EVA Etsy Treasury Challenge (Contest Closed)

Hi again! Tomorrow I am leaving with my husband and baby son to go to Nebraska. My husband is a professional musician and is playing a big blues festival over there, so the little one and I thought we would tag along. I have never been to that part of the country. I am looking forward to sharing about the trip on my Tricky Fox blog. Before I go, I thought I would get over here and squeeze in a post about our latest EVA Challenge!!

EVA's Kristen of Creative Stash posted on Etsy's treasuries last month. I have been having a lot of fun looking over the treasuries of Etsy Project Embrace members. They post many new ones to their Etsy forum on a daily basis. I made one with some EVA members in it:

And a Cowboy theme:
And a Vintage Butterfly theme:

As Kristen said, making treasuries are a whole lot of fun!!! That is why EVA is hosting a treasury challenge. I encourage everyone to get in on it!! You don't have to be an EVA member, but you do have to create an etsy account if you don't have one. Once you have an account, click on this link. Then click the blue "Create a List" button on the right. You can enter as many times as you wish! Tonight at our EVA meeting we will be discussing the prize! I will come back here and let you know what it is! At our August meeting we will all be voting for the top three treasuries. All three will win a prize!

Prize info added Monday July 26th - The prizes will be EVA gift certificates redeemable at all EVA member's shops. First place winner will receive a $30 gift certificate. The second place winner $20 and the third $10! Our shops are listed here.

Here are the rules:
1.) The deadline is August 15th at midnight pacific time.
2.) Must have three EVA members items featured in the treasury. All of our members shops are listed here!
3.) The title of your treasury must have one of the words from our team name: east, valley, or artisans.
4.) After completing your treasury, you must come back to this blog post and make a comment with a link to it.

EVA members ARE eligible to enter! And enter as many times as you wish! Winners announced August 20th via email. Please make sure we have your email!

Well, I am off to pack! Have fun making treasuries while I am gone. I will catch up when I get back. :o)

(The contest is now closed to new enteries. Thank you to everyone that entered. The winners will be announced August 20th via email and EVA blog post!)

Tricky Fox joins Team EPE

My new Etsy store, Tricky Fox Designs, was officially opened mid-last month. I am now just really starting to list items. My husband and I bought a new DSLR camera and it was a great addition of our family. We can take fabulous photos of the boys ...and new and improving pictures of my latest products. Forever I was a beader, then lampworker and now fuser/solderer. I love lampworking, but I gave it up during my miserable pregnancy and now with a 6 month old that has no particular schedule it is soooooo difficult to get to an uninterrupted sitting at the torch. Fusing and soldering I can walk away from at any given second if he wakes from his nap or is sick of playing alone or wants to eat. It is a much better thing for me right now and I am very happy with my recent work.

In opening my new store, I wanted to initiate it by joining a second etsy team. I have EVA to meet with local artisans face-to-face. Our group is fun!! But I was looking to add something more altruistic to my life. I was considering a few teams when I got the etsy Storque email last week. It had an article about EPE, Etsy Project Embrace. This team is very active and they do good things. That is exactly what I wanted. And most members donate proceeds from their shop to American Cancer Society. Great! They have a mission and it is something that I feel strongly about at this time in my life since I have a very close family member battling the monster. It was strange because the day all of these decisions were being made I was making elephant earrings and a pendant for a customer who was buying them for a friend who was hospitalized with cancer. She passed on the day I joined EPE, which was the day I was also the day I was working on her jewelry.

This is also strange ... I had a giveaway on my blog at the end of June. 40+ people entered from all over. A couple in Europe even. Waterrose, who won the give away lives right here in Tempe, AZ, and after joining the team I was looking over their list of members only to find out she is on the team. That is pretty coincidental, huh?

If you are an Etsy seller and want info on joining Etsy Project Embrace, here is their team page.
If you are a local Etsy seller interested in EVA, let me know via Etsy convo.

And don't forget to enter the EVA giveaway for July. I am giving away this butterfly charm.

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!

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