Firmoo is awesome. They are suuuuper cheap glasses and sunglassess... and by cheap, I mean like $15 cheap. Which is craaaaaazy awesome. I have two pairs from them - here's my latest ones!

I don't think they have them on their website anymore, but these ones are pretty similar! They are very light-weight, which is great for me. I tend to get a headache if glasses are too heavy. Plus they look a little vintage-y!

My other pair have bright yellow sides and bright blue eye pieces. So sweet. 

So if you're wanting some unique (and cheap!) glasses, they are seriously the best. AND... they're having a special deal where your first pair is free, but you have to pay for shipping.  Check out firmoo!

The Burlap Bag

Hi friends. We are now blogging at TheBurlapBag.com - lots of fun projects, life hacks, tips and tricks, and more! Go check it out! 

The Burlap Bag - It's Open!!

Well, our retail store is officially open! It's at 30th and Guadalupe in Austin. Please come check it out and say hi!

http://www.facebook.com/TheBurlapBag

Retail Shop!

Sorry I've let this blog die for awhile now, hopefully one day I will return to featuring awesome etsy artists.

I've been super busy because we are opening our own retail shop in downtown Austin!!! It will be called The Burlap Bag.
We have been buying items from the best etsy sellers and are super excited to open in about a month.
Please "like" our facebook page and tell everyone you know :)
http://www.facebook.com/TheBurlapBag

Here is a photo of our space right when we got it - so much is going to change!

#252 unofficial etsy featured seller - conduitpress

#252 unofficial etsy featured seller - conduitpress
Date joined etsy- 6/20/08
Sales to date - 371
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.

My name is Talia Halliday (talia like Italian without the I and the N and HALiday not hOliday;)) and I live in beautiful Bloomington Indiana (home of Indiana University) with my three mostly darling;) children (15, 9, and 18 months), my Loving nerdy husband and our three mostly annoying (but still affectionate and beautiful) cats. I'm a stay at home/ work at home mama desperately trying to socialize my gorgeous little boy while balancing creating/branding/marketing a handmade business in my 'down' time. I want my baby to be proud of his mama.

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

Ha! Well, that's quite boring, but you asked;) We wake up late. We're late sleepers (and when I say we I mean the baby, Griffin, and I ). Once the morning starts we eat our yogurt or oatmeal and watch a little tv while I check Etsy orders and emails. The mornings are then usually spent at library play or open gym. I have to keep pretty organized since my time to work is in fits and starts throughout the day. I usually get a good two hours of work during nap time so I'm able to package and photograph anything that needs done and then start whatever work needs to be finished that night. Once naptime is over it's back to the mom grind until just after dinner when daddy takes over and I use that time to catch up on convo's and emails and the such. I'm part of a treasury team on Etsy (The Treasury Tree) and so I try to use this time to make new treasuries and comment on the ones that have come up throughout the day. Once the baby goes down for the night is when my work-night begins. If I stay organized enough throughout the day I'm able to set up what I need to get done before the night starts and that really helps with my production;) By morning I usually have a whole new batch of books to photograph and/or list, and the process starts all over again.

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

I was a constant photographer and book maker whilst growing up. I had a camera everywhere I went and with that camera came the album those pictures would live in. I was also an avid journaler, so a journal/sketchbook was also following me around most of the time. Not much has changed really.

-What made you want to start selling on etsy?

I wanted to quit my day job. All of them. I wanted to be able to stay home and not feel guilty about it and not be stifled by working in an office space with cubicle walls and to-do lists. I wanted freedom.

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

Technically, not that long. My mother-in-law bought like three things from my shop within the first few weeks of me opening my shop. But, in reality, it was about 4 months I guess before a 'stranger' bought something from me and then it was really just in fits and starts. When I first opened my store in June of 2008, I was still working and in school. Etsy was just something I did on the side with all the things I Loved to make and was making anyway. Not until this past year (November of 2009) did I really start taking Etsy seriously as a full time gig and not until November of 2010 did I sort of become successful with it.

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

foods
1. ice cream
2. grapes
3. watermelon
4. cheese
5. Chicken Tikka Masala

tv shows
1. parenthood (HIGHLY underrated)
2. Fringe
3. House
4. Crime and Law shows like Without a Trace, CSI, and Criminal Minds
5. Desperate Housewives

Bands
1. tori amos
2. ani difranco
3. vienna teng
4. nin
5. tool

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

I have always wanted to do stained glass and blown glass. Never tried either. But I will.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?

