Featured EtsyBlogger -- miesmama

Congrats to this month's featured EtsyBlogger, miesmama. A longtime active member of EtsyBloggers and also a member of the Felting team, miesmama creates pretty little things for just about anyone. From her profile:

I am a mother of two who loves to be creative. I knit, quilt and daydream. Anything to do with textiles inspires me and makes me happy.

Check out the miesmama blog to learn more about this unique and lovely artisan. Hope she's enjoyed her month of EtsyBloggers fame!

It's Christmas in July!

Ho ho ho! It may be 100 degrees outside here in Texas, but the Etsy Bloggers street team is bringing you a little bit of Christmas cheer... in July!

This year, make sure you have enough handmade goodies under the tree for everyone on your list. Stock up now and save big on some amazing artisan goods.

In my Freshly Crafted and Retrocrafted shops, take 20% off your entire order for the rest of the month!

Here's a peek at what a few of my fellow Etsy Bloggers have to offer:

Luscious pine-scented soap by spottedcowsoaps

Stunning Southwestern earrings by beadedtail

Super cute clutch by TiLTcreations

Adorable little girl's apron by veryverdant

Pretty hobo bag by nicodesigns

Check out this thread to discover all the super talented artisans participating in this sale. Happy shopping!

Featured EtsyBlogger - Create A Thought

Congrats to this month's featured EtsyBlogger, Create A Thought. Located in Saginaw, Michigan, Create A Thought is one super cute Etsy shop filled with whimsical jewelry, fun and fancy journals, and other bright, artsy handcrafted goodness. From her profile:

Everyday you are creating thoughts. Thoughts that are interesting and beautiful, profound and deep, silly and funny. Whatever your thought style is, they should be recorded. CREATEaTHOUGHT's mission is to help you do just that.

Check out the Create A Thought blog to learn more about this cool and quirky artisan. Hope she's enjoyed her month of EtsyBloggers fame!

Featured EtsyBlogger -- Two Zany Zebras

Congrats to this month's featured EtsyBlogger, "Mama Z" of Two Zany Zebras. A stay-at-home mom from Southern California, Mama Z offers super cute kids' clothes and accessories featuring the "Zarkles," wacky and whimsical little kid-friendly creatures, in her Etsy shop. In her own words:

I am a SAHM of two silly zany kids. They keep me busy and on the brink of insanity. I am trying to find a balance between kids, husband, self, housework, scrapbooking, sewing, and selling things on etsy. I love being with family, having fun, the outdoors, and being creative.

Check out the Two Zany Zebras blog to learn more about this adorable, crafty family. Congrats to Mama Z for this well-deserved honor. Enjoy your month of EtsyBloggers fame!

March Featured EtsyBlogger -- Design By Nora

Congrats to this month's featured EtsyBlogger, Nora of Design By Nora and the Design By Nora blog. Nora's Etsy shop is filled with adorable little handcrafted polymer clay stud earrings. She also stocks leather handbags made by her uncle, like this fabulous orange messenger bag. In her own words:

My name is Nora and I love to read, write, draw, paint, make jewelry, make greeting cards, play with polymer clay, listen to music, watch movies and fool around on my computer!

Congrats to Nora for this well-deserved honor. Hope you've enjoyed your month of EtsyBloggers fame!

Stuff I Love -- Spring 09 Edition

Spring has officially sprung here in North Texas and I've already packed away the sweaters, boots and jeans in favor of my lightweight tees, flips, and cargo shorts. This is my favorite time of year. Once the trees start blooming and our barn swallows return, everything seems new and filled with possibility.

In honor of the arrival of spring, and this week's EtsyBloggers spring-themed blog carnival, I present the following eye candy, all courtesy of my fellow Trunkt Artists on Etsy team members.


5" x 7" art print by The Mincing Mockingbird


Vintage swirl button ring by Beyond the Rockz

"Green" 8" x 10" photo by barbraziemerphoto

Couture Xanh earrings by Essentials


"Nest" mixed media painting by Kristina laurendi Havens

Patina copper growing flower necklace by nova design

Find more great design from the Trunkt Etsy team here.

February Featured EtsyBlogger -- Donna Pool Designs

Congrats to this month's featured EtsyBlogger, Donna of Donna Pool Designs and Donna Says.... A stay-at-home mom and former freelance photographer, Donna offers buttons, photos and all kinds of vintage fun in her Etsy shop. In her own words:

Think of my shop as a place where you can find something traditional...with a twist! All my soft toys and Christmas ornaments are very child-safe and every stitch is made by hand (I don't use a sewing machine).

