Quinny's Crochet, Shop of the Week No. 3

Every Saturday a new shop of the week is chosen by the previous shop of the week from the number of treasuries made for them. This week that honour belongs to Carol of Quinny’s Crochet. This is the winning Treasury.

Carol lives in Illinois and very much enjoys her garden, and making jams and pickles, but she loves nothing more than raiding her yarn stash and crocheting something new for a baby, or a friend, or a custom order.

On browsing through Carol’s shop on Etsy, I get a feeling of warmth and softness, with vibrant colours and I am transported to warm log fires, flickering flames and all the comforts of long evenings at home.  Let’s hear a little more about Carol.

Tell us a little about yourself and your work

    Handmade Baby Girl Christening Gown, Bonnet and Booties 

I have been crocheting since I was a young girl, it is what I love to do. I always gave my crocheted items as gifts and everyone was always so delighted with them. I love the look on people’s faces when they are given a handmade gift, I think it’s so special and means so much more. I really enjoy making baby clothes, they are so cute, and hopefully one day can become family heirlooms. I also sell scarves and headbands in my shop. I love picking out the yard and colour and deciding what stitch to use for a specific item. That is part of the fun of creating something.

When people started asking me to make things for them to purchase I decided to open my shop on Etsy. I am really enjoying the experience. It is so great to be able to sell what I make so that I can keep making more. I love when I get asked for a customer order, it is awesome to work with a customer and be able to make something just for them and know they are getting exactly what they wanted.

            Baby boy camouflage vest and hat 

What are your favourite colours

I love all colours and it is difficult to pick a

favourite but I really love all shades of green.

What is your favourite medium/material?

I like to work with acrylic yarn it works up well and is easy to take care of and comes in a wonderful array of colours.

What is your favourite holiday destination?

I don’t get to go on holiday much but anywhere with a beach works for me.

          Baby Girl Jacket Hat and Booties

What other artists work to you admire and aspire to?

I really admire all of the wonderful talented artists of handmade items. It is wonderful to own something that someone has created with their two hands.

What are you most proud of?

I love the responses I get from my customers; it makes me so proud of my work, when they tell me how much they love the item or how well made it is.  I pride myself on producing well-made practical items that will last.

  

Thank you Carol for your input into this blog.

So if you would like to browse through Carol’s wonderful shop, click here. You will not be disappointed. The quality speaks for itself.  

PS. You'll notice I've missed shop of the week no.2. I will catch up with that one at some point, but the shop owner is so busy with orders we'll have to make up for it later. 

Introducing Shop of the Week!

Since I joined Etsy’s All Handmade by Me Team, things have been moving at a much faster pace than any of us ever imagined. I run the treasury threads, and among them I run a Shop of the Week Treasury, in which every treasury will feature the chosen shop of the week. I chose the first ever one, and after all the work she did to set up the team, who better to be our very first shop of the week but SMARTdesignsbyStacey.

So as well as my occasional random ramblings, I will be featuring the shop of the week each week. There will be a few to catch up on right now, but in time it will come back down to a weekly feature. 

Stacey Sobelman was born and raised in St Louis, Missouri, and was always known as ‘the creative one’ in the family, and has been writing and illustrating her own books since she was six years old.  Stacey was first introduced to graphic design at High School, and was on her school newspaper staff for four years.

Early this year, Stacey was asked by a friend to produce some fliers. Once they were done, her friend wanted to have her facebook page address to thank her publicly for such a great job. Of course Stacey didn’t have a facebook page then, in fact she had never even considered a career in graphic design; she just loved doing it. So SMART designs was born.

In August this year, SMARTdesignsbyStacey was opened on Etsy, just as new guidelines came into the spotlight. Stacey read the forums, understood the need for a voice for handmade artists around the world, and set up the team All Handmade by Me Team.  The rest is history.

So let’s hear a little about the dynamic and energetic Stacey Sobelman.

Tell us a little about yourself and your work.

Snowy Winter Tree 4x6 Blank "Season's Greetings!" Note Cards (Digital Print)

As a graphic artist, I design and create digital artwork. My favourite subject to work with is nature, specifically trees. I create a lot of holiday artwork including cards and invitations. I also do a lot of custom work with other artists where I creative logos and banners for their businesses.  I really love these custom jobs because they give me a real sense of accomplishment. Seeing my artwork being used to help someone’s business is really rewarding.

What inspires your work?

I’m not entirely sure where my inspiration comes from to be honest. I try not to draw too much from other artists because I work on a subconscious level and always worry that someone else’s artwork will appear in my own. Most of my ideas just seem to come to me, as weird as that sounds.

What are your favourite colours?

