Friday, April 23, 2010

#99 unofficial etsy featured seller - thegildedbee

#99 unofficial etsy featured seller - thegildedbee
Date joined etsy -7/18/08
Sales to date - 1078-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.

My name is Sasha North, I live and work in Harlan, IA with 3 cats and 2 collies.
I’m 21, I graduated having completed all grades, K-12, as a homeschooler.
My Mum, Sherri, and I opened “The Gilded Bee” about a year and a half ago.
I make and photograph the stuff for the shop, and she helps in the shipping dept.
I adore ice cream/frozen desserts. I like most anything with chocolate.

-Describe an average day in life of "you".

In the morning:
I fill orders and answer e-mails, eat hot cereal, pet my kitties, and make things.
In the afternoon:
I make even more stuff, generate a small mountain of paper bits, eat popcorn, take photographs.
In the evening:
Do any housework that needs to be done (the boring stuff, like scrubbing things :D), Walk the collies,
Blog something (iamthebee.blogspot) with pictures, preferably large pictures and lots of them, list on etsy (this can happen any-time ;)), and think about more things to make.

-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?

Yes, very. ;)
Drawing, Painting, paper crafting, jewelry design, printing, baking, sewing, needlecrafts, clay, photography---about anything I could get my hands on/in.

-What made you want to start selling on etsy?

My distaste for regular 9-5 jobs, a dreadful first “regular” job, and my desire to control my working hours, environment, and to create all of the time (for me it’s not a hobby, it’s an obsessive passion ;))

-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?

Two or three months---a while. About the time the sales started to pick up, was about the time I started adding a lot more items.

-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?

Foods:
1. Chocolate
2. Soup
3. Popcorn
4. Granola
5. Summer and early autumn fruits

Television:
I watch more movies than series programs…
1. The Suite Life, the suite life on deck
2. Masterpiece Theatre
3. Sonny with a chance
4. old movies, black and white
5. Disney, pixar, Walden, and BBC films

Bands:
Hmmm… I listen mostly to artists… and adore classical and celtic music
1. Juan Diego Florez
2. Secret Garden
3. Wynton Marsallis
4. the three tenors
5. the Mash up CD’s, Mel Puller’s CD

-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, an instrument, etc.

I’ve been a hobby junkie through out my childhood and teen years, so I have tried most of those things on that list… except soapmaking… that would be really cool. I’d love to learn how to cast things in resin,
Shibori, cake decorating… there are so many things to discover, experience and create, I could write a loooong list in this category.

-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?

Networking sites are helpful for having more people “meet” you and see your work.
Listing often, taking the best possible photographs, I enjoyed meeting a lot of other artists through their shops, the forum, trades, blogs etc., I have asked a lot of questions from other bloggers and etsians who do what they do really well, and that has helped me to learn a lot of things.

-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?

Just three? ;)
I’m a fiend for a lot etsy shops.
Caramelos, Olive Manna, and Mary not Martha

-By December 31, 2010 I hope my number of sold items is ______.

A zillion! Hahahaha ;)
5,000 would be nice (shoot for the moon :D).
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Have a successful etsy shop and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)