Etsy Fort Worth

Treasury Tuesday

2012-02-14T06:00:00.020-06:00

Doing the Tango

Orange Scarflette TangledWebStor... $15.00	Heart Shaped Enamel Necklace... ArtJewelryByIl... $46.00
A Flare for the Finer Things... fitzysparrow $18.00	orange 'little of everyt... thesoapaddict $25.00
Curvy - 5x7 photograph Zyada $15.00	Sterling Silver and Vintage ... AmyNicoles $40.00
Orange Daisy Carved Coral Br... reneesumner $23.50	Owl Knit Hat - with owls all... CocoCocoa $26.00
Cat t-shirt childrens orange littleleestudi... $19.00	Turquoise and Tangerine Dang... CooperStreet $22.00
Neatly Pressed - Mad Men Ins... leslieannelevi... $16.50	Tropicana Magnetic Bookmark BookInz $8.00
Pink and Orange Sock Yarn, 2... dye2spin $25.00	Dog collar and leash set thereddogbarke... $39.00
Butterfly Button Necklace robotpop $12.00	NEW super soft Peach Cotton ... kraftymommy09 $28.00

Inspired by Pantone color of the year Tangerine Tango. Are you going to be doing the tango this year, or are your sights set on a different color for 2012? Let us know your favorite color for this year and it may be featured in an upcoming Treasury Tuesday.

Special Bonus Treasury by Ky of Book-Inz.

Member Monday: Meet....

2012-02-13T10:13:00.000-06:00

Ky Nguyen-Zubroski!

1. Introduce yourself!

My name is Ky Nguyen-Zubroski and I live in Hurst, TX with my spouse, our daughter, six dogs, two cats, numerous fish, and a bird. I tell people I read the fine print when asked what I do for a living, but really I save the world from dog eared books and lost bookmarks.

THanksgiving: Our raison d'etre, our daughter. We tell her we make Book-Inz for milk money. She eats like a teenage boy, so it works.

2. Tell us what you primarily create, and what your favorite mediums are.

I make Book-Inz, the world's smartest bookmark! I use 100% cotton fabric for all my creations, I guess you could call it my favorite medium, as it's my only medium...

3. Talk a little about what you love most in the creative process. How making art makes you feel.

I make one item in a variety of fabrics, so I get to express personality through it. I love shopping for fabrics. It has forced me out of my comfort zone because I am making Book-Inz for other people, so I can't limit them to my taste, I HAVE to open my mind to possibilities. Some of the weirdest fabrics I've purchased turned out to be my bestsellers. It's definitely been an eye-opening experience. So now I don't turn away from a fabric simply because I don't care for it. I think in general, I create functional personality. It can't just look cute, it has to serve a valid purpose. And in Book-Inz, I've found my metier.

4. Is there an art or craft you are interested in learning? Or have you tried them all?

I crochet in my free time. It gets me into a zen state of mind. I would love to learn to knit, but I get stuck on the casting on part every time! Unfortunately for me, my little sister got all the artistic gifts in the family. I can't draw a stick figure to save my life, yet she would enter those city poster/art contests as a teen to earn extra money. Her eye for color and design makes me drool. Me, on the other hand, I have learned over time to stick with what I know. I know how to follow a function backwards to figure out how to make it better and I know what to do to make it pleasing to the eye. I think there's enough creativity and imagination in this world that I DON'T have to know how to do everything, I can just point to someone who does and happily sew away!

5. Talk a little about what being a member of EFW means to you.

To be honest, at first, I wasn't sure being a team member of any team was beneficial - one more thing to put on my plate. I have since learned that sharing knowledge and experiences is one of the best things artisans can do with one another. Incubators for creative thinking, critical mass for creativity, and someone who knows what you do and what you need to do and is willing to give you a kick in the butt. Coming together from so many different areas of art and creativity makes for a fantastic team.

6. Share your workspace, or favorite tools.

My trusty Wonder Twins: I have two sewing machines and two sergers, so technically I have Wonder Quadruplets, but I typically stick with my Twins. LOVE my machines! Could not have done any of this without them.

7. Share an item you are particularly proud of.

Felix the Cat Blingz Book-Inz: a fellow etsian showed me how to make bottle caps and after much trial and frustrating error, I figured out how to attach them securely to Book-Inz. Now I offer Keepsakes, where the customer sends me their image and I turn it into a Book-Inz. I've gotten orders for more puppy Keepsakes than anything, and I am so happy to give my customers a way to spend time with their furkids!

Skullz: This is Book-Inz in it's most basic form. We're on version 2.1. It has taken a lot of mistakes to perfect the way it works and looks. It is simple in form, but detailed and time consuming in creation.

And Book-Inz truly was a fluke design. Pat borrowed a book from a neighbor and used a popsicle stick for a bookmark because she couldn't find the one I had just bought her. The popsicle stick cracked the spine. Come to find out the book was out of print. We felt terrible. And in the process, the neighbor was telling us to use other things instead, including a ribbon. Which got me to thinking about how Bibles and dictionaries have that permanent ribbon...I tossed and turned all night trying to figure out how to make that concept happen. A couple of strange looks from the staff at Hobby Lobby and Jo-Ann's and my sewing skills later, Book-Inz was born. And here's a funny, I was recently digging around inside the sofa lining to rescue our tv remote and found that cool bookmark Pat thought she had lost...

Thank you!

Ky Nguyen

'Like' Book-Inz on Facebook!

Upcoming Shows:

3/10 - 3/11: Funky Finds' Spring Fling (Fort Worth, TX)

4/21 - 4/22: Funky Finds' Spring Fling (Longview, TX)

*********************

Thank you for a great interview Ky!

Show Us Your: Favorite Recipe

2012-02-12T07:30:00.000-06:00

This week on the blog we shared a bit about Krafty Mommy , an Amethyst inspired treasury,

issued a challenge, shared some tips, trick or technique , and a biscuit recipe .

While we enjoy sharing with you we would also like to get to know you better. To make it fun and easy we have decided to hold a "Show Me Your...." every Sunday.

This week we would like for you to share with us your favorite recipe.

Rules to participate-
1. Please become a follower or subscriber of the blog

2. Please link directly to the blog post or Pinterest pin with the recipe.

3. It does not have to be a recent post.

4. No business opportunities or giveaway links please.

Please try to continue to spread the word so that we can keep this party going. Write a post about it on your blogs with a link and let your friends know about it so they link up too.

This post was written by Margaret at Hearts & Home.

Tip, Trick or Technique

2012-02-11T08:00:00.003-06:00

What's your favorite tool and one word to describe it.

Stephanie at Robot Pop's favorite - Ashford Kiwi Spinning Wheel - Wheeee!Not sure why this came up when I googled for an image, but hey, I can't pass up a dog. Especially one that claims to be an Ashford Kiwi Spinning Wheel.

This post was written by Mindi at Red Dog Barkery. Visit her Etsy shop for durable, yet fashionable goods, or her blog for bits that are sure to whet your appetite.

Friday Foodie: Biscuits

2012-02-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

I love homemade biscuits.

I know that there are lots of recipes and tips out there for how to make biscuits. This is the recipe I grew up with and the one that I make.

2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 tablespoons shortening
1 cup milk mixed with 1 Tbsp vinegar (kind of a buttermilk substitute)

Mix dry ingredients.
Cut in shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Add milk, mix until wet.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly a few times, just until smooth (adding additional flour if needed). Pat the dough to 3/4 inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter cut out biscuits. Place in a round pan with the biscuits touching each to keep them soft.
Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes (until golden).

