Etsy Russian Team

Interview with a Star, Albina from GoodWeather

2012-02-24T04:21:00.021-08:00

Recycling is a great way to give a new life to the things people don't want anymore. Albina from GoodWeather shop on Etsy is sharing her own vision of this with us.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself

I think the ideas of recycling are in my blood. My father is good at inventing things that are practical. He made a wash stand for their garden out of 2-liter plastic soda bottles. He also made a sauna oven out of metal barrel and built a green house out of old window frames.

I use “soft” materials for my crafts such as old sweaters. I know that unwanted sweaters can have several new lives.

Some of the things you can do with sweaters is unravel them to get some yarn for your new projects and make something from it like this handbag:

Also I often felt sweaters and make lots of cool stuff out of sweater! I love to make gadgets like this smiling cat iPhone sleeve:

Since I love to make jewelry I also use felt in it!

Do you use only recycled materials to create your beautiful items?

I use both used and new materials to make my products. Things like my cup cozies or knitted iPone sleeves are made from new materials only.

Do you take custom orders?

I love custom orders! Once, I had an order for 9 owls. I made all of them look a little different and I enjoyed making them.

What is the best reaction you have gotten from one of your pieces?

I appreciate all the feedback I get from my customers, even if it is short and simple like “Thank you”. One I really like that I got for this brooch, "I love this so much! I attached it to my sweater coat and I have gotten tons of compliments on it already! Thank you so much for such fast shipping! You rock!"

A Leap Year

2012-02-22T14:43:00.000-08:00

What will you do with the extra day?

The year of 2012 is a leap year, which means that this February contains one additional day. It only comes around once in four years so make sure you spend it well!

Would you enjoy this day out in nature?

Spending this day with friends is another good alternative.

Or maybe you would prefer to spend it playing with your kids?

Or maybe you are a dog lover and would finally get to the animal shelter to adopt a puppy?

It might be nice to use the extra day to go through old family pictures.

I know my friends from Russian Artists Etsy team will probably enjoy the extra day for their crafts.

What are your plans for February 29?

By Yana (WineCountryLife)

Decoupaged candle DIY

2012-02-20T08:46:00.000-08:00

Today I'll show you how to make an interesting yet simple decorative candle. You can give it as a gift, use it to decorate your home or find any other suitable use for it.

You will need:

a candle to decorate, white or natural color

a candle to burn

a decoupage napkin

a tea spoon.

How to make it:

Tear off a piece of decoupage napkin big enough to fit the size of candle.

Light one candle and hold a tea spoon by the inner side over the fire. It may become black but we will wash it easily afterwards.

Press the napkin to the candle with the outer side of the hot tea spoon and smooth it alongside the second candle.

You may need to heat the spoon several times in order to decorate the whole candle.

The work is done now. As we "glued" the napkin to the candle with its own wax, it will burn together with candle.

Have fun!

By Nataliia (Grimme)

Russian Artists team meeting in Israel

2012-02-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

It seems that our first meeting was not long ago but it was actually almost a year ago. Our team has grown and we have a lot of new members. The life for many of us has changed or we have had some new things in our lives. I had some new things also!

My name is Natalya and I am running the bonbonland shop on Etsy - welcome to my boutique! This was a second meeting of the Israeli division of the Russian Artist Team on Etsy. Like the first time, I had the pleasure and honor to host the meeting.

So there we were, gathered together to share our news and experience. Let me introduce my guests!

Perhaps the most exciting news was from Sveta Nes from the nesaquarelle shop on Etsy. She has a new baby boy named Tom! Well done, mate!

A person can see so many wonderful little works of art in Marina’s miopupazzo shop on Etsy! For example, this doll:

This summer the American publishing house C & T Publishing is going to release Marina's book called Enchanting Art Dolls and Soft Sculptures. There are 8 projects there. You will find out how to make a doll by yourself, the main points about sculpting, costume crazy quilting with embroidery and more. Hip-hip hooray to Marina!!!

Now, I would like to introduce two friends of mine. Please welcome Ira and Lena "Simsisters". They are two sisters and beautiful ladies who run the kimuka shop on Etsy and make the wonderful toys and excellent pictures. They bring smiles and positive energy to my life and to the life of everyone who are lucky enough to be in their circle.

Take a look at Svetlana's (Lirigal) work. Her beautiful jewelry pieces are simply masterpieces made from thousands of beads in different shapes and colors.

Anna (polskyanna) came to our meeting from Ashqelon which is very far away in southern Israel.

A very good friend of mine and a beautiful lady is Lena Strozhenko (justlena) who also has a wonderful shop with about two thousands sales. She makes more and more beautiful items!

I am happy to introduce a new member of our team, Ira who runs irushka shop on Etsy. I found her a very charismatic lady and a wonderful artist. This is what I love about meetings of this kind, you can always meet a new friend!

Our meeting was great and I am looking forward to see my old and new friends again.

Happy ETSY-shopping!

By Natalya (bonbonland)

Interview with a Star - Elena (Roltinica)

2012-02-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

Please, welcome our team mate Elena, who runs Roltinica shop on Etsy.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Elena and I live in the beautiful city of Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia. I'm a felt maker and I make my felt flowers using a wet felting technique.

How long have you been creating? How did your journey in art and creativity begin?
I began making felt jewelry about 2 years ago. My daughter Tatyana was browsing the Internet and suddenly found a felted purse tutorial. She thought it would be nice to learn how to make things like this, so we shopped for wool and I made a felted purse out of it. My daughter’s joy knew no bounds! That was the moment when I actually realized that I fell in love with felt.

Felting is very popular in Russia and you can also find many books and tutorials on different felting techniques. I love flowers so flowers have become my favorite subject for felting. I read a lot, studied the techniques and was experimenting with felt every single day. I tried to make smooth petals out of fluffy wool and the result was I found my own way to work with felt. I was so excited to see what else I could do.

In your opinion, why is felted accessories are so popular these days?
I think, the felted accents are a lovely way to complement modern clothing. Decorate your handbag, hair or clothes with a felted flower and you will be noticed! Nature creates beautiful flowers but they have a short life. A felted flower will never wilt!

Do you take custom orders?
Yes, I do take custom orders. Sometimes it is challenging because from time to time my customers are asking me to create a flower I have never seen because they don't grow here in Russia. So I am making my flower from a photograph and I am so happy when it becomes a realistic-looking one! I am getting great feedback on my work from my satisfied customers.

Which one of your orders was the most extraordinary?
One of the most unusual orders was two blue roses for a bride's dress. I made these with a great pleasure.

What is your family’s attitude to your creativity?
My family supports and inspires me in everything and I’m very thankful for that. My mom is my most authoritative critic – if she does not like the flower, I will remake it.

Do you have a Favorite quote you'd like to share with us?
If you want to be happy – be happy! (Kuzma Prutkov)

Happy Valentine's day!

2012-02-14T02:03:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's day to all our team members and readers!

We wish you a lot of love and romance not only in this day but every day. Happy holiday!

Fabric flowers DIY

2012-02-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

Today, Tanya who runs Soroka shop on Etsy is sharing a great tutorial of a flower made of mesh fabric.

So how she came up with the idea:
"Recently I made a dress and had a lot of mesh fabric left over. It was all cut into strips. So I decided to make some flowers.

You will need:
- pieces of mesh that is not too stiff sized approximately 2 by 14 inches
- pieces of satin sized approximately 2.5 x 2.5 inches
- beads
- stamens
- needles and thread

1. Sew over one side of the mesh with large stitches in order to gather it. Use double thread - it will be stronger.

2. Pull the thread as much as you can and tie a knot, then fan the mesh out into a round shape. Actually, it will look more like a PacMan since there is a "mouth" where the ends meet. Repeat so you have two.

3. Gather a square piece of satin by sewing through the whole perimeter and pulling on the thread. It will look like a small drawstring baggie. Tie a knot and push the ends of the thread inside so they are not visible.

4. Put the two PacMen on top of each other with the "mouths" facing in opposite directions. Sew them together in the middle. Attach stamens a little to the side of the middle.

5. Attach the satin baggie on top of the stamens with the threaded part facing down with a couple of stitches and then add a couple of stitches through it so there are as many folds as possible.

6. Attach a bead on top of the satin baggie

And that's it! The flower is ready :)

By Tanya (soroka)
Translated by Alla (FleetingStillness)

Cheese puffs for Valentines Day

2012-02-12T19:04:00.000-08:00

If you are not going out this Valentines and planning a quiet evening in just for the two of you, think of something special but simple for your supper. A bottle of champagne, lobster, chocolate covered strawberries and cheese puffs will work great.

You probably already know how to make the strawberries so let's make the cheese puffs together.

You will need:

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup flour

6 eggs

1 1/4 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon paprika

dash of cayenne pepper

Cut the butter into chunks and add it to the water. Bring the water and butter to a boil, remove from the heat. Add flour all at once and briskly stir until mixture is smooth with a wooden spoon.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Stir in spices and cheese.

Preheat oven to 400'F. Line 2 baking trays with foil and spray it with the cooking spray. Drop the dough on the trays with a table spoon to make a little even mounds. Bake about 30 to 35 minutes until brown.

Enjoy and have a happy Valentines Day!

Tanya (AGardenCottage)

Interview with a Star, Svetlana from nesluxury

2012-02-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

Please, welcome Svetlana who runs Nesluxury shop on Etsy. Today, she is sharing her inspirational story with us.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself
My name is Svetlana, I was born in Kazakhstan and moved to Siberia after high school. I moved to Israel after graduation. Now I live in Haifa in Northern Israel and work at the Haifa University. My day-to-day work involves lots of numbers, statistics, programming and different really boring scientific related things. After that, all I really want to do (except spending time with my baby son Tom) is to create, create, create.

How long have you been creating? How did your journey in art and creativity begin?
As far as I can remember, I loved to create by hand. I draw, cut, glued, sculpted and built. I used paper, clay, metal wires, cones, sticks and stones from my father’s work room and the yard or the forest. When I grew up, I learned how to sew, knit and weave from my mom and grannies. My mother told that me that I was 12 month old when I took a pencil for the very first time… but she does not say, what I drew! When I was a teenager I studied in an art school for 5 years before moving to more “earthly” matters.

What is the best reaction you have gotten from one of your pieces?
Once it was a five-o'clock tea party at my friend's place in the Technion campus. A few young women gathered to chat and to look at my first flower creations. I made a jewelry set with large peachy pink flowers and some mint green seed beads among them. When I took it out of the box, three girls wanted to buy it immediately and they began to argue. At the end, the girl who had cash, got the set and I got two custom orders.