I used to love looking through old Life and Look magazines my parents and grandparents had saved and I've collected old photography magazines for years. I make my vintage buttons out of recycled images from those because they're like preserving tiny bits of history...a fascinating little peek into the past.

Check out Donna's blog, Donna Says..., where she writes about her current projects, new creations, her life as a mama, and more. Congrats to Donna Pool for this well-deserved honor. Enjoy your month of EtsyBloggers fame!

December Featured Blogger -- Spotted Cow Soaps

True to form (ok, yes, I'm a blogging procrastinator), this morning I present the December 2008 featured blogger, Spotted Cow Soaps!


Congrats to Ms. Moo (or Aunt Soapy) of Spotted Cow Soaps on Etsy and the Spotted Cow Soaps Blog for this distinct honor. A school food service coordinator by day, and self-described fragrance junkie, this mom and soon-to-be grandma creates skin-loving goodies that are a feast for the senses. In her own words:

Nestled deep in the heart of Vermont amongst the mountain views and dairy farms you will find Spotted Cow Soaps. I have been formulating and selling homemade natural soaps for over 8 years.

What started out as a necessity to cure skin issues of my own has grown into an obsession and love for handcrafting great smelling soaps that leave your skin saying..."THANK YOU!"

The Spotted Cow Blog is an eclectic blend of shop news, features, snippets of family and home life, and fun Etsy finds. Congrats to Spotted Cow for this well-deserved honor. Hope you enjoyed your month of EtsyBloggers fame!

Black Friday Specials -- Today's Super Saver Events

It's the most wonderful time of the year and the best day of the year to save on our holiday cards as well as our boxed blank note sets - perfect stocking stuffers or teacher gifts! Here's where to find the best deals on Macaroni and Glue paper goods today.


All weekend: Macaroni and Glue on Etsy -- Take $2 off any boxed holiday card set and get FREE shipping when you add any blank note set to your holiday card order


Today at noon EST: Wonderland Congo - Limited-edition items and some HUGE savings on Macaroni and Glue favorites to the first few customers. Be on time or you'll miss out!




Today only: Artiste Congo - Only one set left of these super cute Santa mini cards/gift enclosures with handmade envelopes!



Today only: 1000 Markets - First three holiday card customers get a second set FREE!


Happy shopping everyone!

November Featured EtsyBlogger -- Storybeader

Congrats to Deb of Storybeader and Stroll Through Storyland - she has the distinct honor of being this month's featured EtsyBlogger! A museum curator by day, Deb finds time to create lovely beaded jewelry and gifts that perfectly capture the tradition and spirit of Southwestern Oklahoma. In her own words:

I love words and colors, reading and making unique jewelry. I write a haiki poem for each necklace that I make - usually something I'm thinking about as I'm creating the piece.

Deb's blog is an eclectic blend of artisan profiles, family stories, works in progress, and even book reviews. Congrats, Deb, and enjoy your month of EtsyBloggers fame!

EtsyBloggers Black Friday Sale!

Skip the mall this Friday and go handmade! The EtsyBloggers team is having a Black Friday sale with over 50 participating Etsy shops. From (ahem) holiday cards to unique and special handmade gifts, you'll find everything you need from the comfort of your own living room, and at amazing prices!

Macaroni and Glue is thrilled to be participating in this supersized event. Between 11/28 and 12/1, take $2 off any boxed holiday card set, and get free shipping when you add any blank note set to your holiday card order. Please include "Black Friday" in Notes to Seller at checkout. See my shop announcement for more details.

Happy Thanksgiving and happy post-Thanksgiving shopping!

Another Totally Out of Character Food-Related Post

I know, I know. If I keep doing this, I can't keep calling it "out of character."

This week's Etsy Bloggers Blog Carnival topic is Thanksgiving, specifically our favorite Thanksgiving traditions. Since, for most of the last 10ish years, our extended family has been scattered about the United States and we never know where or with whom we'll be spending our Thanksgiving, I'll have to confess that we have.... well, zilch in the way of traditions. So I thought instead I'd share with you one of my mom's recipes - a simple, sweet and tangy fruit salad - that is one of my favorite parts of ANY family holiday.

Supremely retro, this particular frozen fruit salad has been a staple at holiday meals since I was a kid. Since there's nothing complicated involved, and I have a three-year-old who adores a) dumping things in a bowl and stirring, and b) marshmallows, we usually prepare this dish at our house for any family gathering. And if we can do it, you most certainly can too.


Beat the cream cheese til fluffy. Blend in sour cream, salt and sugar. Fold in (drained) fruit and marshmallows. Pour into freezer-appropriate pan and freeze overnight. Voila!

Quaint? Certainly. Yummy? You betcha. Tradition? For us, anyway.

October Featured EtsyBlogger - BFBeads!