I like to eat my biscuits with butter and jam.

Find Julie is Coco and Cocoa daily here

Upcycle THIS: February Craft Challenge - Empty Thread Spools!

2012-02-08T08:30:00.026-06:00

This is the second of what is to be a regular occurrence here at the Etsy Fort Worth blog, I would like to introduce you to your February Craft Challenge:

Photo courtesy of Brenda Gottsabend
via Flickr.com, CC BY 2.0

Empty Thread Spools!

(If you missed the explanation of the Monthly Craft Challenge you can read it here)

After January's challenge using disposable sushi trays as our secret ingredient, I had several requests for upcoming challenges to use more readily available objects so that more people were able to enter! Now, while not everyone sews, chances are you might still know someone who does who also happens to keep empty spools around 'for something'. So hopefully, if you're interested in this particular challenge it won't be too difficult to get your hands on some of these.

For your project, you may use one of these spools, or you may use several. It doesn't matter whether they're wooden or plastic. Use whatever you have! Don't forget to document your steps along the way with pics and notes and be sure to take a 'before' photo as well as the 'after' one! (I would also recommend including a list of supplies and materials at the top of your post).

Write your tutorial or how-to blog post on your own blog and post the link in the widget at the bottom of this post by Wednesday February 29th at 11:59pm at the latest. (Voting will begin at 12:00am March 1st, at which point the link-up widget will block new entries). We'll blast out the link to this post to all our social networks, and you do the same - we all encourage everyone we know to vote! Winners will be chosen by the number of votes (voting closes at 11:59pm March 7th) and will be announced with a featured blog post the following week which is all about you, with links to your shop, blog, etc. and your logo badge will be stationed on our sidebar for a whole month!

We hope you are inspired to create by this crafty challenge, and that you'll have tons of fun in the process! Thanks for reading; now go forth, and GET CRAFTY!

You can find last month's contest here: Upcycle THIS: January Craft Challenge - Disposable Sushi Trays!

This post was written by Jessica of Bespangled Jewelry. Visit her Etsy shop for beautiful handmade artisan jewelry, or her blog for inspiration, beauty, and goodness!

Treasury Tuesday

2012-02-07T06:00:00.002-06:00

Amethyst

Vintage purple glass charm e... fitzysparrow $15.00	Purple Extrafine Merino, Nyl... dye2spin $23.00
Elevator Love Letter - Purpl... leslieannelevi... $19.50	Pet Deer....Twirl Skirt fluffygirlbout... $37.99
Pinafore Apron, Pantaloons a... heartsandhome $45.00	Violet Purple Amethyst Gemst... bespangledjewe... $38.00
Framed Bees on Texas Sage Pr... jmlphotoworks $30.00	February Amethyst Hand Paint... robotpop $7.00
Amethyst and Silver Hoop Ear... ArtJewelryByIl... $14.00	Lavender Peace Wall Cross LaughingCrafte... $26.00
Ruffled Crochet Necklace CocoCocoa $18.00	lavender and honey lip balm thesoapaddict $3.50
Lavender and Black Tutu with... CooperStreet $29.00	Purple Roses with Green Leaf... reneesumner $14.00
NoM nOm NOM seaminglyartfu... $10.00	Buttoned Up Magnetic Bookmar... BookInz $10.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Member Monday: Meet...

2012-02-06T10:46:00.000-06:00

Melissa Hedger! Also know on the web as Krafty Mommy!

1. Introduce yourself:

My name is Melissa Hedger and I live in Fort Worth with my husband and daughter. I am a mother's day out director during the week, and and embroiderer/seamstress on the evenings and weekends.

2. What do you primarily create? What are some of your favorite mediums?

I enjoy making baby items; blankets, bibs, burp cloths and diaper clutches. I also enjoy making clothing for kids too. I make appliqued items as well. I am moving toward making more Mommy items too. Business card holders, yoga bags, handmade tote bags, and iPod carrying cases.

I love soft fabrics; flannel, milky, and cottons.

3. Is there an art or craft you are interested in learning?

I would love to learn how to crochet. I knit, but have never crocheted.

5. Tell us what being a member of Etsy Fort Worth means to you.

Etsy Fort Worth means that I am a part of a select group of crafters. I have been chosen to be in a group of extremely talented crafters. It is an honor to me to be a part of Etsy Fort Worth.

My greatest achievement in my Krafty Mommy career, is my beautiful 6 needle embroidery machine. I worked so hard to be able to save money to buy that machine. It has helped my turn around time so much.

I love what I do, I just wish I could work on it all the time.

You can find Melissa on the web at www.kraftymommy.com, or contact her at kraftymommy@gmail.com

**************************************************************************************
Members are given a list of questions along with a request to provide what ever information they feel comfortable giving. Each interview is based on that individual members response.

Thank you for stopping in to meet our members! Have a Happy Monday all.

Show Us Your: Store

2012-02-05T07:03:00.010-06:00

This week on the blog we shared a bit about Amy Nicole, A lovely treasury, a little birthstone lore, some tips and tricks, a great cake recipe and the voting began for the craft challenge. While we enjoy sharing with you we would also like to get to know you better. To make it fun and easy we have decided to hold a "Show Me Your...." every Sunday.

This week it’s your turn to highlight where you sell what you create. Remember, this link up is mainly for cottage industry shops–individuals and families working at home etc.

This is a great way for people to find what you are selling.

Rules to participate-
1. Please become a follower or subscriber of the blog

2. It is required that you be the owner/operator of the shop that you link up.

3. It must be family friendly items for sale.

NO business opportunity, or giveaway links, thank you.

Please try to continue to spread the word so that we can keep this party going. Write a post about it on your blogs with a link, and let your friends with shops know about it so they link up too. Whatever helps! Thanks!

This post was written by Margaret at Hearts & Home.

Tip, Trick or Technique

2012-02-04T08:00:00.004-06:00

I've had this picture in my to do's since 2009 and I finally did it and my ribbons are so much more accessible and easy to see. Those are shower curtain hooks across the bottom. In case you don't have a handy place to hang one, try this instead.

This post was written by Mindi at Red Dog Barkery. Visit her Etsy shop for durable, yet fashionable goods, or her blog for bits that are sure to whet your appetite.

Birthday Cake

2012-02-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

When I got married my mother-in-law gave me a couple of recipes. One of them for the lasagna that we make for Christmas every year. Another one was for my husband's birthday cake. It's the recipe that I make for him every year.

Ingredients
Chocolate cake mix (including oil, eggs, etc)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tub of Cool Whip

Prepare a box of chocolate cake mix according to directions.
Grease and flour a cookie pan (15 x 10). Pour cake mix in and bake for 15-20 minutes.
When done, remove from over and poke holes all over with a fork. Pour 1 can of sweetened condensed milk over all of it. Let cool.
Frost with Cool Whip.
optional - grate a candy bar over the top or use chocolate sprinkles

Find Julie is Coco and Cocoa daily here

February’s Birthstone

2012-02-03T05:52:00.000-06:00

Amethyst Facts

Amethyst comes from the Greek word "amethystos," meaning sober.
Amethyst is the purple variety of the mineral quartz Amethyst does not come in any other variety of colors like many gemstones do, but it does come in several different shades of purple.
Amethysts have a Mohs’ hardness of 7, which is about the same as a garnet or 1/15 as hard as a diamond.