Just whatever everyone else says. Good Photos. And always be thinking of new lines of products- new ways to make your product and change it up- be different from those around you and find something that makes you YOU. Someone will notice you.

-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?

There are just SO many great shops out there! I'll choose a couple local Indiana shops and one for the road. Just too many great shops to choose from!

Sadly Harmless - adorable and thought provoking animal illustrations - Love her work
erin a ellis - i bought my son a griffin chubikin from her shop and I just ADORE it!
Spice of Life Designs - beautiful handmade one of a kind jewelry like I've never seen before

-One year from now...

Have my own studio (instead of a dining room nook) and more hours in the day to work. A few new lines of books and book safes and exposure from a few new shops on the horizon.


Ways to contact conduitpress:
Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/conduitpress
Website: http://conduit-press.com/
Blog: conduit-press.com/blog/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/conduitpress
Twitter: twitter.com/conduitpress


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Have an etsy shop with over 300 sales and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)

#251 unofficial etsy featured seller - exlibrishandmade

#251 unofficial etsy featured seller - exlibrishandmade
Date joined etsy- 4/5/08
Sales to date - 326-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.

I’m Victoria and I live in downtown Albany, NY with my husband Skye, 7-year-old daughter Tigerlily and 4-year-old son Lyric. Our house is an old carriage house that Skye renovated into a super awesome apartment. The garage used to house a boat-building and repair shop so it is known around the ‘hood as The Boatshop. I work from home in an ever-evolving art and studio space that I carved out for me and my kids to share. Of course, as a fabric hoarder my supply storage stretches well beyond my work space and is likely to take over the rest of our home someday. Thanks to my daughter I love fireworks ice cream (with Pop Rocks!) and we don’t have pets, unless you count our red wigglers and the collective neighborhood chickens!

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

I am not an early riser so I usually stumble out of bed around 8am when I hear my kids raiding the cabinets to try to sneak some chocolate chips before school. I get the kids washed and brushed and dressed and Skye gets them off to school, which luckily is right next door and provides breakfast! My big goal for this year is to be up and going early enough so that I can do a bit of exercise and be dressed and cheery before my kids are awake (and full of chocolate chips).

When Skye and the kids have gone off on their daily adventures I sit down at the computer with coffee. I do a general once over of my shop, email, and reader and generate a to-do list for the day. If all goes smoothly this takes no more than an hour, and then it’s production time! I generally create for 4 to five hours during the day before the kids come home from school. My biggest challenge: staying focused on work with piles of laundry staring me down and the allure of the internet calling to me.

The family usually hangs out together for the afternoon into evening reading, playing, cooking and eating dinner and doing a bit of clean up, then it’s time to get the kids ready for bed. Once the boy is settled I read to the girl for about 45 minutes (right now it’s book 7 of Harry Potter) and she’s off to bed at 8:30.

Then it’s back to work for me! Having already been creative for a good chunk of the day I’m usually pretty drained of inspiration at this point so I tend to do fairly simple things. I try to reserve all of my handwork for the evenings and do embroidery and cutting of appliqué pieces while listening to a book on tape (which I do a lot during the day, too) or watching shows or a movie. I usually “work” for a couple of hours before switching over to a handcraft that I enjoy doing but don’t get paid for, like knitting, crochet or embroidery. Midnight is my standard bedtime.
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?

I come from a long line of super crafty ladies so I don’t think I really had a choice! My Mom is the most talented craftsperson I know and I grew up watching her do everything from painting and calligraphy to crocheting tablecloths and making my Dad’s suits. From the age of 5 or so I was way into cross stitch and hand sewing patchwork from my Great Grandmother’s quilt scraps (and still am!).

-What made you want to start selling on etsy?

For years folks have been telling me that I should sell the things I make but I never even considered it until I had kids and made the decision to stay home with them. I found that my need to be creative increased and it provided me with a solid sense of myself when so much of me seemed to be defined by my role as a mother. When a friend of mine thought enough of my work to invite me to share a booth with her at the Renegade show in Brooklyn I decided to give it a try. I opened my shop that spring and, with only a vague idea of what I wanted to make and sell, got to work making a totally random assortment of stuff for Renegade and my new Etsy shop. That initial burst of exposure from Renegade helped me hone in on my niche and gave my shop a boost that helped make it a success.