Do you take custom orders?
I love to do custom orders. This way I know in advance that this will be an item the customer will love and cherish. My favorite customer is a woman, who works with me in my institute and who I see every day. She orders something from me every season when she buys new clothes. I really like to see that she wears my jewelry with pleasure. Recently I was really honored to see a few of our friends wearing my items to one of our mutual friend's wedding. I made this jewelry especially for them!

What items in your shop do you enjoy making most and why?
It is definitely small roses because I really like the feel of the thin layers of polymer clay between my fingers. I see their birth petal by petal and it soothes me.

What are your main sources of inspiration?
I really don't know. It just comes to me! Sometimes I see a dully dressed girl and I am getting ideas how to improve her appearance. Sometime I find interesting and inspiring stuff on the Internet or I look at my materials (polymer clay, beads, silk or metal findings) and just begin to create.

Do you have a Favorite quote you'd like to share with us?
"You never know when you'll luck out." It is the very first phrase in the "The stranger" by Max Frei and I totally agree with him!

Valentine’s Day

2012-02-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

Valentine’s Day is coming up next week. It’s a fun holiday whether or not you are in a relationship.

If you are single make sure you don’t just skip the holiday but instead treat yourself. You love yourself, don’t you?

If you are in a relationship make sure your significant other knows how much you care about him/ her.

Some people like sweet little gifts that will remind them that they are loved.

Some people prefer practical gifts and it’s not too hard to find a cute Valentine gift that is also functional.

I personally like something cute and funny for Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day gifts don’t have to be extravagant and expensive.

And if red hearts are too much for you, you can always go with an anatomical version.

What are you doing for Valentine’s Day this year?

Story by Yana (WineCountryLife)

Free printable Valentine's day collage sheet

2012-02-06T04:00:00.000-08:00

Show me who doesn't like to receive gifts :) We believe all of us like it. We wait for some holiday or any other occasion to get some surprise present, are we? The same as receiving gifts, I like to give them. Especially, if I make them with my own hands. We always believe when we make something, there is a part of our hearts in the gift. So... Why not to make something small for Valentine's day? Let me inspire you :)

Today, Irina from GraphicLand is sharing a collage sheet with Valentine's alphabet letters that can be turned into necklace, key chain, or other hand crafted items. Please, reed a tutorial how to make an adorable necklace.

The alphabet letters printable collage is 8,5x5.5 inches with 300 dpi resolution which is a half of letter size. It can be printed on regular color printer at home. I would recommend to print it on laser printer. The circles are 1 inch in diameter, and they are perfect for bottle caps or glass tiles.

The collage sheet is available for download there. If the link doesn't work, please leave a comment and I'll fix it. Please, don't forget to come back and download it. :) Please keep in mind that the collage is for personal use only.

Than, you can pack it in a cute small box, and decorate with a gift tag. And your gift is ready!

Enjoy!

P.S. More printable collages are in GraphicLand shop. :) Welcome!

Winter vacation in Austria

2012-02-05T04:28:00.000-08:00

Recently I went with my family to Austria for a ski vacation. I am not an experienced skier but my husband was sure I would enjoy it. He thought with a good ski instructor I would learn all the necessary skills and we would have a great time.

So we went to a Zillertal, a mountain region located not too far from Innsbruck.Innsbruck is a great place for winter sports and it hosted the Olympic games twice already.

We stayed in the small town of Zell am Ziller. This is a really beautiful and very peaceful place.

The weather was unusual for this region and time of year. There was so much snow that I was wondering if the pilot of our aircraft can see the runway. But everything went smooth and we had a really great week of skiing in a beautiful mountains and snow.

It was fun watching the little kids learning how to ski.

They can be as young as 3 or 4 years old but they can already ski. Sometimes they are skiing much better than their parents! My oldest daughter really enjoyed skiing and I am sure my little boy will too. He is too young for this now but in a year or two he will be skiing there among these little kids.

We liked our vacation so much, I am sure we will be back!

Vacations are great for relaxing and awakening your creativity.

This one made me feel good and full of new ideas!

By Yana (Nihamaj)

Crochet nursing/ teething necklace giveaway results

2012-02-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce the winner of our crochet nursing/teething necklace giveaway!

Comment # 46 by ali was chosen as a winner. Congratulations!

Julia (bysiki) will contact you to verify your mailing address.

Congratulations to the winner and thank you for participation, everyone!

Winter

2012-02-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

It's cold outside!

Winter is such a pretty time of the year with it's white snow gown.

It's nice to spend a weekend in the snow country skiing or playing. Snowballs fights can be so much fun!

It is also nice to go inside at night and have a cup of hot coco in front of a fire.

We are dreaming of spring but the end of January is still the middle of winter so get warm!

The spring is almost here - happy February!

By Tanya (AGardenCottage)

Recycled coasters DIY

2012-01-30T07:47:00.000-08:00

Coasters are a great way to protect your furniture from scratches or those ugly water rings made by drink glasses and coffee mugs. Use leftover materials you used for some other projects and you will make one more step to saving the planet!

These double sided coasters were made by Albina (GoodWeather) from an old sweater which was previously washed and felted. The main part of sweater was used to make the protective covers for electronic gadgets and the rest of it got a new purpose now!

To make coasters like these you will need:

- Felted pieces not smaller than 5" across
- Scissors
- Sewing machine with thread
- Steam iron

1. Cut out circles with your scissors, 4" in diameter. Make twice more circles than coasters needed (i.e. for 6 coasters cut out 12 circles):

2. Arrange circles in pairs putting one on top of another:

3. You may want to pin the circles in place. Using either simple or zigzag stitch, sew the edges together:

4. Using zigzag or another decorative stitch, sew through the center:

5. If you desire, make another stitch perpendicular to the previous stitch:

6. Your coaster may look a little"wavy" like this:

7. Steam iron your coasters so they look nice and flat.

Happy crafting!

Vongole (clams) recipe

2012-01-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

Today, Katrin from Katrinshine is sharing a great recipe of spaghetti with clams.

You will need 300 gram of clams (vongole) per person, not cleaned or frozen! You can make clams spaghetti with frozen clams but the taste will be pretty much different.
Couple cloves of garlic.
Spaghetti pasta 100 gram per person.
Olive oil.
Couple tablespoons of white wine.
Salt.

Pasta and the rest will be cooked separately and combined in the end, so let's start with putting water on to boil for the spaghetti.

Peel garlic and roast it till golden in olive oil. It's better to remove the garlic cloves in the end of roasting. Add clams.

Saute, add couple tablespoons of white wine and saute a few more minutes.
You may want to take out the clams to a separate bowl at this time.
When water comes to boil, cook the spaghetti. Cook until almost ready (one minute shorter than cooking time on the package and drain them well!)

Add spaghetti to the sauce and simmer a couple more minutes.
And that's it! Clams spaghetti is ready. Serve clams over spaghetti on every plate or the clams may be served in separate bowl where everyone can take as much as they want.

Recipe by Katrin (katrinshine)
Translated by Nadia (crafts2love)

Interview with a Star, Yelena at LenaMer

2012-01-27T07:48:00.000-08:00

We all love jewelry! Every person has their own style and preferences but we all like to have one of a kind pieces which will suit our taste. It's always interesting to know a story behind your favorite item so today we are introducing Yelena from the LenaMer shop on Etsy to you with her story on her inspiration.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself

Hi, my name is Yelena and I am 34 years old. I was born in Baku in the Soviet Union and immigrated with my family to Israel in 1990. Today I live in Rishon le Zion with my amazing family: my husband, my 3-year-old son, a cat and new members of our tribe - three clown fish.

How long have you been creating? How did your journey in art and creativity begin?

I am creating since I remember myself, I always was a technical type of person: when I was 4 I fixed my grandma’s old watch (don’t ask me how, I was never able to repeat that magic :)) When I was nine, my neighbor Sioma and I tried to create a sandwich-making robot. But jewels came later, much later.

I was always a crafts lover and since 2005 have been taking jewelry-making classes at various schools with different teachers. I tried myself on design studies, and applied to study Jewelry Design at Shenkar in 2005. The first year was crazy and amazing and I discovered new horizons. Art, design, different trends, use of material - since then I can't stop from searching for new ways to create. For me jewelry is structure and combining that with stone beads brings the color and light into each design, and the jewel is always a story for me!

How would you describe your style? Have any other artists etc influenced your style?

I can't define my own style as of yet, because I’m still searching, my favorite styles are Art Nouveau and Primitive. I think today`s art cannot be defined by one style, because it is a combination of yesterday and tomorrow.

What inspires you and what is the day in your studio look like?

Oh, "your studio" sounds so perfect! For me the most important thing is to write down the ideas and to hope that I will have an opportunity to implement them someday. Because right now most of the time I spend with my son, and sometimes we "work" together, he just loves beading and hammering. The first pendant we made together is now my good-luck charm and amulet :)))

What are your main sources of inspiration?

Life, nature, people, a random spot on paper - everything. Color combinations, shapes, materials, everything I see around me.

Do you use any special techniques or tools?

I like to learn new techniques all the time, now I’m learning to work with wire:

Where would you like to go with your business?

I hope one day to make this my full-time job. I would like to have a big sunny studio, where I could host different artists to exchange ideas, experience and knowledge

Why will people love your items?

Maybe because I myself love my creations with all my heart. Gem stones are beautiful, I only put them into a setting.

Treasury Challenge, round 18

2012-01-26T18:44:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the 18th round of our Treasury Challenge game! You don't have to be a team member to participate but you need to have a shop on Etsy.

Natalia from TerraCollageArt was announced as a winner of a previous round with her "Two hearts - one Universe" treasury. Congratulations, Natalia!

The winners have chosen a new theme and inspirational item for the 18th round. So this week's theme is "Cozy country style" and it's running January 26th through February 1st.

To participate:

1. Name your treasury according to "Cozy country style" inspiration theme

2. Include this item from the TerraCollageArt shop to your new treasury:

3. Tag your treasury with tags Treasurywin RT18, cozy country

4. If you are not a team member please leave the link of your treasury here in the comments section of this post. If you are a member please visit our forum on Etsy and leave your link there.

5. Only one treasury per shop will be accepted to participate in the contest. Please do not include your own listing to your treasury and no more than 1 item from per shop.