Amethyst lore
The early Greeks believed that amethyst would protect the wearer from the effects of drunkenness when consuming wine. In ancient Rome amethyst was crushed and added to wine to prevent drunkenness. Known as the sobriety stone as it was also believed to assist with healing from additions and compulsive behaviors.

The intense violet hue of Amethyst appealed to early monarchs, perhaps because they often wore this color. Purple dye was scarce and expensive at one time, and so it was reserved for the garments of kings and queens.
Amethyst is also symbolic of spirituality and piety. It has been used to ornament crosses used in religious ceremony, and worn in rings and on rosaries by bishops and priests.

When given as a gift Amethyst is symbolic of protection and the ability to overcome difficulty. It is also believed strengthen the bond in a love relationship, so it is an ideal anniversary, engagement or even a valentine’s day gem stone gift.

Check out Brazilian Amethyst necklace by Art Masquerading as Jewelry, Amethyst Crystal Jewel Earrings by Peach, Plum, Pear, Amethyst Gemstone Sterling Silver Necklace by Be Spangled Jewelry or Amethyst and Silver Hoop Earrings By Art Jewelry by Ilene Kay.

Treasury Tuesday

2012-01-31T06:00:00.005-06:00

Romance

LOVE Twirl Skirt fluffygirlbout... $37.99	Love Song - Valentines Day G... wildflowerarts... $3.95
Lavendar Enamel Earring - Vi... ArtJewelryByIl... $49.00	Knit Bow Ear Warmer CocoCocoa $18.00
Hand-dyed Sock Blank, Pinkie... dye2spin $24.00	Sterling Silver Poppy Ring AmyNicoles $100.00
Girls boutique eyelet blouse... TheMulberriBus... $12.99	Delicate Heart Wooden Jewelr... JustOffNormal $8.00
I Am Loved Necklace--Rough R... bespangledjewe... $42.00	The Audrynn Reversible Sunha... CooperStreet $35.00
Stamped Kiss Rain Custom Sil... Serenitystorms $8.95	Turquoise Diamond Corazon Mo... LaughingCrafte... $28.00
Club Purse TangledWebStor... $10.00	Cupid Fisher.... vintage ins... fitzysparrow $24.00
Hot Pink Cheetah Magnetic Bo... BookInz $8.00	Valentine's Blossom - Yo... leslieannelevi... $9.50

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Member Monday! Meet: Amy Nicole

2012-01-30T10:02:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! My name is Amy Nicole, and I live and work in Grapevine, Texas. I live with my husband and 2 daughters, (almost!) 7 and 10 years old. I am a work at home Mom, which enables me to put my family first and still be able to run my own itsy bitsy business.

Camping in Lake Tahoe August 2011

I am a silversmith, and I make jewelry.


Bleeding Heart Earrings


Sterling silver and labradorite


Sterling Silver and Amethyst

Sterling Silver and Turquoise ring


Sterling Silver and Turquoise Necklace

I love working with metal, forming it to create something wearable and beautiful. I love adding stones for pops of color! I love that working with metal is dirty business and requires the use of all sorts of cool tools.

This is what my work shop looks like when it's clean. I almost didn't recognize this photo since it is not that clean right now!

I have always been creatively inclined and have tried just about every art and craft out there. I taught myself to crochet at an early age, and I remember making clothes for my dolls! I began playing with beads at a tender age as well. I've cross stitched, embroidered, made candles, rubber stamped and scrapbooked, painted, knitted, you name it, I've probably tried it.

I seem to become obsessed with a new craft, make a jillion things, and then suddenly move onto something else. Jewelry making seems to keep resurfacing, and since I began smithing, I think I have found my true love.

There are so many avenues to explore in the field of metalsmithing, and I hope that will keep my interest from waning! I also work with metal clay and enamel on occasion. I picked up a leather kit last fall, and fell in love with working with leather, and I fully intend to add it into my work somehow.
But, being a one woman show with a demanding family, I never have enough time!

I just joined Etsy Fort Worth this year. I have been astounded at the world of Handmade since discovering Etsy. It blew my mind that there was this whole community of really talented people out there making things by hand, and it just wasn't your typical craft show items either!

Being a member of Etsy Fort Worth means getting to know other artisans in my area that are like minded in their approach to living creatively and promoting Handmade. I am really excited to get to know our members better! And I hope you are too, because each week I'll be highlighting a new member.

I can be found everywhere on the web! I always direct everyone to my blog. There you can find all my links to FaceBook, Flickr, my own online store, my Etsy shop. It is basically my hub to all things Amy Nicole on the internet!

Blog
Etsy Shop

See you next Monday!!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

I was in the mood for dessert, but looking through my pantry didn't inspire me. So I went to Pinterest and entered yellow cake mix (because I had one of those) to see what what would pop up.

How excited was I when I saw this!

image via

I clicked on the picture and got taken to the blog "The Girl Who Ate Everything" and the recipe for this delicious treat. The original recipe called for 12 oz of chocolate chips but I didn't have any of those. I did have an 8 oz box of Baker's baking chocolate squares, so that's what I used. And no one, aside from me, in my house likes coconut so I skipped that. Here's what I ended up using:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

1 (18.25) package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate (I used Baker's baking chocolate squares)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine cake mix, melted butter, peanut butter, and eggs in a large bowl using a mixer or spoon. Press this into a 9X13 pan reserving 1 1/2 cup of the mixture to crumble on top.

In a small pot, melt chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and butter. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla

Spread chocolate mixture over the mixture pressed in the pan and then crumble the 1 1/2 cups of reserved cake mixture on top evenly.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Here's how mine looked fresh from the oven

Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Enjoy!

Find Julie is Coco and Cocoa daily here

A Sneak Peek inside my favorite Craft Resource Book!

2012-01-25T16:10:00.003-06:00

For me, choosing a favorite craft book must be like what a mother would feel like to have to choose a favorite child. I don't have any children, but I do have a shelf full of amazing craft and hobby books full of project ideas and inspiration. I cherish each and every one of them for different reasons, and they are all equally special to me. And they really do light up my life!

However, I don't think I'll hurt any of their feelings if I did have to choose, so for the sake of not having to change the title of this post, I'll go ahead and tell you what my favorite book is...for today.

Decorative Crafts Sourcebook from Amazon.com

This Decorative Crafts Sourcebook is one I almost always turn to first, when I'm in need of an idea. It is a 300 page encyclopedia of techniques with pages and pages of step-by-step how-to's in each category for Paper, Fabric, Metal/Wire & Wood, Ceramic & Glass.

But not only does it give you hundreds of incredible techniques, it goes on to give you projects which use some of those techniques within each category.

For example, some of the techniques are embedding leaves or other botanicals into handmade paper, or dyeing paper with tea or beets. These bars of handmade soap are wrapped in handmade paper embedded with leaves which is dyed with tea, and embellished with a pretty ribbon and sealing wax. So, it uses a combination of a few different ideas, and the result is simply lovely!

It also has a project of making a Decorative Paper Window Shade using the same leaf-embedded paper.

Some other really interesting techniques are things like smocking paper and applying other fabric techniques to this medium for a cool result.

A fabric project that I'm really excited to try is the Salt Dyed Napkins:

I think these are absolutely beautiful, and I can make them in any color combination I want...as soon as I decide what colors my kitchen should be when I repaint it. Someday.

The greatest thing about the book isn't necessarily the projects, though...What I use if for is the wide array of techniques. I may have an idea for a project already in mind, but I'm looking for a way to give it a twist, to make it unique, and that's what I always look to the Decorative Crafts Sourcebook for.

