Meet Etsy Seller Kooky Critters

Today we would like to introduce you to Holly

and her Etsy shop KookyCritters

Kooky Critters has been selling on Etsy since February 2010, she specialize in making quirky and unique plushies. Today she is sharing a little about her shop and selling handmade items.

What motivated you to start your shop? 
My motivation to start this shop was most definitely my 3 kids.  We had spent a rainy summer day at the book store, looking over many craft/make your own softie sort of books and I had that "a-ha' type moment ("I could do this...").  We spent the next few rainy days (we had a long rainy stretch there) sketching our own monsters and ideas for plushies.  We had fun and they were so excited!  We started making some of them as gifts for friends and neighbors.  When they were a hit, a friend said to me "This is it, you know... you need to take this an run with it!"  I was hesitant at first, but the kids pushed me along and 3 years later, here we are.  :)

What is the story behind your shop name?
Kooky Critters was the name we came up with to convey the meaning and intent behind our creations.  They are meant to be silly, to make people laugh.  They are not supposed to be perfect as though made by machine...  They are carefully hand cut and stitched and not always perfect, but I think that is part of their charm.

What surprised you most about having your own craft / online shop?
I guess what surprised me the most is that people from all over the country that I did not know were buying up our Critters.  Each time an order came in it was so exciting!

What's your personal philosophy behind your shop / products?
My philosophy is this: Life is what you make of it, so why not make it fun.  Our Critters and their personal bios are pretty goofy and intended to make our audience laugh.  I really do crack up each time I finish stitching up a Critter... really!

What do you do when you aren't working?
When I am not working, I am hanging out with the kids, driving back and forth to music lessons, Tae Kwon Do, walking the dog, playing the piano, digging in the garden, spending time with my amazing husband and enjoying this little life I have made for myself.

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Boredom Busters for Kids and Adults

Here in NE Kansas schools, the local Colleges and Universities canceled classes again for the third day in less than a week.  Unheard of.  We are covered in a beautiful thick blanket of heavy, heavy snow - perfect for making snowmen.  In fact, the children are just now putting the finishing touches on a snow family to stand watch out front.   

If you have some crafty little souls in your house who are complaining of being BORED - heaven forbid - let us suggest these patterns and printable PDFs that will allow you to quickly get them engaged in a productive project that won't end in 30 seconds.  If these don't match your children's skill or interest level, don't fear, we have an amazing archive of projects, tutorials, and activities - check out all the categories you can search in our sidebar, bottom right!    

Barn Farmhouse Skin PDF, Instant download from DollsAndDaydreams

Funky Fleece Hat PDF Pattern from monkeysbug

Peasant Swing Top and Dress, PDF sewing pattern from AveryLane

Paper Doll PDF Printout, instant download from DollsAndDaydreams

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Sugar Bunny Cookies

Spring is nearly here! And with that comes Easter yay!!
I love Easter! So many happy bright colours, and chocolate and playing outside in the sunshine again! Happy times : )
Getting all excited for Easter I wanted to make some cookies for the weekend, so made bunny cookies!

I used a basic sugar cookie recipe to make them, then added white icing and chocolate sprinkles. So super easy, and if you don't have a rabbit cookie cutter, why not make flowers with coloured sprinkles?

Ingredients:

• 100g Butter
• 100g Caster Sugar
• 1 Egg
• Splash of vanilla essence
• 225g Plain flour

Put the butter into a bowl, (if like me you forgot to take it out of the fridge to soften, zap it on a very low heat in the microwave so its soft but not melting). Add the sugar to the butter and mix together until it is light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix it up well again.

Slowly add the flour to the mixture, it works best to mix in with a spoon and not electric mixer I find.

Once the flour is mixed in, knead the mixture into a smooth dough. This bit is important for a nice texture and for rolling!

Wrap the dough in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 15-30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 180*C. While the oven is heating sprinkle a surface with some flour and a rolling pin and roll  out the dough to about 1cm thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out your cookies and place them on a lightly greased baking tin. You can place them close together as the cookies will not grow in the oven.

Bake the cookies for 10 mins in the oven, until the edges are starting to turn golden brown. Leave them to cool on a wire rack before eating/decorating.

For the icing I used Brown Eyed Baker's tutorial, and managed to do it, although I have never been very good at icing!!
And then you add the sprinkles while the icing is still wet. And thats it! Enjoy your spring cookies!

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Though the Weather Outside is Frightful

This was what my road looked like last week after 3 feet of snow fell in Connecticut.  I love the way the trees look in their winter white, but it's getting a little old. The snow, that is.  It's pretty at first, but now a week later, melting and refreezing, dirt thrown from the snowblower, the picture postcard charm is gone.