My absolute favourite colour is purple and I work with it a lot. I would say though that the colour that

                               Sunset Digital Print 10x15

appears most in my artwork is actually black. I really love the stark contrast I can achieve by using black with any other colour. Almost all of my pieces employ black for this effect.

What is your favourite medium/material?

I am a graphic artist which means that I use a computer as the medium through which I creat my handmade artwork. Graphic design is a relatively new artistic medium, so there isn’t a lot known about how it works. There is a lot of speculation about whether or not graphic art is truly handmade. I assure you that it is. I mix my colours from scratch by using bits of blue and red and yellow much like a painter. I draw my art with my fingers on a trackpad, much like finger painting. It’s just not as messy.

     BOOM! Comic Book Wall Art 12x12 Digital Print

What is your favourite holiday destination?

I spent a month studying abroad on an island in Greece and I just loved it! I am dying to go back to the Mediterranean as soon as I can afford it.

What other artists work do you admire and aspire to?

I’m probably weird in the fact that I don’t really aspire to be anyone other than myself. I don’t mean that to sound self-centred, but I really believe that my artistic style is my own and I don’t’ really want it to mirror anyone else’s.

What are you most proud of?

All Handmade By Me Team Banner Assistance

The All Handmade by Me team. Hands down. This team is truly my biggest accomplishment and it is really only just beginning! I have never been listened to before, so the fact that there are over 1,300 people who believe in my mission to keep handmade alive is just remarkable to me. I am so humbled by everything that has happened! I keep expecting to wake up and realise that these past months have been a wonderful dream, but every morning I wake up and it’s real. People message me all the time to thank me for everything I have done and I am shocked every single time. I always respond with ‘’no… thank YOU!’’ I just cannot believe that I have created something that has become so important to myself and to so many other people. It’s incredibly rewarding.

Stacey also offers a service to place her own designed team logo on your banner as a team member, or to make specially designed logos that match your branding in your shop.  Thank you Stacey.

                Four Seasons Art Work, Digital Print, 4 Panel, Modern Art

If you would like to join Stacey's team, click here to apply. All we ask is that you are all handmade in your shop,

Teams, Treasuries and Time

Well what a busy time we’ve had here. Lots of orders are coming in for Christmas, and I’ve been so busy with them there has been little time for anything new, apart from these pretty beaded coral earrings, which sold quickly, and a necklace I’m trying to work on too. This range will be expanded in time.

Besides that, Etsy have caused a bit of a storm by allowing crafters to outsource their production nowadays, which many of us believe strongly that this will open the floodgates for mass produced items and resellers, which are already a big problem within the site. A team was formed after the announcements, which strongly speaks up for real handmade, according to the definition of the majority of Etsy sellers, and according to the original Etsy ideology. I joined the team and was asked to be a leader, taking responsibility for treasuries, and helping out where needed with general administration in the team. It’s been a lot of work as the team grew much faster than the Captain, Stacey, ever envisaged, which is great, but also a lot of work to keep up with things.

If you want to take a look at the ‘All Handmade by Me’ team, just click on the name. It’s a very busy and active team and still developing ideas to promote real craft and handmade work. Unfortunately because of the team mission, we can’t allow vintage and supplies in, and are very wary of copyright issues so if you’re using well known names and images, do make sure you have proper permissions and licenses to use them and can show you have. Otherwise, all handmade artisans and craftspeople are welcome to join us.

I’ve also had to have a scan for suspected gallstones. Happy to say there are none, and no lumps or bumps that shouldn’t be there (the radiologists words), so it looks like the problem might be a duodenal ulcer…more tests and the dreaded camera I suspect. Waiting to hear from my GP.

So, here are the earrings, and the work in progress on the necklace. Hopefully when I have completed the orders I will be able to get back to making more new things and writing some more tutorials.

Whose Design is it Anyway?

No, the isn't a ranty post. Nobody has stolen any of my designs, or used them without my permission as far as I know, and I like to think the best of people, and believe in the integrity of the majority while being careful that my own isn't compromised in any way.

However, I have been lurking in the Etsy forums, and reading a lot of blogs etc. recently, all talking about the power of copyright and intellectual property. You can read up on any of these just by searching on Google, so I won't go into the legal jargon here.

Interestingly, it's not the legal side I am concerned about, it is the integrity of people. An awful lot of people know nothing at all about copyright law, or the wishes of designers. A few will blatantly copy a design and sell it as their own, either as a re-written pattern, or the finished pieces, and do not credit the original designer who has probably put in an awful lot of hours into that pattern, not to mention sleepless nights while a design idea keeps them awake, the monetary investment into that design, buying the beads, making the piece in different colours and the man-hours involved in that.