Treasuries for this round will be accepted until 12 noon EST on February 1st, 2012 and the winner will be announced on our blog on February 2nd. The winner will choose the next theme for our treasury challenge and provide an inspirational item. Participants have to include this item in their challenge treasury for 7 days and you need to build your collection around winner's inspiration.

If the winning shop or person is not available on Wednesday the captain or a leader of our team will choose the winner, the next theme and inspirational item.

If you'd like to post the challenge game on your blog, please use our image and provide a link to this post!

Good luck and have fun, everyone!

Nature inspired home decor

2012-01-25T04:15:00.000-08:00

What kind of decor makes you feel at home and relaxed? To me it’s the nature inspired decor elements that make me feel at peace.

The magnificence of wild life reminds me of the natural beauty that exists all around us.

Owls are becoming especially popular and I can see why. There is some strange mysticism to them that makes you feel like not everything can be understood.

Woodland forest elements in your home make you feel calm and more connected to nature.

They bring harmony to your house and your soul.

Surround yourself with woodland forest themed home decor and you’ll notice what a difference it makes.

Animals, birds, butterflies, feathers, nests, eggs, acorns, leaves, trees, branches, woodgrain, and natural colors – we have many options for you created by the Russian Artists team.

Story by Yana (WineCountryLife)

Crochet nursing/ teething necklace giveaway

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

This giveaway is for a wonderful nursing / teething necklace. Yulia, the hostess of this giveaway and the owner of bysiki shop on Etsy, will let you choose from one of three necklaces if you win!

If you'd like to participate in this giveaway and win one of three nursing necklaces, follow these simple rules:

1. Visit bysiki shop, browse her collection and leave a comment here on what you like the best (1 entry)

2. Heart bysiki shop (1 entry)

3. Follow/ subscribe our blog (1 entry)

4. Grab our button and place it on your blog (1 entry)

5. Share this giveaway on twitter / facebook / your blog /stumbleupon (2 entries)

Please leave a separate comment on each entry and don't forget to leave us your email address so that we could contact you!

If you'd like to see more of bysiki creations please visit her shop on Etsy!

Please leave a separate comment on each entry and don't forget to leave us your email address so that Julia could contact you!

The winner will be announced on February 4th, so have fun and good luck!

Lampwork bead tutorial

2012-01-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of different types of crafts and arts represented in Russian team on Etsy. Some categories are saturated enough, some are not. But the category that represent Katya from MayaHoney on Etsy is not saturated at all. I would say Katya is a unique artists so far in our team who makes lampwork.

Today, she is sharing a tutorial how to make a heart on lampwork bead.

To make the heart, you need to have some skills in lampwork making, lampwork making equipment, and you'll need dental picks.

First, you need to make a any shape base bead. Place two dots with thick stringerin white or any other color.

On the top of the white dots, place other color dots with thin stringer. She used amethyst color in this tutorial.

Heat the dots, and let them melt a little.

Then rake them with dental pick. The pick should be cold. If it's getting hot, place it in a cold water to cool it off.

And the heart is ready

Enjoy!

The holidays in the British Isles

2012-01-22T15:37:00.000-08:00

Holidays, don’t we all just love them? A time away from work, a time to spend with your family, friends and your loved ones.

But this is also a great time to create.

Many people live and create crafts in the countries they were born in but some of them have moved to a different country and learned a new culture and traditions. The internet gave us new horizons and thanks to Etsy, the artists from the post Soviet countries are able to show and sell their creations all over the world! Though Etsy was born in the United States it has now become an international community of craftsmen and craft lovers.

My name is Katerina and I am a UK resident living in England and working in Wales. So I made this list of the UK holidays through the year to help my fellow crafters with their creative ideas.

January 1st, the beginning of a new year. Time to make some new resolutions! Some of the best gifts are calendars, organizers, planers and other presents with the new year number on it. Symbols of Chinese New Year are popular too, but to be clear the Chinese New Year starts a little later in a season. This year the Year of the Dragon and metal. Next year will be the Year of the Snake and water.

February 14th, St Valentines’ day. This day is very popular in all Christian countries. Traditional gifts are cards, sweets, jewellery, love tokens and flowers, real or faux. Since not everyone has their true love, the anti-Valentine symbols are growing in popularity. So are sayings like: "Single and love it", "Kill Cupid". It does not matter if you love this day or hate it, I think it's all about fun!

February 21st, Shrove Tuesday. The other name for it is a Pancake Day. There is a similar holiday in Russia called Maslianitsa. This day is all about pancakes!

March 1st, St David’s Day, St. David is the patron saint of Wales. Traditional motives are daffodils, the wild flowers of Wales and the Welsh flag with the red dragon. These motives will be used everywhere, in jewellery, car’s ornaments, tableware and so much more!

The Welsh are very proud people and they will use their favourite items with symbols through the year.

March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. A very popular day all over the world! Green is a favorite color of this day. The traditional motives are shamrocks, leprechauns, bowler hats, harps and a Celtic Cross. Don’t forget that St Patrick was the saint who taught Irish people to brew a beer. As they say in Dublin, in every bottle of Guinness is a child.

April 1st, Fools Day. April's Fools Day is the day of practical jokes and fun.

Easter Sunday. This date changes every year, so this year it will be celebrated on April 8th. This is one of the main Christian holidays, full of love and light. The main colours are mint, pink and cream. The gifts are very cute. The Easter Bunny or Easter Rabbit brings baskets filled with dyed eggs, candy and sometimes toys to the children.

April 23rd, St. George's Day. There is no special tradition, but the parliament group in the UK parliament are trying to promote 23 April as an annual celebration of England and the country’s patron saint. The English flag, a red rose (the traditional flower of England) are widely used for creative ideas.

May 1st, May Day. This day is celebrated as the start of the summer season. A widespread tradition is a Maypole and Morris dancing. Other traditions include making floral garlands, decorating houses with flowers and leaves and electing and crowning a May Queen. In some areas, girls go out very early to wash their faces in the morning dew to make themselves beautiful for the coming year. This is the time of the rebirth of nature with an explosion of colour throughout the land. Use these ideas as an inspiration for your collections!

June 5th, the Diamond Jubilee is from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. She is the oldest and 2nd longest reigning British monarch in over 1,200 years of history. Use images of crowns, a red rose and the English flag in your creations!

June 17th, Father's Day. Think of a creative present for dads and dads to be. Also, "The best dad” and “Superman” cards are very popular on this day.

There are no more holidays in the summer but who needs it when it’s sunny, warm and kids are on their summer school break. There are lots of country fairs, music festivals, car shows and this year, the Olympic games are coming. Use your creative imagination!

October 31st - November 1st, Halloween or All Saints Day. Everyone loves this holiday and you really don't need my tips on crafts for this holiday. Did you know that the popular glass balls we use to decorate our Christmas tree were used in witchcraft for fortune-telling and divination? All Saints Day made all good Christians think about their soul, so Halloween decorations must disappear overnight and should be hidden until next year.

November 5th, Guy Fawkes or Bonfire Night. On the 5th of November in 1605, Guy Fawkes, a member of Gunpowder Plot, was caught in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with several dozen barrels of gunpowder. This day is still commemorated each year with fireworks and bonfires in England. Time to make nice photos!

November 11th, Remembrance or Poppy Day. A special day to remember all those men and women who died during the two World Wars and other conflicts. It is traditional to wear an artificial poppy. They are sold by the Royal British Legion, a charity dedicated to helping war veterans. Lots of jewellery designers create jewelled poppies and sell them with part of profit going to a charity.

November 30th, St. Andrew's Day. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. The thistle is the emblem of Scotland and the tartan pattern is used among Scottish national symbols.

According to a legend, a group of Scots were sleeping in a field when a group of vikings crept up to attack. Fortunately one of the vikings stood on a thistle, whose prickles penetrated through to his foot and made him scream with pain. His cries woke the sleeping Scots who were able to fight off their attackers. It is said that from this day forward the thistle has been adopted as Scotland's national emblem.

Scots carried their symbols with them to every corner of the globe. As a result there are many more people who regard themselves as Scots outside Scotland than within.

St. Andrew's Day marks the opening of Christmas Markets.

So, December 25th is Christmas!

These dates are just some of the main holidays in the British Isles.

Story by Katerina (newcraft)

Valentines gift tags giveaway results

2012-01-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce the winner of our Valentines gifttags giveaway!

Comment # 5 by Albina was chosen as a winner. Congratulations!

Tanya (zarabezbazara) will contact you to verify your mailing address.

Congratulations to the winner and thank you for participation, everyone!

Interview with a Star, Yaroslav & Natalka from ReComputing

2012-01-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

Today we'd like to introduce the Recomputing shop to you, a geeky project on Etsy.

We are a family company of husband and wife Yaroslav and Natalka. The ReComputing shop was opened in October 2011 but Natalka already had her Skrynka shop. So we wasn't new on Etsy.

What would you say makes your shop unique?
The idea of ReComputing is to make cute geeky things through recycling broken computers hardware. As Yaroslav worked with computers for a long time, we have plenty of broken hardware at home.

What is the most important about your work?
We think that recycling is the great way to save our planet. And we are proud of ourselves that we are involved in such an important thing.

We are trying to make usable things. Our product isn't a cute stuff that you put on the shelf to admire. We make the key chains, jewelry, bookmarks, and we are planning to make clocks, coasters, magnets, business card holders, etc. We don't plan to stop on one category and have so many ideas! Our only regret is that there is only 24 hours in a day!

Do you have a favorite item you have made?
Yaroslav's favorite item is a microchip necklace and Natalka like almost all items made from blue circuit board.

Name 3 things you can’t live without?
Our amazing little son, each other and our dreams.

What do you want to tell our readers?
We'd like to wish health and happiness and LOVE to everyone! Don't forget to wish everyone you care about a happy Valentine's day!

Treasury Challenge, round 17

2012-01-19T12:04:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the 17th round of our Treasury Challenge game! You don't have to be a team member to participate but you need to have a shop on Etsy.

Liora from Cinnamonia was announced as a winner of a previous round with her "Belly dance is magic" treasury. Congratulations, Liora!

The winners have chosen a new theme and inspirational item for the 17th round. So this week's theme is "Two hearts together" and it's running January 19 through January 25.