If I can't look outside for signs of spring, I'll try inside instead.  In my studio, I pulled out 50 yards of pastel and floral prints that I bought in the Garment District in New York, last year.  Why I haven't done anything with them yet, I can't imagine.  But I was very glad to have their cheery prints flung over my table. I am going to sew up a spring.

 If you can't wait for April showers or May flowers either right, now is a great time to check out these Etsykids Shops on Etsy.  Here are a few signs of early spring, delivered right to your door.

Leilas Flower Garden has everything you need to grow a garden on a bedroom wall.  You don't even need dirt or a shovel.  Never mind my daughter's room, I want these for my studio right now.

Crochet Village sells every pattern you could need to whip up your own bit of warm whimsy. The flamingos make me want to book my Florida plane tickets, right now!

A trip to  Masterpiece of Fun Art shows pages of little critters, cupcakes and cuties that will delight anyone with the winter blues.  The google eyes on these suns, made my day extra sunny.

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EtsyKids Design Challenge: It's time to Vote!

It's time to vote for your favorite item! Voting will be open until February 27th. This month, EtsyKids members were challenged to create an exciting new item based on a theme "First Days of Spring". We received a lot of fantastic entries, please vote for your favorite from the list below.

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Meet Etsy Seller MaiseysDaiseys

Today we would like to introduce you to Jill

and her Etsy shop MaiseysDaiseys

MaiseysDaiseys has been selling on Etsy since January 2010, they specialize in making lovely paper mache accessories and flower hair bands designed by her daughter. Today she is sharing a little about her shop and selling handmade items.

What motivated you to start your shop? 

My daughter!  Our shop came into being because of her little creative head. When Macy was eight years old, she decided to make some jewelry that she and her friends could wear.  They loved it so much that she kept making more and more.  Most of the beads that she used were daisies, but one day she decided to try making beads out of paper. She started selling this new design at her schools art festival where it was a big hit. The following year, she and I thought her booth needed a little decor to go along with her jewelry, so that's when we made our big paper mache flowers.  We found that buyers of her jewelry loved those flowers too, so we started making them to sell. A short while later she thought ""why not try and put those paper mache flowers on a headband?"" She needed a little help from me, we tried it and it worked! We were so happy!
At this same time, Macy's other passion was dance (and still is).   With the money she made selling the headbands, she decided to put towards dance.  From her sales she has been able to pay for classes, competitions, costumes and workshops.  It continues to this day.  We are so grateful that we created our little shop which ended up being a great source of extra income too!

What is the story behind your shop name?
Because of her success, her little business was now in need of a name.  Her grandparents had nicknamed her "Maisey" playing off her name Macy. It only made sense to name it MaiseysDaiseys because of the combination of the original daisy beads and her nickname. It suites our shop well.

What surprised you most about having your own craft / online shop?

We were most surprised at how the sales immediately took off and all the positive feedback we received.  It is so fabulous to hear how pretty, creative and unique people think our flowers are.  Those wonderful comments mean the world to us and we are so appreciative.

What do you find most challenging about being an Etsy seller?

Trying to keep up with the demand.  All our flowers are handmade at the time of  ordering, and if we get a lot of orders at one time, trying to make them quickly can be a little challenging. In the summertime we have a booth at our local "ParkSillySunday Market" every Sunday and the tourist crowds are huge. The demand for our flower headbands is so great, trying to make enough product for the next Sunday can be very overwhelming.   But we are so happy with all of our sales it is worth all of our time and effort.

What's your personal philosophy behind your shop / products?

I think quality has to be the first priority.  I stand behind my product, and want everyone who purchases one of our flowers to be happy with their order.  If they are happy, we are happy and hopefully they will want to purchase from us again.  Communicating with your customer is very important too.  If they have a question about their order, or want something custom made, staying in touch is very important.  Like I say, if your customer is happy, then you are happy too!

How would someone (other then you) describe you?

Creative and hardworking.  I think both together make a great combination.  With hard work comes the reward.  I truly believe that.  Although others might describe me as crazy as I am bent over the dining room table trying to get orders filled while my back is killing me and my hands are so sore I can barely hold my scissors anymore.  I'm sure many Etsy sellers can relate to that!

What do you do when you aren't working?

I love running marathons so you can usually find me out on the roads, and since I live in the mountains you can find me running the trails with my dog.  I also love spending time in bookstores trying to find my next great read.  I could spend hours at a time reading a good book.  But my favorite time is family time.  I love to sit and have hour long chats with my daughters or dinner and a movie with my husband.  Good quality time with my family is very important to me.

Anything else you'd like to tell us or share?

I love being an Etsy seller.  It is a great community of fabulous, talented artists and my daughter and I feel honored to be a part of it.

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Happy Valentines Day!

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