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

I had my first sale about a week after listing some items in my shop. I still remember the feeling!
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?

Food: strawberries, watermelon, korma, summer blts, cheesecake

TV shows: The State, How I Met Your Mother (I Barney Stinson), Modern Family, True Blood, Trailer Park Boys

Bands: (Okay, I need two categories…)

Of All Time—The Magnetic Fields, PJ Harvey, ABBA, David Byrne, Fugazi

Right Now—M.I.A., La Roux, Beirut, Peaches, Lady Sovereign

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

Everything!! But especially I’d love to try my hand at some book-y stuff, like printmaking, letterpress and bookbinding. I’d also love to delve deeper into the world of embroidery and do things like hardanger and bargello. I’m pretty hopeless at all of that computer-y stuff and would love to learn a bit of graphic design on photoshop so that I can design some fabric on Spoonflower. Also, I’d love to be able to play ragtime piano.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?

Make customer service your top priority! I do everything I can to ensure that my customers have a wonderful experience buying from me and the word of mouth recommendations that this generates have driven my business since the beginning. This includes everything from getting in touch when an order is received and sent (and anything in between) to making sure your work is at its best and packaging it well (and prettily!). I don’t do any social media stuff (partly because of time constraints and partly because I don’t really get it) or any advertising, though I do keep a blog which I think is valuable.

-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?

KisforCalligraphy—I met Katy when she created a beautiful banner for the HeartsforHaiti charitable shop and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. I use her envelope seals on my packages to make them extra special.

andwabisabi—The cutest cross stitch patterns ever! I just bought a bunch to make for all of my kids’ teachers.

CrunchyClean—Ashley approached me about doing a trade when I was just starting out and it was an awesome experience. Not only was I introduced to the world of trading with other Etsy sellers but I found her amazing detergent!

-One year from now...

Right now our family is incubating a dream to move to The Netherlands for a year and I really hope that dream is still alive and growing! I love that, in theory anyway, I can take my business anywhere in the world.

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Have an etsy shop with over 300 sales and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)

#250 unofficial etsy featured seller - sealmaiden

#250 unofficial etsy featured seller - sealmaiden
Date joined etsy- 6/18/08
Sales to date - 1000-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.

My name is Sylke and I live in Brooklyn NY. I have no kids and no pets, it’s just my husband and me in our tiny insy winsy studio aka our apartment.

Describe an average day in life of "you".

I wake early, 5:30 or so make coffee and check my etsy shop for any overnight sales and messages. If I have orders to fill, I usually print a couple before I head of to my J>O>B.
Once I return from work I usually print a few more orders, sew in labels and prepare these for shipping etc. Then we have dinner and usually watch a movie before I crash.
Currently I am also taking evening draping course at FIT. This is twice a week, so in addition I also squeeze in my homework somewhere in between everything else.

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

I can’t say I was very creative growing up, but I always felt an itch in my hands, but just did not know how to relief it. Then one day a good friend of mine, gave me a blank square note book, in which I started to doodle whenever I had a “time to kill”. Eventually I started to draw on bigger pads. When my husband saw my doodles for the first time he suggested printing them on t-shirts. It took him quite a while to convince me to take screen-printing classes.
When I finally relented, I discovered I really enjoyed it.

-What made you want to start selling on etsy?

I came across etsy through a friend at work just about the same time as I was taking screen printing courses, when I saw all the other fabulous screen printing shops doing well, it thought why not.

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

17 days

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

Jamaican cooking – ackee and saltfish,
Japanese cuisine, anything that has sea urchin or eel in it,
I can’t live without avocado.
My mother’ cheese cake
Fava beans eaten in Italy.

I rarely watch any TV shows, except for HBO on Sunday night, boardwalk empire, eastbound and down, true blood, etc etc etc.

I LOVE reggae music.

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

Yes, I have been taking sewing classes and I am taking a draping course now. I would love to eventually create my own line of tee-shirts, shift dresses, etc.

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

Take great pictures, renew your listings often, make treasuries, maybe join a treasury making team. Once you start selling offer great customer service, answer inquiries quickly, ship in a timely manner, be accessible. Buyers LOVE great customer service.

-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?

Ahh there are sooo many talented sellers on etsy, it’s so unfair to only call out 3 …

marysgranddaughter

childrenbluesky

almapottery

-One year from now...

Stop working my J>O>B

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Have an etsy shop with over 300 sales and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)