To participate:

1. Name your treasury according to "Two hearts together" inspiration theme

2. Include this item from the Cinnamonia shop to your new treasury:

3. Tag your treasury with tags Treasurywin RT17, two hearts

4. If you are not a team member please leave the link of your treasury here in the comments section of this post. If you are a member please visit our forum on Etsy and leave your link there.

5. Only one treasury per shop will be accepted to participate in the contest. Please do not include your own listing to your treasury and no more than 1 item from per shop.

Treasuries for this round will be accepted until 12 noon EST on January 25, 2012 and the winner will be announced on our blog on January 26. The winner will choose the next theme for our treasury challenge and provide an inspirational item. Participants have to include this item in their challenge treasury for 7 days and you need to build your collection around winner's inspiration.

If the winning shop or person is not available on Wednesday the captain or a leader of our team will choose the winner, the next theme and inspirational item.

If you'd like to post the challenge game on your blog, please use our image and provide a link to this post!

Good luck and have fun, everyone!

Winter vacation

2012-01-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

Take a break!

You’ve been working hard all of last year, now is the time for some much deserved rest. Take a break and go on vacation to a beach destination.

Relax in the sun.

Collect sea shells.

Watch wild life.

Dive or snorkel in the coral reef.

Go sailing.

Enjoy the views.

And most importantly enjoy some time off. You deserved it!

By Yana (WineCountryLife)

Valentine crochet coasters

2012-01-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for your Valentine crafts? If you love to crochet these lovely coasters from Adina (daisiescrochet) are a great idea for you!

Heart shaped Coasters.

Skill Level: Easy

SIZE: 3 ½” x 3 ¾” (9 x 10)

CROCHET HOOK
I – 5.5 mm crochet hook or size to obtain correct gauge.

ABBREVIATIONS
ch – chain
sl st – slip stitch
beg – beginning
sc – single crochet
hdc – half double crochet
dc – double crochet

MATERIALS
For 1 coaster needs: 10yds Sugar and Cream Cotton (120yd/109m – 2.5oz/70.9g) Worsted /4ply or any other blend of similar yardage yarn.

Visit my blog to learn how to crochet dc decrease and more.
daisiescrochet.blogspot.com/

NOTE: The hearts is worked in rounds.

Start ch3, join with sl st in first ch to form a ring.

Rnd 1: ch1, work 11sc in ring, join with sl st to beg ch1.
Rnd 2: Ch1, sc and hdc in 1st ct, 2dc in next 4 cts, 5dc in next st, 2dc in next 4 sts, hdc and sc in last st, join with sl st to beg ch1.
Rnd 3: Ch1, st in next 2 sts, sc and hdc in next st, 2dc in next 3 sts, dc in next 5 sts, 5dc in next st, dc in next 5 sts, 2 dc in next 3 sts, hdc and sc in next st, st in last 2 sts, join with sl st to beg ch1.

Edging:
Take contrast yarn.
Join yarn with sl st in first st. Sc in all sts around.
Fasten off.

Happy Crocheting!!

All rights to this pattern are owned by Daisies Crochet.

Please, no resale, copy, forward or distribution of this pattern allowed, and no resale of items made using this pattern is allowed. This is for personal use only. Thank you for understanding.

My trip to Belgium

2012-01-15T07:57:00.000-08:00

Where is your inspiration coming from? Mine is coming from different sources but one of it is my travel impressions.

Last month my husband and I visited two cities in Belgium, Antwerpen and Bruges. I liked both cities very much, they are so wonderful.

I liked the old buildings, delicious chocolate, Christmas atmosphere and a girl's best friend, diamonds.

When we were in Antwerpen my husband and I went to see a movie "In Bruges" after our baby went to sleep in a evening. My husband had seen this movie before but wanted me to see it also. This is an action movie but you can see beautiful Belgian cities too. So later it was nice to see a "In Bridges" poster at the hotel, right next to a reception counter.

I liked the charm of Bruges with it's channels, a wonderful market place, silent side streets and cathedrals.

I was really happy to spend some time taking pictures with my camera.

This trip made me feel recharged and full of energy. I was happy to come back home and use my new ideas in my creations.

Please stop by my nihamaj shop on Etsy to see my colorful toys and other pretty things!

My best wishes and happy inspiration,

Yana (nihamaj).

Dragon giveaway results

2012-01-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce the winner of our toy dragon giveaway!

Comment # 12 by nihama was chosen as a winner. Congratulations!

Antonina (Wonderlandinhabitant) will contact you to verify your mailing address.

Congratulations to the winner and thank you for participation, everyone!

Russian Artists Team holiday gift exchange

2012-01-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

The Etsy Russian Team held our annual Holiday gift exchange during the last holiday season. This year there were 41 team members from 16 countries participating. We had a lot of fun picking the gifts, packaging them and sending to the recipient but we were also waiting impatiently for our pretty packages from our secret Santas.

So let me reveal the secret Santas and show you our wonderful gifts.

Follow the arrow to see what gift each participant received. Click on the pictures to see them larger.

My best wishes in 2012,

Albina Manning

Interview with a star - Aleksa (CitrusCat)

2012-01-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

Today, we'd like to introduce our team member Aleksa who runs CitrusCat shop on Etsy.

- Please tell us a little bit about yourself
What can I tell about myself?
I'm 23, I have a young, ambitious and full of hope for a brighter future. :)
By education I am a psychologist, but psychology does not attract me as a profession.
I'm a self taught handmade artist trying to turn my favorite hobby into life style and profession.
I create unusual jewelry. But sometimes I move in the other direction. Spontaneously I can start making greeting cards or decorative items for the home. In short, I am a creative person and quite unpredictable even to myself. I guess that's my trick.

- How long have you been creating? How did your journey in art and creativity begin?
I loved to make things since I was small. As far as I can remember as a child I drew a lot, asked my grandmother taught me to embroider. Then I wanted to make clothes and I wanted to be a designer.
My path to the creation of jewelry was long. At some point I started to sew felt brooches.

After a while I realized that I like to make jewelry and I started trying different techniques and materials.
Now I’m fond of creating resin jewelry. I chose this material and technique because it allows me to create different things without limiting the imagination.

In future I want to try to use other materials and techniques.

-What is the most important about your work?
I can identify several aspects that are important to my business. This is a good mood, inspiration, and support of my family
In my work I like the fact that I’m the owner of business and can do what I want.
No doubt, it creates a good mood which I put in my work.

One of the most important events for my business was opening a Citrus Сat shop on Etsy. This was a good incentive for me.

- What would you say makes your shop unique?
The original approach to the creation of my jewelry is making them unique.
I am a self-taught and eclectic artist, who works with a variety of techniques.
My jewelry is a world full of colors of life.
With my jewelry I want to make the world more beautiful and colorful.
I hope you enjoy my creations, as much as I enjoyed creating them!

Please come to my Citrus Cat (www.CitrusCat.etsy.com) store. And get a portion of happiness. :)

Treasury Challenge, round 16

2012-01-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the 16th round of our Treasury Challenge game! You don't have to be a team member to participate but you need to have a shop on Etsy.

Yelena from LenaMer was announced as a winner of a previous round with her "Warm winter" treasury. Congratulations, Yelena!

The winners have chosen a new theme and inspirational item for the 16th round. So this week's theme is "Tribal Dance" and it's running January 12 through January 18th, 2012.

To participate:

1. Name your treasury according to "Tribal Dance" inspiration theme

2. Include this item from the LenaMer shop to your new treasury:

3. Tag your treasury with tags Treasurywin RT16, tribal

4. If you are not a team member please leave the link of your treasury here in the comments section of this post. If you are a member please visit our forum on Etsy and leave your link there.

5. Only one treasury per shop will be accepted to participate in the contest. Please do not include your own listing to your treasury and no more than 1 item from per shop.

Treasuries for this round will be accepted until 12 noon EST on January 18th, 2012 and the winner will be announced on our blog on January 19th. The winner will choose the next theme for our treasury challenge and provide an inspirational item. Participants have to include this item in their challenge treasury for 7 days and you need to build your collection around winner's inspiration.

If the winning shop or person is not available on Wednesday the captain or a leader of our team will choose the winner, the next theme and inspirational item.

If you'd like to post the challenge game on your blog, please use our image and provide a link to this post!

Good luck and have fun, everyone!

Etsy Team Spirit Award

2012-01-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to all members of Russian Artists Team for winning Etsy Team Spirit Award!

It's a recognition of Russian Artists' team hard work and achievements. We all made it happen being a strong, active and friendly Etsy team.

Thank you all for your contributions to Russian Artists Team's success on Etsy!

Valentine gift tags giveaway

2012-01-10T07:43:00.000-08:00

We are offering you a very romantic giveaway today. These heart shaped gift tags are perfect for a Valentines or for any romantic gift you will make during the year. Tanya (ZaraBezbazara) is the hostess for this giveaway.

The first set of 15 tags you can see on this photo:

The second set of tags you will choose yourself when you visit the ZaraBezbazara shop.

So you will receive 2 sets of tags total!

Only one person will be selected so please follow these rules to be a winner:

1. To choose the second part of your gift visit ZaraBezbazara`s shop, browse around, and leave a comment here on what your favorite item is. (1 entry).
2. Follow / subscribe our blog (an entry).
3. Grab Etsy Russian Team's button and place it on your blog (1 entry).
4. Share this giveaway on your blog / facebook / twitter (1 entry).
5. Follow ZaraBezbazara`s livejournal - Russian language only (1 entry).
6. Follow ZaraBezbazara`s facebook / twitter (1 entry each).

Please leave a separate comment on each entry and don't forget to leave us your email address so that Tanya could contact you!

The winner will be announced on January 21st, so have fun and good luck everyone!

Scorfano, rock fish with pasta

2012-01-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

There is always a question, what to cook for dinner. Try this Italian dish our team member Katrin (katrinshine) loves to cook. It called scorfano.

You will need 1-2 pcs. of rock fish
couple cloves of garlic
1 kg of tomatoes
pasta tubettini counting 80 gram per person
olive oil
some white wine
salt
fresh ground pepper

Pasta and the other ingredients will be cooked at the same time and combined at the end. So let's start by putting water on for the pasta.

Peel the garlic and fry it in olive oil till golden brown. You can remove it later if you don't like garlic pieces in food.

Add cleaned fish (keep head but scale and gut it), fry on both sides, add wine and sautee. Add sliced tomatoes and keep cooking.

After the water boils add pasta and cook till almost ready (check the cooking time on your package and cook for minus two minutes).

