Friday Feature: Holly Beck from Hollyand Sage on Etsy

Holly Working

This week I had the pleasure of interviewing holly from HollyandSage on etsy! I am hoping to do weekly blog features of the many wonderful artisans on etsy and other handmade venues.

How long have you been selling on etsy?

I have been selling on Etsy for about a year. I opened my shop in March or April of 2010, but didn’t really get going with it until mid-summer.

What is your busiest season?

The busiest I have been so far is 2 weeks before Christmas last year. After that, business dried up – I guess everyone was afraid to order online too close to Christmas (for fear it wouldn’t arrive in time).

Is etsy your sole income? If no, what is your “day job”? Would you quit if you could?

Right now I don’t have a paying day job, but I maintain a household and do a lot of “mom” things. J

A mommy necklace

What inspires you?

A lot of my items are inspired by color combinations – I have always had an eye for color, and a love for creating my own combinations.

I love the sophisticated color pallet in this button bracelet

Do you sell on other venues?

I do. I have items in three retail locations: Pure Gifts in Mount Pleasant, SC; Back Home in Gold Hill, NC; and Borrowed & Blue in Mount Pleasant, NC.

Are you a good or a bad influence on those around you?

Lol! I guess that depends on the topic! I am a good influence on eating – I am all for natural and local foods, etc., so my friends consider me to be a bit of a food snob. I may be a bad influence in some other areas, but we won’t go there today! ;-)

I love this simple chic necklace

Name some of the sellers whom you look up to and why?

I think The Bead Girl at Studio Jewel is my hero! I don’t know her personally, but I love her work and I would like to learn to work with metal the way she does. Her designs are so simple and stylish! She is also very successful – I guess I hold her success up as an ideal that I would achieve in a perfect world.

Holly's workspace

Do you have any advice for new sellers?

Spend some time on the forums – I learned so much of value there about how to take better photos, things to do and not do, etc. I also made a few connections to teams that I joined. Etsians are very helpful if you get to know them, and some of us need a lot of guidance!

Do you have any pets?

I have a Ragdoll kitten named Blaze. He follows me from room to room when I move around the house throughout the day – he is a wonderful companion! We also have a bearded dragon (lizard) named Simon, and a Rottweiler named Molly.

Holly's kitty, Blaze

Do you have a strong support system? Who is your biggest cheerleader?

My husband and my family and friends are all great supporters of my work! My mom and my aunt have bought multiple pieces from me (in addition to the ones I have given them). My husband is my biggest fan – he is very supportive!

This money clip would be a great guft for the men in your life

Holly is hosting a giveaway on another blog:

Enter to win a vintage button wrap bracelet, a $20 value, from Holly&Sage in the North Carolina Artisans Event on this blog: http://kaeliskiwis.blogspot.com/ - the giveaway starts Sept 3.Keep an eye out for that to win the beautiful bracelet pictured here:

You may click on any picture in this post to be redirected to Holly's shop, or visit her here:

http://www.frugal-living-now.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/hollynsage

Featured Seller: Cappy Sue Creations

You can find something amazing and hilarious in Cappy Sue's stores, and she is busy... she has four of them!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cappysue
cappysueclay.etsy.com all clay all the time
cappysuevintage.etsy.com find your unusual vintage here
cappysuespice.etsy.com a budding supply shop



I entered a giveaway on Cappy Sue's blog for a print of a unicorn with the stomach flue, and I WON! I received the 5x7 glossy print in the mail on saturday and I LOVE IT. It has rainbows coming out of both ends and it makes me giggle uncontrollably every time I see it. Click the picture to go to the listing in her store.



Cappy has pets as kids and LOVES animals. She paints things that she dreams up or that she thinks is funny. I really love her sense of humor! Please check out her awesome stores~!

Xoxo,

Erica

THANK YOU Jacki!

Jacki over at christiecottage.etsy.com featured our store acrylicandsteel.etsy.com on her two for Tuesday blog post!

