Featured Follower ~ Play Me Mama Crafts

It’s time for a Featured Follower! This week I’m so excited to introduce you to Play Me Mama Crafts!

Jennifer is a creative business owner from Toronto. In her Etsy Shop you will find handmade, affordable and Eco-conscious products. As a mother of two she creates child and family friendly products that are often made with re-purposed or organic materials.

She offers a line of dress up cloths for those kids who dream of being a super-hero or a butterfly…or maybe both!

T-Shirt Superhero Cape

 

Silk Wings

 

You will also find her adorable “Got Snot” Cloth Hankies. Who doesn’t need these during cold and flu season. Made from soft organic fabric these will be so much nicer on runny noses then scratchy tissues! And so much more attractive!

 

Cloth Hankie

Check out Play Me Mama Crafts’ Etsy Shop here to see more!

Featured Follower is a regular feature where I feature someone who is following and interacting with me on one of my Blogs (Sea Flower Studios and Handmakers Haven), Facebook Pages (Sea Flower Studios and Handmakers Haven) or Twitter Accounts (Sea Flower Studios and Handmakers Haven). To have a chance to be featured follow me and be sure to leave me comments!

Featured Follower: Lost Yarn Loft

Today is the day when I gush over the amazing talent of one of my followers!

The featured follower for today is Lost Yarn Loft! Kaisa is a new follower since just last week but as soon as I saw her shop I new I had to give her a little feature. Kaisa just opened her Etsy Shop just a couple of weeks ago but I’m so impressed! Lost Yarn Loft offers a collection of handmade knitted items that are not only gorgeous and one of a kind but they are made from recycled sweaters. She unravels the sweaters and either uses the yarn as is or hand dyes the yarn for her pieces.

Be sure to stop by and show some support to this new shop! With the weather getting cold it’s the perfect time for something nice and cozy! ♥

Featured Follower: Paco + Lupe

It’s been so long since I featured some of the fabulous artisans I come across everyday and now that I’m back to the roots of this blog I’m so excited to be able to do this again! A regular feature will be “Featured Follower”.  That’s just what it sounds like, every so often I’m going to feature one of my talented followers! It’s just my way of saying thank you to all you wonderful people who take the time to read my blogs, facebook wall or tweets!

“Paco + Lupe is all about merging art and fashion to bring you our idea of original handmade bags and home décor that are all about the fabric.”

I admit that I love bags and purses of all shapes and styles and that’s what first caught my attention. Paco + Lupe offer a range of designs that change each season. I’m absolutely loving this bag from their Fall/Winter collection! (And others must agree because it’s sold out!) Be sure to take a look at the Paco + Lupe website to see all the other amazing bags they have available.

Celia Cruz is the designer behind Paco + Lupe. Take a look at how talented she is! I came across this gorgeous dress she designed for her friend to wear to a masquerade ball on the Paco + Lupe blog. It’s it just amazing!

Celia is just one of the many talented Canadian designers out there and I’m so proud to have her as one of my followers!

 

Beautiful Pottery from Lurearts

I’ve said before that one of my favorite things about participating in craft shows is having the opportunity to meet other vendors. At the recent Toronto Etsy Street team show (Check out a video from the Toronto Etsy Street Team show here) I had the pleasure of having a table beside Pam from Lurearts. Although she’s a fellow team member we had never had the chance to chat before and it was wonderful to be able to meet her and spend the day getting to know her. Not only is she a kind and fun person but she had beautiful pottery and ceramics in her Etsy Shop Lurearts. Here is your chance to get to know a little about her! Enjoy! ♥

What inspired you to first learn pottery?
I remember the first time I touched real clay in Elementary school. I was so excited that the teacher had to send me out in the hallway to calm down… Sad but true… Then I took a class in University and was hooked.

Product Review – Soap Deli

I love getting fabulous handmade items in the mail so I was thrilled when I received a package from the Etsy Shop Soap Deli. Before I even opened the package I knew it contained something wonderful because I caught scent of fresh clean soap. Inside I found 4 bars of wonderful soap including Unscented Goatsmilk, Nanny’s Pumpkin Pie, Raspberry Lemonade and Raspberry Vanilla. I couldn’t wait to try them all out!

