SALE Section added to my Etsy Store

I've just added a SALE section to my Etsy store. Click on any of the pictures above and they will take you directly to my store. This week I'm featuring great buys on three items of reconstructed clothing. I hope you will check it out.

EcoKate has Front Page Treasury

My EcoEtsy team mate, EcoKate has her awesome treasury on the front page. I've captured a screen shot for those who missed it. She is very mathematical inclined if you look at this one. :)

EcoEtsy Treasury on Front Page

Silver of the Valley's treasury just made the front page of Etsy. Here is a screen capture of the treasury for those who missed it.

Here is a link to Silver of the Valley's shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5526983

Storque Article Uses my Item Picture

WOW!! I was reading this very interesting article in the Etsy Storque and when I got to the bottom and was looking at the pictures they had selected to go with the article - there was one of my items!!!! {See Kae doing the happy dance} Here is the article link and it is well worth the read. http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/craftivism/article/upcycling-for-greener-living/10/

A big thanks to the author TeenAngster for using my picture.

ETSY TREASURIES AND EARTH DAY IS COMING

I've been trying to make it a special project to capture treasuries on Etsy that will feature Earth Friendly items or images of our lovely world as a lead-up to Earth Day. Also, watch the Storque http://www.etsy.com/storque/ for articles on Eco-friendly and Earth Day activities.

My lastest treasury is here and will last until April 15 @ 11:00pm Eastern time:
EcoEtsy and Trashion Together
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=39047

Here is just one picture from this treasury with permission from fisheye:
If I get more treasuries after this one expires, check them out too. The more views the better.

Eco Etsy Street Team Scavenger Hunt

The Eco Etsy Street Team is holding it's first scavenger hunt on Etsy this Sunday, March 16th. You have a chance to win prizes donated by the Eco Etsy members. Join in on the fun! The hunt starts at 12pm EST and ends at 12am EST or until all the prizes are spoken for.
You can visit the team blog at http://ecoetsy.blogspot.com/for more detailed instructions on how to participate.
So come out and celebrate the lucky holiday with us!
*please note
The details of the hunt will not be posted on the blog until tomorrow evening, March 15.

2 Treasuries on Etsy - Check them out

I snagged a regular treasury and a treasury west last night and both feature VAST, Trashion and EcoEtsy items and how well all these concepts fit together. I hope you will look at each item in the treasuries to help them move to the hot list at the front of the treasury list so happy looking.
Here is a link to the main treasury:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=28815
And the link to treasury west.
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=1544
Kae of Kae1Crafts and Kae1Supplies

Eye-Popping Art Featured

Interview with Christine of EyePopArt

How did you get started with your art or craft?

I was 19 years old and living in a studio apartment in Great Falls, Montana with Chuck (who is now my husband, we have been together for 17 years). Chuck had bought some acrylic paints from the hobby store and painted a cool canvas. Then one day I just started painting on this old hardshell suitcase that I had, and found that it was really fun. It got a great reaction from our friends and from then on I was painting mad psychedelic patterns all over everything in sight, seriously, guitars, tabletops, a pop machine, the interior of our car. There are some pictures on my website at http://www.eyepopart.com.

Anyway one day, after we had moved back home to our native town (Portland - we were just in Montana long enough to live in the mountains for a while and then have a baby!), someone gave us some records and that's when the mandala thing really took off. I painted lots of mandalas when my kids were babies, then I went to work in the corporate world for about five years and tried my hand as a vendor at Portland Saturday Market in 1998.
That didn't last, there was just too much going on. We bought a house and I spent my free time painting murals on walls and ceilings. We've been in our house for ten years now. My house was recently featured on "Look What I Did" on HGTV.

So one day I found myself laid off from my big career as a commercial salesperson in the printing industry, and I decided to turn to Trillium Artisans, a local nonprofit, for help in starting up a business and selling my artwork.
Trillium works with low income artisans who use recycled and reclaimed materials in their work. Amazingly enough, I am now employed part time as the Program Coordinator for the organization. I sell my Mandala Record products through Trillium and also help to run the program, which serves a very cool group of about 26 (and growing!) artisans here in Portland, Oregon. Check us out at http://www.trilliumartisans.org.

What do you find the most satisfying about your creations?

I really enjoy the beauty of the finished product, and I am always eager to finish up a piece so I can simply look at it and love it. Mandalas are just so beautiful, no matter who makes them. I have done some wonderful projects with elementary and middle school kids, and I get the same excited feeling of just loving the design and wanting to see the finished product.

Of course, the process itself is very satisfying too, especially with mandalas because they are so powerful and are used throughout the world for centering, healing, and meditating. I enjoy the process equally when I am the one designing and painting a mandala and when the work is being done by kids under my advice. It's just fun to watch it all come together. There's something about the circle that truly satisfies the soul!

What do you find the most difficult about selling your items?

At shows, it can get really tedious to receive a lot of compliments from people who do not buy. It gets hard to keep smiling and thanking people for their kind words after several hours of no sales. This used to happen to me a lot and was one of the main reasons why I quit doing Saturday Market (both in the '98 season and when I went for it the second time around, between 2004-06). That was before I started making my record cuffs! Since I came up with a wearable product, I've done much better.