Congrats to Jen of BFBeads - she has the distinct honor of being this month's featured EtsyBlogger! Jen's shop is filled with beautiful, baby-friendly bead necklaces designed to keep Baby's little fingers occupied while breastfeeding. Her reminder bracelets help you keep track of nursing sessions. In addition to her great shop, Jen is the blogger behind Mama's Magic.

Mama's Magic records the daily delights and difficulties of family life, along with entries on writing and creativity. The cast of characters includes Jen (the Mama), her husband (S), their preschooler son (BJ), and toddler daughter (BB). At the moment, Jen is a SAHM. She's also a poet with a Women's Studies degree, a jewelry designer, the owner of Mama's Magic Studio, and the creative force behind Baby Friendly Beads breastfeeding jewelry.

Take a look at some of BFBeads awesome baby-friendly necklaces and bracelets:





Congrats again to BFBeads, and enjoy your month of well-deserved fame!

September Featured Etsy Blogger - Joey and Aleethea

This month's featured EtsyBlogger is our fearless leader, Joey and Aleethea. This mom of two is famous for her handmade super Etsy coolness as well as for a fun, witty blog about her adorable Florida family and her life as a "baby-wearing, breast-feeding, co-sleeping, attachment-parenting" mama. Check out a few of my fave Joey and Aleethea creations:






Adorable, right? Congrats to Joey and Aleethea for your month of EtsyBlogger fame!

August Featured EtsyBlogger - Tulip's Treasure Box

This month's featured EtsyBlogger is Tulip's Treasure Box, jewelry artist and blogger extraordinaire from the sunshine state (hope you're safe and dry!). Congrats, Lily, on your month of EtsyBloggers fame. Please take a few minutes to check out her super cute Etsy shop. If you like a beachy feel and a cool color palette, you're in for a treat. Here are a few of my faves:

EtsyBloggers in The Storque

EtsyBloggers is turning up the heat so far this August! With an increased focus on team treasuries and promotions, and a big anniversary sale this month, our team is definitely moving up in the world. Yesterday, The Storque included an awesome feature on EtsyBloggers.



Not only was it fabulous for the team to be featured, I was thrilled to find three of my products pictured in the article, as well as my Kitschy Kitschy Coo cards in the Storque-picked "related items" section.


Sheesh. Front page AND The Storque in one week... I could positively kiss somebody over there at Etsy.

Featured EtsyBlogger -- Alicia Mae!

This month's featured EtsyBlogger is Ms. Alicia Mae, Etsy seller extraordinaire. Miss Thing has not one, not two, but THREE Etsy shops in her name, and manages to crank out some fantastic work to boot. I bow before her multi-tasking greatness...

Alright, so I confess that I waited til the VERY last minute to put this post together, and unfortunately procrastination has bitten me in the butt - all three AliciaMae shops are closed as she makes a major move on July 1st. But, never one to be deterred, I perused her sold items to find some things to share with you. Check out a few of my faves below:

These pretty prints came from Alicia Mae Art & Photography (which will be opening back up soon, don't you worry). You can find more Alicia Mae creations at Eclectic Design Gifts (also closed for the move, so be patient!). And also check out her destash shop for handmade beads and excess supplies.

Of course, it wouldn't be an EtsyBloggers feature if I didn't point you toward her blog, so be sure to take a peek at Alicia Mae's Xanga site for more info, straight from the crafter's mouth.

Moving Target - What is the Definition of "Success?"

This will likely be short and sweet (or less sweet than simply to-the-point - you be the judge when we're done), but when I saw that the EtsyBloggers blog carnival topic for the week was "Success," it got my wheels turning...

It's interesting how much the concept of "success" has changed for me since I started the business (or, more accurately, since I opened my Etsy shop). When I started, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in February, I was very focused on sales and specific sales goals. As we discussed in May, I'd hoped to reach 100 sales by a certain point, and I achieved that. That, I thought, was the definition of "success." The more sales that came rolling in, the more "successful" I felt. In fact, at one point after I'd hit 100 sales, someone convo'd me and referred to me as a "successful Etsy seller." I was thrilled!

But, ironically, when I read this week's blog carnival topic, my sales weren't the first thing to come to my mind. In fact, the first thing to come to my mind was my schedule! I know, I know... If you read the blog regularly, you undoubtedly think at this point that I'm a time-obsessed nut job, but my schedule represents something really important to me - my ability to balance my "selfish" endeavors (i.e. the business and my volunteering) with my more important endeavors (i.e. mommying). It represents my ability to separate the designer me from the Mommy me, and the fact that I'm finally able to do something for myself without compromising my kid's confidence that no matter what, she's my first priority. Thanks to that schedule, although I assembled 60 custom thank you cards, printed 170 invitations, listed several new designs, upgraded my Trunkt portfolio, blogged, and participated in promos today, Natalie and I spent no less than two hours together huddled over her favorite puzzles, had a fabulous lunch together, took an always-exciting trip to the craft store, and managed to get Daddy’s birthday present wrapped before he got home.

