Waiting for the postie - Etsy Favourites

Don't you just love it when the postman arrives with a mystery letter or an eagerly awaited parcel. The best bit about online shopping is the arrival of parcels, like Christmas whenever you want it!

Today's Etsy favourites theme is therefore based around the excitement of the postman arriving.

Weaver Copper Designs

What better place to receive your letters than in a fantastic handmade mailbox. This gorgeous mailbox is made of steel then covered with a sheet of antique copper, which is embossed, hand coloured and then lacquered. It is approved by the United States Postal Service. As well as gorgeous copper mail boxes, this shop also features bird feeders and rubbish bins.

Gwynstone

When you've collected your letters, you need a beautiful letter opener to open that seal. And Gwynstone is the place to shop for one. The item featured is a letter opener and magnifier set, made with recycled glass beads. The shop also features lovely items of Jewellery and Bookmarks featuring semi precious stones.

La Rea Rose

When you've opening your letters you need somewhere to store them. Why not use this pretty cottage style mail holder. It is a vintage mail holder that has been rescued and painted by this very talented Etsy seller. This seller specialises in romantic, shabby and chic decor and the items in the well stocked shop includes bird house, plates, trays and keepsake boxes. If you like traditional cottage style items this shop is the place for you. This seller also has a blog at: http://larearose.blogspot.com/

Petite Maison

Perhaps you want something a bit more more modern to store your letters. How about a Wall Pocket from this seller. The Wall Pocket featured has a French Kitchen theme and would look lovely hung in a kitchen or office space to store your bits and bobs. It is lined and contains a webbing tab for hanging it up. The seller, Julia, says she loves to create pretty things and she certainly does. She also has a blog: http://simbiosis-lifeinasmalltown.blogspot.com/

Mesquite Woodworks

Would you prefer something to put on your desk to keep your correspondance in order. Then how about a Mesquite & Maple Inbox. What a gorgeous, unique way of keeping a desk tidy! This shop is quite new and only contains a few items but the ones it contains are lovely. They are handmade from Mesquite logs and the Mesquite used in the Inbox featured comes from a tree in the seller's own backyard.

So there you go, now you can collect, open and store your post in style. I hope you enjoyed today's favourites, I certainly enjoyed finding them.

Two new listings

I have listed two new items today, both Chain Maille Jewellery, one in each Northern Dawn Shop.

• A purple and pink Chain Maille Bracelet on Etsy
• A pair of Purple Chain Maille earrings on Folksy
  

Mobius Link Bracelet

This Bracelet has 25 Mobius balls linked together with bright aluminium jump rings. The mobius balls are made up with one each of a purple, violet & pink anodised aluminium jump ring. It is 19cm long and is fastened with a silver plated Lobster Clasp.

I think it is really pretty. It is also comfortable to wear, moves nicely as you move your hands and arms and catches the light as well!

FOR SALE: £12.00

Japanes 4-1 Earrings

These Earrings are made using a delicate, fiddly weave called a Japanese 4-1. The purple anodised aluminium jump rings are approx 7mm in size and are linked together with 3mm silver plated jump rings. They dangle to a fantastic 7cm.

These Earrings make a real statement with both their length and colour.

FOR SALE: $21.00 (approx. £13.00)

Friday To Do List

I know, it's Thursday and I've not done my favourites. Again. I ended up having to go in to work 4 hours earlier than I was meant to so didn't get a lot done today and had no time to compile my favourites. I did, however, compile a pretty impressive list of articles about sales and related issues on Etsy. I will put them in some sort of resources blog post at some point. One good thing about going in early today means I get tomorrow off. Woohoo! So I have compiled a To Do List for tomorrow:

• Start on my Thank You cards
• Make a cross knot & seed bead bracelet
• Do some more chain maille experimenting
• Do an Etsy Favourites & Folksy favourites blog posts
• Put my resource list into a sensible blog post
• Start a new ACEO for cards

I also have some bits coming through the post for my exciting new project so will get a look at those, and my lovely hubby has bought a load of craft stuff worth £100 for £20 off of someone advertising on a local website, so it'll be like Christmas when he comes home!

See you tomorrow.

Productive Day

Wow, if only every day was like today! I finished a Pet Portrait commission, just waiting for final approval from the customer and then it'll go in the post.

I also turned my Golden Retriever Puppy drawing into a card:

And made a pair of Byzantine Weave Chain Maille Pink & Black earrings which will be a perfect match with my necklace I created yesterday:

The Earrings will be listed on Etsy later along with the necklace and a card will be listed on both Etsy and Folksy.

I also had a very exciting phone call about a project that may be happening later in the year. I don't to say too much about it now but to say it's exciting is an understatement!

Earrings - Purple Byzantine weave chain maille

I managed to complete 3 of the 4 things on my To Do List and by far the most fun thing was making two pairs of Earrings:

Chain Maille Purple & Silver Dangly Earrings, Byzantine Weave:

These Earrings are created using a Chain Maille technique called a Byzantine Weave. It is actually fairly easy once you get used to it but it creates a fantastic effect. The Earrings are merely jump rings attached together in a specific order. The jump rings are purple Anodized Aluminium and the Fish Hook ear wires are silver plated. They are approximately 2cm long from the bottom of the Earring wire. These will be added to my Folksy Shop.

FOR SALE: £5.50

Purple Dangly Earrings, Chain Maille Byzantine weave.

These Earrings are made using the same technique as the Silver & Purple pair, but using only Purple jump rings. They are 3cm long. These will also be added to the Folksy Shop.

FOR SALE: £6.00

Shopping!

I have been busy this afternoon credit card bashing and purchasing a whole load of Jewellery Findings, beads and card making bits.

The original shopping list read:

• toggle clasps
• earring wires
• chunky chain
• memory wire
• split rings
• headpins
• 1mm black rattail
• shrink plastic
• ACEO toploaders
• coloured cardstock
• 5" x 7" envelopes
• packaging boxes
• ribbon

Currently there are 4 items not purchased: memory wire, toploaders, 1mm rattail and packaging boxes. The toploaders I shall get off ebay, the 1mm rattail only seems to be available from 1 supplier, who I didn't shop with today and i've not gone shopping for the boxes yet.

I went to my usual two suppliers, Jilly Beads and Handy Hippo and also discovered 3 new suppliers: Bead Sisters, Just Beads and Beads Unlimited. Hopefully, they'll be as efficient as Handy Hippo and Jilly Beads are.

I have discovered some fantastic charms, wooden beads & pendants which were purchased as well as the shopping list items. I was also introduced to coloured jump rings by Bead Sisters and the fantastic art of Chain Maille weaving, so I purchased vast quantities of pretty coloured jump rings and will have a go at the project ideas on their site when they arrive. I got really excited about it and can't wait to try out this new skill.