I have dry and sensitive skin so I’m always careful about the soaps I use and often don’t use bar soap because I find it can be so drying. I was thrilled to find that the soap from Soap Deli was both gentle and moisturizing. The scents are beautiful and light so not overpowering and the soap has a great lather. The real test was to not use any body lotion after my shower and see if my skin dried out and I’m happy to say my skin stayed soft and smooth!  In Soap Deli’s shop you are sure to find a scent you like and if not then the unscented goatsmilk soap is wonderful and perfect for dry skin. Take a look and I’m sure you’ll find something you love! ♥

DylaniumKnits is Bringing Fashion to the Craft World

Today I’m so excited to introduce one of my teammates from the Toronto Etsy Street Team (TESTy), Dylan from the Etsy Shop DylaniumKnits. Dylan is full of excitement for what he does and is helpful and supportive to everyone on the team and in the handmade community. Here’s a little look into his creative life! Enjoy! ♥

Functional, Chic and Stylish…It’s Füchst Bags!

Today I am so excited to introduce another fabulous Etsy seller Mandy of Füchst Bags. I first came across her wonderful shop when I included this purse in one of my very first Etsy Treasuries and I’ve been a fan ever since and couldn’t wait to give her a feature on my blog. Be sure to have a look at her shop and you’ll become a lifelong fan too! ♥

Tell me how you started creating your gorgeous bags?
I started making and selling my handmade bag in July 2009. My inspiration for designing and making handbags came when my first child was born. I could not find a carry-on bag that was both functional and modern for a new mom like me. All the diaper bags I found on the market were mostly designed with teddy bear prints. As I like to look fashionable, I could not accept the fact that there was nothing out there for me. I have a background in Fashion Design, therefore sewing is my expertise, I went ahead and designed and produced a hands-free diaper bag that went around my waist. I used colourful fabric and leather trim to add some interest. Ever since then, I was hooked on designing and producing handbags, and that’s when Füchst Bags was born.

A Little Bit of Grace Design

Today I’m excited to introduce Alison from the Etsy Shop Grace Design. I met Alison recently at a “Creative Women in Business” Meeting in Toronto. Being new to Toronto it was so much fun to meet a wonderful group of women that I have creativity in common. Along with running her fabulous Etsy Shop, Alison holds a BDes (Bachelor of Design) from OCAD, works as a Graphic Designer and is a very talented photographer! Read a little about her creative life! ♥

Where you always crafty as a child?
I used to hold craft meetings for neighborhood children in my bedroom! I also used to always draw clothes and sketch out little clothing shops. I always thought I would go into fashion design but then for some reason, veered into graphic design. I love graphics though and it has been very useful in applying to my business ventures.

Prittyfy Yourself

Today I’m excited to introduce Inessa from the Etsy Shop Prittyfy. I met Inessa through the Promotional Frenzy Team which we both belong to and have been a fan of her jewelry since I first saw it. Inessa has been creative all her life and in 2008 started making jewelry. Inessa is a Civil Engineer by day and in her free time has many hobbies from taking classes to cooking to working with animal rescue. I’m impressed she finds time to create such beautiful pieces of jewelry! Inessa loves to travel and that is where much of her inspiration comes from. Take a look at just a few of the gorgeous pieces you will find in her shop!

Making Something Out of Nothing with Landfill Designs

Today I’m thrilled to introduce Emma from the Etsy Shop Landfill Designs. Read about her fun creative world!

Can you tell me a little about Landfill Designs? Based in Toronto, I focus on making jewellery out of “landfill” – primarily beach glass/ceramic found on a man-made shore in Lake Ontario; a shore that was created using, you guessed it, clean landfill. I also rescue pretty glass bottles from the recycling bin and smash and tumble them myself, creating my own “beach” glass, as well as using upcycled thrifted pieces that I pick up everywhere. Vintage fabric, vintage buttons, old keys, and glass fish (that was a lucky day at the thrift shop), and lots of stuff from eBay (evil, evil eBay!). All of these components are used together to create unique one of a kind jewellery that will suit any personality and any outfit or event. You can follow me on Twitter or you can stop by my website to see how I make it all happen.

Where you always crafty as a child? I would have to say I didn’t have a choice about being artistic/creative/crafty – whatever you want to call it. My Mother was an artist, and a single Mom, so there was a lot of creative DIY going on in our house. Looking back I can recognize now that a lot of it was based in economic need, we didn’t have extra money, so we made do, creatively, with what we had. But we also had a big push towards the creative. I grew up in a house where it was assumed that you knew colour theory, could use the potters wheel in the basement, could mix oil paints, and weren’t afraid of the jigsaw or power tools. This lead to some very confusing moments in my early dating life realizing that I knew how to use power tools and my boyfriend didn’t.