Treasury Challenge: 7/19 - 7/24

Once again it is time for another Tree Team Treasury Challenge!! The winner of the last challenge was CreativityisMessy (you can view her winning treasury here or read about it in last week’s post).

Here is the item to use for this challenge. Follow the rules and guidelines below to participate!

 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/75988142/interchangeable-bottle-cap-necklace

1) Use this item in your treasury. This item is from the Etsy shop CreativityisMessy. Your treasury can have any theme you like as long as it includes this item.

2) This item MUST be placed within the first three rows of your treasury.

3) In addition to the featured item you must include at least five Tree Team members within your treasury, placed wherever you like. Here’s a list of members. Tip: if you add the phrase “tttree” (3 Ts) to any of your Etsy searches it will show only Tree members matching your search criteria.

4) Tag your treasury with “treeteamchallenge” (all one word). We recommend you fill all of the remaining 17 tags with descriptive words pertaining to your treasury, as this will increase your treasury’s exposure.

5) Use the phrase “Tree Challenge” in your title (you can just stick it at the end in parentheses if you want).

6) You MUST post a link to your treasury as a comment on this blog post.

7) In the description section of your treasury you MUST include the URL for this blog post.

____________________________________________________________________________________

EXTRA (yet important) NOTES:

- You can make as many Tree Challenge treasuries as you want.

- You are not required to be a Tree member in order to participate in (or win) these challenges.

- Participants are allowed to win more than once.

- PLEASE make sure you don’t forget guidelines #4 and #5 listed above.

- If any of the seven guidelines above are forgotten your treasury could be disqualified from this challenge.

____________________________________________________________________________________

You have until Sunday, July 24th, to create your treasury (or treasuries). The winner will be announced by the beginning of the following week.

If your treasury is chosen as the winner you will be notified as soon as possible. We’ll ask you to select one of the items from your shop to be featured in our next challenge. If you do not have an Etsy shop we’ll ask you to nominate a shop. We will also ask you to select the winning treasury for the challenge in which you (or your nominated shop) are featured.

Thanks for playing! Have fun!

Featured Member Meg Murray of RedandMain

Our next featured member is the extremely talented and creative Meg Murray of RedandMain.
RedandMain features handmade, kiln-fired ceramic critter sculptures, mythical beasts, and ferocious monsters. It's cuteness overload and nearly impossible not to smile the entire time you are in Meg's shop. Meg is one of our newest Treasury Tree members and a welcome addition at that. We asked her to tell us more about her and her art.

Would you be so kind as to tell us who you are, what you sell, what you are all about?
I’m Meg and I live in downtown Washington, DC with my totally awesome husband. I create handmade, kiln-fired ceramic critter sculptures, mythical beasts, and ferocious monsters. I’m all about making adorable creatures that, hopefully, make people smile when they see them.

Who are your business inspirations?

My mom and dad are both exceptionally talented entrepreneurs; they both have started and successfully run their own businesses for over 25 years. Growing up and witnessing their shared successes and failures – it made me acutely aware of the responsibility of owning your own business… but it also inspired me to create a business that was my own.

What are your business inspirations?

I receive inspiration for my pieces from all sorts of places: cute videos of animals online, graffiti in my neighborhood, weird dreams I have. Really, anywhere I can get it.

Do you sell online full time? If not, what is your other business/job?

I quit my big corporate job in April this year to pursue Red & Main full time. There are things I miss about office culture – camaraderie with coworkers is something I miss very much – but I’m so happy I decided to take the massive, scary step of going out on my own.

What is the biggest challenge when selling your work online?

Getting noticed in the marketplace is the biggest challenge I have found. Etsy is now a very large place with so much talent – distinguishing your shop from others in both appearance and merchandise – is so important.

Tell us about how you got your start selling your craft, either online or local?