You can get your own copy right here from Amazon:

or look for it the next time you're at a bookstore!

This post was written by Jessica of Bespangled Jewelry. Visit her Etsy shop for beautiful handmade artisan jewelry, or her blog for inspiration, beauty, and goodness!

Treasury Tuesday

2012-01-24T06:00:00.006-06:00

Love is in the Air

Pearl Dangle Earrings - Pear... ArtJewelryByIl... $49.00	lavender palmarosa vegan fac... thesoapaddict $6.00
You're The Cat's Meo... thereddogbarke... $5.00	Hunger Games Every Minute Pe... Serenitystorms $11.95
LAST ONE Vanilla Buttercream... robotpop $15.00	I Love You Solid Maple Teeth... JustOffNormal $12.00
Floral Greeting cards, set o... Zyada $12.00	Romantic Hearts Earrings ArtMasqueradin... $25.00
Crystal Drops with Red accen... Gnashchick $10.00	Infant's Eyelet Lace Tri... heartsandhome $20.00
Pink, Red, and Purple Malabr... dye2spin $34.00	Sterling silver and Turquois... AmyNicoles $175.00
Valentine's Gold Heart P... bespangledjewe... $62.00	Hearts Themed Bib, Burp Clot... kraftymommy09 $42.00
Framed Rose Print jmlphotoworks $25.00	Je T'aime Ruby Earrings reneesumner $25.00

Accepting Credit Cards

2012-01-20T21:00:00.002-06:00

Today's post was written by Ky from BookInz. If you enjoy reading and are looking for the perfect bookmark go check her site out!

If you’re a crafter who sells at shows, you really should look into accepting credit cards, if you don’t already do so. Not only do we sell at craft shows, we also BUY! And I won’t name names, but a certain vendor lost my sale last weekend because I didn’t have enough cash to buy all the products I wanted to buy and they didn’t take credit cards! A $50-60 sale, easy, but lost to another vendor who happily took my card for her goods.

There are several programs and systems out there, some require a contract, some require equipment purchases, some require electricity. And as a small vendor, we don’t really want to get locked into expensive contracts. Some of the shows don’t even offer electricity as an option. And purchasing equipment requires a cash outlay that isn’t always convenient for the business…

Meet Square (www.squareup.com), a nifty little gadget that hooks up to your smartphone via a FREE app for use with iPhone, iPad and Android. No contract, no equipment to buy, no electricity needed…unless you need it for your smartphone! (And I have a handy gadget for THAT, too!) You sign up online, enter your bank information and VOILA! You are set up to accept credit cards. And not just the ol’ Visa/Mastercard, either…you can also accept Discover and AmEx, with NO ADDITIONAL COST! That’s right, it costs the same amount to accept Discover and AmEx as it does for Visa/Mastercard! And let’s discuess those costs, shall we?

2.75% for each swiped transaction
3.50% + $0.15 for each keyed transaction (sometimes the magnetic stripe is worn down, tell your customer to get themselves a NEW CARD!)
New users get the first $1,000 of each seven (7) day period deposited the next business day.
Accounts are periodically reviewed for deposit amount increases.
The little reader accessory is shipped FREE to you! (We like FREE, a LOT!)
NO contract. NO equipment to buy. LOW costs. The fee is deducted before the deposit is made. Each transaction results in a nifty little email telling you how much, where and what your daily tally is. Not only that, but your app also lets you see what transactions have been made on your Square.

So enough about the technicals…here’s my personal experience:

I started using Square at the Funky Finds Spring Fling. GREATEST crafter thing EVER. I LOVE this little white plug in. LOVE IT. (Did I mention how much I <3 it?)

Show was on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s money showed up in my account Tuesday AM. Sunday’s money was there Wednesday AM. Direct deposit, baby! And the other sweet thing? Bank fees (including Square) are 100% tax deductible! So you really didn’t spend a dime on those processing fees, did you? Of course, you have to be a registered business to take those deductions, but still, how much more convenient does it have to be?

And as for sales? There was a noticeable uptick in multiple quantity sales when my customers saw that I accepted credit cards. The average credit card sale was $30. My average cash sale is $6. You do the math…

All of the above to say, if you don’t use Square, you need to. Really. It’s a great convenience for your customer and an instant sales booster for YOU! And while we’re in this for the passion of our craft, I’d like to think maximizing our sales is somewhere in the next four items down the list. This little white plug in gadget is your not so secret sales booster.

Go. Sign up now. You’ll thank me later.

Learn How to Dye

2012-01-17T21:09:00.001-06:00

Today's post was written by Ashley from Dye2Spin.

I’ve been meaning to do several things with the information I’ve learned about dyeing fiber in the last year. I’ve wanted to make awesome videos to post on YouTube, write blog posts, create hot DVDs for sale, you know… but I gotta start somewhere (has “gotta” made it into the dictionary quite yet? It works so well here.).

In this blog post I’ll take you through the major steps in my personal process of dyeing animal fiber. I’ve learned so much from different people in my life, on YouTube and in books about this topic that I can’t name them all here. I did not invent this process but I’ve come up with some strategies that fit my needs and desires for how I dye fiber. I’m sure you will too, along the way. In this case, we’re dyeing some sheeps wool, Merino wool, one of the top contenders on the soft scale in my opinion. So here goes.

"Captain Jack" Merino 64s Roving, Dye2Spin.etsy.com

Where to find fiber?

As you may already know or assume, there are TONS of places online and in the physical world where one can purchase fiber for spinning, felting, general crafts, or hoarding purposes. For example, if you search for “sheeps wool fleece” or “merino combed top” on eBay, you will find a plethora of farms from around the globe selling the fleece that their animals produce each year (sometimes twice per year). You can search by specific breed of sheep. You can search for alpaca and llama fiber, etc.

I do most of my shopping on Alpaca Direct since I can search easily by color and animal type and I know what the price will generally be. Now, I must disclose that my eco-friendly brain radar shoots off a warning signal because there are several bits of information that are missing from Alpaca Direct. For instance, which country does the fiber come from? Are the farms using humane practices when not only shearing but in raising the animals? eBay gives a buyer more information regarding the location of the farm. Usually you can start a conversation with the actual farmer and ask questions. Through Alpaca Direct, this may not be as easy.

If you’re interested in learning how to process a raw fleece (shorn off the animal, “skirted” to get rid of all the big nasty stuff around the bottom parts of the animal, and put into a bag to send off to you), then you can find people/farmers willing to work with you. There are also fiber farmers on eBay who reflect this opportunity in the price. If you do more of the processing work (i.e. picking vegetable matter out, combing/carding, and washing the fleece) then the price drops considerably. You can also find a nice medium where the fleece is washed and picked but not carded/combed or turned into roving or top. You do this yourself at home and see what a project it truly is before you dye it and/or turn it into yarn. (I don’t mean to make that sound negative. Its a huge undertaking. However, in the “process” you become more aware of your work and understand the origins of yarn and cloth making, in my opinion. Plus it gives you like, 4 more points on the awesome scale.)

