Shopping Smarter

I know that most of us have changed our spending habits in way or another over the past year with the hopes that the economy will rise again. A lot of us have started thinking about supporting locally owned shops over the superstores with the hopes to revive what might soon be lost. Projects like the 3/50 Project are a great way to get the word out about this sort of spending.

But what if we wanted to do more? Not just for our country but others as well. What about supporting the arts all over the world? Sites like Etsy are doing an amazing job creating a global community where artists can get together and sell their goods. Some artists even support different charities with their proceeds like Bags with a Mission who is trying to help some boys in Kenya go to high school.

Another idea for you is a company called Trade as One whose mission is to provide Fair Trade employment in impoverished areas of the world and create a new way of thinking when you purchase something, by asking yourself "who made this?". Simply stating they take people out of terrible situations like slavery or prostitution and teach these people skills like sewing or farming and then provide them with 100% of the profits, so that they can make a real living on their own and begin to support themselves. Charity is great to a point but unless you can help people support themselves, charity will always need more help. That's why I love the concept behind Trade as One. The founder is an amazing man with a heart bigger than life itself. I hope you get a chance to visit their site and learn more about them and their views. The site offers everything from home decor, to food, to apparel and everything in between. The craftsmanship is amazing as well. I have a purse, a journal and a necklace from them and love them all!

I just wanted to give you another option when you shop, especially with the holidays right around the corner. If you know of any other sites that are like this please share them here, I would love to know about them.


This basket is perfect for going to the farmers market!


Perfect for back to school or a diaper bag. It's waterproof for the most part since it's made from recycled rice bages!

New Line of Art Debuting This Weekend!

I have been talking about some new art that I have been working on for about a month now, and it's finally ready to be unveiled this weekend! Yay!

My new line will consist of wall art as well as jewelry, all made from vinyl records! How cool is that?! I can't wait to show you. If fact the first piece has already been listed. Check it out here . It's a wall cross cut from a vinyl record and then painted.

I will be listing at least 2 more items this weekend, but hopefully more and there will be several to follow over the next few weeks. I will also be taking custom orders on these so if you have a design you would like me to work on for you please contact me anytime. And it doesn't just have to be crosses if you have another idea that you would like me to work out for you, let me know that too!

I am super excited about this project and I can't wait to see what you all think too, so leave your comments. Also leave a comment if you have other things that you would like to see me try.

GRAND RE - OPENING!

Today starts the sales for my grand re-opening of my Etsy shop ! For the next 2 weeks I will be blessing you all with 10% off everything in the store and free shipping for purchases over $50! Not a bad way to start things off right?

Well that's not all, over the coarse of the next 2 weeks I will also be giving you special codes for additional % off on certain days and I will be doing a give away here on my blog!

Come back here Tuesday for more details on the give away...Want a clue? Let's just say it has to do with the little guy in the picture above! Happy Shopping!


****OH, one last thing to mention to you all...I am only 2 sales away from 60, so to the 60th sale I will be giving away a box of goodies with your purchase! My way of saying thank you to all of my great customers!****

Etsy Dallas Trunk Show...A Success

Thanks to everyone who came out Saturday and checked out our Trunk Show. I think it was a huge success. We had over 40 local artists show off their goods and lots of people took advatage of the great weather we had and did some shopping. (Yes it was inside but we could have the doors open!)

Made some new friends while I was there. One of them was Jessica from Funky Finds and she was kind enough to write up a great piece on her blog about our little show. Check it out here. I also donated 2 8x10 photographs for one of her giveaways in September. To see who else is featured in the September giveaway click here. I know it's not till September but I will remind you as it gets closer, promise. I will also post some pictures later of what I donated.

I also got to meet some of our great members. Being a mostly online group it's great when we finally get to meet face to face! If you get a chance check out our group blog or website to see some of the artists in our group and check out their shops for some unique pieces that you can't live without.

I also got the chance to work on my booth set up. I have added a great many pieces since my last show and had a hard time deciding how to show it all off. Here's what I came up with.



Later this week I will let you know how I got to this layout and some tips and tricks I learned from doing it. Well I am off for the night...enjoy the last few hours you have before you must return to work tomorrow!

Esty Dallas Trunk Show ~February 9~

If you live in the Dallas area or will be in town February 9, you don't want to miss the trunk show being put on by Etsy Dallas. There will be over 40 artists local there, including yours truely! This a great place to get something unique for your Valentine (Valentine's Day is the following week!!!)

To let you know a little about the place that is holding the trunk show for us: Southside's Artists' Quarter is a large hallway located on the first floor of the old Sears warehouse building on Lamar, which was converted to beautiful lofts and art space. I think that they are just as excited about the upcoming trunk show that we are doing!

If you would like to find out more about the artists that will be there check out the
Etsy Dallas Blog or the Etsy Dallas Website.

We plan on having goodies bags there for the first 100 people that sign up for our newsletter! The goodies bags are going to have coupons (for that day only), business cards and other various goodies! If that's not enough to get you excited we may also have some munchies for you to nibble on while you shop!

Come check us out! Do a little shopping (even if it's for yourself), meet some local artists and just have fun! Can't wait to see you all there!