It's coooolllddd....

Wintery Finds

Mini Print Set Tea Time by 74LimeLane


White Crochet Summer Scarf Frilly Shells by littlemusthave


Toasty Dress Two Toner by Lyptis


Winter Bloom Necklace by FlightOfFancy

Finders Keepers Markets in Sydney Today and Sat!

Yay! Finders Keepers markets are on tonight and tomorrow during the day (Sat)!!

Some MUST SEE stalls to check out:


Pocket Carnival
Penny from PocketCarnival is sharing a stall with Benconservato and FlossyP (near the Frankie stall)- lots of cute and quirky goodies!


Benconservato
Sydney-based Emma Kidd- artist/creator of cool monsters!


FlossyParticles
More gorgeous artwork! You can watch a video of FlossyP in action painting a mural here.


Leeloo
A collection of treasures from Australian-based designers...Angela will also have a few of my necklaces for sale if you'd like to check them out (v limited quantity though).

Geek is the New Cool Necklace by Morphologica


You can find out all the market details here

See you there!

Cute Stuff!

Puddle Jumping Knitted Bamboo Booties by Bobishi


Felt Eco Friendly Easter Bunnies by JulieBlanchette


Tomorrow Looks Lovely by TummyMountain


Penguin Chicks Original Pencil Sketch by WildSunArt

Leeloo- Unique Design Online

I'm sure many of you have heard of Leeloo, 'an online community and store for emerging independent Australian designers and artists'. Angela (Leeloo's director) very kindly agreed to do an interview for Australian Etsy Blog readers...

Leeloo.com.au was created to solve several ‘problems’. Firstly, I needed to remove myself from corporate ‘slavery’ and have a job that suited my skills as well as my passions. Having always loved fashion, design, art and all things gorgeous, starting a store that would provide support to young artistic types, so that they would not end up in a job they hated and ignore their creative inclinations as I had was the obvious answer, and felt right. Our online store was launched in November 2007, after several months of planning and creating the infrastructure, scouting for designers keen to take a punt on a new business and away we went!

Who is the real Leeloo and does she help you pick products for the store?
The lovely Leeloo is my dog, who was adopted from the RSPCA. She has a protein allergy, was the runt of the litter (by a big size difference) and wins the heart of whoever she meets. As she is now about 4 and a half years old (and therefore maturing) has some input on who we have in the store, but mostly just likes me to hold her paw as she sits next to me while I do my work.

What do you look for when designers are submitting their work for consideration? Any secret tips for designers hoping to become part of the Leeloo club?

Every week I receive several expressions of interest from designers who are keen to become part of the Leeloo family. I look for several things in both the product and the designer themselves. E.g. If the products fit with the Leeloo aesthetic and the overall feel of the goodies we have in store, that they’re made in Australia, and if they have already put themselves ‘out there’ on the internet, that puts the artist in good stead. In terms of the designer, it helps if they’re passionate, patient, organised and have thought about their work as a brand to some extent. They must also be friendly and keen. We only have nice people in the family.

What advice would you give to independent designers/artists and online small business owners?

I believe research and planning are integral to starting your own business, whatever field it is. In my experience, many young designers get over-excited about the fun stuff, and unfortunately there’s a lot of tedious parts to having your own business as well, but without executing these parts correctly, it can all be pointless. Still, with Leeloo we like to think we allow the team to focus on their creativity so that they don’t have to do the sales, marketing, logistics, delivery, accounts and ‘yucky stuff’, although there is an element of that in any business.

It's often quite difficult for independent creators to find affordable and effective ways of advertising- do you have any suggestions, seeing as you have a lot of experience in the area?
Social networking and the media of Web 2.0 are an independent designers best friend. Get a store on etsy, madeit, eBay or wherever suits you and your business (and is the most cost effective). Set up a Facebook Fan Page, join the Twitter community, create a Flickr page with photos of your work. Set up a blog and request link swaps with blogs you read and like. The lovely people in this community are very supportive of one another, and you have to be brave and a little bold. They can only say no, right?

. . .

Leeloo is holding an exhibition in November at aMBUSH gallery, based on the theme 'Once Upon a Time'
'Keeping with the theme, all accepted artists will be allocated a fairy tale to provide a basis for interpretation for the works which will be displayed'

Interested readers of the Australian Etsy Blog are invited to apply, but hurry because submissions are due by 18th September!!

(click on the image above for details)

. . .

