Whatever Weekend – Shoes and Tattoos!

Today, I fell in love.

With these:

 

Gipsy Dharma has some of the most beautiful, handmade, leather, festival-style boots I’ve ever seen!

I’ve wanted a pair of boots like this for years now, as the hubs and I frequent our local Scarborough Faire, and see handmade shoes like this on the regular. It doesn’t hurt that I secretly want to be a fairy. (Shh…) I’m also a lover of shoes that keep me close to barefoot, which is hard to find in a boot. If you’re curious about why going barefoot is so good, check out this link. As for me, I’ve always enjoyed going barefoot, and continue to do it for health reasons (as someone with FMS, it’s important to me to walk consciously to put less strain on my body,) but I am a girl, after all, and this girl loves her shoes! Could it get any better than custom-made by hand?

The designer is based in the UK, but she’s obviously accustomed to selling internationally. There’s no shortage of detailed info on her shoes and clothing, including measuring and sizing tips to help you avoid returns. She’s also eco-conscious, which, of course, I appreciate, and her customers are clearly very happy!

In other news, I’ve found a great tattoo artist who I’d like to do a tattoo I’ve had in mind for years now. Her name is Shanti (which means “peace” in Sanskrit, in case you were wondering,) and she specializes in Art Nouveau style. My idea is somewhat general right now – a celebration of life garden with specific flowers to represent specific loved ones and important events in my life, placed on my hip, and wrapping around to my lower back. I have plenty of notes on possible flowers, and would love a swirly, Art Nouveau style background to tie it all together. So, I need an artist with a good sense of botanical work, and I also want bold, rich color, and after looking at some of Shanti’s portfolio, I’m confident she’ll be able to provide just that. Look at this beautiful Iris (a cover-up, no less.) The color variation and attention to detail really drew me in.

 

I’m excited to work on sketching out some designs and meet with Shanti after I’ve saved up enough money to sit through at least an hour-long session!

Share the Love,

Chelsea

Tuesday’s Treasure – Have an uncommon holiday!

Have someone on your “nice” list who dances to the beat of a different drummer? Let our latest Etsy treasuries guide you to unique, one-of-a-kind gifts for the season!

For nomads:

For glam rockers:

For horror movie buffs:

Another Week Away Giveaway!

9/23: Congratulations to our randomly selected winner, Cheryl Pullen Navalinsky!

In light of all the loving support we’ve received in the Martha Stewart Living American Made competition, and the deadline for the first round of voting being extended another week (and two days, to be precise,) we’ve decided to hold our very own giveaway!

Each time you vote for a nominee in the competition, you enter to win prizes from MSL, like an American Express gift card. Now, every day you vote, you can enter to win prizes from us, too!

Vote now through 9/22/13. One lucky winner will be randomly selected on 9/23/13 to win this fantastic prize package of unique, American made gifts, a value of over $60.00!:

1 $25 Etsy Gift Card; 1 Luchador Mask Pillow by Studio Longoria; 1 Bamboo Calendula Bar Soap by Clover Hollow Soaps & Sundries; 1 Blue Rhinestone Bracelet by Leslie Anne Levine; 15% OFF Your Next Purchase at Buy Me Love or JuJu Eyeball on Etsy; 1 Surprise Gift From Our Store, Buy Me Love!

Two Ways To Enter:

1. This step is mandatory. Simply vote for us, using any number of your 6 daily votes here:

Then, comment that you voted below, and include the total number of votes after you voted UPDATE: No need to keep track of the total number of times you’ve voted, personally! Just include the total number on the screen after you’ve voted for the day. For example, if the number is 2,222 before you vote, and you vote for us 6 times, the total you’ll include in your comment will be 2,228. Easy peasy. Sorry for the confusion! Please leave only one “I voted!” comment per voter per day, not one comment per vote. For example, if you use all 6 of your votes on our profile (wink, wink,) there’s no need to comment 6 times – just comment once.

2. For extra chances to win, you can Pin this giveaway on Pinterest , and leave a comment below up to once a day that you pinned, including the pin URL. (After you pin, click the “see it now” button to copy and paste the pin’s URL into your comment below.) This entry method is completely optional.

IMPORTANT NOTES: If you leave more than one “I voted!” comment, or “I pinned it!” comment per day, only one of each of those comments will count toward your chances of winning. You do not need to have a WordPress.com account to enter. This contest is in no way affiliated with Martha Stewart Living/MSL American Made, or Etsy. Contest valid only in the Continental U.S.

How To Know If You Won: 

The randomly selected winner of the prize package will be announced in this post on 9/23/13, and we will also contact the winner via the email address listed on their account. If you do not have a valid email address listed on the account you use to log in/comment, you must leave your email address in your comment(s.) (The $25 Etsy gift card will also be emailed to the winner.) If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, we will choose another winner for the prize package.

Thank you for supporting our small, handmade, and American made business, and good luck to all our voters!

Share the Love,

Chelsea & Karyn

Important update on the Martha Stewart American Made competition.