When we drain the water from tubettini I would suggest to leave some in case tomatoes don’t turn out juicy or just to have a bit more broth (I prefer it that way!)

Add tubettini (with liquid we saved) to the fish with tomatoes, gently stir and sautee for a few more minutes. It is done!

Serve a small piece of fish to everyone’s plate (whole one or break bigger ones) or just serve fish separately on a serving platter and let pickings begin!

Don’t forget to add some fresh ground pepper straight on your food!

Recipe by Katrin (katrinshine)

Translated by Nadya (crafts2love)

Some thoughts on art, exhibitions and inspiration

2012-01-08T09:53:00.000-08:00

The art exhibits are very powerful source of inspiration for me. I love to see the wonderful works of art and always trying to see as many art shows as possible.

According to the Art Basel Miami Beach website, the event is known as the most prestigious art show in the Americas. Over 250 leading galleries from all over the world take part, showcasing works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since the first exhibition held ten years ago, a greater number of art collectors, artists, dealers, curators, critics and art enthusiasts from around the world participate in Art Basel Miami Beach - the favorite winter meeting place for the international art world.

The exhibiting galleries are among the world's most respected art dealers, offering exceptional pieces by both renowned artists and cutting-edge newcomers. Special exhibition sections feature young galleries, performance art, public art projects and video art. The show is a vital source for art lovers, allowing them to both discover new developments in contemporary art and experience rare museum-caliber artworks. Top-quality exhibitions in the museums of South Florida and special programs for art collectors and curators also help make the event a special time for encountering art.

This year's 10th anniversary show marked my 3rd Art Basel experience. As I walk through the exhibition and view each piece, a handful of pieces inspire my future creations.

For instance, after this year's show, I have introduced my used coffee grounds into my paintings.

This process have not only given me more recyclable or “green” ideas, but simply adding the coffee grounds and coffee beans to my painting has given them a more unique quality to my creations.

Other exhibits provided inspiration for my latest jewelry designs which I am currently preparing.

For the people considering whether or not to attend the next Art Basel show in Miami Beach, I would HIGHLY recommend it. This is wonderful and I am sure, you will get inspired, too!

Story by Vera (Luxurybyvera) and Mike,

Photography by Katya Gubanova

С Рождеством Христовым!

2012-01-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

It's Russian Christmas today. Congratulations and best wishes for all our readers!

Уважаемые читатели нашего блога. Поздравляем вас с Рождеством Христовым. Счастья, здоровья и удачи вам и вашим семьям. Мы желаем, чтобы этот праздник принес свет и тепло в ваш дом!

Interview with a Star, Oksana Piven

2012-01-06T04:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone is welcome in Oksana Piven's beautiful jewelry shop. You can find one of a kind handmade jewelry here made from polymer clay, beads, wire and so much more. Oksana is putting her heart and soul in every creation and she believes that people who wear it will be really happy!

Please tell us a little bit about yourself

My name is Oksana and I was born and raised in Ukraine. I have a husband and a 16-year-old daughter. Another VIP in our family is our cat!

I have a PhD in molecular genetics and I work as a senior scientific researcher at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics.

- How long have you been creating?

As a child, I was enjoying my art classes at the Children's Fine Arts School. I was creating things in different styles and materials. My parents supported my creative explorations and interests in crocheting, knitting, painting and other types of crafts. They kept all paintings made by me at the child's age!

When I was a teenager I discovered macramé. This technique was new for me so I took some classes and filled our home with the variety of new panels and planters.

My current passion – jewelry making – started a few years ago.

I'm thankful to the Internet and my friend who introduced me to the polymer and seed beads community on the Internet. At first I tried myself in seed beads and faceted beads techniques – I beaded beads and created necklaces with them. I enjoyed doing it and the process fascinated me.

When I discovered polymer clay and the possibilities of this material I liked it very much. I try new techniques all the time, for example, I try to use polymer clay and other materials together.

- What items do you carry in your shop?
In my shop you can find statement necklaces and lovely pendants to wear every day. I work with a variety of techniques. I like use the texture on clay technique in my jewelry, as well as hand-sculpting and molding techniques.

I like to create jewelry from natural materials or metal imitation techniques. I am fascinated with the process of jewelry making. And beauty is a very important criterion for me. Jewelry should be beautiful and harmonious, and certainly interesting! I am sure that the value of handmade is in the originality and uniqueness and I try to show it in my works.

- What inspires you and what does the day in your studio look like?

My inspiration comes mostly from nature. I love to use flowers or leaves as ornaments. Also I like folk ornaments, ethnic jewelry and trade beads. I collect pictures of Ukrainian jewelry, folk and modern, and I enjoy discovering it. In my creations I try to mix the traditional folk style and new materials.

- Do you use any special techniques or tools?
Of course, I use different kinds of materials and tools: pasta machine, cutters, textures, paints and inks and so on. Moreover, sometimes I use the spices, salt, brushes, leaves, pieces of tree bark - anything I find useful.

Treasury Challenge, round 15

2012-01-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the 15th round of our Treasury Challenge game! You don't have to be a team member to participate but you need to have a shop on Etsy.

Irina from IrenkaR was announced as a winner of a previous round with her "Wild blue" treasury. Congratulations, Irina!

The winners have chosen a new theme and inspirational item for the 15th round. So this week's theme is "Warm Winter" and it's running January 5 through January 11th, 2012.

To participate:

1. Name your treasury according to "Warm winter" inspiration theme

2. Include this item from the IrenkaR shop to your new treasury:

3. Tag your treasury with tags Treasurywin RT15, winter

4. If you are not a team member please leave the link of your treasury here in the comments section of this post. If you are a member please visit our forum on Etsy and leave your link there.

5. Only one treasury per shop will be accepted to participate in the contest. Please do not include your own listing to your treasury and no more than 1 item from per shop.

Treasuries for this round will be accepted until 12 noon EST on January 11th, 2012 and the winner will be announced on our blog on January 5th. The winner will choose the next theme for our treasury challenge and provide an inspirational item. Participants have to include this item in their challenge treasury for 7 days and you need to build your collection around winner's inspiration.

If the winning shop or person is not available on Wednesday the captain or a leader of our team will choose the winner, the next theme and inspirational item.

If you'd like to post the challenge game on your blog, please use our image and provide a link to this post!

Good luck and have fun, everyone!

Winter fashion, scarves

2012-01-04T18:13:00.000-08:00

Nothing is better than a warm scarf in a winter! Something to cuddle with. Something to look gorgeous in.

Here are our scarves from the Russian Artists Team - to you!

Enjoy our collection of scarves!

Scarves from (left to right):
1. manonknits 2. cozyseason 3. baymut 4. janebofelt
5. vitaltemptation 6. maliposha 7. citycrochet 8. lanadearg
9. lasunka 10. crafts2love 11. allmadewithlove 12. galafilc
13. mailo 14. Muza 15. frenchfelt 16. proninA

A Dragon giveaway

2012-01-04T07:21:00.000-08:00

What could be better than having your own small-size dragon in the Year of Dragon! Especially when it is given to you as a gift!

Well, today we are offering a surprise dragon giveaway.

A little dragon is being made for you by Antonina's (Wonderlandinhabitant) right now! The dragon will look similar to this one:

It might be a boy or a girl, or have some different accessories, it all depends on Antonina's imagination. All we know is that is going to be a cute dragon made with love and just for you!

Antonina is a maker of wonderful Waldorf dolls and toys. Take a look at some of her creations:

... looks like her secret are these two little helpers!

Visit her shop and you might want to adopt one of her Wonderlandinhabitants. They are so cute and just waiting for a good home to go to.

Here's how you enter for a chance to win this:

- Visit the WonderlandInhabitant shop, take a look around and leave us a comment of what your favorite item is (1 entry per comment)

- Favorite Wonderlandinhabitant shop - 1 entry

- Follow our blog - 1 entry

- Subscribe to our blog via RSS - 1 entry

- Grab our button and place it on your blog - 2 entries

- Blog about this giveaway - 2 entries

- Tweet about this giveaway - 1 entry

- Leave a link to this giveaway on Facebook - 1 entry

- Follow Wonderlandinhabitant on facebook - 1 entry

- Purchase anything from Wonderlandinhabitant shop - 7 entries. Leave us a comment on what you purchased.

- Subscribe to Antonina's blog (in Russian)- 1 entry

Please leave a separate comment on each entry and don't forget to leave us your email address so that we can contact you!

The more entries you submit the more chances of winning!

A winner will be chosen by Antonina using random.org on January 13th and we will announce the winner on our blog.

Free cross stitch pattern, Eat More Veggies

2012-01-02T20:37:00.000-08:00

Good health is one of the most important things when we are talking of a healthy life style. It's not a secret that a healthy diet will help you shed some pounds, makes you feel good and live happier.

I created this little cross stitch ornament as a reminder to myself to eat more vegetables. So if you'd like to stitch one for yourself here is the pattern!

The ornament is easy to make. It will take you just one free evening to stitch it and you can finish it any way you want. Hang it on your wall to make it your New Year resolution!

All materials are available for purchase by request at agardencottage shop on Etsy, subject to availability.

My best wishes in 2012 and good health,

Tanya at AGardenCottage.

Luray Caverns in Virginia

2011-12-31T23:00:00.000-08:00

We have recently visited amazing Luray caverns located in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. First discovered in 1878 the caverns are open to public. They are beautiful and well managed making a family trip to Shenandoah Valley a memorable experience.

It will take about 2 hours drive to take you to the caves. A large part of the route goes through beautiful mountains and is quite picturesque. Once at the place it is hard to believe that the caverns are actually beneath the surface. Nothing tells future visitors about their existence. So it's a surprise to walk down the stairs and find oneself in a magical and hidden kingdom!

The caves are well preserved and beautifully lit. Well designed walking paths remind of a maze and make the whole experience exceptional. A guided tour is about one hour. It’s just enough to enjoy the beauty of the place and not to get tired. It’s a highly recommend attraction that will be enjoyed by a whole family.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T04:00:00.000-08:00

Dear team members and readers!

We wish you a Happy 2012 year. We wish you a lot of happiness topped with loads of fortune. Have a great year ahead!

Cheers!

Happy New Year for our readers!

2011-12-30T04:00:00.000-08:00

It's less than 48 hours, and we all will celebrate new 2012 year! Let us share some more wishes from our team members:

Jana from nihamaj
Wishing you and your sweet children lot of health, peace, hope, happiness and all joys of the season! Merry Christmas and the Happy New Year.

