift show for Valentine's Day in the Virtual Labs! This is similar to our annual Holiday Trunk show, but on a slightly smaller scale and more focused in theme. This event will be one night on January 25th at 6pm EST. Anyone can attend, but only team members can present. If you're interested in being featured during this event read more and sign up here.

Edit: I'm sorry to say this event has been cancelled due to lack of participation from sellers. We may decide to hold an event like this in the future if there is interest.

Mosaic Monday

Happy New Year Everyone!!

The Path To Finding Yourself by jmliss

Winter Wonderland Toppers by birdcagecards

Green Necklace Aventurine and Amazonite Focal Bead by JacquelineJewelry

Hand Thrown Egg Separator in light blueberry by nightowlcraftworks

Treasury Challenge: Kicking Off the Year

Winter Wonderland Confetti from Birdcage Cards

Welcome to our first treasury challenge for 2011! Share with us your New Year's related treasury showing off what the Lab Rats have to offer. Make sure to get your treasury in my the 7th and the top treasuries will go up for a vote. The winner gets to be featured in our Rat Spotlight! Now for the rules:

1. Use at least 8 Lab Rat members. You can use our members list in the sidebar.
2. Include "Treasury Challenge" in the title of your treasury
3. Tag your treasury with "labratsteam"
4. Tag your treasury with "labratchallenge"
5. Tag your treasury with "happy new year"
6. Link back to this post to encourage others to participate
7. Leave a comment on this post with a link to your treasury for official entry
8. Promote & have fun!

A few extra tips to make your treasury front page friendly - include a variety of items with a range of prices, don't include yourself, tag your treasuries, and keep in mind this month's merchandising notes. Head to the Treasury to get started or read up on how to make a treasury first. Either way - make the Lab Rats proud.