Congrats to the Latest Challenge Winner!

Congratulations to Mozellemetana!!

Check out the winning treasury here:

'A Sunny Tree Challenge' by mozellemetana

Vintage Geometric Mod Dress ... jessjamesjake $68.00	HOLIDAY SALE - Rough Finishe... AnnalisJewelry $49.00	Summer Garden 1- Black Eyed ... SunnyLeeStudio $100.00	Slouch Hobo Shoulderbag Zipp... MondayMorningS... $49.00
The Shining tamgutlich $40.00	Royal Ring - Handmade Sterli... toolisjewelry $158.00	Gray Yellow Necklace, Vintag... TheWhirlwind $25.00	Bloom, print CathyMcMurray $18.00
Vintage Shabby Chic Metal Bo... funretro $18.00	Navy Striped Tshirt larimeloom $65.00	Flower Garland Deep Blue Sag... BobbiLewin $50.00	Mustard Wristlet - NEW outofafrika $48.00
Wine Rack - Holds 12 Bottles... honeystreasure... $60.00	FOLDED GREETING Card Single ... sweetharvey $4.50	Sea Horses Heart Organic Bod... WrenWillow $22.00	Bird Ceramic Lidded Vessel i... whitneysmith $42.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Treasury Challenge 8/2 - 8/7

It is time for another Tree Team Treasury Challenge!! The winner of the last challenge was TheWhirlwind (you can view her winning treasury here or read about it in the last blog post).

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

http://www.etsy.com/listing/74147743/gray-yellow-fabric-necklace-vintage-lace

1) Use this item in your treasury. This item is from the Etsy shop TheWhirlwind. 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, August 7th, 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.

Good luck and have fun!!

Congratulations to TheWhirlwind!

(I appologize in advance... I could have sworn I posted this already.  Better late then never, I guess!)

Congratulations to TheWhirlwind for winning the latest Tree Team Treasury! 

Here is the gorgeous collection:

'a song to dance to on your lucky day {tree challenge}' by TheWhirlwind

Interchangeable Bottle Cap N... creativityisme... $18.00	Vintage Wallpaper Notebook mozellemetana $15.00	Mandolin -10 different wood... celentanowoodw... $1200.00	White Lotus Bowls - Set of 4 theelmsvintage $20.00
Slouch Hobo Bag Handmade Pur... MondayMorningS... $44.00	Dancing Dream 10x10 Fine Art... karcharz $19.50	The Retro Tulip Bouquet - Pi... ClassicByNatur... $28.00	Set of 2 Ocean Shoreline Sea... BootsNGus $160.00
Mid Century Modern Nesting F... greymaggy $349.00	1980s vintage oscar de la re... greatestfriend $10.00	HOLIDAY SALE - Rough Finishe... AnnalisJewelry $49.00	starfish and shell hair comb BeSomethingNew $30.00
White Tea & Plum Perfume Oil DavisMain $9.00	TEA ROSE - Eye Shadow Pure N... BeneficialMine... $4.95	Pearls bag 1980's blossomcookies $40.00	SALE - WAS 60.00 - Vintage 1... VinylSupercade $40.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

A new challenge will be up asap!  Keep posted!!

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!!