Molecular Muse - Mad Scientist of Etsy

Hello everyone! I just finished giving a presentation in my Marine Ecosystem Dynamics course and am rewarding myself with a break to bring you today's featured shop.

Molecular Muse is a fellow Mad Scientist of Etsy. I was already drawn to her shop before I joined the MSOE team. She is a wonderfully talented jewelry-maker, silver forger, and artist to be able to turn molecular structures into works of art.The first item I've chosen to feature comes from my obsession with coffee drinks. I swear my blood is probably infused with caffiene by now. Gotta love being a full time student for the past 20 years. These caffiene earrings are great! They go with just about any outfit and you can get the matching necklace as wellThis second item I've chosen because music has also played a big role in my life. I was the typical band geek from 5th grade up until I graduated from high school. I was also in choir as well as choral competitions since elementary school through my Bachelor's degree. What better way to fuse my love of music and science than a necklace that represents music spelled out with amino acids. Totally awesome!

Be sure to check out the rest of Molecular Muse's store for chocolate, serotonin, and dopamine jewelry!

Bellacosaart - Original Unique Art

Good morning everyone! I felt it was time to feature a painter for today's posting.

I met Bellacosaart when I joined the BNKO/Holiday Shopping Extravaganza thread on Etsy. She is a very talented painter and also features items that are ecosystem friendly. That's definately a plus in my book :)Today's first item is a painting of peppers. A piece of canvas was stretched over a recycled cedar plank. I love the rustic look and am definately looking to decorate my kitchen when hubby and I move into a place of our own. She also has tomatoes and garlic painted in the same way.The second item for today is also very eco friendly. This beautiful landscape was painted on a brown paper bag! This just goes to show that great artwork can be painted or drawn on anything. She has many more paper bags to choose from so you definately must check them out!

Well, I'm off to the lab. Check back tomorrow for the next featured shop!

Sandy's Sundries - Crochet, Knitting, & Painting

This post is a little late today. I've been swamped today with classes and homework. I'm taking a much needed break to bring you today's store.I met Sandy on the Daily BnR thread. She's a very talented crocheter, knitter, and painter. The items I'm featuring are just a couple of the many treasures you will find in her shop. Check out sandyssundries for more!

Today's first item was chosen because of my obsession with all things marine. Sandy also loves ocean life so when she started crocheting jellies I just had to have one. I own the first one ever made and it's keeping me company sitting on my "inbox." Sandy's Portuguese Man-O-War looks very realistic and I was honored when I was summoned for advise :) Be sure to check out more of her jellies! They come in all shapes and sizes.This second item was posted just in time for Halloween. I love the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas and Sandy has painted some salt and pepper shakers to look like Jack Skellington! You might want to snatch these up quickly - she's already sold one set ;)

Be sure to check out the rest of Sandy's shop for great fingerless gloves, belts, jewelry and more!

Red Leaf - Bath and Body

I met today's featured shop when I joined the More Meaningful Gifts thread on Etsy.

ShopRedLeaf has some of the best bath and body products! It's always been hard for me to find lotions that still smell good and moisturize without leaving a greasy film behind. My first purchase from his shop was a gift set to be given to a friend and I was sent a sample of my choice. I chose to try the Beeswax Body Lotion in Plumeria scent. It is so awesome! It smells great, it's for sensitive skin, and works wonders on my dry elbows. I will definately be back for more.The first item I wanted to feature is Red Leaf's Soft Bubble Bath Dough. This is one of the items I bought in the gift set and it smells awesome! There is also enough dough in this container to be able to take 10-13 baths! There are 8 scents to choose from and will definately make for a relaxing soak.Today's second item is the Soap and Shave Cube with Chrome Stand. I also purchased this as part of the gift set I ordered. It is a great smelling glycerine soap (in your choice of 1 of 8 scents) that makes a rich lather for shaving. This soap has also won first place at Indiefixx in the specialty soap competition. The soap also comes with a chrome, rust-free stand to dry your soap quickly without leaving a mess on your counter.

I hope I have now made you all wish you were at home pampering yourselves. I know I do! Check back for tomorrow's new featured shop!

Buffalonerdproject - Mad Scientist of Etsy

I met today's shop when I joined the Mad Scientists of Etsy team. It was amazing to see how my fellow scientists incorporated their science interests into their art.

Buffalonerdproject has the most amazing sewing skills and creativity.

First up is the Mr. Euglena Fashion Tie. I'm very much drawn to this item because I spend a lot of my days looking down a microscope counting plankton samples and I always see at least one marine euglena among the thousands of diatoms. What better way to show your love for plankton than to wear one :)Secondly, this Rockstar Embellished Lab Coat will make you the coolest lab tech or TA ever! I really need to get one for when I'm working down in the DNA lab.

Check back tomorrow for a new shop!

Gillianbeads - Lampwork Beads and Jewelry

I was first introduced to today's featured shop, Gillianbeads, through the BNKO thread on Etsy.

I have always loved watching the glass blowers while visiting Sauder Village back in Ohio. Now here on Etsy I've met someone that not only makes her own glass lampwork beads, but is also a fellow scientist.

Gillian's beads are absolutely gorgeous and they don't usually stay in her shop long so these links will probably take you to a "sold out" page, but you can always look around the rest of her shop. So many treasures!

This first bead, Heart of Blue, that is currently in her shop is one of my favorite color combinations. I love the light blue and the lime green swirls and I think the puffy heart beads are great!Not only does she make her own beads, but she is also a very talented jewelry maker. Although, I do not wear a lot of lime green, I love this Peridot and Sapphire Millefiori Leaf Necklace.

Be sure to check out Gillian's other awesome listings and check back tomorrow for the next featured shop!

