Featured Shop: Purely Gorgeous

Shop Name:  Purely Gorgeous

Shop Description:  Welcome to Purely Gorgeous, a shop for all-natural bath & body products made in the Napa Valley. Rejuvenate your skin with our chemical-free body scrubs, foot scrubs, lip scrubs, lip balms, and facial cleansing oils.

Featured Items:

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub - Made in Napa Valley

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub made in the Napa Valley.

This all-natural, exfoliating body scrub will remind you of a savory slice of pumpkin pie. Made with brown sugar, all-natural spices and herbs, and oils, your skin will be left smooth and moisturized. Infused with coconut oil, which acts as an effective moisturizer. It especially works great on dry skin by preventing dryness and flaking.

Ingredients: organic brown sugar, essential oil blend, organic sunflower oil, organic coconut oil, organic sweet almond oil, natural spice blend.

100% Vegan

This product is free of:
Parabens
Phthalates
Sulfates

Directions:
Generously apply to skin in circular motion. Rinse off thoroughly.

Caution: 
Avoid contact with eyes. May cause shower to become slippery. Keep out of reach of children.

Peppermint Body Sugar Scrub - Made in Napa Valley

Peppermint Body Sugar Scrub made in the Napa Valley.

This sugar scrub will smooth and soften dry, cracked skin. Infused with peppermint oil, this slightly spicy and cool scent has a refreshing effect on the mind and will leave your skin radiant. The infusion of coconut oil as well will benefit your skin by healing and repairing. 

100% Vegan

This product is free of:
Parabens
Phthalates
Sulfates

Directions:
Generously apply to skin in circular motion. Rinse off thoroughly.

Ingredients: organic sugar, essential oil blend, grapeseed oil, organic sunflower oil, organic sweet almond oil.

Caution: 
Avoid contact with eyes. May cause shower to become slippery. Keep out of reach of children.

Pink Grapefruit Lip Sugar Scrub - Made in Napa Valley

Pink Grapefruit Lip Sugar Scrub made in the Napa Valley.

Your lips will never be the same. The essence of grapefruit will invigorate your lips while the vitamin E oil will leave your lips incredibly soft and supple. 

Directions: Use a small amount of this heavenly-smelling sugar scrub on your lips and rinse off. 

Pair with a Purely Gorgeous lip balm after for soft, kissable lips. 

Ingredients: organic sugar, essential oil blend, grapeseed oil, organic sunflower oil, vitamin E oil.

This product is 100% vegan and chemical-free.

Where to Find Purely Gorgeous:

Purely Gorgeous Etsy Shop

Purely Gorgeous on Facebook

Purely Gorgeous on Twitter

Purely Gorgeous on Pinterest

Featured Shop: The Quilled Rainbow

Shop Name: The Quilled Rainbow 

Shop Description: Welcome to “The Quilled Rainbow”, your one stop destination for quilled creations, handmade with love. I sell paper quilled greeting cards, place cards, photo frames, keepsake boxes, bookmarks, scrapbook embellishments and ornaments. I take custom orders as well to suit your requirements. Please specify your requirement details in the notes as you checkout, or send me a convo. I'd be delighted to help you get a perfect card personalized to your wish.


Featured Items:

Christmas Ornament - Quilled Poinsettia Flower

Make someone's Christmas special with this beautiful handmade Poinsettia ornament.

This listing is for a quilled Poinsettia Christmas ornament that would be a beautiful addition to your Christmas tree. It would also make a lovely holiday gift and can even be added to your Christmas memory book, scrapbook or greeting card as a unique embellishment. 

The poinsettia flower is approximately 3.25 inches large and has been created using thin strips of paper. Just imagine how beautiful this quilled delight would look on your Christmas tree!

You can place order for multiple ornaments too. Please convo me for an estimate. 

This ornament will be shipped in a sturdy packaging box via USPS First Class mail which does not include insurance or a tracking number. Looking forward to your order!

Quilled Wreath - Christmas Ornament

Make someone's Christmas special with this pretty handmade wreath ornament.

This listing is for a quilled wreath ornament that would be a beautiful addition to your Christmas tree. It would also make a lovely holiday gift and can even be added to your Christmas memory book, scrapbook or greeting card as a unique embellishment. 

The wreath is approximately 3 inches in diameter. The leaves, bells and holly berries have been quilled using thin strips of paper. Just imagine how beautiful this quilled delight would look on your Christmas tree!

You can place order for multiple ornaments too. Please convo me for an estimate. 

This ornament will be shipped in a sturdy packaging box via USPS First Class mail which does not include insurance or a tracking number. Looking forward to your order!

Quilled Snowflake - Christmas Ornament in White

Make someone's Christmas special with this beautiful handmade snowflake ornament.