I took my first ceramics class in high school and instantly fell in love. I have pursued lots of other forms of art, but there is something about working in three dimensions that really speaks to me. I was really unhappy at my day job, so I purchased a kiln and 50 lbs of clay. My initial intention was to blow off steam after work, maybe sell on Etsy. As soon as I started working with the clay, I was addicted. I started my Etsy shop and applied to local craft shows within a couple weeks of receiving the kiln. The whole thing kind of got legs after that…and now here I am.

Tell us why you do what you do (your particular craft; why make it a business vs. just a hobby).

I love ceramics and I love making really cute things. The largest aspect of my day job that was missing was hands-on creativity.
Prior to starting Red & Main, I believed that politics was my business and art was my hobby. Once I started to pursue ceramics at home, it became abundantly clear that I had my priorities reversed. Now, art is my job and politics is my hobby… and I have never been happier.

Are there any tips or tricks to selling online vs. local that you can share?

The most helpful thing you can do for yourself on Etsy is to have exceptional photos, which is not crucial selling locally. At local sales, I try to make certain I have an eye-catching booth display and lots of business cards.

A few of my favorite Etsy shops:

Merrypad: awesome household goods made from repurposed materials
Digforvictory: incredibly gorgeous hand-sewn dresses
Dandyrions: The freaking cutest shirts ever
Babus: adorable hand-felted, sustainable toys for children (and adults)

Challenge Winner: CreativityisMessy

Congrats to CreativityisMessy on winning the latest Tree Team Treasury Challenge!

Veiw the winning treasury here:

Under the Sea

Day 6 Bretagne - Dinan - 80 ... YannPendaries $11.00	A Whale of a Time - Refillab... ConduitPress $15.00	Sea Urchin Collection - Spec... staroftheeast $47.00	Sea Greens Double-Strand Nec... kerrirenee $20.00
Drift. Waves, Knots, Hand Em... merriweatherco... $32.00	Sea Green Necklace NouveauTique $28.00	SALE Green Sea Clay & Dead S... orangethyme $6.00	Fish are Jumping Fine Art pr... TheJoyofColor $20.00
Clear Green Glass Fish Bottl... funretro $22.00	Mixed Box - FIVE AIR PLANTS tohold $22.95	Le Majestic Blue Whale Totem... leanimale $21.00	New-Green-Handbag-Oversized-... marbled $34.00
The Sea Urchin Bag StarBags $122.00	Marlin Fish Ocean Wood Sign ... SlippinSouther... $69.00	Sea foam skinny style bubble... Ayca $35.00	Tentacle Art Screen Print - ... NewDuds $30.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

We will be having another challenge next week!  Good luck!!

Featured Member Karineh of JustColor

This week's featured member is Karineh of JustColor. Karineh is one of our founding members and a very talented knitter and crocheter. Her shop is filled with colorful textural accessories and interesting unique jewelry. We asked Karineh to tell us about her art.

Hi Karineh, would you be so kind as to tell us who you are, what you sell, what you are all about?

My name is Karineh and I live in Glendale, California. I am one of 3 children, the only girl (I wish I had a sister) and two older brothers. I have been creating since I was very young. I believe I inherited this from my mother’s side of the family. I also played the piano for many years which I regret stopping and replacing it with sports. The last part of my education was at Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland where I learned about many aspects of art and use of materials. It was here I realized the natural power in my hands and fingers.
I make handmade knit and crochet accessories for women. I also make jewelry using metal chains, glass beads or stones. I recently started creating a collection which is a mixture of all of my favorite elements; luxury yarns, chains, stones, beads and leather. It is still under development. I also like to mix some special vintage pieces in some of my work.

Who are your business inspirations?

The list could be too long and very difficult for me to answer. I am not necessarily inspired by large conglomerates’ success. I am more inspired by small, hard working businesses who have managed to succeed through their creativity and imagination.
I have an aunt who became a single mother of a 3 year old in the late 1940s. Despite having to endure many hardships she managed to build up a very successful business with her natural dressmaking and her amazing talent in crafting and creating. She also raised her son to be a very successful businessman.
I am inspired by my mother who I watched creating and crafting since I can remember.

Do you sell online full time? If not, what is your other business/job?

