Introducing.......

Its that time again to introduce our new 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.

Drum roll please...................... here's our February members

Paperfinchart

What is your given name?

Lisa Stevens

What made you want to start an Etsy Shop?

I've been selling my art at local brick and morter shops and art galleries in Nashville, TN for a few years now and decided I wanted to expand my customer base through various online venues, including Etsy.

Which item in your shop is your favorite?

It's so hard to choose! I'd say it's a toss-up between "Annibel Lee" and "Origin of Creativity" because they both came out of a huge creative transition in my life. Also, my whimsical birds on a wire series has been very profitable, so in a way they are also a favorite. In general, my favorites are often the pieces that surprised me at their completion, becoming something better than I'd planned at the start.

Where does your shop name originate from?

My shop name originates from my business name, Paper Finch Studio. You can check out my website for other work not on Etsy at www.paperfinchstudio.com.

Alphabetcitystudio

What is your given name?

Carrie

What made you want to start an Etsy shop?

Growing up without much money, I was taught to be resourceful and make things from what we had.  My Mom and Aunt were very creative and we would always get together as a family to craft.  The biggest project of the year was to make Christmas ornaments for a tree (or to make a tree!) and other Christmas decorations for the big family Christmas dinner.  When I was in college, my sister and I would shop for earrings and thought, "We can make that!" and so we started to make earrings together.  We sold them at little parties we put together, but was limited to only the people we knew.  We stopped that project after some time, but I always had in the back of my mind, a thought of one day opening a shop where I could sell my crafts.  I knew that opening a physical shop would have a lot of initial investments and overhead and that it would take a lot of my time - and that would mean no time to make things.  I thought of opening a shop on-line, but I knew nothing about websites and e-commerce, setting up a virtual merchant, etc. - AND there would be a big initial investment as well.  Also, I'm fickle, so I knew that if I started out with jewelry, for example, I might later on want to make greeting cards or start sewing clothes or bags, etc.  So, when a girlfriend of mine (OverallBaby on Etsy) introduced me to Etsy, I knew it was what I was waiting for!  A place where people sold their handmade goods - and it could be ANYTHING!  All the logistics of payment, website layout, and even a customer base was all set up! ...and the best part - it was FREE to open up shop!!!  I started with making greeting cards in 2008, but when 2 of my best friends got pregnant in 2009, I switched gears to baby items.

Which item in your shop is your favorite?

My favorite item in my shop now is the "Create your own reversible dress".  I have them in infant sizes (NB to 18 months) and girl sizes (2T to 6T).  The dresses also have a different cut - a wider angle at the bottom for the infant sizes for room for diapers.  I love to see the different prints and combination that each customer chooses - right now I'm working on 4 dresses and all 8 prints are different.  I actually started off with color coordinating the 2 sides, but when my girlfriend ordered a toddler dress with one side pink and another side blue, it rung true that you are getting 2 dresses in one!

Where does your shop name originate from?

When I was trying to come up with a shop name, I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't be too specific in case I decided to eventually have a shop with a bunch of different items.  I also didn't want to use anything that was related to my name, screenname, username, etc.  So, after a lot of thinking, I thought of how my crafting and creativity was nurtured throughout my childhood and thoughts drifted back to my old neighborhood (I had already moved to LA by 2008).  I was born and raised and lived in the Lower East Side Manhattan in Alphabet City (Avenue C to be exact) until my late 20s.  I thought "Alphabet City" was perfect since I could include anything in my shop that began with any letter of the alphabet! ..and then I threw in "Studio" in hopes to give it a feel of a more personal studio vs. a big manufacturing company.  (Also, for search engine purposes, I figured "studio" would help narrow down the searches.)

Repurposeddrivenlife

What is your given name?

Kaleigh

What made you want to start an Etsy shop?

I started making teacup candles - and really started to love re-purposing items. To figure out whether or not these would make good gifts for Christmas time, I put them up on Etsy - and they sold! It was so exciting.

Which item in your shop is your favorite?

Probably the retro Johnson Bros. Tea pot - how redonkulous is that?  

Where does your shop name originate from?

I have never read a Purposed Driven Life but knew that it sounded familiar. A Repurposed Driven Life is just that - a life that is driven to get every use from the junk that we collect over the years. Not only is it environmentally friendly, but it is cost effective and more importantly fun!

3princessesengraving

What is your given name?

Rachael Hardiman

What made you want to start an Etsy shop?

I've always loved creating things but never thought of myself as a business/sales person. I had this really weird concept of business: that pushy buy my stuff; money, money, money; and, no friends in business attitude; which, always scared me away because that is sooo not me. My family has always worked with wood and wanted to keep the tradition, then my husband got the idea of having an engraver business. Bought the engraver and haven't looked back. Then I found Etsy and fell in love! I love the sense of community.  People help each other care about one another.  It's about unique ideas and things, creating something with pride and making friends, supporting one another.  I opened shop and haven't looked back.

Which item in your shop is your favorite?

That's so hard: I'm torn between my heart pendant and my circle wall art The pendant feels like I'm carrying on the family tradition sanding things by hand and I love how it looks.  The circle wall art because I stepped out of my comfort zone. I had no idea of how it would turn out when I first started designing it and ended up creating something pretty neat.

Where does your shop name originate from?

My shop name: 3Princesses Engraving is named after our three little girls.  My husband and I wanted the name to mean something to us so we named it after them.  Our name probably confuses a lot of people (no princess styled items-ha!) and the name is rather long but I couldn't imagine having any other name :)

Gerdasgarden / Heart4him

What is your given name?   

Gerda Collins

What made you want to start an Etsy shop? 

This is my second shop, I wanted to focus on my paintings.

Which item in your shop is your favorite?  

http://www.etsy.com/listing/65812911/apple-watercolor-print

Where does your shop name originate from? 

My first name is Gerda and I wanted to share my love of plants/gardens

Welcome to the team and we hope to see you in the lab soon.

Squeak Squeak!

Poppy

(Poppyseedcats)