This listing is for a quilled white snowflake ornament that would be a beautiful addition to your Christmas tree. It would also make a lovely holiday gift and can even be added to your Christmas memory book, scrapbook or greeting card as a unique embellishment. 

The snowflake is approximately 3 inches in diameter and has been created using thin strips of paper. Just imagine how beautiful this quilled delight would look on your Christmas tree!

You can place order for multiple ornaments too. Please convo me for an estimate. 

This ornament will be shipped in a sturdy packaging box via USPS First Class mail which does not include insurance or a tracking number. Looking forward to your order!


Where to Find The Quilled Rainbow:

The Quilled Rainbow Etsy Shop

The Quilled Rainbow Blog

The Quilled Rainbow Facebook

The Quilled Rainbow on Pinterest

Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday

You may know that today is Small Business Saturday which was created to help support small businesses by encouraging people to shop local.  In the spirit of small business Saturday, below you will find a selection of items from various Etsy shops randomly selected from the Top Shops of Etsy directory.  Since I am sure many of you are out getting some holiday shopping done this weekend, I selected holiday themed items to promote.

Feel free to add any holiday themed items from your Etsy shops to the list.  Try to visit a few of the Etsy listings above you to help spread the love.

Featured Shop: UDazzle

Featured Shop:  UDazzle

Shop Name:  UDazzle

Description:  A jewelry and handbags store, which offers you exquisite and unique handmade, beaded fashion jewelry and bags in various shapes and sizes. Be sure to experience a riot of colors.

Creation of artifacts is my hobby and passion - I am putting up a few of my unique creations of necklaces, crochet handbags and bracelets. Keep coming back for more ...

Am sure that these creations will dazzle you and you will patronize my store. I assure you that i will strive to delight you.

Featured Items:

 Floral Hex Crochet Handbag - Ivory Base & Multicolor Flora

Kutch Styled Ethnic Tote Bag - Lace, Mirror, Hand Embroidery and Patch Work

Clutch Bag:  Orange Dolly and Crochet Flowers

Where to find UDazzle:

UDazzle Etsy Shop

Top Shops of Etsy Treasury Challenge #5 is OPEN!

Top Shops of Etsy Treasury Challenge #5

Last week's treasury challenge winner was:  Mindful Presents.  This week, they will be our featured shop!  The fifth treasury challenge is now officially open.

The Rules:
- You must include one item from our featured shop in your treasury
- Tag your treasury with "TopShopsChallenge 5"
- Share your treasury!

Some Treasury Tips:

- Add a variety of items to your treasury and don't forget to include vintage items and supplies.

- The first six items are very important in terms of having your treasury selected to appear on the front page.  Make sure you choose high resolution images.  Also, include images that are shot from different angles (close up, far away, tilted).  It makes your treasury visually interesting.

- Hundreds of treasuries are created each day, try to share your treasury in all of your teams and social media sites to gain exposure.

Good luck to everyone!  You have until Monday morning to create your beautiful treasuries.

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #4 Winner

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #4 Winner

The winner of the past week's Top Shops of Etsy treasury challenge just happens to be the shop that was featured on our blog yesterday, Mindful Presents.

Traveling Tales:

Mindful Presents will be the featured shop for Treasury Challenge #5.  Look for my post Friday morning officially opening our next challenge.  I will also be including some new tips on creating a front page treasury.

Featured Shop: Mindful Presents ~ Creations by Charlene

Shop Name:   Mindful Presents

Description: 

Basically I have had an incredibly eclectic life, I was Born and spent my early years in South Africa.  I lived in Belgium, Berlin, London and the USA. In my 20’s I studied costume design, and lived as an au pair in Berlin with a lovely lady who designed costumes for the Burg Theatre in Vienna.  She was the first person who sent me to art school, where I studied portraiture. I then came to the USA studied theatre costume design, did a few shows on our beautiful Mount Tamalapais  (The Mountain Play: Annie get Your Gun and Henry V) then I moved  back to Europe, designed a few shows for small theaters in London before taking off and working with the Club med for 6 months.  When I returned to the USA, I continued to design clothes.  However I was really interested in making a difference in the world,  so I started my prerequisites for Nursing, and in 1988, I married my husband Alan who is my rock. We had two children, I went to school, and worked, and graduated with my nursing degree in 1996.  I continued to try and create things, I made clothes and halloween,costumes for the children, and sewed, and took up silk painting. I worked on a lot of school art projects, and helped with school plays. I made many blankets, prayer shawls,  and scarves.

I  also made teddy bears, and crocheted.  However I had so little time, working as an RN in a very busy cardiac stroke unit, and taking care of my children husband and 2 beautiful border collies.  My children are now 21 and 23, and I am very proud of them, but I now have an empty nest.  I was feeling a little sad, since they left home. One day,about three months ago, while out running on our beautiful mountain with my border collies, I fell, and  ended up with a broken ankle.  This was a blessing in disguise.

