Hello and July Giveaway Announcement

Hello all! I am Kandes Naylor. I am the designer behind Tricky Fox and will be your EVA blogger for the remainder of July. As the lead organizer for EVA, I thought I would share a little background on our team. In March 2008, I became interested in joining an etsy street team (that is what they called them at the time). I looked at the local teams and didn't see much. There was the Phoenix team, but I didn't see myself driving to downtown Phoenix fighting traffic to do the group events, and even though I live in the metro area, the city of Phoenix is not really home to me. So, I decided to create a team a little closer to home that would enhance the community I live in. We became East Valley Artisans which is comprise of artisans on the east side of the Phoenix metro area - Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert and Queen Creek.We had our first meeting in June of '08. There were five of us at that meeting. Four of the original five remain active in the group. EVA has taken its time and has slowly evolved and grown in membership. We select our members carefully and make sure that each artisan will provide the consumers with quality handmade goods served up with superior customer service. Recently, we have opened our group up to membership outside of etsy. Although we are officially an etsy team, we decided, as a team, that opening up membership to all artisans would only help us to develop and grow as a group. I am very proud of what EVA has become and am really impressed with our members. We have a wonderful group of very talented people and I feel confident that when you purchase from them you are getting something very special.

Since I am the guest blogger for this month, I am also the artist that offers the giveaway. I just did a giveaway on my personal blog, which was very successful. I just finished up the custom piece that I offered and made extra butterfly charms while I was at it.

That is this months EVA giveaway item! Entering to win is easy ... Winner will be announced July 30th!

1.) Visit my shop, then come back here and leave a comment telling me what your favorite item is.
2.) For an additional entry, follow the this blog.
3.) And receive an additional entry for every EVA member's blog that you follow (Our blog roll is to the right).

Please let us know in your comment if you chose to follow any of the blogs so that we can easily count your additional entries. Good Luck ... and thank you for visiting!!!

We have a winner!

And the winner of the giveaway is ...

Stacy!!! Congratulations Stacy! Email me which recycled bottlecap magnet set you would like at krisfagan (at) cox (dot) net.

Thanks to everyone for entering and leaving such wonderful and kind comments. Be sure to check back with the East Valley Artisans often, since we'll be doing another giveaway in July!

Treasure Hunt

Last month at our group meeting we discussed Etsy's Treasury. This is an area of Etsy many of us had not explored yet. I bet you are wondering, what exactly is a Treasury? Well, it's a neat little section on Etsy that has ever-changing, member-curated shopping galleries. Neat, right?

Take a look at the beautiful and diverse collections we curated:

Oodles of Doodles

Bright and Fun Summer Colors

Bee Yourself ...

Elegance Originality and Style

Belly Dance

Sweets and Treats

The Eyes of the Dragon

As you can see, we have been having A LOT of fun creating these unique galleries of items for sale on Etsy. It is amazing to look around at all the wonderful handmade goods you can find. I am in awe of them all! Hope you enjoyed this little treasure hunt as much as I do!

Have you entered our June giveaway yet? I'm giving away a set of 6 handmade practical and STRONG magnets. Comment on this blog post to enter to win! Winner will be chosen on June 27th. Good luck!

Guest blogger Kristen Fagan of Creative Stash. Graphic Designer by day. Mother, wife, painter, jewelry artist, bookworm, cook and all around crafty gal by night. Contact her at krisfagan [at] cox [dot] com.

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Creative Stash Giveaway!

Happy Sunday! We have a giveaway for you from our East Valley Artisan etsy shop, Creative Stash!

Kristen at Creative Stash is giving away one of her recycled bottlecap magnet sets to a lucky winner! These little treasures are recycled bottle caps featuring an original art print made by Kristen. They come in a set of 6 and will be shipped to you in a gift tin. One of you will win a magnet set of your choice. Which one will you choose?

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TO WIN: Leave a comment below noting one of your favorite items from the Creative Stash shop - that's it!

BONUS ENTRY 1: Help spread the word about the giveaway on your blog, twitter, or facebook & leave a separate comment to let us know you did so!

