Tags giveaway!

If you are looking for economical way to get some tags for your Holidays gifts here is the one, participate in our giveaway!

Tanya Soroka has opened a new shop and this is her grand opening gift to her future customers!

Today you have an opportunity to get 30 free tags. 15 Orange Dot Flower you can see on the photo, and 15 more you will choose yourself from ZaraBezbazara shop

 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 ZaraBezbazbara `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 ZaraBezbazbara `s livejournal - Russian language only (1 entry).
6. Follow ZaraBezbazbara `s facebook / twitter (1 entry each).
7. Purchase anything from ZaraBezbazbara `s shop and come back letting know what you purchased! (2 entries)

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 October 15, so have fun and good luck everyone! 

There is a BOGO, buy one get one free, sale going on at the ZaraBezbazara shop and worldwide shipping is $1 only

Interview with a Star - Evgenia (JaneBoFelt)

Please, welcome our team member Evgenia who runs JaneBoFelt shop on Etsy.

- Please tell us a little bit about yourself
I’m was born and raised in the small town Pavlovskiy Posad, just outside the Moscow. This city is famous for its beautiful colorful wool shawls. Right now I live in Moscow with my family, my husband and our two kids.



- How long have you been creating? How did your journey in art and creativity begin?
I’m creating since I can remember myself. My grandmother and mother taught me how to knit and crochet when I was a child. I tried macramé, embroidery, origami, sewing etc. I knitted sweaters, scarves and hats for myself. Several years ago I found out about felting and could not stop thinking of it! So I decided to give it a try. I purchased some wool and began to felt. I love it so much, I can't stop doing it!


- Why did you decide on JaneBoFelt name for your business?
Felting became my hobby and my passion. So I decided to try to make it also my work.

- What items in your shop do you most enjoy making and why?
Most of all I like to make scarves. I think of scarf not only as an accessory to warm your neck up but also as a piece of art, a picture. Even know that you will not see the worn scarf completely since it is tied around the neck I like to make it beautiful, from one end to another.


- What would you say makes your shop unique?
Most of my items are one-of-a-kind. I could not copy them even if I wanted to. It’s not just me who is making felted items. It’s my mood, my imagination, my thoughts and something else involved.


- Do you have a favorite item you have made?
Yes, this scarf:



...and this baby hat with flowers:



- Do you use any special techniques or tools?
Most of all I like nuno-felting. Wool and fabric are mixing during felting process and become unweaven fabric with great texture. I do not use any electric devices, just water and soap like ancient people did.


- What do you sell and what is so special about your works?
There are different items in my shop: scarves, hats, mittens, brooches and bags. All of them are made by me using my own designs. Also I like custom orders. It is always a challenge to make something special for somebody according to his or her taste and style.

- Name 3 things you can’t live without?
Coffee, wool and my laptop:)

Felting

When you make felt for the first time, it seems like some sort of magic. When you make felt for the fiftieth time, it still feels like magic. And when you make felt for the five-hundredth time, its magic seems even more powerful because you know that this is no fluke, that you are involved in a dialogue.Unlike Scandinavian countries and Asian continent, the United States has no traditions of feltmaking. Well, feltmaking began in the United States in the 1970s at a time when soft sculpture and macrame were popular. Early fiber artists and craftspeople often made soft, textural felt that was incorporated into mixed-media artwork. For years, feltmaking was mostly something people briefly explored, much like tie-dye. As feltmakers began to work in greater numbers, they eventually helped to define felt as a separate medium unto itself.
In the past 10 to 15 years, the medium has explded in popularity as American felters catch on to this fabulous goldmine of creative opportunity. What could be better then a material that not only lends itself to a quick afternoon of play, but can also offer a lifetime of professional study?



Most people are truly shocked when they realize how sheer and light and drapable felted clothing can be or how texturally interesting, artful, and colorful felt is. We've simply had no precedent for anything like it. When this delightful surprise is coupled with tha fact that felt is made from a natural, sustainable material that is both gentle on the earth and of a familiar softness and feel from our childhood, it is very easy to understand the immediate appeal.
Enjoy completely unique texture and colors.
Sincerely,
HappyfrogfromAlaska

You can see and buy our felted items here, in Etsy's store:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyfrogfromAlaska
http://www.etsy.com/shop/galafilc
http://www.etsy.com/shop/VitalTemptation
http://www.etsy.com/shop/OlgaAlmond
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JaneBoFelt
http://www.etsy.com/shop/daimblond
http://www.etsy.com/shop/dalmmar
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jezek
http://www.etsy.com/shop/YanArt
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Rudman
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilkMagic
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JuliaFelt