Raw and Washed Alpaca Fleece, Hand Carders to prep for spinning

Safety Measures

You will need to protect your eyes and skin as well as the surface in which you are dyeing. Rubber or vinyl gloves will help with your hands. An old apron will protect your clothes. Goggles or glasses will protect your eyes. I personally use freezer paper to protect my surface. This is because it is heavy duty, I don’t need to replace it if it gets wet. And, there is a layer of plastic on one side. I put that facing down so that the dye, if it spills, won’t roll around and just end up on the floor. However, this plastic layer ensures that no dye will reach my counter, unlike newspaper that will just saturate and leave dye stains anyway. I can use freezer paper to protect my counter top over and over and over. Newspaper needs to be replaced the moment its wet. So, go with the freezer paper.

If you’re working with professional acid dye powder you MUST wear a dust mask that covers your nose and mouth. The fine particles of powder get into the air and into your lungs. Please take the extra step to prevent this. I’ve gotten so lazy in the past several months about using my dust mask but I won’t let it slip away. There are heavy metals in these acid dyes and you don’t want to mess around with it.

Ok, enough about that. If you have more questions about the above topic, please ask!

Pre-Soak the Fiber

You want to take your clean fiber and soak it in a vinegar bath for at least 30 minutes, sometimes more if time gets away from you or if there is silk in the roving. Hell, there was a time that I had to put off finishing my dye project and the fiber sat in the vinegar bath for and entire week before I could get to it. It won’t hurt the fiber. If there was a measurement of how much vinegar, I’d say a “glug” or two for every 4-8 oz of fiber you’re soaking along with enough water to barely cover.

Thank goodness vinegar is on the cheap side in the grocery store.

After this step, you’re ready to take the roving out of the bowl and lay it out on your surface. I use an old cookie sheet covered in the aforementioned freezer paper, plastic side UP. When the plastic side is up its easier to wipe up the left over liquid with an old towel. I carefully squeeze the extra liquid out of the roving, over the bowl, with one hand and lead the roving to my cookie sheet with the other hand. You don’t want your roving to be soaking wet when it hits the cookie sheet because you’ll be adding more liquid when dyeing.

I zig-zag the roving onto the cookie sheet. You can make a spiral shape, square shape, whatever floats your fancy. I use the zig-zag because it fits better on my working surface.

Plastic side up on the cookie sheet.

As you can see in the picture above, I have many glass jars of dye stock, ready to use. These can sit in the cupboard, tightly sealed, for months and they won’t go “bad.” I use old glass jars because I don’t trust plastic containers for storage. Plus, I don’t just have a bunch of plastic containers with screw-on lids just laying around. But, trust me on this one, I eat my fair share of pickles in my house. ; )

Mixing Dye Stock with Acid and Food-Safe Dyes

Food safe dyes are the easiest to use because you don’t have to use a dust mask and they are cheaper and more widely available at the grocery store than acid dyes. The process is simple. You take one of your clean spaghetti or pickle jars, fill about an inch of it with water from the tap, microwave it for about 30 seconds to a minute (get it hot enough to steam but not boiling), add your Kool-Aid packet or about 30-40 drops of food coloring OR an easter egg dye tablet (we won’t go into using fruits or vegetable material in dyeing because I myself haven’t learned that technique yet). Mix with a plastic spoon (that can be wiped off and reused over and over again as well) so that the powder or coloring is completely incorporated with the water. Then add your white distilled vinegar to fill the rest of the container.

With professional acid dyes like Rit or Jacquard, you will do the same process as mentioned above. For a standard sized pickle jar (14-16 oz, I think) you will use approximately one teaspoon of dye powder. I don’t measure with a teaspoon, I just eyeball it. You will learn after working with the dye how much to use. If you use too much, you will get rich color and may have some left over in the water you dye with. If not enough dye powder is used the dye stock with “exhaust” (run out of color) quickly and you may need to add more. You can actually use the exhausted stock again for some pretty cool results.

Carefully pour your finished dye stock into a plastic applicator bottle. I have 8 oz bottles that I picked up from my craft store for about $2. These can be washed and re-used over and over again. I don’t typically store the dye stock in these, however.

Now we’re ready to DYE!

Applying the Dye

I’m not an expert on color combos, I just do what works for my customers and for me. I like to do things differently as you can see in my online Etsy Shop, Dye2Spin. Everyone has their own dye techniques just waiting to come out! So, be brave and learn what works for you and what doesn’t. Some books I have are Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece and Color in Spinning. Both are excellent references.

With gloved hands, make some circles with one of your colors, about 6 inches in diameter. You will have to use your other gloved hand to press the dye into the roving, do NOT rub, press. You will quickly find out whether or not you’ve used enough dye. The dye will attach itself to the fiber and then all you’ll see, as you press and massage, is the clear liquid left behind. If you lift up the roving that you just dyed, you may see that the bottom side of it has no color. This is OK. Its all a part of the learning. Use your applicator bottle (refilled if needed) to carefully squirt some color on the under side of the roving if you want.

This is the underside of my Merino roving AFTER I squirted more blue dye stock on to ensure saturation of color.

After your circles, get another color and fill in the circles. Get another color and paint the outside of the circles you made. Or, you can pay attention to the edges of the roving. Either way, you’ll start seeing your roving turn into what may appear to be a mess of color.

Dark Blue circles with Golden Yellow in the middle and outsides. Olive green dots all around.

Your roving will be what it is. This is the best part of the entire process in my opinion, other than seeing it when dry and complete.

I choose to let the roving sit for about 20 minutes. The dye is not setting in any way, I just want the fibers to grab up all the dye stock it can. I press and massage with a gloved hand all around so I can help the dye along. I check the underside of the roving to make sure I don’t need to add any more dye to certain spots that have an absence of color.

White Spots

Don’t be afraid of white spots. I was devastated early on when I would take my roving out of the crock pot just to see a bunch of undyed areas staring back at me. Embrace these. They are not mistakes! The white, in my opinion, adds to the yarn when spun up. As you learn more and more about dyeing, you can learn to eliminate white or blank parts of the roving if that is your goal. However, don’t beat yourself up just because you have a white spot or two, or twenty. In this method I’m teaching today, there will be more than one white spot, most likely.

Heat Setting

Into the crock pot or stove top pot it goes! Now, the microwave is a heat setting tool that is ONLY to be used with food-safe dyes like Kool-Aid, easter egg tablets, or food coloring. NEVER use a microwave to set your roving after using a dye stock made with acid dye powder. NO NO NO! (with index finger shaking and teacher-face staring back at you) I personally don’t like putting my yarn or roving into the microwave because I don’t like thinking of what the micro-waves do to the fibers, but this is a widely used technique for heat setting. Many professional dyers use a separate microwave that food NEVER goes into for heat setting. Its certainly faster than the stove top or crock pot. But, I like being able to pull out my fiber from the pot to check in on it as it sets.

In this demo, we’ll use a crock pot. As you can see in the photos, it is CLEARLY labeled as a NON-FOOD crock pot. The stove top pot I use is also labeled. That way my husband or anyone else doesn’t use these for cooking, not that he’d get the hankering to use a crock pot, I’m just sayin’, safety first.

This is a Sock Blank being dyed in a crock pot. Please note that the crock pot is labeled for NO FOOD!

Ok, so the above picture is of a Sock Blank that I had about half in and half out of the crock pot. This is because I wanted to get a different color on different parts of the blank. More on that at another time.

Prepping the Crock Pot or Stove Top Pot

You will need to fill the pot you are using with about 2 inches of water and another glug of vinegar. Remember, the roving is most likely saturated with liquid so it will fill up the pot enough to cover the roving. The water in the pot needs to be at room temperature. This is essential because if the water in the pot is already steaming hot, the fiber will have an easier time of felting up with the stark contrast in temperatures.

