Etsy on a Budget: Home Decor

Welcome back to Day 2 of this week's feature that I like to call Etsy on a Budget. Today's category is home decor and like yesterday, no item costs more than $15 dollars. Even though the economy sucks, we still need to support handmade! So take a look at these sellers' items.

JamesBlonde85 - Black and White Tea Cups Set of 2 - $12

KarenRadtke - Lacework Accent Pillow Cover - $10

BlancShop - Short Round White Vase - Ava - $8

The best part about doing these features is finding out what's out there. Do you know of another budget find I overlooked? Have a favorite of the ones I showed today? Leave a comment letting me know what you think. I'm still picking a Friday Featured Seller as always this week. :)

Etsy on a Budget: Health & Beauty

I've decided to do things a little differently this week on my blog by featuring sellers on Etsy who make and sell things in different categories that cost less than $15 dollars. More sellers get some publicity, you get to see what's out there, and we all get to save some $. :) So let's get to it! The first category today is Health & Beauty.

ShopRedLeaf - Mens Rich Lathering Shaving Cube With Chrome Stand - $11

MookaSoap - Set of 4 Moisturizing Bath Bombs, Your Choice - $12

Savvii - PINK CUPCAKE - Body Butter - Travel Size - Silky and Luxurious with Shea and Cocoa Butter, Grapeseed Oil, Vitamins and Green Tea - 2 oz - $3.25

Hope that made your Monday a little less stressed out. Relax for less and support Etsy while you're at it. Have a health and beauty product you buy on Etsy that I overlooked? Tell me about it in the comments section.

Friday Featured Seller - SoapDeli

Soap Deli is today's Featured Seller! Congrats! Rebecca is the inventive creator of these soaps ranging in as many variations as you can think of. And she has the sales to show for it, what impressive numbers. She's doing something right. So no matter if you're looking for all natural unscented or a variation of your favorite scent or color, it's probably a good bet you can find it at Soap Deli.

All Natural Oatmeal and Shea Butter Soap

Vanilla Buttercream Soap

Bayberry Soap

Go check it out and place your order at the Soap Deli today. :)

Kosmimalive

Kosmimalive was another Etsy Pounce find, having just opened up their shop a few days ago. So, let's send some traffic their way!

Kosmimalive features handmade gold and sterling silver jewelry from Greece made by Lefteris. Lefteris was taught by his father and grandfather (so it's a family tradition) and the results are beautiful. The silver and garnet pin first caught my eye.

Sterling Silver Mop Garnet Pin

Sterling Silver Pendant Mop Lapis

Sterling Silver Ring Azurite

So give Lefteris a warm Etsy welcome and stop by his shop. You won't be disappointed.

YAVAglass

YAVAglass blends the best of both worlds. Beer/wine bottles + recycling = fun and unique gifts for you and your friends. The selection is amazing. I've passed along their page to a few friends and the response is always the same, cool! The hard part is figuring out what out of their inventory you want to buy. So much to choose from!

Bawls Glasses

Grolsch Glasses

Kestrel Glass

Fun! There are pages more where that came from. Check it out!

MineLolly

Every time I go into my favorites section on Etsy, I see this bunny waving at me from MineLolly's shop and I smile. I think it's saying, "Hi!!!!!!" So gosh darn cute. There's more where that came from, wolves, bunnies, owls, aliens and more. Check these out:

Abducted Twice - Yellow

Singing Squirrel

Blue Bunny

Cute right? Which one does your (inner) child like? I can't decide. Tell me what you think in the comments below.

KateDW

I fell in love with a glass bead from KateDW. The one I originally bookmarked sold, but I did find another similar one in her shop. It's so lovely and looks like a river rock you'd find in a stream. Kate also makes other jewelry and if you read her profile you'll find she has quite a happening business going on! Quite an interesting read.

Lampwork Abstract Southwest Bead

African Trace Bead Bracelet and Earrings

Granite Trade Bead Bracelet

How lovely! Check out what else she has in her shop.

A Request

Oh helpful and loyal readers of my blog: I have a request.

I have to write a paper for an introductory sociology class I am taking. The topic I chose is the effect of do-it-yourself and handmade methods in business. Basically, why is it some people are drawn to doing things themselves and making things versus being drawn to a more "traditional" corporate environment. Ideally I would like a couple interviews with people who use Etsy to sell their handmade items about what drew them to making their items in the first place, if they use Etsy (or other sites) to sell their work full-time or part-time, and if it is part-time, what other job it is that they do? How does making and selling items compare to working in a 9-5 environment? What satisfactions do you get out of making handmade items that you do not get out of working in a 9-5 environment?

While I won't use your name, I will use a description of your background (age, region of the country you live in, etc) as part of my paper. The only people reading this paper are my professor and I, so don't worry about me plastering this all over the internet.

If you are interested let me know through my Etsy shop (just convo me) and I'll send you a list of questions. Anyone who participates in this will get a gift certificate towards my shop as my thanks! :)

Friday Featured Seller - The Stapelia Company

Congrats to The Stapelia Company, a shop out of Maine that features whimsical, imaginative and sometimes dark photography and stationery reminiscent of Edward Gorey and Edgar Allen Poe. She is today's Friday Featured Seller! In case you're wondering, like I was, Stapelia comes from the latin root word for the corpse flower. You know the one, that smells like rotten meat but is really pretty? Learn something new every day!

On to the pictures!

Arches Art Photo

Mademoiselles Felin Cards

Pink Elephant

What do you think? I like the eclecticism. Let me know in the comments below.

