Thursday, March 22, 2012

helper...

Sometimes, Cat likes to help me sew. And by help, I mean sit on my sewing desk/back of my chair/lap while I work and make sad eyes until I play with her.

Jerk.


In other news, there's a couple of little headbands now in the shop!


While my accessories are staples at the shows I do, as well as to my wholesale business, I've never had as much luck with them on Etsy. I get impatient with the slower sales and therefore put accessories online and take them off all the time. But I'm determined to make it work this time and to stick with it. If nothing else, it's a free gallery for wholesaling accessories and opportunities therein. So whatevs. :D

Loves and Hugs,

Rachel Elise

P.S. Today is the last day to get 25% off everything in the shop! Use the code "SPRINGY" during checkout.


Monday, March 19, 2012

lost and found...

Here's a sneak peek of a new product! This is my prototype, so it's a little rough, but you get the idea :D

Luggage Tags!


I'm planning on making this chevron design, an airplane design, a doily design, and a bow design! Yay! I'll keep you posted when they hit the shop.

New headband designs and a new twist on my bracelets are also in the works ;)

Loves and Hugs,

Rachel Elise

P.S. It's official! I made it into the last spring show I was waiting to hear about. You can check out my spring show schedule here.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

seller spotlight: gynx yarns...

Today's Seller Spotlight is on the lovely Laura of Gynx Yarns. Laura hand dyes organic wool yarns into magical colorways that always steal my heart.

Current Fave.


Laura and I met through our friend Bart while we were attending UNT. At the time, I had just switched my major to Fibers, and Laura switched hers within a semester or two. It was fibery love.

While I feel like I use my Fiber Art education in my line of work, Laura's use of her education is much more obvious. And awesome. I'm jellies of her dyeing skills.

Other Favorite.


I don't crochet too terribly often, so I haven't bought any of Laura's beautiful organic yarns (yet!), but she used to also deal in recycled yarn, and I have some of that. And it's lovely. If I get around to finishing that scarf... oops. She's currently phasing out her recycled yarn, so you should go to her Etsy shop and get some on the cheap while you can.

Loves and Hugs,

Rachel Elise


Thursday, March 15, 2012

spring cleaning sale...

A sale for springtime! Yippee!

Now through March 22nd, take 25% off your Rachel Elise Etsy order with the coupon code "SPRINGY".




Happy Shopping!

Loves and Hugs,

Rachel Elise

Thursday, March 8, 2012

yokes and clutches...

Oh hey there.

Go check out the Yoke Totes and the Clutches in the shop! Most of them have been updated to the new styles! Woohoo!

In other news, I designed some killer new Hobos and Satchels today! Hoorays! They'll be in the shop starting Saturday... hopefully :D

Loves and Hugs,

Rachel Elise

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

seller spotlight : home again, home again...

I decided it's time that I start a feature on my blog. Because that's what bloggers do, right? Have features? I don't know. I'm still new to this.

Anyhow, this "feature" that I'm commencing is called "Seller Spotlight," and I will use it to show off the talents of my many amazing Etsy friends.

Let me explain a thing or two about "Etsy friends". I am, by no means, a people person. I like to spend time with just one or two people at a time, or, if I'm at a party, I tend to section off myself in a conversation with one or two people. It's not that I'm anti-social. I interact. I just get overwhelmed if more than one thing is going on. And having a conversation with a table of ten people is more than one thing going on. Or explaining the rules of a game to six people that aren't paying attention is more than one thing going on.

Sigh.

I'm fun. I promise. I'm just small and I overwhelm easily.

Anyway. I digress. Because of my lack of people personie-ness (technical term), I'm not bothered by the fact that I work alone and don't have co-workers. I'd much rather spend my day in my own little space than having to interact with people that probably drive me nuts anyway. Yet, as in any line of work, it's nice to have someone that you can talk to about what's going on in your work life and can relate to you and your work. This is where Etsy friends come in. Imagine if you and all of your friends worked in the same industry but at different offices. And you could talk to them about what was going on at your office and they would understand without you having to explain a thing. And they would come to you to brainstorm ideas and you'd be happy to brainstorm with them because you know all about the industry they work in, because it's your industry, too. What a lovely world.

Rachel of Peachtreelane was my first Etsy friend. She lived about 30 miles from me at the time and we had made a few purchases from each others' Etsy shops and chatted occasionally about what we were doing, or complimented each other when one of us had new things in our Etsy shops, etc etc. THEN. When the first Etsy Denton show happened, she was a vendor and we got to meet in person after a couple years of casual Etsy friendship. Now, she lives like half a mile from me, and we ship our Etsy orders at the same post office.

ETSY. FRIENDS.

I'm also now Etsy friends with her sister, Sarah, who makes amazing cosmetics that I wear every day. Both of these ladies will at some point get their own Seller Spotlight at some point, however...


Today's Seller Spotlight is:


 My friend Shelley is the lovely lady behind the adorable home goods of Home Again, Home Again.  She upcycles linens, vintage fabrics, and burlap coffee sacks into the cutest little pillows, tea towels, napkins, and beyond. Shelley and I met when she commissioned me to do some sewing for her. Now, we're Etsy Denton co-leaders and very close friends.

The burlap coffee bag squares on these napkins are pockets for silverware! So clever!

Our relationship is unique in that I'm about the age of Shelley's three kids,  rather than her age, but it makes our friendship all the more special. We have sort of a friend-colleague-mother-daughter dynamic that somehow always works. Anyway, enough about how awesomeness of the Rachel-Shelley duo... let's look at some more of her fantastic work!

Coasters from vintage ads! These have sold, but she said she's looking to make more.





Recycled calendar pillows! Love!
Isn't she the coolest? She really is.

Loves and Hugs,

Rachel Elise

Thursday, March 1, 2012

leap day miracles...

Whew! What a day yesterday!

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH to everyone that was a part of my Leap Day Sale!! I got to clear out some old inventory, make a few more monies before the end of the month, and, most importantly, brighten your day with discounted bags. Win win win!

Aside from an amazing numbers of sales thanks to my awesome customers, there was another Leap Day miracle...


What is that photo you ask? Oh that's my Paypal shipping bill from mailing orders yesterday. AND THE TOTAL WAS $29.29. ON FEBRUARY 29th. IN THE MIDDLE OF MY $29 SALE. I know, I know. Stranger things have happened. But come on, guys. Celebrate the little things. Or at least have a little freak out about how awesome the little things are from time to time.

In other news, you may or may not know that I'm a leader of Etsy Denton, my local Etsycentric artist collective. This morning, we launched the application for our next show, the Etsy Denton Summer Bazaar, which will be on May 26th. Get ready to hear a lot about this event from now until the end of May. I always think it's not going to be a big deal, but then it ends up consuming my life. But in a good way. :D

Are you a DFW arts vendor that would like to apply to the event? You really should. Our events are super fun and we don't bite. :D Here's the application.

Hugs and Loves,

Rachel Elise