I have to say, I’ve been a bit obsessive about the voting on our nominee page for the Martha Stewart Living American Made competition. Lots of refreshing, friends. We’d been receiving around 100 votes a day thanks to our wonderful friends and family, until the weekend hit. Saturday was the most exciting day yet! My regularly schedule pleas on Facebook were heard, and we accumulated the largest amount of votes in one day yet: 440. I think I had heart palpitations every time I saw the numbers jump.

Those of you who know us or follow this blog know that there have been plenty of obstacles on this journey my mom and I have been on, starting a small business together. There have been plenty of health struggles along the way that have gotten in the way of us being able to do shows and list regularly in our Etsy shops. It’s been the support from our Etsy Fort Worth team, our family, our friends, and our small group of loyal customers that has kept us going.

Our competition in this particular contest is big. We’re competing in the style category, and that category is filled with not only clothing and accessories, but bath and body and cosmetic products. The largest number of votes to beat so far is 4446, and that’s just in our category! After the first round of voting, the nominee with the biggest amount of votes from each category goes on to compete for the grand prize. So, we were excited to learn that the deadline for the first round of voting has been extended another week and two days. That plus the increase we’ve seen in our votes gives us a little extra boost of hope that we can give our competition a run for their money! In this case, the grand prize is $10,000 … can you imagine what we could do for our business with that kind of money?

So, please keep voting, and sharing our nominee page with your friends and family! You can join us on Facebook, or just go straight to our page here. Go back every day to use your 6 votes. You’ll be supporting small, local, handmade business, and you’ll be entering yourself to win prizes from MSL every time you vote.

Share the Love,

Chelsea

 

Make It Monday – Martha’s American Made Awards

If you look to the right of this post, below the photo of me looking very colorful, you’ll see a new button that looks like this:

Yesterday, a friend from our local Etsy team, Etsy Fort Worth, shared the link for our team members to nominate themselves for Martha Stewart’s Made In America Awards. The finalists from the six categories will receive an AM gift basket, and will be featured on the site and on Sirius radio. The first prize winner receives $10,000 to use toward their business, and a trip to NYC!

All you have to do to enter is click the green button on the right (or the picture below,) check out our profile, of course, and click the “nominate  yourself” button at the top right of the page. You’ll select your category, add any photos, videos, and links you’d like to share, then write a short bio about yourself/your business, and answer a couple of questions. You can save a copy of your profile before publishing it, and once you publish, you can edit your profile if you notice any mistakes or something you may have left out.

A sneak peek of our profile!

 

Voting starts August 26, so be sure to add our profile to your favorites list for later! Mom is looking for a house right now, and we’ve been planning out our studio space (who cares about the rest of the house, right?) So, if we win the grand prize, part of the money will go toward renovating one or two of the rooms to create a space where we can make and market together, and where we can invite customers to talk about custom orders, and host fittings for models. We are in serious need of a collective, designated space for our work, so that we can collaborate on projects, and store our supplies in one space. I’m especially excited to designate an area for taking photos, with different backdrops and a light box, without having to take it all down and reassemble it to save space in our current, small apartments.  

Of course, if we don’t win, we’re just excited about the opportunity for free exposure. By creating our profile, we’ll reach potential customers that haven’t heard of us before, who’ll visit our Etsy shops and other links, and get to know us better. If you or anyone you know has a handmade business, take the opportunity to put yourself out there! It could be craft, design, food, gardening, or style related. Nominate yourself (or make them nominate themselves,) because you never know who’ll fall in love with your product.

Share the Love,

Chelsea

All bound up.

It may seem a little weird, maybe it conjures up images of whips and chains, but there’s no need to be scared – body harnesses are harmless (unless you’re just really into that “50 Shades of Grey” stuff.) You can find everything from leather to chain, plain to outrageous, to suit your level of comfort. Harnesses can be worn under or over your clothing, or layered between a shirt and jacket. They can also be worn in the privacy of your own home in lieu of lingerie!

The last time I talked about venturing into the world of harnesses, I mentioned I was using vintage crochet pieces that my grandmother made while she was alive. The effect is just like I hoped: a perfect mixture of soft and hard, edgy and sweet. The pieces are lightweight, they can be easily pinned to clothing, and the style works in any season.

Here they are, listed in the shop:

Tuesday’s Treasure – Arabian Nights

I love this treasury, and we’re lucky enough to be featured in it!

1001 Nights by abbeh

 

So exotic! This is the perfect treasury for summer – hot nights, breezy outfits, bright colors. Click the link to check out the featured items.

 

Hope all of you in school are studying up for finals and enjoying getting ready for summer!

Share the Love,

Chelsea

Friday’s Favorites – Royal Wedding Style!

Happy Friday and Royal Wedding Day to everyone! To start off, check out this awesome, 40’s style headband with curled feathers we have up on eBay right now:

Hot Pink Curled Feather Headband by designingmoon

 This is one of my favorite things Mom has made lately. She’s definitely in the royal wedding spirit – the apartment is covered in feathers!

Next, here’s one of our new favorite Etsy shops:

Stay Gold Mary Rose – Handmade Teacup Bangles

Such a cool concept. Perfect for tea time! Plus, she’s having a Royal Wedding Sale today – 15% off when you enter the coupon code in her announcement!

 

Share the Love,

Chelsea