I came across this blog today, which is highlighting a movement that is quickly going global, just asking simply for more integrity when dealing with other people's designs. It's in German, but scroll down, the lady has translated in English too, so you get the idea. Sabine also has a Facebook Page, where you can pick up the logos to use on your page.

Here are examples of the English Version. Sabine has also made them in a variety of languages, the movement really is worldwide, and rightly so.

One of my favourite beaders, GoodQuillHunting, and a person from whom I take a lot of inspiration, especially on how to manage the tutorials side of my business, has also written about it on her own blog. I cannot disagree with any of it. Read it here:

I still like to think that morally, and ethically, shop owners, makers and designers all stand together to keep this fascinating and wonderful industry relatively problem free. There are always one or two that lack this, especially mass-producers from the far east who currently sell on AliBaba using designs, artwork and even the photos blatantly stolen from designers, and this is a problem that will have to be dealt with sooner or later, but as individuals, we can all display one of these logos to display and inform people of our own honesty.

It takes a minute to get permission from the author of the design to use it to teach, sell the goods etc. and most will give a positive reply, so if you do want to use any of my patterns, just ask. I am honoured that anyone buys my designs, let alone wants to use them to teach, but I just like to know about it, and be there to offer support if needed too.

So, if you are a designer, (not just jewellery, I'm talking about knitting, sewing, in fact any craft which you design yourself,), add one of these logos to your blog/website/facebook cover photo. If you are a supply shop, adding the third one will be great too. Let's show the world we are honest, moral and ethical businesses and we won't tolerate plagiarism of designer's work in any form.

Fruit Cake, Files and Firsts.

Let's just imagine that I could be totally self-employed by this time next year (though not a Del-boy millionaire). It's taking a lot of hard work, long days, longer hours, but I'm beginning to see the possibilities. Something I just couldn't imagine while I was just selling jewellery to an already saturated market.

Someone once told me, and I read it somewhere else, you're unlikely to make a living making and selling jewellery, and to be honest they are right. It's taken me nearly three years just to break even. I tried diversifying, using polymer clay as well as beads, which was moderately successful, and making other items like candle holders, compact mirrors and crochet hooks. Only the crochet hooks have been really successful and I really must get some more made and listed when the weather cools down a little.

Then I viewed the whole market from a different angle. Jewellery making is a very popular hobby, so popular there are TV stations dedicated to it. No wonder sales are few and far between with so many people making their own. Hmmmm....making their own....well why don't I share some of my designs in tutorial form? I wrote a couple of tutorials, and guess what, they sold like hotcakes, over and over again. I wrote more, more sold, a couple more, and they sold. Now they threatened to take over my jewellery shop on Etsy completely. So I opened a new shop just for the tutorials in the middle of July, and have been steadily doing well ever since.

Someone said to me I should sell my doodles as well. Now this one I seriously baulked at, as I didn't believe I was good enough. I showed someone else, they said the same. Then I noticed several sellers selling colouring sheets for download and I thought...hmmmm. So I dragged out my big pile of doodles, scanned them all in, coloured them and listed them in yet another new shop...Artzentric...

I've had a lot of fun with these...first the drawing of them, which is incredibly relaxing and helps to get a busy brain to calm down, secondly colouring them in on the PC, which also helped me learn about various facilities in my programs, and thirdly enhancing them. Take this one for instance. The first is the original, then the coloured-in version, then an enhanced version.

I may get these printed up at a later date and see how they go as prints. Currently I am only listing the uncoloured version.

So, that deserves cake. My partner is diabetic, but he can eat this cake without any spikes in his levels, (except that he loves it and tends to cut himself a huge slice, so I have to watch). This is not to say I recommend it for diabetics, quite the opposite, but a treat for himself now and then when things are stable is ok for him. It's one my grandmother used to make all the time and every time I taste it, it reminds me of many happy teatimes around her table. I reduced the sugar by half, as the fruit makes it sweet enough anyway, and it works a treat. Here's the recipe. 

8oz Self Raising Flour

8oz mixed dried fruit

8oz butter or margarine (I use Vitalite as he's dairy intolerant)

1 tsp mixed spice

4 oz sugar

3 large eggs.

My method. Whack everything except the fruit and one tbsp of the flour into a mixing bowl, and mix thoroughly. Coat the fruit in the remaining flour and tip into the mixture. Stir until evenly distributed. The mixture should slowly drop off the spoon, if it's too stiff, add another egg bit by bit until it's the right consistency. Put it all into a greased and floured 8 inch deep cake tin (line it with greased greaseproof paper if you want), and bake at 180*c for 1-1 1/4 hours until a skewer or knife comes out clean.  Leave to cool and resist eating it until at least the kettle has boiled. :)

Oh and theres a new tutorial up, for my bracelet. 