So, you will pick up your roving all at once and quickly get it all into the crock pot. Using a clean plastic spoon, press down any parts of the roving that are sticking up. The roving only needs to be covered in water, the roving doesn’t need to be drowning in it.

Roving in the crock pot, just barely covered with water.

Set on Medium heat. If you’re using the stove top, be careful to watch that the water does not start a rolling boil. A rolling boil will felt the fiber. You don’t need boiling water to set the dye. I usually say that it just needs to be “at a steam.” No particular temp in mind. You will leave the fiber in for at least 30 minutes, sometimes longer. This depends on your use of dye. In some cases, so much dyes is used that the dye stock never fully “exhausts” (where there is no dye left and the water is clear). Rit dye will never fully exhast and leave clear water behind because it is made for both cellulose (plant-based) and protein (animal-based) fibers. My rule of thumb is that if fiber has been heat setting for more than an hour and there is still color in the water, its finished and you keep that exhaust for another project. If there’s lots of color left in the water, keep it in a jar. You can use it later. Oh, if you haven’t figured it out yet, start collecting glass jars NOW!

If I have to be somewhere or if I’m starting a dye project in the wee hours of the morning before I become a fifth grade teacher for the day, I’ll turn on my crock pot, go get ready and what-not, let it get hot and then turn it off RIGHT before I leave the house. I leave the fiber sitting in there all day. When I get home, its at room temp already and I can rinse right away. Just a tip for the busy peeps out there. Because who isn’t?

Rinsing and Drying

When you can lift the roving out of the water (with metal tongs you don’t use with food) and the water runs clear, or if its been a long time since the heat setting process started, the fiber is ready to go into the sink. Take it to the sink (with your goggles on to protect your eyes from hot splashes of vinegar-water) and carefully place it down to drain off. At this point the fiber is hot, really hot. Avoid touching it with your hands, you don’t want a burn. And avoid moving it around much at all. Sometimes, if I really don’t have much liquid in the pot, I just dump it all into the sink at once.

In an ideal situation, the fiber will cool off on its own to return to room temp before you move it around and rinse it out. This will help the fiber from becoming a felted mess. So, let’s assume that the fiber is back to room temp and is no longer steaming. Fill a Non-Food bowl with room temp water and lay the roving inside it. Press the roving so that the water can flush through the fibers. NEVER let a stream of water pour directly on the fiber. Felt Warning! Empty out the water and do this once more until all the water is clear.

Squeeze the fiber in your hands to get remaining liquid out. Do NOT wring the fiber like a washcloth. Felt Warning! Get as much moisture out of the fiber as possible. I hesitate using a towel with fiber roving because the fibers in a towel grab on to the fibers in roving or combed top. You just have what looks like an icky mess after pressing out with a towel. I would rather wait an extra day for it to dry as it hangs rather than use a towel. I’m ok with that.

Take it to the laundry room if its cold outside or outside on a grill, table, fence, or laundry hanging rack to dry. Note: the area underneath your drying station may get some color on it so be careful where this is placed. I would avoid drying fiber over wood flooring at all costs unless you don’t give two s#its about it, that is.

At the moment, its winter and I’m hanging my roving on the wire racks in my small laundry room, closed door, vent ON, to aid in the drying process.

Wet Roving in my Laundry Room

After several days (in the winter), you will see that the roving dries and puffs out.

Both yarn and Roving getting dry.

The roving in the above picture was only halfway dry at that point. If there are any parts of your roving that feel cool to the touch, it is not dry yet. Wait until all parts of it feel fluffy and free of moisture.

When the roving is completely dry, you are READY TO USE IT or send off to a friend or customer who can USE IT! To store my roving, I braid it up so it will look like the picture below.

Hand-dyed by me. Available online at Dye2Spin.etsy.com

I certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson on dyeing from beginning to end. I tried to include as many details with supportive photographs as possible. If you would like more information on a certain facet of dyeing or have any questions, please comment below. That way, the next person with the SAME question as you can also have the answer, even if they’re too shy to ask. If you have any constructive comments that will help me improve my tutorial posts, please email me at dye2spin@att.net

Thanks for stopping by! Like me on Facebook.

Fall in Love with EFW

2012-01-16T22:08:00.005-06:00

'Fall in Love with EFW' by CocoCocoa

Celebrate Valentine's Day with red items from the 2012 Etsy Fort Worth team

Deep TrueBlood Red Burgundy ... bespangledjewe... $72.00	Holiday Stocking Stuffer Gir... TheMulberriBus... $5.00
I Love You swirly heart reve... TangledWebStor... $10.00	Fiesta - Greeting Card by Wi... wildflowerarts... $3.95
Copper and Ceramic Charm Nec... AmyNicoles $42.00	orange fat cat tshirt 2t - r... littleleestudi... $19.00
Scarlet Ruby Red Chandelier ... reneesumner $13.00	Pinkie, Hand-dyed Merino 64s... dye2spin $15.00
Long Pink Womens Strapless T... CooperStreet $200.00	Ava in Ruby.... vintage char... fitzysparrow $19.00
RobotPop Magnetic Bookmark BookInz $8.00	Katie Daisy Peasant Top fluffygirlbout... $34.99
Framed Crape Myrtle Print jmlphotoworks $30.00	Fabric Covered Magnet Board ... JustHangItDesi... $30.00
Cables and Eyelet hat CocoCocoa $26.00	Norwegian Sweater - Vintage ... leslieannelevi... $12.50

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

chocolate chip cookies

2012-01-15T21:39:00.002-06:00

Have you tried the Texas sheet cake recipe yet? Is your sweet tooth ready for another treat? Great because Julie from Coco and Cocoa is sharing another tasty recipe with us today.

chocolate chip cookies.

When I was in elementary school my best friends would get so excited when my Mom would send me her homemade chocolate chip cookies in my lunch. I was usually nice and give them a bite. This recipe is one that has been made hundreds of times over the years (and often made in double batches).

I do have one note about this recipe. It's funny to me how even slightly changing one ingredient can drastically change the outcome of a recipe sometimes. In the case of this recipe, I notice the most change if I mess with the shortening. Butter flavored Crisco gives me the best results. I've tried other kinds and it's the one I always come back to.

Recipe

1 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Cream together the shortening and sugar. Then add the vanilla and eggs. Mix well.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (add more if the dough seems too soft)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

6 oz. chocolate chips

Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the creamy shortening/sugar mixture. Once it is all mixed together, add the chocolate chips.

Place rounded spoonfuls on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. You need to check them after about 8 minutes. They're best if you take them out when they just start turning brown on top.

Upcycle THIS: January Craft Challenge - Disposable Sushi Trays!

2012-01-11T12:13:00.013-06:00

For the first of what is to be a regular occurrence here at the Etsy Fort Worth blog, I would like to introduce you to your January Craft Challenge:

Disposable Sushi Trays!

(If you missed the explanation of the Monthly Craft Challenge you can read it here)

I had a heck of a time deciding what to use as the very first 'secret ingredient' (and I won't tell you what the other contenders were because I will probably be using those at a later date) but I chose these because I personally haven't seen them used for anything like this before. Now I'm sure I could google it and find a gazillion things, but I'm not going to and I would encourage you not to either, because I think it will stunt your creativity. I think you can do better!

For your project, you may use one of these sushi trays, or you may use several. Don't forget to document your steps along the way with pics and notes and be sure to take a 'before' photo as well as the 'after' one! (I would also recommend washing used sushi trays in the dishwasher; they're fine on the top shelf with no heated dry cycle.)