And that, my friend, after all the trial and error and desperate attempts to figure out how I would get it all done and still feel OK about my role as Mom... that is what success means to me right now.

This Week in Macaroni

Is it THURSDAY already?!?! If yes, this means several things to me. One, that the system has failed me (only slightly - who could have foreseen this many forces coming together at once to sabatoge my otherwise perfect time-management strategy). Two, that Lost is on tonight. Sweet... And three, that it is now May, and I did not manage to wrap up several outstanding April things over here in the weblog. I had hoped to reach 50 total sales in April, and as of this writing, I'm at 65. Woohoo! But with several of those sales custom orders and two custom wedding invitations in the works, I've been spending MUCH more time in my designing headspace than in my blogging headspace. Alrighty then, no worries. We can take care of that right here, right now, huh? First let's take a look at what's going on this week in the land of Macaroni.

The fun stuff first. I'M HAVING A HUMONGOUS SALE! Ok, not humongous, but still significant (as in, you should head over and save right now). As part of EtsyGreetings Gradation Promo, in the month of May, I'm offering a "Buy 3, Get 1" special on everything in the store. So grab the cards that you need for the special grads in your life and stock up while you're there for holidays and birthdays to come. Not a bad deal, right? And it includes notecard sets, so order your fave four and get one of them for nada.



Next, this week the EtsyGreetings Wedding Challenge entries are in and voting is underway. This cross-team challenge involved designing a (paper) piece for a particular couple planning to get married next year. The wedding theme is "Japanese meets retro" and the colors are Tiffany blue, red and black. Since the couple has already ordered wedding invitations, I designed a simple but fun invitation for either an engagement party or couples shower. Here 'tis:

You can vote for your favorite entry at http://etsyfast.com/blog through May 6th. The winning entries from the paper, fiber and jewelry categories will be featured on Wedding Bee.

Possibly my most egregious error this week was not completing my piece on EtsyBloggers' Featured Blogger for April, StormyDesigns. I won't pretend like I had a big long wonderful feature all keyed up and ready to go, 'cause I didn't. As I said before, the blog is definitely the first thing to go when the orders come rolling in. But I do want to give Stormy a big shout-out and to say that I am completely in awe of what this woman can do with polymer clay. Her "creatures" are amazing too, but I'm particularly fond of her simpler pieces, like this vase:

Fellow EtsyBloggers, please accept my apologies. I promise to feature our May blogger in MAY. And I'm doing my best to participate in this week's blog carnival, but I'm not making any promises...

A couple of cool things on the horizon to tell you about. My beloved EtsyFAME, a collective of talented moms from the FAM (Fabulous Artistic Moms) street team has launched its first major off-Etsy advertising campaign this week. Through the power of cooperative marketing, we'll be reaching literally thousands of brand new web-surfing women and (hopefully!) bringing them into our shops. I can't wait to report back on what impact it has on our traffic and sales. Many thanks to Annie of Annie Howes Keepsakes for her amazing work designing the site and pulling this whole thing together.

Also, please head back over in the next couple of days to check out my interview with Hilary Hitchcock of Hilary Hitchcock Photography, a fellow Midwesterner with an eye for nostalgia. Til then...

Between the Bull Rushes - Love at First Sight

As we've discussed, I try not to spend too much time under the "Buy" tab on Etsy - too dangerous. But, on occasion, I do venture out into the Etsy-verse to check out illustrations. We all know I'm a sucker for images of little girls ("Oh, REALLY?" you're thinking, "I totally didn't notice that EVERY SINGLE ONE of your features includes a photo or illustration of a small female child." I know, I know - I should branch out.), but Primped Paperie's imagery gave me that special warm feeling inside that only comes along when I find something truly special (see also my Audrey post).

I love the colors in "Between the Bull Rushes." Isn't she fabulous? From Primped Paperie's bio: "I find inspiration in so many things, If my work makes you giggle, cry, or hug your post man for no apparent reason, then my job is complete!"

You know, I do feel like hugging someone! The mail doesn't come til later - do you thing the trash collector would be open to getting cozy?

Perhaps we are kindred spirits because we both had Holly Hobbie lunchboxes as kids, but Primped Paperie's shop is filled with imagery that gets me right in the gut. "A Chance Encounter" is another of my faves. She's just beautiful. See lots more at Primped Paperie's shop and blog.