Geninne

I have a secret to tell you.

Lean in.

I like birds.

Shhhh! Don't let my family or friends know! I don't want to become inundated with a ton of bird stuff. You know, enough bird things to fill a curio case or two.

But anyway, I like birds. And this is why I love Geninne's shop on Etsy. I found her shop when she had her Featured Seller interview and I just loved her birds. I mean, just take a look at these. They're so pretty!

Three Little Birds

Dancing

Bird #19 Second Print

Ahhh, I love these! I want them all. There's more where that came from. Why don't you tell me which would you would take home with you too?

Wapa

Wapa is a charming shop specializing in ceramics made by Ady Shapira. She lives in Israel and creates imaginative items out of porcelain. Her latest idea is creating jewelry out of liquid porcelain. These have to be seen to be believed. You can also find more utilitarian (and lovely) ceramic items like bowls in her shop as well.

Flourish Necklace

Small Square Porcelain Serving Plate

Porcelain Bowl With Crystal Green Glaze

Mmmm, nice. Which would you choose? Let me know in the comments below.

Cow Island

Have you ever heard of Cow Island? Well take a visit and find out all about it. The brainchild of a self-taught (that's right) cartoonist, these quirky and humorous illustrations feature ships, penguins, balloons and of course cows. The best part about these is that the longer you look at them the more you notice the subtleties. Perfect for any age, I could see these in a children's room. They're quite imaginative.

The Duel

The King Who Fed Birds

Message in a Bottle

See what I mean? I like these prints a lot. I hope you do too. Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Lucky Fiona

Lucky Fiona hails from Chicago, and in case you're wondering Fiona is the name of one of the setters that her human parents rescued. Shannon and her husband make funky, bright and fun dog collars in a variety of vintage fabrics. Since St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, let's be lucky ourselves and check out what your lucky dog can wear.

The Happy Spot

Pot O' Gold

Silly Setter Stripe

Awwwww! Check out their shop to learn more about their blog, their dogs and of course their collars. Which would you buy? Let me know in the comments below.

Friday Featured Seller - SpoonerGregory

Apologies that I wasn't able to put up Thursday's post as I'd hoped. Tuesdays and Thursdays are by far the busiest for me with school all day and the day just got away from me. This whole week has been a readjustment period from being off all week so bear with me! I'll have it right by next week!

With that out of the way, let's waste no more time in introducing today's featured Seller, SpoonerGregory, a team by the names of Sarah and Jon out of the UK that work with printmaking techniques to hone their craft. Their shop even includes a step by step of what their carved blocks look like when they're working so people can get the idea of how the process works. You can learn more about it at their blog.

On to the work!

Upper St. Giles Street

Landscape 1

Tulips

Tell me what your favorite is. Maybe you could be featured next week!

Martin Jon

The second in my 3 Chicago Etsy artists lineup this week, Martin Jon has a style all his own. I first met him in Etsy chat, and he is one interesting guy. For starters, every piece in his shop is inspired by a letter of the alphabet. Outside of Etsy, he is in the middle of an ambitious project where he is going to paint/draw 1,000 portraits. He is in the middle, around 500 last I checked. If you read his profile page on Etsy you can learn more about his projects and how he views the world. Worth a visit.

Squirrel

Sandwich

Piano

Take a moment and visit his shop to see more of his alphabet series and let me know what you think. He is new to Etsy so let's support a new Etsy artist!

Ashley Pahl

It's going to be a Chicago three-peat for the rest of the week on my blog, as I introduce to you Ashley Pahl. Originally from Michigan (and a graduate of MSU, like my dad, go Spartans!), she's now in Chicago. She's also been all over the place on Etsy, on the front page, gift guides and so on.
Ashley specializes in handmade cards, specifically papercuts, felted designs and punched or stamped embellishments. Her work is graphic, bold and colorful, perfect for so many occasions. Check this out:

Blue Felted Flowers Notecards

Amber Flower Mini Notebook

Sunshine on Grey Card

Just the perfect pop of color I needed on this gray day. What do you think? Let me know in the comments section.

Lockette

Ever have that occurrence happen to you where you discover something, and then it seems like everywhere you turn around you keep seeing your new discovery over and over? Yup. That is what happened when I discovered Lockette. I think I found her shop on the front page, and then it seemed like for a while there every couple of days a new item of hers would be on the front page, and I'd think to myself, hey, that looks familiar! Well, now she's getting her products featured on my blog. It's all thanks to her "Why didn't I think of that?" ingenuity, where she brought together fabric and notecards to make fabric notecards! The results are simply cute and creative and fun.

An Apple A Day

Candy Stripe

Red Drops

See what I mean? Now that you've seen this, I bet you'll be seeing Lockette's work a lot more often. Just how the universe seems to work. :)

Leave some love in the comments to kick off this Monday morning. Thanks all!

Friday Featured Seller - Mom Potter

One of the great things about running my blog the way I do is when I promote, I come across all sorts of blogs and shops I would not see otherwise as Etsy is so big. Mom Potter's Ocean Breeze shop is one of the shops I am glad I found. I love the colors in her jewelry - tropical turquoises, shimmering champagnes, deep blues and bright red. She makes earrings, bracelets and necklaces and each one is prettier than the last.

Aqua With Picasso Finish Long Earrings

The Beach - Dangles Bracelet

Champagne Bracelet 2

Feel like you're relaxing on a beach yet? I do. There's much more where that came from, so why don't you check out her shop and tell me which one is your favorite.