Irina from IrenkaR
Happy New Year and Merry Christmas! All greetings from Ukraine! I wish everyone to be happy as children. I wish everyone love and warmth in your hearts, and more sunny days!

Oksana from LaFiabaRussa
I wish you very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Natalka from skrynka
Dear friends! I wish you a lot of fun this year! May your family be strong, your friends be helpful, your work be easy! Feel that love is all around! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Nadia from Crafts2love
May Christmas find its way into your heart and stay with you all year round!

Katerina from Katuasha
Merry Christmas 'N Happy New Year! I wish love and peace in the family, inspiration, happiness in the new year!

Olena from Sunshinefelt
May the spirit of Christmas bless your home always. May all those you hold dear, always be near and warm your heart. Wish you lots of love, joy and happiness. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Treasury Challenge, round 14th

2011-12-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the 14th round of our Treasury Challenge game! You don't have to be a team member to participate but you need to have a shop on Etsy.

Lena & Ira from kimuka were announced as a winners of a previous round with their "Good night, baby" treasury. Congratulations, Lena & Ira!

The winners have chosen a new theme and inspirational item for the 14th round. So this week's theme is "Wild blue" and it's running December 29th, 2011 through January 4th, 2012.

To participate:

1. Name your treasury according to "Wild blue" inspiration theme

2. Include this item from the kimuka shop to your new treasury:

3. Tag your treasury with tags Treasurywin RT14, wild, blue

4. If you are not a team member please leave the link of your treasury here in the comments section of this post. If you are a member please visit our forum on Etsy and leave your link there.

5. Only one treasury per shop will be accepted to participate in the contest. Please do not include your own listing to your treasury and no more than 1 item from per shop.

Treasuries for this round will be accepted until 12 noon EST on January 4th, 2012 and the winner will be announced on our blog on January 5th. The winner will choose the next theme for our treasury challenge and provide an inspirational item. Participants have to include this item in their challenge treasury for 7 days and you need to build your collection around winner's inspiration.

If the winning shop or person is not available on Wednesday the captain or a leader of our team will choose the winner, the next theme and inspirational item.

If you'd like to post the challenge game on your blog, please use our image and provide a link to this post!

Good luck and have fun, everyone!

Thank you to our blog volunteers

2011-12-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago a small group of members in our team took the initiative to create a blog for the Russian Artists on Etsy.

They were overwhelmed with the amount of work they needed to invest in the group blog, so Alecya (Arctida), Irina (IrinaPhotography) and Lana(Lanadearg) helped each other to start the blog and fill it with major information about the group.

Several members of our team shared their interest for the new creation and started to post articles on the blog with craft related subjects. The posts were informative and had a great response from our readers.

Later on that year Katrin (Katrinshine) offer her help with promoting our group members in our Wednesday posts. Her photo collages were wonderful. Tanya (Socksandmittens) helped write these Wednesday posts and they are still a great way to advertise and tell the world about our creations.

At the end of the first year we got some new ideas on how our blog will go forward. We decided to fill it with as much info as possible because we are a very creative group of artists and we have lots to share!

So in the late fall of 2010 our blog started to post new articles on a regular base, a minimum of 4 posts a week. We saved Mondays for tutorials and kept promoting up to 16 members of our group on Wednesdays. Fridays we left for the interviews with our team members or introductions to their shops for our readers. Sundays we are sharing our favorite recipes and talking about the wonderful places to visit and so much more!

Many members of our team take their part in making our blog more interesting. We have wonderful authors, interpreters and photographers, who kindly help promote our handmade creations and shops to a new level.

Our New Year resolution is to reach more people through a group effort.

Thank you everyone who helped and gave input to our blog!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

Dear team members and readers!

We wish you a Merry Christmas. May Peace be your gift at Christmas
and your blessing all year through!

Happy holiday!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to our readers!

2011-12-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

New Year is almost here, and our team members wish you happy holidays!

Lily from HeartyGift
The best greetings from Moldova! I took a lot of fun being here on Etsy with you! Thank you for supporting and so friendly communication!
Let the New Year be even more positive full of Harmony, Love and Inspiration!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Yelena from Lazo
It's been a great and wonderful year ,I appreciate my customers for their wonderful orders and communication.Merry Christmas and Happy New year from Lazo shop

Marina from miopupazzo
Warm wishes from Israel!
Wishing you and your family the warmth of home, the love of family and the company of good friends. Have a blessed Christmas and a happy New year.

Lana from BelleCoccinelle
May the glow of Christmas, the spirit of Christmas, and the magic of Christmas fill your heart all year long!

Yuliya from Jezek
Better than any New Year has been and will be, Better than any joy known or to be known, Better than any wish realised or to be realised-that's how, this New Year should be for you. Have a great new year.

Albina from GoodWeather
May the Holiday Season bring only happiness and joy to you and your loved ones.

Happy New Year!

Treasury Challenge, round 13th

2011-12-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the 13th round of our Treasury Challenge game! You don't have to be a team member to participate but you need to have a shop on Etsy.

Sasha from pickurcolor was announced as a winner of a previous round with her "Indian holiday" treasury. Congratulations, Sasha!

The winner have chosen a new theme and inspirational item for the 13th round. So this week's theme is "Good night, baby..." and it's running December 22nd through December 28th.

To participate:

1. Name your treasury according to "Good night, Baby..." inspiration theme

2. Include this item from the pickurcolor shop to your new treasury:

3. Tag your treasury with tags Treasurywin RT13, good night baby...

4. If you are not a team member please leave the link of your treasury here in the comments section of this post. If you are a member please visit our forum on Etsy and leave your link there.

5. Only one treasury per shop will be accepted to participate in the contest. Please do not include your own listing to your treasury and no more than 1 item from per shop.

Treasuries for this round will be accepted until 12 noon EST on December 28th, 2011 and the winner will be announced on our blog on December 29th, 2011. The winner will choose the next theme for our treasury challenge and provide an inspirational item. Participants have to include this item in their challenge treasury for 7 days and you need to build your collection around winner's inspiration.

If the winning shop or person is not available on Wednesday the captain or a leader of our team will choose the winner, the next theme and inspirational item.

If you'd like to post the challenge game on your blog, please use our image and provide a link to this post!

Good luck and have fun, everyone!

Happy Hanukkah!

2011-12-21T23:35:00.000-08:00

We would like to congratulate today all our team members who celebrate this holiday.

Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah

2011-12-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hanukkah or Chanukah (both spellings are right) is the eight day festival of lights that begins on the eve of the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev. It celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materiality. This year Hanukkah begins at sunset on Tuesday, December 20th and ends at sunset Wednesday, December the 28th.

More than twenty-one centuries ago, the Holy Land of Israel was occupied by the Seleucids. At the start, their rule was fairly benign. But the troubles began in earnest when Antiochus "the madman" ascended to the throne over the Syrian-Greek empire. He enacted a series of harsh decrees. Jewish worship was forbidden; the scrolls of the Jewish Law (Bible) were confiscated and burned. Sabbath (Saturday) rest, circumcision and the dietary laws were prohibited.

One day Mattityahu, the old priest from village of Modyin, rebelled against the invaders. Together with his sons, relatives and friends (called Maccabees) they exclaimed: "Let us fight unto death in defense of our motherland, our freedom, our souls and our Temple!" Against all odds, a small group of these faithful Jews, leaded by Judah, son of Mattityahu, and his brothers, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Seleucids from the land, and liberated Jerusalem. The Maccabees entered the Temple and cleared it of the idols placed there by the Syrian vandals. Judah and his followers reclaimed the Holy Temple and built a new altar, which he dedicated on the twenty-fifth of the month of Kislev, in the year 3622 (remember – there is the 5772 year now) after creation of the world . And they completely rededicated the Temple to the service.

But when they sought to light the Temple's menorah (the seven branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of pure olive oil bearing the seal of the High Priest. It was sufficient to light only for one day. By miracle it continued to burn for eight days, till new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity. To commemorate and publicize this miracle and heroism of Maccabees, the Jewish sages instituted the festival of Chanukah.

At the heart of the festival is the nightly hahukkiah lighting: a single flame on the first night, two on the second evening, by increasing the number of candles each night till the eighth night of Chanukah, when all eight lights are kindled. By the end of the festival forty-four candles should have been kindled in total. Why not 36 (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8)? Because each time we first light a special service candle and then light the other candle or candles from it. This special service light called ‘shamash’ - the “servant” candle that kindles the other lights—it should be placed apart from the rest (higher, outside the row, etc.). And even there is no prescribed design for a chanukiah (Chanukah menorah), but the common is that all the lamps or candles should be arranged in a straight row, and should be of equal height and shamash should be set at a different elevation from the others so that it may be easily distinguished and recognized.

You can see not only family Chanukah menorahs but a lot of large public menorahs all around the world – Columbia University, New York; Barcelona, Spain; Berlin, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Miami Beach, Florida; Kiev, Ukraine – and of course in Israel – in all these places and many others you can see public Chanukah menorah lightings usually hold by local Chabad-Lubavitch organizations.

On Chanukah Jews also add to their prays especial thanksgiving to G-d for "delivering the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few... the wicked into the hands of the righteous".

Chanukah customs include eating foods fried in oil like potato pancakes called ‘latkes’ (in Yiddish) and doughnuts called ‘sufganiot’ (in Hebrew).

Kids play with the special Chanukah toy called ‘dreidel’ in Yiddish or ‘sevivon’ in Hebrew. It is a spinning top, whirligig on which are inscribed the four Hebrew letters. The letters are ‘nun’,’ gimmel’, ‘hei’ and ‘shin’ or ‘pei’, depending on the place. These letters is an acronym for Hebrew sentence ‘Nes Gadol Hayah Sham’ means "a great miracle happened there". But in the Land of Israel the last letter ‘shin’ changed by letter ‘pei’ and the meaning of the sentence changes to ‘Nes Gadol Hayah Poh’ means “a great miracle happened here’!

One of the loveliest Chanukah customs is the giving of Chanukah 'gelt' (gifts of money) to children.

Story by Natalya (bonbonland)

Holiday season in Italy

2011-12-18T09:09:00.000-08:00

This year I’d like to tell you a bit about Christmas and New Year’s traditions in Italy. As we all know already Italy is a country of traditions! They differ a bit from region to region or town to town just like the dialects, but some are common all over Italy and those are the ones I’d like to share.

