Hump Day Blues

Today is the middle of the week. The time that we start to look forward to the weekend but are so glad it is no longer Monday. This weekend there is an AREtsy meet and greet in Fort Smith at the Sweet Bay Coffee company on Rogers Avenue. It will be between noon and 2PM, and is not a come and hang out type thing, even though you can come for sure. It is more of a come and say hi and stay or go at your preference.

We have selected one of our team members to have a featured selling post and will be putting that up in a week or so. At this time I have just been surfing the team members pages and arbitrarily selected someone, but I would also welcome submissions from shops that may wish to be featured.

Also I would love submissions from team members to do little tutorials about how to make simple things. Sometimes we all need something fun to create that is outside our norm.

I really do want to work with the whole team to make us a cohesive group of artisians that relish our Arkansas heritage and skills.

Coffee Chats?

So in an effort to get to know our team members we are going to attempt to schedule some coffee chat sessions in various areas around the state.

I (Felicia Norwood) have scheduled a meeting here in Fort Smith for December 10th between 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm at the Sweet Bay Coffee Company on Rogers next to Creekmore Park.

We would like to thank Sweet Bay Coffee for allowing us to use their space, free of charge, and are excited to patronize our local small businesses.

Just comment on this post to RSVP that you will be there! I am all excited now!

I will work to have one in the Fayetteville area maybe after the first of the year, but if there are any Etsiers up there that want to get together just let me know and I will help find a place and post all the details.

Anyone else want to schedule a meet and greet coffee chat?

Getting Back on Track

Hello AREtsyers!

It has been a while since any posts have been made, but we want to get back on track and try to keep all of us connected! We have a lot of exciting ideas and would like to call on our members to pitch in and help us all! We will briefly list a few of the ideas, and look forward to seeing some comments regarding your thoughts.

1. Monthly featured team members, similar to the Etsy Featured Seller with the same questions to start and then maybe tweek them to our interests.

2. Tutorials from selected team members for quick and easy ideas for gifts, or other simple projects.

3. AREtsy events for team members in regional areas to get together, craft, drink coffee, and get to know one another.

We all lead busy lives, between homes, work, family, friends, and crafting. However we think as Arkansas, crafters, and Etsyiers we can work to make our group the best!

Let's hear from your all, and we look forward to getting to know all of you better!

Wear Your Team Spirit

We need your help! 
Calling all AREtsians... We would like to design and print AREtsy t-shirts!

We would love as many of our talented members as possible to give this little design request a try! Make them cute, clever, the world is your oyster, anything goes!  We will then load all of them to a 'voting' page and send out the link, so that all members, or fans, can vote on their design.  We will work hard to find printing options that are as cost-conscience as possible (and if any members can help there, please drop us a line!)... and will make these tee's available for purchase!

We would like to have all your ideas by Sunday, June 5th and hope to have the voting page up on the 8th. You can send to AREtsy@gmail.com. This initial design can be just flat artwork and we will place them on a tee for voting (just send instructions on where on the tee you'd like the artwork to go)... artwork will have to be kept to one side of t-shirt design.  You will have to be willing to share your working files with us, so that we can print and keep handy for future needs. The voting will be anonymous, however, we will share proudly who created the 'favorite' look!

Who wouldn't want to sport their team pride, and advertise their shop on Etsy at the same time? What a great idea! Thank you labdesigns!

AREtsy Featured Shop: The Little Chick Boutique

Photos courtesy of The Little Chick Boutique.
Rhyming Words Crayon Roll

Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I am a self proclaimed domestic diva, wife, mother, personal chef, taxi driver.....you name it.....and I would not change it for the world.  In my past life, I was a corporate aviation designer, but since having my daughter I have focused my attention on my creativity and building a business that will allow me to spend more time with my precious 1 year old. 

Tell us a little bit about your shop:  

The Little Chick Boutique specializes in baby accessories, monogramming and embroidery.  We will be branching out into more fun things for mommy and also wedding items in the next coming months. 

How did you become interested or involved in your craft or art?  

I have always sewn for myself and others and I love to design so it made since to me to combine the two.

Crayon Roll - Retro Pink Paisley

How did you find Etsy? 

I actually found Etsy from a purchase that I made myself. 

When you made your first sell...what did you REALLY do?  

I did cartwheels.....well not literally.  But they were sure going on in my stomach.  I was ecstatic.

What is one thing that you have learned through your experience as an Etsy member that has impacted you as a person?  

Organization and prioritizing....okay that’s two things, but they have been a real challenge for me as a shop owner and I’m getting better at both.

Do you promote your shop in any way? Please, share!  

I try to promote as much as I can thru word of mouth as well as facebook (the little chick) and my blog. www.thelittlechickboutique.blogspot.com

The Reversible EVERYTHING Bar - Retro Pink Paisley

(finish the following sentence)
This year I would like to accomplish...

I would love to be able to do some trade shows/craft shows this year and branch out my products.

Finally, just for fun, list 5 of your favorite movies, 5 of your favorite bands and your most favorite thing in the world to eat!
Movies:  1) Eat, Pray, Love   2) Harry Potter Series   3) Kate and Leopold  4) When Harry Met Sally  5) Casablanca                                  
Books:  1) Dave Matthews  2) Train  3) Enya  4) Iron and Wine  5) One Republic
Favorite thing to eat:  Chocolate

Set of (2) Appliqued Bibs - Pear and Strawberry

Seeing Green

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Pinch Proof St. Patricks Day Tee or Onsie
by lulustiles

Organic Mineral Eyeshadow
Shimmer Green
by faceitcosmetics

Garden Herbs Loofah
Aloe and Olive Oil Bar
by Whimsywares

Absinthe - 80 yrds
by WoolyHands

St. Patricks Day Jabot
by FrockTarts

Crafting for a Cause

Blog by AREtsy member: JenuineMemories

Photos courtesy of JenuineMemories.
Hope Vintage-Look Scrapbook

As a single person, who still has a wonderful day job as a teacher, my crafting is my "hobby". Note: that should read escape, pamper, alone time, etc.  So more often than not my scrapbooking/ cardmaking hobby has evolved into a self-loving expression of and to myself. And my crowded studio (my spare bedroom) and my shrinking wallet reflect that I love Jen A LOT. Which is fine, but lately I have had the urge to give back. 

So I was pleased to find in a recent etsy email, a link to Crafting It Forward. From there I found a link to where to donate. The first thing that caught my eye was Operation Write Home. 

This allows card crafters like myself to send cards for the troops to write home on. An important thing to remember is that these are for our military men and women to write home to their families. They have a place where you can send hero cards. They have some rules and regulations, so read over them carefully. In my opinion, I can't think of a better way to give back than to make it easier for a service man or woman to write home. They really want "blank inside" cards and cards that can be used year round. I sent over some of my Sock monkey cards. 

I hope that some quirky service man or woman will write home to their significant other or child using my cards. That would make my day and make me feel just a teeny bit less selfish.

Happy Crafting!

- Jennifer 

@JenuineMemories on Etsy

Other inspire ideas to craft for a cause:

• Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness  Founded and run by a Florida teenager, Love Letters “creates positive and inspirational homemade cards for children with life-threatening illnesses.”
• Life Books  General effort to create scrapbooks for kids in foster homes.
• Needle and ThREAD: Stitching for Literacy

Thank you so much Jennifer for taking the time to share your story and this inspiring idea!  Any other blog ideas?  We would love to hear from you!  Email us at AREtsy@gmail.com.