Our Special Angels

Good morning everyone!

Today's featured store is one that is very close to my heart. I am also currator for the store; however, it does not feature any items that I have made.

Our Special Angels is a store that features machine embroidered items made by the disabled youth of the organization as well as the volunteers. Before I show you some of the awesome items offered by Our Special Angels, I wanted to give you a little background information on this charity (description taken from the Yahoo Group homepage for Our Special Angels).

Welcome to Our Special Angels. We assist disabled youth to grow and flourish through the art of crafting. The OSA has provided training and leadership to over 100 teens and young adults to date. Below is a little about who we are.

1. Our Special Angels group meetings - we have a solid group of youth in the Twin Cities, MN area that meet every Saturday from September through April - from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM at a local community room.

2. Each year we host a fall kick off and we wish to invite anyone that is within reasonable driving distance of the twin cities to attend.

3. Big Brother/Big Sister program - you volunteer as a mentor to a special needs youth. Volunteering is fun! Being a Big Brother/Big Sister is simple and rewarding. It is as easy as writing your new Little Brother/Sister an email, calling them on the phone, and sending them a monthly CARE package. We’ve learned that being someone special to a disabled youth doesn’t take much more than that. But the impact is huge—for both of you!

4. Fundraising Activities - craft sales, letter writing, we are always busy trying to raise funds. One on-going fundraiser we have that does not require any effort on your part is using http://isearch.igive.com/ for your search engine. This is the charity arm of Yahoo; you go to the address, put in Our Special Angels, and search away. Every time you search OSA receives a donation.

5. Supplies - Crafts we love them all; we are only limited by the supplies we have on hand, Wanting to destash? Have left over inventory? please think of sending it our way. Our Special Angels is a 501c3 non-profit group so you will receive an in-kind tax receipt for any donations.

Mailing Address:

Our Special Angels

PO Box 1746

Maple Grove, MN 5531

If anyone is interested in becoming a Big Brother or Big Sister, donating items, volunteering for our donation and fundraising committees, or finding out more information, send an email to our_special_angels@yahoo.com and one of the charity's board members will get back with you.

Alright on with the store! All of these items are custom made to order because of limited supplies. You will need to allow 7-10 days for the items to be made (sometimes sooner) depending on how many orders have come in. Our Special Angels cannot make sample items to show for everything because they do not have the supplies to use on something that may not sell. Thanks to the generosity of Embroidery Library and Sewing for Sarah Embroidery, Our Special Angels has been given the rights to use sample pictures from both sites as well as some great designs donated from Sewing for Sarah Embroidery.

This first item is one of their best selling items so far. The Jacobean Floral eyeglass case has beautiful stitchwork and they can even change the color scheme if pink is not your color.

This second item I am featuring is one of my favorites because I am such a coffee nut. I love this Hazelnut Coffee embroidered towel set as well as all the other coffee themed towels featured in the store. I can't wait until my husband and I are settled in a place of our own and I can take the time and money to decorate my kitchen.

This is only a very small sampling of what is in the store. There are currently over 450 listings - purses, cases, ornaments, stuffies, towel sets, pillowcases, bookmarks, toys, and tons of craft book destash. Start your Christmas shopping early and check them out today!

A Dorana Design

The first shop I'd like to feature is: A Dorana Design.

I first met Dorana just over a month ago when I decided to join the More Meaningful Gifts buy and replace thread that she started on Etsy. I am a member of at least 4 buy and replace threads and have gotten very few sales from them. But I decided to join this one as well to see what would come of it. I quickly learned that this thread was way different. The amount of support and promotion I received from the other shops on the thread was incredible. On most threads, every other post is someone promoting themself with no real attempt to converse with the other people on the thread. At MMG we let the featured shop list speak for itself and spend our time promoting others instead of ourselves.

In that first month I received 5 sales from that list. That is huge for me considering I've only had 17 sales total and have been on Etsy for over a year. Dorana even honored me by purchasing one of my crocheted baby dresses - one that gave her the courage to have a baby of her own (you should have seen me crying at my computer). That purchase meant so much to me. The group of people on this buy and replace thread definately give more meaningful gifts in more ways than one.

Dorana's shop has some of the most beautiful jewelry! First up is a piece that I have been coveting since I first looked through her shop. Dorana's Blue Lagoon Flower Weave Bracelet is made of gorgeous turquoise, aragonite, and silver.
This second item was chosen because of my obsession with dangly and sparkly earrings. These Anne Boleyn earrings were made from wire-wrapped pearls, smoky quartz, and sterling silver. They would be the perfect accent for any formal event.Check back tomorrow for the next featured shop!

A First For Me

Okay so this is something totally new for me. I've decided to break down and join the blogging world. I'm hoping that I will keep up on this and that it will give me a welcome reprieve from working on dissertation and fellowship proposals and homework.

I'm not all that great with talking about myself. But as you can see from the title of my blog I'm hoping to focus on crafting. This first post will feature my Etsy store, but in future postings (hopefully daily) I'd like to focus on some of the wonderful and very talented artists I have met this first year of opening my store on Etsy.

So first things first: This is my store. Most of the items featured are crocheted items that are small and fairly quick to work up in what free time I have when I'm not working at school.

This first item is a set of wash cloths I made. I have many more listed in my store that are just as colorful. I love to work with variegated yarn. The other type of item my store is known for are the crocheted fishy purses I make. Pictured above is my newest one. They take a little while to make but I hope to get some more done.The last item I'd like to feature is some jewelry made by my husband :) These pieces are his first attempts and I'm encouraging him to keep with it. I hope to be able to add some bracelets and earrings made by him in the future.

I hope you've enjoyed this introduction to my shop. Tomorrow I will begin featuring my fellow Etsyians.