Christmas is well loved and celebrated in Italy as all over the World and by the end of November most of the shops are decked out for the season.

On Christmas Eve the whole family gathers at the table laden with goods with Presepe in the center. Presepe is Nativity Scene in Italy - Joseph, Mary and animals in the stable. Just a few figures or all the table taken by scenes of local life. At Christmas time a lot of towns hold Presepe exhibitions and artists compete to make the best one.

At midnight the youngest in the family holds the statuette of baby Jesus and leads the „train” of a sort where everybody follows holding the person before by the shoulders all around the house as they sing «tu scendi dalle stelle» - You come down from the stars. At the end of the song baby Jesus is put into Presepe and unwrapping of gifts starts.

One more Christmas tradition is Italian Christmas cakes that grace every table - panettone and pan d'oro.

Right after Christmas on the 26th is St.Stephen’s Day - Santo Stefano. He is the patron saint of Italy. I can’t remember any particular traditions of that day besides getting the whole family together one more time to feast from the heart and stomach!

Let’s move on from Christmas to New Years.

Traditionally it’s not a family holiday like Christmas, but a celebration with friends, usually a noisy and fun party. Often Italians go skiing for a few days over the New Years or just to get away to the mountains. One of the holy traditions of New Year’s Eve is cooking lentils and then eating them at midnight, of course without utensils, just with hands! Lentils are followed by meat delicacy called cotechino. It is a fresh sausage made from pork, fatback, and pork rind. Eaten with hands of course  Tradition says eating lentils at New Year’s will bring you lots of money in that year. As long as I remember, and especially since the crisis, it didn’t bring us any, but we still do it every year 

Last holiday of the season is Epafania - Epiphany, that is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on the 6th of January. Gift giving for Christmas is a novelty in Italy, that tradition isn’t older than 30 years. Before that the gifts were brought by Befana – old, ugly but kind witch that comes on her broom at the night of the 6th and places the gift into the stocking hung at the window or fireplace. Traditionally you have to leave Befana a snack. If the child was good for the year he or she will find stocking full of sweets, dry and fresh fruit, but if he or she was bad the stocking will be filled with coal. This tradition is getting forgotten now but my husband always leaves a sockful of chocolates and a tiny witch figure under my pillow 

Hope you enjoyed my little story,

Katrin from katrinshine

Translated by Nadia (crafts2love)

Yellow flower brooch giveaway

2011-12-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce the winner of our yellow flower brooch giveaway!

Comment # 18 by lakizka was chosen as a winner. Congratulations!

Yana (nihama) will contact you to verify your mailing address.

Congratulations to the winner and thank you for participation, everyone!

Interview with a Star, Maria from russianfineart

2011-12-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

When you visit the russianfineart shop on Etsy you will immediately be intrigued by either their paintings, wonderful embroidered pillows or a bunches of sage offered by Maria, the owner of the shop. What's behind this? We'd like to know! So we contacted Maria and she told us more about herself and her magical sage.

Please welcome, Maria from russianfineart shop.

I was born in the city of Saint Petersburg, the Venice of the North, where I was surrounded by the environment rich in art and culture. I was connected to theatre since both of my parents were actors. I performed as an actress on stage and as an acrobat in circus from early on. I always enjoyed theatre, museums and my cultural life.

When I grew up my life took an unexpected turn. I left my native Russia and moved to the other side of the world, to Vancouver, British Columbia, where I now live with my son.

I was alone in the new city where I began to learn new things. This new city was nothing like the place where I came from, but yet I found beauty in it. For the first time I saw mountains and beautiful forest landscapes. I started to connect more and more with nature, learning about different animals and plants. I learned about native people whose culture I found so fascinating.

I traveled to small towns in British Columbia where I met true native people. These people were very open, simple and had kind hearts, even though many of them were very poor. They needed to work very hard just to get their food, and yet their souls were pure, free from conceitedness and greediness. Their spirits shined with warmth and kindness.

I learned many things from them as well as began to understand and connect with nature more. I realized that nature gives us everything we need: sun gives us energy; rain cools the soil down and gives it water; plants give us food, heal and treat us. It is a true magic. There are many plants that heal people, their minds or making their weak hearts strong.

The most magic plant of all is sage which also means wisdom. There are various types of species of sage (salvia) which grow all over the world and used for many different purposes.

It comes from mint family, same with lavender, basil and other herbs. The scent is not the same as lavender or mint, but in the way it is similar. Russian or Ukrainian sage looks completely different from the sage which grows in North America. It looks more like lavender and has blue flowers. It is also used for different purposes, mostly in medicine. Greek sage also looks and even smells different. It has small leaves which are in oval shape and reminds me more of olive leaves. I believe that Greeks mostly use their sage in cooking.

I pick my sage in British Columbia in one valley reserved by native people. It is truly a magic place and I like to call it a paradise. It is used in medicine to salve soars and as tea to treat colds or coughs. Now because of its aromatic smell, it is used as a home fragrance, usually placed in a clothing drawer or a closet. Native American people also call this plant “cancer-weed” and use it in medicine to treat cancer. Now their main purpose is to tie it in bundles and burn the smudge sticks to clean one’s spirit and get rid of negative energy.

I believe that geographic location is one of the factors which are important to know about the plant, the atmosphere and the care surround it is another.

Maria from russianfineart

Treasury Challenge, round 12th

2011-12-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the 12th round of our Treasury Challenge game! You don't have to be a team member to participate but you need to have a shop on Etsy.

Lena from RadhikaJewelry was announced as a winner of a previous round with her "Frosty morning" treasury. Congratulations, Lena!

The winner have chosen a new theme and inspirational item for the 12th round. So this week's theme is Indian holiday and it's running December 15th through December 21st.

To participate:

1. Name your treasury according to Indian holiday inspiration theme

2. Include this item from the RadhikaJewelry shop to your new treasury:

3. Tag your treasury with tags Treasurywin RT12, Indian holiday

4. If you are not a team member please leave the link of your treasury here in the comments section of this post. If you are a member please visit our forum on Etsy and leave your link there.

5. Only one treasury per shop will be accepted to participate in the contest. Please do not include your own listing to your treasury and no more than 1 item from per shop.

Treasuries for this round will be accepted until 12 noon EST on December 21st, 2011 and the winner will be announced on our blog on December 22nd, 2011. The winner will choose the next theme for our treasury challenge and provide an inspirational item. Participants have to include this item in their challenge treasury for 7 days and you need to build your collection around winner's inspiration.

If the winning shop or person is not available on Wednesday the captain or a leader of our team will choose the winner, the next theme and inspirational item.

If you'd like to post the challenge game on your blog, please use our image and provide a link to this post!

Good luck and have fun, everyone!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

2011-12-14T04:00:00.000-08:00

I grew up in Siberia where every Christmas is white. By the end of November snow dresses up streets, buildings, trees, and everything around. So when the winter holidays come, the city is already decorated by Nature. Now that I have moved to California I miss that white splendor. Every Christmas season I see fabulously decorated trees, beautiful lights, cheerful Santas... but no snow.

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know...

I always wondered how this song written by an American can express my feelings so well. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Irving Berlin who wrote this song was actually born in Siberia and left Russia to move to the US with his parents when he was a child. He must have missed the snow just like I do!

To be fair I’m not the only one who likes to dream of a white Christmas. Considering that the song became the best seller of all times, people all over the globe find something in this song that touches them. Is it nostalgia of happy childhood times? Or is it a search for innocence and simplicity in this demanding and overwhelming life? Or maybe all-white just seems more romantic?

No matter what the reason, we like to recreate a feeling of a white Christmas with handmade decor. You can find crocheted snowflakes, felted snowmen, and lots of snow white accessories created by the Russian Team on Etsy.

May your days be merry and bright,
and may all your Christmases be white!

By Yana (WineCountryLife)

Free graphic Snowflakes and Christmas alphabet

2011-12-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like a white Christmas! We'd like to see these sparkly white little miracles flying in the air while we are warm and cozy around the Christmas tree!

Here is some more snowflakes for you. You can use them for gift tags or winter scrapbooking. Whatever you do they will always look gorgeous and will never melt!

To add that special touch and make your gift even more personal use these free Christmas alphabet:

The person you give a gift to will thank you with all his heart!

Thank you, Katrin (karisagraphic) for sharing it with us today.

Have a happy Holidays and let it snow!

Are you ready for Christmas?

2011-12-11T08:04:00.000-08:00

What a time of year! It is not enough time in twenty-four hours!

Yes, I’m talking about Christmas. If you are like I am, I mean if you like to make presents with your hands, it would be better to start work on them in the summer time! What could be better than a gift which was made with love, with fantasy, or with hope?

I’m not a very good organized person and what would I do without my lovely Etsy where I can find everything what I was going to make by myself but I didn’t. Just allow me to guide you there or let me share how happy I’m with my purchases for my friends and relatives for Christmas.

First of all I need to tell you I have been a knitter for more than 30 years. But, if you are a full time working mom and wife it is not easy to make something like Muza does in her shop.

Or look at TatianaOrlova shop, where Scandinavian knitting designs are combined with Russian warmth. Wow, this is really a knitter’s winter fairyland!

If you are looking for warm gift don’t hesitate to visit these next shops where my friends are making very artist items!

From left to right: CozySeason, woolsolution, SocksAndMittens

Maybe because I live in Alaska I prefer wool and natural materials. They keep you warm and comfortable on cold winter days. But could you imagine how beautiful and soft wool could be in a scarf which was made using nuno felt technology? Look here and I’m sure you can’t go without a purchase!

From left to right, from top to bottom: YanArt, manonknits, JaneBoFelt, galafilc

I can’t be quiet when we are talking about embroidery. This is my new passion and I’m just in the beginning of my study. That is why I strongly recommend you visit Lana’s BelleCoccinelle shop! There you will find amazing art work! Look around and enjoy!

Also I would like to introduce you the shop of talented Ukrainian artist Natalka and her skrynka shop. You can find a lot of choices for gifts there.

And to end, I just want to tell you that I’m a proud member of Rusian Artists team on Etsy. And if you want to find something really unusual and made with love of high quality just type RUSTEAM in search column of Etsy website and you will be surprised how many talented people belong to our team.

Yes, Christmas is almost here. Don’t be sorry if you are late with buying presents for this great holiday. Just think of the future and I’m sure you will be back!

Allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas from my Rusteam’s friends!

Happy shopping! Happy holidays!