Write your tutorial or how-to blog post on your own blog and post the link in the comments to this post by Wednesday February 1st. We'll create a post with a gallery of entries with links to your tutorials, and we all encourage everyone we know to vote! Winners will be chosen by the number of votes (voting closes at 11:59pm February 7th) and will be announced with a featured blog post the following week which is all about you, with links to your shop, blog, etc. and your logo badge will be stationed on our sidebar for a whole month!

We hope you are inspired to create by this crafty challenge, and that you'll have tons of fun in the process! Thanks for reading; now go forth, and GET CRAFTY!

This post was written by Jessica of Bespangled Jewelry. Visit her Etsy shop for beautiful handmade artisan jewelry, or her blog for inspiration, beauty, and goodness!

Etsy Fort Worth Announces a Monthly Craft Challenge Contest!

2012-01-10T13:09:00.001-06:00

I have a confession to make. Every time I toss an empty cardboard paper towel or toilet paper tube into the recycling bin, I think to myself...I bet I could come up with something aweseomely creative to do with a whole bunch of these. Luckily, I also have another, slightly cynical voice in my head that tends to quip back, where would you keep them, next to the jar of old buttons or that bowl full of corks?? you're gonna need a bigger house if you start collecting any more 'craft supplies' for projects that don't even exist yet...

There's just something about unconventional art supplies that is so hard to resist! If you're not an avid crafter, then you probably don't understand it, but if you are that very special kind of person, you know exactly what I mean, and I want to thank you for not judging me or thinking I might belong in an episode of a certain TV show for people who compulsively collect weird things for no reason (...I can't even say the name, it's too terrifying).

Well, luckily my friends at Etsy Fort Worth understand my compulsion, and are even enabling it by condoning a Monthly Craft Challenge blog post. Every month, on the 2nd Wednesday, we'll be posting a challenge to get your creativity flowing and hope that you'll participate by taking the 'secret ingredient' and turning it into something awesome! The idea is this:

We choose a random object that is generally discarded by most households as trash or is recycled, and introduce it to you as the monthly challenge object.
You are excited and inspired by it, and come up with something mind-bogglingly amazing to do with it, that ends up being aesthetically pleasing and possibly even functional.
You post the process on your own blog, with lots of pictures of all your steps, a list of supplies for the project, and an explanation of what you did to make it so fantastic.
Post a link to your blog post in the comments section of our original challenge post, before the specified deadline.
We will create a blog post with a gallery of all the entries (with links back to your blog, of course!) and encourage our readers, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers, etc. to vote for the one they like the best! You do the same with all your network of followers.

The entry with the most votes wins a featured blog post (all about you!) AND your logo badge that links to your shop or blog right here on the Etsy Fort Worth blogspot!

Keep your eyes peeled for the first challenge, which will be announced here tomorrow!

This post was written by Jessica of Bespangled Jewelry. Visit her Etsy shop for beautiful handmade artisan jewelry, or her blog forinspiration, beauty, and goodness!

Texas Sheet Cake

2012-01-09T09:34:00.000-06:00

Julie from Coco and Cocoa was kind of enough to share her moms cake recipe with us. The recipe was adapted from an old church cookbook.

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter

1cup water

4 tablespoons cocoa

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup milk

Frosting:

1 stick butter

4 tablespoons cocoa

6 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 pound powdered sugar

Bring butter, water, and cocoa to a boil. Add flour, sugar, and eggs. Dissolve baking soda into milk. Add to mixture and mix well. Bake in greased cookie sheet (those jelly roll pans work best) at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

While cake is baking make frosting. Bring butter, cocoa, milk, and vanilla to a boil. Beat in powdered sugar. Frost while the cake is hot.

You can read a little more about this recipe including more pictures here.

January’s Birthstone

2012-01-07T19:42:00.002-06:00

Garnet Facts

Garnet comes from the Latin word “granum” meaning grain.
Red garnets are known as the birthstone for January.
Even with the popularity red garnets, there are also garnets showing different shades of green, pale to bright yellow, blue, blue-green, fiery orange and fine earth- and umbra-shades.
Garnets have a Mohs’ hardness of 7 – 7.5 which makes this a durable, wearable and easy to set stone.

Garnet lore

Most of the symbolism associated with the garnet is connected with the fiery red color. The ruby red form of pyrope so often used in jewelry is named after the Latin word pyropos - "fire like".

It was believed that garnets emit a red light and some stories say that it was impossible to hide it - the red light would illuminate the darkness. A variation of this belief in the garnet's powers of illumination is the suggestion that it could reveal hidden and items and secrets. Spiritually it is said to illuminate dark times and bring hope. It was also said that Noah use the glow of a red garnet to illuminate the ark

Garnet has also been associated with eternity. As such it is sometimes used as a symbol of trust, devotion and loyalty. In Greek mythology Hades gave pomegranate seeds to Persephone to force her to return. This tale has led some people to use a gift of garnet stone jewelry as a token to ensure the return of a loved one.

Garnet has also been said to have healing properties. In the middle ages, knights would sometimes include garnets on their shields in an attempt to prevent injury.

In more recent history garnet is known as the stone for a successful business. If your business is not as good as it should be, just put 3 or more garnets on your desk to stimulate business success. It is believed that if a garnet is put under a pillow it will cure depression. Another belief is garnets can be used to make a person popular and increase self-esteem when worn as jewelry.

Whatever your reason to wear garnets, it’s your birthstone, for protection, to bring hope or because red is your favorite color. Garnets are beautiful, fiery and a durable stone to wear. Check out Bespangled jewelry.

Each Month in 2012 Ilene from Art Jewelry by Ilene Kay will feature the current months birthstone.

Meet the 2012 Etsy Fort Worth Team

2011-12-30T20:35:00.005-06:00

Click on any image below to view that item listing.
Click a shop name to visit that shop.

Art/Photography
Briana Kew Photography
JML PhotoworksKitschy Ya YaWildflower Art Studio

Ceramics
Laughing Crafter Studio

Childrens Clothing and Accessories
Fluffygirlboutique
Hearts & Home
Krafty MommySmockin RobinThe Mulberri Bush

Fiber ArtsCoco and CocoaDye2Spin
Handbags, Hats and AccessoriesBook-InzCooperStreet
The Tangled Web

Home DecorJust Hang It Just off Normal

JewelryAmy Nicoles Art Jewelry by Ilene Kay
Art Masquerading as Jewelry
Bespangled Jewelry
Emma Alison Designs
Fine and Dandy
Fitzy Sparrow
Gnash ArtsPeach Pear Plum
Robot Pop
Sincerely Serenity

Pet Products
The Red Dog Barkery

ScreenprintingLittle Lee Studios Seamingly Artful

Soap
The Soap Addict

The Vintagemobile

2011-12-12T08:00:00.001-06:00

1980 former school bus turned green-vintage-boutique on wheels. The Vintagemobile is the only mobile vintage store in Texas! We sell authentic vintage dresses, t-shirts, pearl snap shirts, tour shirts, cowboy boots, belts, sunglasses and many other unique vintage treasures. Right now you can find an Ugly Christmas Sweater for your holiday party. Do cat's really skate?

The Vintagemobile will be pulling in to Power and Light Press's Type Truck event with Etsy Fort Worth at Piper Hall on Dec 13th. Be there!