You can find out more about Leeloo here:
www.Leeloo.com.au
Leeloo's Dog Blog
The Leeloo Forum
Leeloo on Facebook
Leeloo on Twitter

Halloween Preparations...

It's probably time to start planning an etsy Halloween to make sure the goodies make their way across the world on time....imagine turning up to a costume party with some of these creations! (Hmmm....thinking maybe I should have a party just so I can put together a fantastic costume)

These pieces are from the Halloween specialists- Etsy's Dark Side Street Team (find items from the team by searching etsydarkteam )

Dark Embrace- Antiqued Silver Gothic Bat Cuff by LushPunk

Gothic Wedding Prom Ballgown Skirt by SistersOfTheMoon

Bee Mechanique Watch Ring by 19Moons

The Angel Balm Print by ettadiem

Necklace Neo-Victorian- Waltzing Through the Golden Age by EJPcreations

Cute Dynamite Antique Lace Headband by CutieDynamite

Avec Amour - Red Metal Rose Necklace by BellaLili

Dark Angel Cufflinks by Aranwen

Gun Toting Bear Plush by TragicStitches

Miniature Dollhouse Edgar Allan Poe Halloween Cabinet by KaleidoscopicRomance

Batlings! by StaticWhite'sStitchery

There are so many cool things, I think I'll have to do a Halloween series!

To browse more items from Etsy's Dark Side Team:

The DarkSide Website
DarkSideTeam on MySpace
DarkSideTeam on Twitter
DarkSideTeam Blog
EtsyDarkTeam on Facebook

The Love & Hate Collaboration...

Introducing 'Love and Hate- a Six South Zine' - a collaboration between six Australian illustrators on etsy!

Love/Hate - the Six South Zine

'The very first edition of Six South's zine is here! The July edition, Love / Hate, contains illustrations from six amazing artists from Australia:

Niina: niinaaoki.etsy.com
Ali: aussiepatches.etsy.com
Emma: benconservato.etsy.com
Sam: matouenpeluche.etsy.com
Helena: littlemoandfriends.etsy.com &
Penny: pocketcarnival.etsy.com


Each illustrator had to create an illustration for Love and one for Hate.


The cover illustration is by Sam.
The zine is a5 size (approx 6 x 8 inches).

Cover printed on white card. Inside pages printed on 100% recycled white paper.'

(description & pics supplied by Ms PennyPocketCarnvial)

To purchase your own piece of cool, click on the first image in the blog post for listings on etsy, or visit the stores of the illustrators listed above.

Quirky, Cuddly, Cool & Cute

Clarrie The SockSillie by EmpressWu

Things have been beyond chaotic in my 'life' (not sure if 'life' is really an accurate description in fact), but I wanted to share some Funky Finds (much more interesting than contemplating my non-life).
The picture above is of Clarrie the SockSillie- I love him! He's so cute and a bit odd...which is why he's so cool :) Unfortunately for all of you, Clarrie's mine now, thanks to the lovely Wilma of Empress Wu Designs, but you can buy your own socksillie from her etsy store.
Read the story behind the socksillies on the Empress Wu blog.



Belly Bubbie by allysanneskidstuff

This little cotton doll is so cute- I'm tempted to buy it for myself (shhh don't tell anyone). Check out the Belly Bubbie and Bunny families here. Don't forget to visit Sally's new store StoreAndCarry for jewellery tool, pencil and paintbrush wraps and SallysOriginalArt for some gorgeous original artwork (I guess the name gives it away...).



Tendril- Sterling Silver Earrings by Finchbird

If you haven't joined the Finchbird Fan Club yet, it's time you considered it. These earrings are such an amazing design- I love really simple unique pieces, and these have such an elegant look to them. I think my pair will go very niceley with a caprioska or three...
Trust me- you need some of these (the earrings, not the caprioskas). Jet Stream and Rocket are the other earrings in this 'little black dress for your ears' series.



Dragonfly Kanji Card by Juntei

Juntei is a new seller on etsy, based in Sydney. I will definitely be keeping an eye on her gorgeous cards created using Japanese kimono cloth and paper with Japanese designs. This cute store officially opened yesterday, and is worth a 'welcome to etsy' visit :)


Last day to enter the Julie's Jewels giveaway below! An exciting new giveaway is on its way this weekend....


Oh...one more thing. I have finally made a button for artists who have been featured to add to their blog if they wish (html code for the button can be found in the panel on the right).