Sincerely,

Happy Frog,
a proud member of Russian Artists team on Etsy

Wooden box giveaway results

2011-12-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce the winner of our decorative wooden box giveaway!

Comment # 27 by agnieszkazg was chosen as a winner. Congratulations!

Iryna Modern101 will contact you to verify your mailing address.

Congratulations to the winner and thank you for participation, everyone!

Interview with a Star, Vera at luxurybyvera

2011-12-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

We are always happy to know more about our team members. Today our guest is Vera from a wonderful LuxuryByVera shop on Etsy, with her story on her inspiration.

I was raised in Ukraine by my humble and creative parents. They instilled into me, self-reliance as well as supporting my natural creative ability beginning as a young child. My mother was a seamstress and throughout my whole life nurtured my creative abilities. An example of this was how my mother taught me to design and make beautiful dresses. Typically, my mother and I would walk through dress shops to get ideas. We would use parts of different dresses that we liked, resulting in a beautiful, perfected dress design.

I remember while I was still a teenager that my mother and I were becoming popular because of our dress designs. All around our city, my friends and strangers we would met on the street would comment on our beautiful designs. My creative talents were further cultivated by the Ukrainian schools because we studied many different arts and crafts courses, as this is a big pride in Ukraine to have well-rounded, creative students.

My real creative juices began flowing in early 2009, when I first began designing and making jewelry. Similar to my early days designing dresses with my mother, while shopping one day, I noticed a gorgeous necklaces on display that I realized I could make myself. After working diligently for a few weeks, I had designed and made almost 10 necklaces. During those first few weeks, I had so many ideas flowing through my head, and I have been working 24 hours a day 7 days a week since that time and cannot stop creating. I have been designing and making necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and pendants ever since.

I have added another passion to my creative talents. In addition to my jewelry, I began creating mixed media art on canvas. I am just as excited about pursuing this art as well as my jewelry. Canvas art is bringing my creativeness to a whole other dimension.

A typical day in my studio begins with a cup of coffee and I begin by selecting semi precious stones, pearls and shells (found on the beach where we live) based upon colors and textures that catch my eye that day, and then mix and match the selections into a pattern or design that I like.

Once I am happy with my design, I begin physically making the jewelry. When I can and feel an uncontrollable urge, I pursue my canvas art. It is very easy for me to be lost in my creative artwork. I can spend days on end just creating jewelry or painting.

Finally I am very thankful to my husband for all his support and patience, as I spend mostly of my time in the design studio.

Please visit my shop to see all the surprises that are hidden beneath. I want share some of my client feedback to give you a better feel of what my customers say about my work:

------"This is one of the most unusual pieces I have ever seen. I love it so much!! Thank you so much!!!"

------"exquisite gorgeous perfection. beautifully crafted quality workmanship. gracious seller.... very very happy.."

-------"Oh Vera!!! These earrings are so much prettier than the photo could possibly show! They are made with such care and lovely stones! I will treasure them always:) Thank you!!!"

Best wishes,

Vera

Treasury Challenge, round 11th

2011-12-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the 11th round of our Treasury Challenge game! You don't have to be a team member to participate but you need to have a shop on Etsy.

Vera from LuxuryByVera was announced as a winner of a previous round with her "Hostess gift" treasury. Congratulations, Vera!

The winner have chosen a new theme and inspirational item for the 11th round. So this week's theme is Frosty morning and it's running December 8th through December 14th.

To participate:

1. Name your treasury according to Frosty morning inspiration theme

2. Include this item from the LuxuryByVera shop to your new treasury:

3. Tag your treasury with tags Treasurywin RT11, Frost

4. If you are not a team member please leave the link of your treasury here in the comments section of this post. If you are a member please visit our forum on Etsy and leave your link there.

5. Only one treasury per shop will be accepted to participate in the contest. Please do not include your own listing to your treasury and no more than 1 item from per shop.

Treasuries for this round will be accepted until 12 noon EST on December 14th, 2011 and the winner will be announced on our blog on December 15th, 2011. The winner will choose the next theme for our treasury challenge and provide an inspirational item. Participants have to include this item in their challenge treasury for 7 days and you need to build your collection around winner's inspiration.

If the winning shop or person is not available on Wednesday the captain or a leader of our team will choose the winner, the next theme and inspirational item.

If you'd like to post the challenge game on your blog, please use our image and provide a link to this post!

Good luck and have fun, everyone!

Holiday gifts shopping

2011-12-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

The holiday season is rapidly approaching and it’s time to start buying gifts for your friends, family, and don’t forget yourself ;-) This year many people are giving a pledge to only buy handmade gifts. What a great approach to holiday shopping! Handmade gifts are always more special and unique than mass produced stuff. You can find a wide range of holiday gifts offered by The Russian Team on Etsy.

Start with choosing gifts for your family. Does your sister like fashionable accessories?
Do you think your sister-in-law would appreciate a gift of handmade jewelry?
How about something sweet and cute for your coworkers?
Have you thought about surprising your boss with a nice handmade gift?

Photo sources from top, then left to right: 1, 2, 3, 4

Make sure you find something special for your mom.
There also a lot of cool handmade accessories that would make a great gift for a guy.
If you have little ones in your family you can find wonderful gifts for them prepared by the Russian Team.
Do you have a pet? Make sure they get a gift too!

Photo sources from top, then left to right: 1, 2, 3, 4

And after all the shopping for friends, family, and coworkers don’t forget to reward yourself with something very special this holiday season.

Happy holidays!

By Yana (WineCountryLife)

Yellow fabric brooch giveaway

2011-12-06T07:01:00.000-08:00

A new giveaway on our blog today!

This lovely and elegant yellow fabric brooch from nihama will be yours if you participate in this contest!

Jana, the owner of nihama shop creates wonderful lovely dolls, cute baby teething toys and necklaces for mothers. This is a shop for women and their children, so please visit today!

If you want to have the brooch, just follow the simple rules:

1. Visit nihama shop and leave a comment here on what you like the best (1 entry)

2. Follow/ subscribe our blog (1 entry)

3. Grab our button and place it on your blog (1 entry)

4. Share this giveaway on twitter / facebook / your blog (1 entry)

5. Follow nihama's facebook (1 entry)

6. Purchase anything from nihama's shop and come back letting know what you purchased!

Please leave a separate comment on each entry and don't forget to leave us your email address so that Jana could contact you!

The winner will be announced on December 17nd, so have fun and good luck!

Christmas printable gift tags

2011-12-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

December has began, and it means that Christmas season officially started. Now, it's time to take care about Christmas gifts and home decoration. We all know that the time is a little bit stressful because we are all looking for perfect gifts. Well... let us bring small detail that will make you a little bit less under pressure this holiday season. :) Gift tags... They will be really useful when all gifts are ready and wrapped.

Irina from GraphicLand shop on Etsy is sharing Christmas printable gift tags. You need simply download them, print, cut, and attach to you gifts. They are not simply tags; they should be folded. So they will look like tiny note cards where you can write some holiday wishes. :)

The gift tags are available to download there. The digital collage sheet is 8.5x11 inches that is standard letter size with resolution 300 dpi. They may be printed on home printer. For better result, we would recommend to print them on laser printer on 60-80 lb heavy paper.

If the link doesn't work, please leave a comment, and we'll fix it. And don't forget to come and download the file :)

Please, look at more Christmas designs in GraphicLand shop on Etsy.

Please, keep in mind that the Cristmas printable gift tags are for personal use and can not be sold in printed or digital form.

Sagittarius Lucky Stones

2011-12-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

People born between November 23rd and December 21st - Sagittarius - have a wide variety of interests and opinions, as well as talents. Sagittarius has no fear and are always ready to face their enemies. The following stones work best for Sagittarius:

- Turquoise - brings luck, helps its owner to find happiness and be successful

- Malachite - makes its owners wishes come true. Brings happiness and harmony to his soul and the outside surroundings.
- Tourmaline - helps to bring out ones talents and creativity
- Agate - helps lovers to stay true to each other

- Carnelian - helps lovers, promotes marital bliss, health, and bravery
- Jasper - protects from nosy and ill-wishing people
- Garnet - keeps its owner in good spirits and helps him to be optimistic, helps him to influence other people, attracts true love

- Amethyst - helps its owner to learn the wisdom of the universe
- Peridot – protects its owners household, brings luck in marriage and friendship
- Lapis Lazuli - good for friendships, and opal is the stone of dreamers.

- Clear quartz - attracts love, luck, helps to enjoy life more
- Obsidian – this is a great talisman for children, it wards off negative emotions, and helps to develop talents
- Onyx – brings luck, protects from evil spirits

- Sapphire - promotes clarity of thoughts and urges to learn about the unknown

By Irina Beautyland and Alla FleetingStillness

Felted balls giveaway results

2011-12-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

We are happy to announce the winner of our felted balls giveaway!

Comment # 8 by Lubka Kotmanikova was chosen as a winner. Congratulations!

Oksana LaFiabaRussa will contact you to verify your mailing address.

Congratulations to the winner and thank you for participation, everyone!

Vintage at AGardenCottage

2011-12-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

What's vintage for you? For me, this is collection of memories.

A vintage item is the item that is more than 20 years old and is valuable to you or others.

When I buy vintage items I look at things that I would like to have myself. But here is the catch, just because something is old does not make it valuable or collectible. What's make it valuable is it is something rare, something desirable, people want it or it touches someone's memory of good days gone.

I am a collector too, that's why I opened my AGardenCottage shop on Etsy.

Look at these buttons. It is so hard to find quality mother of pearl anything now but these vintage buttons have a wonderful marbling opalescence in them. These buttons are a way to bring the beauty of the past to a garment made today.

Another good example is your holiday dinner. You can use many different serving utensils for your guests or you can really dress it up with something that your guests have never seen before like this gold strawberry salt & pepper shaker.

You could use something like this or another vintage set made by Oneida that will dress up your table.

When your guests see your treasures it will become a topic of discussion and compliments. Believe me, we kept the same strawberry set for ourselves for our Thanksgiving dinner and everyone was asking about it.

Vintage or antique items have always been popular. Since the 1950's when mass production really got started it has made collecting cheaper. Now everyone can afford to collect or buy items that they are interested in.

I am shopping for items constantly and I have hundreds of items that are not listed yet so if there something you are looking for let us know because I may already have it or I will look for it.

My warmest Holiday wishes to you,

Tanya at AGardenCottage