Right now I do work full time on my Etsy shop which means I am doing something for my shop 24/7. Even when I am dreaming. Lol! I have always worked in the fashion world, either as a designer, wholesaler or in the forefront of fashion in retail management and visual merchandising.

What is the biggest challenge when selling your work online?

The biggest challenge is to be noticed and get the word out there. I think most of online businesses would agree with this. Finding one’s customer base and marketing it appropriately is half of the battle.

Tell us about how you got your start selling your craft, either online or local?

I have been selling my craft on and off throughout my adulthood. I had not been creating too much for a few years. After a while I started feeling like something was missing from my life, the void and emptiness that only creativity fills. I decided to pick up my knitting again. One thing lead to many. I am a collector of objects, such as unique small vintage pieces, buttons and lace. I started using them in my work and my jewelry, which I initially made to give as presents. One day a friend of mine mentioned Etsy. I had never heard of it before. I came home, turned on my computer and wham, I created my shop that day. The rest is history.
I don’t do a lot of craft shows. I used to many years ago. I do some local, small craft shows if I can. I normally prefer to be at home surrounded by beautiful objects and yarns.

Tell us why you do what you do (your particular craft; why make it a business vs just a hobby).

I have to do what I do. It’s the need to create, to make something out of nothing, to introduce a different point of view and a new expression of how I see the world for whosoever might be interested. It’s very personal.
There aren’t a lot of people on this earth who make a living out of their passion. Why not turn your passion or your hobby into your business? I think that’s the highest pleasure anyone can get out of life.
Are there any tips or tricks to selling online vs local that you can share?

Maybe there is. Actually I am sure there is but I am also sure I am not the one to give advice in that regard. It’s a constant learning process and I am still a student. One thing I am sure of is that one must have the three Ps, Patience, Persistence and Perseverance.

A few of my favorite Etsy shops:

Now this is hard for me, since I appreciate so many difference and diverse work of art and craft, from one end of the scope to another, but here are a few of my favorites.
LBCpaper, StoneHood, BobbiLewin, infinityarts and many more.

New Tree Challenge: 7/5 - 7/10

Time for another Tree Team Challenge!! The winner of the last challenge was NouveauTique (you can view her winning treasury here or read about it in last week’s post).

Here is the item to use for this challenge. Follow the rules and guidelines below to participate!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76306285/sea-green-necklace

1) Use this item in your treasury. This item is from the Etsy shop NouveauTique. Your treasury can have any theme you like as long as it includes this item.

2) This item MUST be placed within the first three rows of your treasury.

3) In addition to the featured item you must include at least five Tree Team members within your treasury, placed wherever you like. Here’s a list of members. Tip: if you add the phrase “tttree” (3 Ts) to any of your Etsy searches it will show only Tree members matching your search criteria.

4) Tag your treasury with “treeteamchallenge” (all one word). We recommend you fill all of the remaining 17 tags with descriptive words pertaining to your treasury, as this will increase your treasury’s exposure.

5) Use the phrase “Tree Challenge” in your title (you can just stick it at the end in parentheses if you want).

6) You MUST post a link to your treasury as a comment on this blog post.

7) In the description section of your treasury you MUST include the URL for this blog post.

____________________________________________________________________________________

EXTRA (yet important) NOTES:

- You can make as many Tree Challenge treasuries as you want.

- You are not required to be a Tree member in order to participate in (or win) these challenges.

- Participants are allowed to win more than once.

- PLEASE make sure you don’t forget guidelines #4 and #5 listed above.

- If any of the seven guidelines above are forgotten your treasury could be disqualified from this challenge.

____________________________________________________________________________________

You have until Sunday, July 10th, to create your treasury (or treasuries). The winner will be announced by the beginning of the following week.

If your treasury is chosen as the winner you will be notified as soon as possible. We’ll ask you to select one of the items from your shop to be featured in our next challenge. If you do not have an Etsy shop we’ll ask you to nominate a shop. We will also ask you to select the winning treasury for the challenge in which you (or your nominated shop) are featured.

Thanks for playing! Have fun!