You can see the post by going to her blog http://www.christiecottage.blogspot.com/





I love this cuff from her store, and it is on sale now for only $8.50! Click on the picture to go to the listing.

I am also on ChristieCottage's BNS thread and I have made some wonderful friends over there! If you are thinking about joining a BNS thread, which I highly recommend, I would suggest starting on ChristiCottage's thread.

BNS stands for Buy and Sell, there are also buy and replace threads. I love them because they are a great way to meet people and network. It is like being part of a community of people that support and promote each other. I have been less active in them the ones I am on since the holidays, so i need to drop in soon and chat :)

And the winner is....

Hi! I picked the winner op my whale hand warmers at random ( from a hat to be precise, since it seemed to be the least original and easiest way to do it.)

And the winner is.... LAURA! I will be sending you an email to get your address :) I hope you love your new hand warmers.

Laura has her own blog as well, so please pay her a visit at theforgottenbrush.blogspot.com. She is also an artist, like me :)

Her etsy store is www.etsy.com/shop/laurart


This piece is "Speckles 'n Shapes" by Laura and you can get to her listing of it by clicking on the picture.



I love prints, and I really love this print "Brushes" by Laura. It is made from a wood block. You can go to this listing by clicking on the picture as well :)

Laura is also an animal enthusiast and 10% of her profits go to charity.

I hope everyone's holidays were as wonderful as mine, i will tell you more about them soon, I don't want to make this post to lengthy to be interesting :)

Also, I added the hamster widget. Isn't he cute? you can feed him.

I will Start a new next Monday.

Great Gifts, and why customer service is SO important

Between Autumns birthday and Christmas I have made quite a few purchases on etsy. I would like to start sharing them with you, one shop at a time.

Adams birthday in august I had an unfortunate experience. I purchased a few items and the items from one of the sellers never came. After trying to contact them several times I finally got a convo a few days after Adams birthday that the items had shipped. The next day I went to leave feedback for the wonderful items I received from two other sellers and I noticed that I had no place to leave feedback! The seller had cancelled my order! I contacted etsy right away and got my money back from the seller... but I was REALLY UNHAPPY with that transaction. These orders for Adams birthday were the first I had ever made on etsy, and if this order had been the only one I would not be likely to buy anything off of etsy again. Obviously everyone on etsy gets to run thier shop pretty much as they like, as long as it meets the general guidelines that etsy sets forth- and the transaction described clearly does not-but how you run your store is a reflection of the ENTIRE etsy community- besides, most things in life are more fun when you do them with a smile on your face. I DO NOT RECOMMEND purchasing anything from happyfamily.etsy.com especially if you have any interest in receiving your items in a timely manner.

I HAD AN EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE at the other two stores I ordered from, and I loved http://elementalshop.etsy.com so much that I will probably return to them for some Christmas shopping.

This is what I ordered for Adam:






I ordered it in natural. This shirt is awesome. I don't screen print- though I want to learn- but I am pretty sure the printing was very good quality. They also use special water based eco-friendly ink, and it is wonderful. It is softer than other ink, but we have had the shirt since August- and Adam wears it A LOT-but there is no fading or deterioration of the print. They use organic cotton American Apparel t-shirts. They are SOOOO Soft. That matters even to a wife, as I would rather cuddle with Adam when he is wearing a soft shirt than a thick scratchy one! From what I can tell they are not currently offering THIS shirt, but they are offering many other great designs!

Here are a few of their current designs:






I LOVE THIS SHOP, and highly recommend them for your holiday purchases- especially since it can be so hard to shop for men on etsy, making it hard to do a handmade Christmas, and they have some really fantastic shirts. I am sure they have something for almost everyone.

ok then,

Have a fun Saturday.

-Erica

I Was Featured on another blog!

Way awesome!

You can see my Purple Octopus Print In a lovely collection of purple items! ALSO... the print sold so it has been relisted.

Here is the blog link:

http://allthingstangled.blogspot.com/

allthingstangled also has an etsy store! http://allthingstangled.etsy.com/

I love this sweater from her store :)

If you click on the picture it will take you to the listing in her store.