 

I thought, since I now had the time off work, I needed to get my creative juices flowing, and to boost my morale, I decided to create ‘one beautiful thing’ every day.  So I started making crowns, all kinds, big ones, small ones, brightly colored ones, ones with seashells and feathers and flowers and glitter.  Every day my husband came home and found me cooking dinner with a new crown on my head.  It was so much fun, and my creative juices were bubbling over, so much so that I was able to delve head first back into my silk painting.

 

I created a number of scarves, and sold a few to people at work, then I created the mermaid quilt, which made my heart sing.  I pulled out some old pieces I had stopped working on a while ago, because I didn’t have time to finish them.( I was so busy,  as I had gone back to school to further my nursing education at the ripe old age of 51 and got my Bachelors of Science in Nursing.) I found that I looked at these pieces with new eyes, and started working on them with renewed passion. While at work, one day a lovely patient of mine asked to see my work, and I gave her a crown before she went to surgery  She wore it during her hospital stay and everyone commented on how radiant she looked.  She suggested I open an ETSY store.  So I opened Mindful Presents at the end of July, and have been so happy to be part of something creative. I am blown away by all the gorgeous, stunning artwork, clothes, and designs, even the food creations I have seen on ETSY, there is so much talent.  Prior to ETSY, I never sold anything - I just gave everything away.  I was amazed when people actually commented on my work, and ‘liked’ my store. This is all very new to me, but I feel like I have my mojo, I am meeting so many people, and have made new friends with local people who are on ETSY. I love it when the people who buy my wares write back to me, and include me in the pleasure they experience while wearing one of my creations.  I called them Crowning Glories, in the hope that whoever wears them will feel beautiful from inside out.

 

 Not only am I expressing myself creatively, but I am feeding my soul, especially when I paint on silk, because  the ebb and flow of the silk as it disperses  and bleeds into the pristine white background is meditative and soothing. This is why the reason I call my silk creations, ’Silk Dreams’

My goals are to build up my silk painting inventory, continue with creating the Teddy  Bears I call Bear Souls, because there is nothing like a teddy bear to bare your soul to when sad.  I will also continue to crochet - a lovely pastime taught to me by my grandmother.  I have a new project I would like to get started, which is creating dolls from recycled materials.  I make dolls out of old glass or plastic bottles, and all the old socks whose mates have moved on to sock heaven.  I call these Bottled Souls… They are fun and whimsical.  I would also very much like to get back into making costumes.  So as you can see I have many irons in the fire. I am so happy to be on ETSY, it has opened up so many exciting avenues for me.

Featured Items:

Hand made Embroidered SILK QUILT/ Wall Hanging. OOAK Kiss of the Dolphin.

 

 

 

Hand made Halloween, Queen of the Sea Starfish Crown

 

 

 

 

Exotic Halloween Head Piece with Peacock feathers, Oyster shells, and Sea Plants

Where to find Mindful Presents:

Mindful Presents Etsy Shop

Mindful Presents on Facebook

Featured Shop: Whimsicalfolk

Featured Shop: Whimsicalfolk

  

Shop Name:  Whimsicalfolk

Description:  I make one of a kind hand-painted art pillows, decorations and ornaments. Specializing in Halloween.

*Look for one of WhimsicalFolk's witch pillows in the upcoming issue of Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts.

 Featured Items:

 

 

Halloween Primitive Witch Pillow Decoration Handpainted 15 x 12 Stuffed MTO

 

 

 Primitive Snowman Ornament Handsewn Handpainted Set of 3

 

 

Halloween Primitive Witch Pillow Decoration Handpainted 15 x 12 Stuffed Ready to Go

 

Where to Find WhimsicalFolk:

 WhimsicalFolk Etsy Shop

WhimsicalFolk on Facebook 

 

 

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #4 is OPEN

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #4 is officially open. 

This week's featured shop is:

 NeatoKeen.  

NeatoKeen offers a variety of vintage items.  

The Guidelines:

- You must select one item from the featured shop of the week to include in your treasury.

- Treasuries must be tagged with "TopShopsChallenge 4"

- Try to share your treasury and promote our challenge.

Featured Shops

Featured Shops

Thank you to everyone for your continued support of Top Shops of Etsy.  I have had some technical difficulty this past week and was unable to feature any shops.  Luckily, the issues have been resolved and there will be several follow-up feature e-mails going out this afternoon.  I will be resuming shop features tomorrow morning :)

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #3 Winner

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #3 Winner

I apologize for the delay of this post.  I have been having computer trouble this week but I am back up and running.  There were some beautiful treasuries created during last week challenge.  The treasury with the most hearts was Winter's Bone by NeatoKeen.

