Featured This Week: Beadnik Boutique

I just love this shop. It's so similar to my own taste that it's scary - from the gorgeous chunky glass pendants to the professional images with uniqe photo displays, Beadnik is the place to go for one-of a kind pieces.

When you visit this etsy shop, the unique photo displays (check out the earrings, left) and great image variety resonate with you. I especially love the contrast of the smooth and shiny surfaces of the glass with the texture of the neutral gray wood panel backgrounds.

The shop owner, Cindy, says that she came from an artistic family, and her oldest son is a graphic artist. She always wanted to pursue art as a profession, but decided to settle down and get married. Cindy applies her creativity to her hobbies of gardening and cooking, as she always "creates them to appear attractive and tasteful". Natural and antique brass are her favorite media to work with, and she feels as though that comes across in her jewelry pieces. Cindy has identified her weakness as "not knowing what people like these days" - and as a fellow artist, I agree.

She advises new artists to never doubt themselves or their abilities (aw!), because "others see what you make in a different way than you do". Cindy recommends promoting yourself on etsy forums, twitter, and constant distribution of business cards.

Pictured below is my favorite item, the "Starfish Delight", $28.00. I love the weight of the pendant and the colors :)

Contact BeadnikBoutique:
http://www.beadnikboutique.com/
http://www.twitter.com/Beadnik7
http://www.beadnikboutique.etsy.com/

email: cindy@beadnikboutique.com

Stay tuned for next week; JuliesJems is featured! Check it out and show some support :)

Weekly Featured Etsy Sellers!

Hey everyone,

After much discussion amongst supportive etsy sellers, I've decided to start a weekly featured etsy shop blog posting. I feel as though it's a great way to mutually support one another; I gain followers, sellers get publicity, and as one etsyan put it, "good vibes all around." Good vibes are good.

Especially since last night while driving my car, I literally had an all black cat run across the road.

SO, here's how it works;

I have come up with a few questions that I will pose to shops that have initially elected to be featured (I have enough people interested for once-a-week articles to put me to September!) and from their answers I'll construct an article. I'll include images, and my personal feedback of their site.

I write the articles weeks in advance, so when I convo you with questions, please just be patient; you'll get your posting soon! If anyone is interested in being featured in the future (beyond Sept.) please convo me or shoot me an email.

In the meantime, make sure to follow my blog and get your fans and friends to follow to see your shop featured!!

Featured in the Local Newspaper; Bowline Bags!

For those familiar with my Bowline Bag line, they were featured in The Patriot Ledger (A Boston Paper, can't you tell?) on June 23rd of this year. Above is the actual article in context. The writer was on the Mermaids of Duxbury Bay mailing list, and Cindy Cheevers-Nichols featured my bags in her newsletter. The author of the column, "Window Dressings," then contacted me with interest in who made the bags, their cost, etc.

I had received some sails from a friend of ours who had just purchased new ones, and I wanted to make bags out of them. In addition to the cool slanted stitching and different sail textures, I could also embroider numbers onto the canvas to give them a little bit of color (The navy really pops!)

The idea behind the Bowline bag (appropriately named after the popular sailor's knot,) was that they were eco-friendly, being recycled, and are extremely durable. That is, they've sailed the ocean and boaters will be able to slam them around.

What we are faced with right now is our price point - we have a great deal of interest, but we are struggling due to the time-consuming nature of creating the product and the value of the materials. I also feel as though my bag is more "real", then those being mass produced by companies, which have bleached canvases to the point where I question the fact that they are even recycled.

So my solution? I'm going to make a line of smaller, more affordable bags that aren't as large as the totes. I might look into duffel bags and cinch sacks in the future as well.

If you are interested in a purchase, please email me at aosgood123@yahoo.com. The large tote bags, featured right, start at $65. I do custom orders and and embroider the number of your choice onto the bag. The idea is that the number represents something meaningful in your life - Like I just did a bag for a woman's father for his birthday, and embroidered "55", which is the year he was born.

I have quite a few in stock, most are at Cindy's shop, so be sure to stop by and check them out!