Lee's Grilled Cheese

2011-12-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

The only corners they are cut, are the sandwiches. Realizing that a lifetime of eating grilled cheese sandwiches could be put to good use, they use all fresh ingredients, 100% real cheese, locally baked sour dough bread and lots of love.

George Washington said "Grilled cheese makes you strong and keeps you honest". Come experience the warm, grilled, gooey goodness at Power and Light Press's Type Truck on Dec 13th.

Good Karma Kitchen

2011-12-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

These girls offer it all. They cater, offer personal chef services, cooking classes and will drive their food truck, Lucy, to your office, home or venue and set up shop.

Good Karma Kitchen strives to be the leading sustainable producer and provider of gourmet gluten-free vegetarian food products that emphasize taste and quality. In a market that is lacking quality, healthy and flavorful options, Good Karma Kitchen will be the choice not the substitute.

Catch up with them at Power and Light Press's Type Truck event next Tuesday, the 13th.

Red Jett Sweets

2011-12-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

The mobile cupcakery has arrived. The sweet red truck, called Ruby, is roaming the neighborhoods of Fort Worth. You can place an order or track them down for immediate gratification.

You'll be able to get up close and personal at Power and Light Press's Type Truck event on Dec 13th at Piper Hall.

Type Truck rolls into Cowtown

2011-12-07T08:00:00.004-06:00

In June of this year, Kyle Durrie of Portland, OR, set out on an adventure she calls Type Truck. She's traveling the U.S. in a converted 1982 Chevy Step Van with a full letterpress shop in the back.

You can follow her adventures in Type Truck. But why just read about it. You can meet her in person when she joins Etsy Fort Worth at Piper Hall on Dec 13th where she'll have the Type Truck pulled in and opened up for printing some Fort Worth themed fun.

Be sure and check out the video she produced for Kickstarter where she created a successful campaign to get this project moving on down the road. It's all kinds of creative, just like Kyle.

In addition to theType Truck, Red Jett Sweets will be joining us too. Red Jett Sweets uses only premium ingredients and their homemade signature cupcakes conjure up pure bliss. Have sugar will travel!

We are still adding more fun to the lineup so you can check the event for updates, but most importantly, be there. We want to give Kyle a big Fort Worth Howdy and make her glad she passed thru Texas on the map.

Etsy Fort Worth Membership is OPEN

2011-12-01T22:42:00.002-06:00

Want to be a part of a local craft community? Etsy Fort Worth is now accepting applications to be on the team! Find the details and applications H E R E!!

Friends & Family Sale

2011-11-27T22:04:00.004-06:00

Dear Friends,

Etsy Fort Worth welcomes you to join us online for our Friends and Family sale! Beginning Monday November 28th at midnight, get 15% off from any of our participating shops when you use coupon code "EFWfriends" at checkout!

You can knock out all your Holiday shopping with a few clicks of the mouse, whether on your lunch break at work, or from the comfort of your own home (go ahead, throw on your Snuggie, grab a cup of cocoa, and go crazy!*) Browse at your own leisure...You'll be amazed by adorable pet goods, the sweetest children's and babies' clothes, a wide variety of fabulous jewelry, awesome hand-knit and crochet accessories, delicious handmade soaps, and so much more! Won't it be great to give them something truly special without the hassle of malls, lines, or getting up at 3 in the morning to fight elbow-to elbow over mass-produced junk?? See, everybody wins!

When you shop Etsy Fort Worth this Holiday season, you'll score amazing deals and find a wide variety of unique gifts lovingly handmade by our talented group of local artisans. Try it! You'll see--it feels really good to give handmade!

We hope you'll share this with YOUR Friends and Family; be sure to pass this on and spread the Holiday Cheer!

Wishing You and Yours a Very Happy Holidays,

Etsy Fort Worth

*(Etsy Fort Worth cannot be held responsible for cocoa spilled on keyboards, so don't get TOO crazy!)

Thanksgiving Traditions

2011-11-23T08:00:00.003-06:00

Do you use place cards for your Thanksgiving meal? I made these turkeys from Martha Stewart a few years ago and they were really fun and easy to make. This is something inexpensive and fun that you could do as a family and you probably have enough supplies around the house that you wouldn't even have to make a trip out.

Martha Stewart

What's your secret weapon to stay organized for your holiday meal? When deciding which holiday dishes to use place a slip of paper on each, noting its assigned role, and add the proper utensils. You'll be surprised how much time this saves when you are running around at the last minute getting your tables set. The labels will also assist any host's helpers in carrying out the plans, too. I've been doing this for years and it saves so much time.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition? Have you taken over the family meal preparation or do you still go to parents or another family member's homes to share your meal?

Wherever you spend your holiday, make it good one and give thanks.

On Dasher, On Prancer, On Walker Texas Reindeer: It's time for the Etsy Dallas Jingle Bash

2011-11-18T08:00:00.002-06:00

This Saturday is the Etsy Dallas 4th Annual Jingle Bash. I am so excited to be a part of this event with over 60 artists, handmade holiday shopping, great music, a make and take station and 2 full bars. Libations and shopping always play well together. I hope you can make it out to the Palladium at So. Side in Dallas. You are sure to find something from your shopping list. You'll find many talented artists including Etsy Fort Worth's own.

Christie Cone Ceramics
Soap Addict
Red Dog Barkery

Holiday Gift Guide: Handmade for Children

2011-11-17T08:39:00.001-06:00

Julie from Coco and Cocoa put together this lovely treasury featuring our members that create one of a kind items for children. You can find out more about Coco and Cocoa by visiting her blog or Facebook page.

Grinch Twirl Dress
fluffygirlbo...
$55.99 USD
water whale
seaminglyart...
$10.00 USD
Turquoise Rick Rack Collar...
makaylacreat...
$12.00 USD
Pastel Rainbow Cloud Baby ...
angelcowdesi...
$25.00 USD
2 Floral Flannel Burp Clot...
kraftymommy0...
$8.00 USD
Knit Stocking Hat - made t...
CocoCocoa
$22.00 USD
Little House on the prairi...
heartsandhom...
$65.00 USD
Little boys like colors to...
SmartiePants...
$60.00 USD
Over the Head Pinafore Apr...
heartsandhom...
$30.00 USD
Seersucker A-line Sundress...
makaylacreat...
$15.00 USD
Hearts All Over Diaper Clu...
kraftymommy0...
$22.00 USD
Bear Crocheted Hat
CocoCocoa
$14.00 USD
baby jacket
TangledWebSt...
$45.00 USD
FUNky Christmas Peasant To...
fluffygirlbo...
$36.99 USD
Cozy Up
seaminglyart...
$15.00 USD

The Homeless Christmas Tree

2011-11-16T18:36:00.000-06:00

“Of what use is one ugly little tree?”

Atop a windswept hill, a crooked little tree stands alone . . . until one Christmas Eve, when an old woman labors up the hill with a box of ornaments, and tells the tree that he is special. He is to be the official Christmas tree for all of the homeless people in the city below!

A formerly homeless woman decorated the tree, year after year, so that the homeless would have a Christmas tree. When she died, neighbors took over the custom and now decorate it for Easter, Halloween, and other holidays as well. It can be seen on the north side of Interstate 30 near the Oakland exit.

Jeff from JML Photoworks has captured the beauty and spirit of this lovely tree through the lens of his camera and is sharing it in a set of Christmas cards.

If you would like to know more about the tree and the book that was inspired by it visit The Homeless Christmas Tree website.