BONUS ENTRY 2: Subscribe to this Blog in a reader or Follow with Google friend connect & leave a separate comment to let us know you did so!

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1 winner will be chosen randomly on Sun, June 27th and notified by email. Good luck!

Guest Blog by Kristen of Creative Stash

Hey there. I'm Kristen from Creative Stash and I'll be your guest blogger this month! I created my etsy shop in July 2009 and became a member of East Valley Artisans (EVA) in October of 2009. While my graphic design job and freelance work keep my creativity flowing, I really love when I have time to focus on my creative passions; painting and crafting handmade gifts.

I saw this little neat "meet so and so" Q&A recently and thought it would be a cute way to start the month so here goes ...

FAVORITES

Color? whoa, how can you ask an artist what their favorite color is?! It depends which way the wind blows. My all around can't go wrong color has got to be green but, really I enjoy everything the color wheel has to offer and then some.

Childhood memory? So many of my childhood memories elude me but, I am forever thankful for sitting by the lake with my grandmother and seeing what we can see in the clouds. I have used this on many road trips to keep myself entertained, I painted cloud animals my little boys nursery and today I have my kids look to the clouds whenever we are in the car and they need some entertainment.

Dessert? yes, please.

Guilty pleasure? blog reading!

TV Show? Glee! I'm totally hooked. Hmm...maybe this is my guilty pleasure.

Way to spend a Friday night? Relaxing at home with my husband and 2 kids.

ONE OR THE OTHER

Boots or Flip-flops? flip-flops

Beach or Mountains? Mountains, I absolutely love being mountainside.

Dog or Cat? Dogs, we have 2 :)

Coffee or Tea? Tea is winning this one right now

Morning Person or Night Owl? Morning person (did I actually just write that?!) Times have definitely changed.

A BIT DEEPER

Who in your life has influenced you most creatively, and why? My grandfather. As a child, he is one of the few people in my life who drew. We used to sit and sketch out little buildings and odds and ends. Just pen and paper. I realized how much I love art and how art was all around us in those moments together.

What is your creative workspace like? I carved out a little space in our garage. I have a desk, organizer and an easel. I don't always stay out there especially when I am making magnets, bead jewelry or pendants. But it is wonderful to have a "space" to gather inspiration, store supplies and my easel setup and ready at all times.

What or who gives you inspiration? Everything from my family, color, music, and the sights and sounds of nature.

If you could share one bit of advice for your teenage self what would it be? Enjoy the moment, be proud of who you are and listen to your inner voice, it will guide you.

Stay tuned this week for a very special giveaway of one of my own original designs. So nice to meet you, I hope you'll say hello in the comments and check back soon!

FIND ME ELSEWHERE

• website
• blog
• twitter
• etsy shop
  

May meeting! Fun with flowers and ATCs

We had our EVA May meeting last night at Inside the Bungalow. It was a super good time.
First off I want to thank Trish for doing the guest blogging and give away for the previous month. This month Kristen will be doing the honors of posting and a giveaway item. Last night Kristen shared with us some pointers on having a successful etsy shop and critiqued a few shops as examples. Jeannie researched local artists on etsy. Jen is going to see if any of them want to visit our next meeting. Jill provided information on the book, "I'd Rather be in the Studio" by Alyson Stanfield and shared some great links. Thanks everyone for making our meeting one of the best yet. I have to extend a huge thanks to Jen for our ATC tutorial demo activity. We all had a lot of fun with that.


Final results ...I also want to welcome Marci to our group. We all really love her pearl woven bracelets. And I also want to bid farewell for now to Renee who is going to be working with her church youth group on Wednesday nights. We will miss her and hope in the future it may work out so we can have her back.

The exchange theme for May was flowers and we had a great exchange with several very unique and fun items.

We have a winner!

And the winner of the giveaway is..................



Vicky!! Congratulations Vicky! Email me your full name and address at moetricia (at) yahoo (dot) com so I can mail your necklace to you!

Thanks to everyone for entering and be sure to check back with the East Valley Artisans often, since we'll be doing another giveaway next month!