Winter's Bone

 

NeatoKeen will be our featured shop for this week's treasury challenge.  The next challenge will open Friday morning.  Thank you to everyone who continues to participate in our challenge!

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #3

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #3

Welcome to the Top Shops of Etsy treasury challenge.  This weeks featured shop is:  Mission Jewels.  Mission jewels has a wide variety of great items to choose from and I can't wait to see the treasuries everyone creates.  As always, the winner of this week's challenge will be selected on Monday and their Etsy shop will become the featured shop for next week's treasury challenge.

Mission Jewels Etsy Shop

The Guidelines:

- You must select one item from the featured shop of the week to include in your treasury.

- Treasuries must be tagged with "TopShopsChallenge 3"

- Try to share your treasury and promote our challenge.

Featured Shop: WierClock

Featured Shop: WeirClock

  

Shop Name:  WeirClock

Description: 

What I do is find vintage/antique timepieces and restore the delicate clockwork mechanism's inside, along with a light restoration to the cases they are in.  Except for a particular vintage watch here and there, every piece here is mechanical and spring driven.

Each piece is disassembled, cleaned, repairs made where needed, reassembled and lubricated using the finest horological products available.  When a piece is purchased, it is inspected and tested yet again before shipping to insure the customer receives a correct vintage/antique timepiece.  

*I also have a listing titled "What I do at WierClock".  I posted this to help inform the consumer, and it is right there at the beginning of the watch listings.

 Featured Items:

 Helbros Swiss Watch - 1960's

Cuckoo Clock 4

Zaandam Clock - Very Ornate

Where to find WierClock:

WierClock Etsy Shop

WierClock on Twitter

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #2 Winner

Top Shops Treasury Challenge #2 Winner

Thank you to everyone who participated in week #2 of Top Shops of Etsy treasury challenge!  The winning treasury this week was created by Tina Knepper of Mission Jewels.

Congratulations Tina!  Mission Jewels will be our next featured shop.  The next challenge will open Friday morning.  I look forward to seeing all of your beautiful treasuries!

Featured Shop: Shawl Pin Heaven

Featured Shop: Shawl Pin Heaven

Shop Name:  Shawl Pin Heaven

Description: 

I first opened my Etsy shop in March 2009 and featured handmade jewelry.  I have a variety of styles that I like to wear and make so my shop had an eclectic mix of items.  That year for Christmas I purchased neck warmers for my step daughters and when they arrived they were strips of crochet without a means to secure the ends together.  At first I was going to purchase pins, but then decided it would be more fun to make them each one.  This is how Shawl Pin Heaven began.  After several months of watching the jewelry sales decline and the shawl pin sales increase I decided to offer only the pins.  Since then sales have continued to grow.  The lesson here is, stick with one thing, do it well, and success will follow.

I hand make all the items in my shop and use a variety of materials.  I love using semi precious gemstones, but also offer pins made with carved bone, wood beads, buttons, metal beads and plastic.  I use non tarnish craft wire in different gauges depending on the hole size in the bead I'm using.  I hammer the coil at the end of all the pins which adds more strength and style.  I file the end smooth, but not to a point.  The main reason I don't file the end to a point is the gauge of the wire.  16 or even 18 gauge wire is thick enough that even if the end is filed to a point it will leave a sizable hole in cotton or silk.  My pins work best with knitted, crocheted and woven items with a somewhat looser weave.  They can be used with shawls, scarves, ponchos, capelets, neckwarmers, purses and hats.  I also make scarf slides for customers who wear cotton or silk scarves and are looking for a way to keep them secure around their neck.

Specials:  For the month of October, receive 15% off your purchase with the coupon code:  OCTOBER15

Featured Items:

Shawl Pin or Scarf Pin - Hand Painted Czech Glass Button

 

 

 

 

Scarf Slide or Napkin Ring - Aluminum Wire

 

 

 

 

Shawl Pin or Scarf Pin - Dainty Czech Glass Heart

 

Where to find Shawl Pin Heaven:

Shawl Pin Heaven Etsy Shop

Shawl Pin Heaven on Facebook

Shawl Pin Heaven Blog

Top Shops of Etsy Treasury Challenge #2

Top Shops of Etsy Treasury Challenge #2

This week, there are a few changes to the treasury challenge.  Treasuries need to be tagged with "TopShopsChallenge 2".  The tag we were previously using was also being used by another group.  In the coming weeks, we will continue to use TopShopsChallenge, then a space and the number of the challenge. 

Last week's winner was:

Mad Meadow

This week we will be using their Etsy shop as the inspiration for our treasury challenge. Mad Meadow has a variety of beautiful jewelry pieces. Select one item from Mad Meadow to create your treasury.  The treasury with the most hearts by Monday wins!  Good luck everyone and feel free to share our treasury challenge!