And now I am addicted..

I bought some make-up on etsy from PoshWashSoap... and I think I'm Addicted. I bought
pale Bronze, Sparkling Merlot, and Black Diamond eye shadow and I love them all. they are all great basics to have in your make-up box. The Light bronze is a peachy color that just adds some light shimmer for days that I dont want to look too made up. The Black diamond creats some super hot smokey eyes and the Sparkling Merlot looks great with brown shades.

I recieved a coupon in my package and now I am trying to put together a christmas order.

These items are packaged beautifully and look SO professional. It is also an incredible value! An eyeshadow is only $2.95 a pot and she is usually running sale.

I tried to get you all some good pictures of how it looks on, but it is hard to capture the Luxe shimmer of these lovely shadows.

yicky colds... and more

I have a little cold. How convenient that I am going to go to the DR tomorrow.

We uploaded a few baby movies to YouTube last night. only 4 of the 10 attempted made it on to YouTube, but I don't feel like uploading them more now.

I have been reading a lot of other blogs lately, and some have been useful while others can be very inspiring.

I thought 42 Purple Elephants had an inspiring post: Branching Out it really makes you realize that you can make some amazing things when you step outside of your comfort zone. She has an etsy store that you should check out too! 42 Purple Elephants


This Pretty Sweetheart Necklace is from her store.



Something I forgot to mention was that I was on the front page last week! It was really exciting! I got a ton of views on that one item and lots of hearts too!

It was a Halloween themed collection. This is the item they put up:

Spinning Spider Switch plate Cover

Monday RANT: Couture? Oui or Non...

SO, I have always been amazed by what is called couture. I decided to punish myself one day and look up what people tagged as couture. As expected I was annoyed, surprised and amazed by what was tagged as couture.



When I was in school I was taught that only if you are an approved couturier are your dresses couture, and anything that was not approved by the french government but applied couture techniques should be refereed to as "couture style" or something that made it clear that you are not an approved couturier. No wonder I am so annoyed when people throw it around.




I just looked up the definition of couture and I actually am more understanding of how it could be misused. The web definitions are very vague, running the gammot from simply "High fashion" to "all fashionable dresses" (WHAT?!? that is just inaccurate) To the definition that I was taught which is available on wikipedia .













(Couture Christian Dior Spring '07...which I believe was still John Galliano)





There are many lovely items on etsy that I totally take no offense to being tagged as couture, but I expect a few things of the items tagged as such.


1-I am very disappointed when something tagged as "couture" is not made out of very fine materials (you know, it shouldn't be made out of $1 a yard poly)


2-If something is a mass produced item with embellishments i do not think it should be tagged couture, especially if those embellishments are made with a bead dazzler or an embroidery machine.


3-I expect to see hand sewn details...beading, draping, pleating...something


These are Totally Acceptably Tagged as couture, and are really stunning pieces!

This is from Toolgrrl

Those are gloves. amazing!

This is from atilladesign

The had detail at the hem is lovely!

So I guess here are a few hints, if it can be easily mass produced, you can charge less than $200 for it(and pay yourself for your time- once I made a dress that would have cost about $2000 if I were paying myself for my time but I only charged $200 for the dress) , or it is made with cheap materials... it is NOT couture.

How Hot is Donna Passarelli's art????

Donna Passarelli is an etsy artist in the New Jersy area. I read her work as a little pop art, and a little punk rock, and I really LOVE it! Here are a few of my favorite pieces that are available NOW... But check out her sold items, Donna has some serious talent that, and I enjoyed checking out her sold items almost as much as I enjoyed her colorful, lively shop.

"Pink Army Men" by Donna Passarelli

"Page no. 1" ACEO print by Donna Passarelli

"Smiling Boy" by Donna Passarelli

Check out Donna's Etsy store at : http://donnadidit.etsy.com
Check out her vintage store at: http://VintageThicknCreamy.etsy.com

and you can even get a cross stitch pattern based off of her paintings. I didn't have any luck with the link, so contact her if you are interested!