Find it here

So what was the first? I have my first beading class coming up in September, as a guest designer at the Elephant and Dragonfly Studio in Canvey Island, Essex. Really looking forward to that. There is still room for more, so join the page and ask about it. 

Busy Times!

What busy times ahead. This little cottage industry growing and coming on in leaps and bounds. I've so much to tell you about what has been happening in the last couple of weeks since my last post.

First I have extended my Willow collection to include a wedding collection, which I am really pleased with. It took a while to do, but it was really worth the effort. Made with white super duo beads, silver metallic seed beads, and clear ab crystal beads, I really do think this makes a stunning bridal ensemble.

I also have a chance to do a class, teaching this particular style, which I'm still trying to arrange.

A few days ago, I got a beep on my phone telling me that I had an email. On checking a good friend of mine had mentioned me in a tweet. I had to look to see what she was up to, as it was pretty randon being a Wednesday evening.

Well it turned out that a local hairdresser was looking for a local jewellery maker to supply her shop! Now I couldn't turn that down could I? I contacted her, we eventually spoke on the phone and agreed terms. It turns out the hairdresser has a huge front window she wants to fill with more than just hair product, and give customers a 'little bit of Norfolk' to take with them. So if anyone wants to see my jewellery 'in the flesh' you can go to Hairtech, Church Road, Hovent, Wroxham, Nofolk.

So I have spent the last few days sorting through stock, making a spreadsheet, packing and labelling. There hasn't been much time for making things. I've also had to remove a fair bit of stock from my Etsy shop too, but there is plenty left to see.

However, I have managed to make a few bits and pieces, with a new bracelet design, for which I'm writing a tutorial, and some earrings, which have actually been packed off to the hairdressers, but can be made to order. These had a great reaction on Facebook, so I'm showing them here too.

One last note, is that I have decided to close my Folksy shop down when listings run out in November. I don't want to spend ages spelling out everything reason I am doing this, and believe me there are many. Suffice to say, there are many ongoing problems on the site that are not being resolved, after two years of sellers including myself, complaining about them. It's sad in a way, as I have made friends with many crafters from there, but the good news is, they are all on Etsy!

Anyway, here are a few pics of my latest makes...

     

 

 

 

Twins, Tutorials and Teacups

Well, here we are at the beginning of August, and I haven't updated my blog since May. Very remiss of me and I apologise to my reader.

Why? Where have you been? What have you been up to? comes the chorus of questions..or not.

I've been knee deep in beads. I've stopped working with my polymer clay for a while and gone back to my first love, my little seedies. Not with the bead embroidery yet, but I did discover those fantastic little fellows called Super Duo beads.

 

These are such brilliant little beads, lending themselves to new shapes and textures, and it wasn't long before I'd adjusted too working with them and immediately began designing a couple of pendants. Then I thought 'why not try writing a tutorial for them?'.

So I had to set about finding a program that was either free or inexpensive to make the diagrams. That wasn't hard, I just went on a beading forum and followed up a couple of recommendations for Inkscape. Totally free, easy to use, and voila! The diagrams were sorted.

The first tutorial went up for the Star Flower Pendant on Etsy, and sold..and sold again..and just as I did all that...Etsy only went and made it easy for everyone by providing the ability to upload the file to the site, and for the buyer to then instantly download it from their purchases page after payment. Nothing else to do. No sending out by email any more.

 

Encouraged by that and a commission I had had for a pair of earrings in the same design as the pendant, I made another one, and another for little leaf earrings.

 

 


Now, the leaves have grown into my willow range, with the basic leaf design incorporated into earrings, necklace and bracelet, and these make my latest tutorials. The jewellery itself is popular too, and I'm currently working on a wedding set in white and silver with clear AB crystal beads, and so far it is stunning. These will be on show once I've got more white Super Duos to make the bracelet.

 

So, amid writing the tutorials, I began to notice that they were taking over the front page of my Etsy Shop, so I've opened a second shop just for the tutorials, right here.

I have to say I'm loving all aspects of making the tutorials, from the initial design, scribbled in pencil in a notebook, to researching that nobody has already done it (it happened with some earrings I had, the design was so similar to mine that I would have been accused of plagiarism. It was purely accidental but I stopped working on them right away and threw away the paper design and gave the earrings away.), to making the diagrams, beading the samples, writing the whole tutorial and selling them to people who want to make MY things.

Meanwhile, my partner's Amputee Support Group, WalkOn Crafters, has received a start-up grant, so everything there is go go go! We have our first meeting this week, and now the nerves are setting in and we are beginning to think it'll just be me and him looking at each other across a table in the middle of a hall. Maybe we'll be surprised. I hope so.