The hardest thing about selling on Etsy is just keeping up - with everything. There's so much going on and it's really hard to stay on top of it without feeling like I am getting sucked into my computer and never have time to make stuff!

How about sharing one time-saving or eco-friendly tip with the readers?

Time saving tip: use a planner. Set aside time once a week or even once a day for planning. It helps me stay organized.

Eco-friendly tip: use recycled boxes and packaging materials!

Tell us a little about your personal life â?" married, children, pets, hobbies other than your art, favorite food, place, activity â?" whatever you want to share.

I'm married to my soul mate and best friend, Charles Claringbold aka Chuck Thrust. He's that tall, weird guy with pink socks and dangly earrings and a tribal tattoo (an original Eye Pop design!) around his neck. I am also a doo-wop singer in his band, Dartgun, a loud, rocking indie punk group that performs at Portland rock clubs once or twice a month. Check us out at http://www.myspace.com/dartgun.

Two kids, Tangereen Velveteen, age 13, and Julius Elvis Chaos, age 11. Tangereen is a mad scientist and math whiz, and a beautiful, creative sweetheart. Julius is a flute player, squirrel lover, and comic book artist. Check out his shop at http://www.cafepress.com/juliuschaos.

My other big loves are READING, camping, and playing chess (I'm not very good, but I love it). I also enjoy blogging and you can check out my blog at http://eyepopart.blogspot.com.

Share a favorite quote or thought with us.

Kurt Vonnegut said, "A plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit."

Thanks!
Christine

Hanger Christmas Trees

Here are a couple of pictures of Christmas Trees made from wire clothes hangers. They are difficult to photograph because they are so shiney. The first view is the tree standing on a glass table and the second image is of the inside showing the crossed hangers. I've used 6 hangers that are interlocked with all of the hooks pointing downward. They are taped together like a star and then a craft wire is fastened around the bottom to make it secure. Once the hangers are secured, I then take garland and wrap it around the tree shaped hangers fastening at each hanger edge with hot glue. Once all the garland is attached, you can add a string of mini-lights if you wish. I don't because these trees are perfect for nursing homes and other places where you don't have a plug-in or lights can't be used. I then add decorations (again using hot glue to keep them in place). To store, I cover with a cloth and put in a dry place until next year. The colors and decoration choices are almost unlimited. Go Trashion and impress all your friends and family.

Announcing "Save the World Sunday" Sale

!!! SALE !!! SALE !!! SALE !!! SALE !!! SALE !!! SALE !!!
TAKE 20% OFF ALL ITEMS IN MY STORES ON SUNDAY, NOV 25, 2007
http://kae1crafts.etsy.com/
http://kae1supplies.etsy.com/

*********** TRASHION TEAM - SAVE THE WORLD SUNDAY SALE *********
To encourage customers to buy recycled, and to buy handmade, the Trashion street team is hosting Save the World Sunday, a major sales event and celebration of all things recycled & handmade.
• Participating shops are offering 20% off or free shipping on two special sales days, Sunday Nov. 25 and Sunday Dec. 2. For a list of participating shops, visit http://www.etsytrashion.com/ or http://www.etsytrashion.blogspot.com/

Here is a list of participating stores and what they are offering in the way of discounts:

A list of all participating shops:http://SweetWolf.etsy.com 25% off anything. Free shipping over $25.00
http://LindaErzinger.etsy.com 20% off. Free shipping
http://etsytrashion.etsy.com 20% off
http://fairytalefibers.etsy.com 20% off
http://anniessweatshop.etsy.com 20% off
http://samann1121.etsy.com 20% off
http://SweetyPrize.etsy.com 20% off
http://JunktoJewels.etsy.com 20% off
http://bayousalvage.etsy.com 20% off
http://foundthings.etsy.com 20% off
http://reduxdesigns.etsy.com 20% off
http://jen1kanobi.etsy.com 20% off
http://JunktoJewels.etsy.com 20% off
http://tomatedepingles.etsy.com 20% off
http://trashionmode.etsy.com 20% off
http://sojourncuriosities.etsy.com 20% off
http://RunzwithScissors.etsy.com 20% off
http://kae1crafts.etsy.com 20% off
http://www.kae1supplies.etsy.com 20% off
http://reneedesigns.etsy.com 20% off all Trashion Items
http://LilliputianDesigns.etsy.com Prices reflect 15% off
http://www.siragwatkins.etsy.com 20% off on three or more
http://bayousalvage.etsy.com Free shipping anywhere
http://sweetpepita.etsy.com Free Priority shipping
http://tamdoll.etsy.com Free domestic shipping
http://PaganoDesignWorks.etsy.com Free shipping
http://TwistThis22501.etsy.com Free shipping 'til noon

BUY HANDMADE FOR THE HOLIDAY'S

I took the handmade pledge and I hope you will too. This is my effort to walk gently on the earth, give gifts of art and love and support other artisians and crafters. I hope everyone will join us in this effort.

Blog Action Day

I just learned from another Etsy Trashion Team Member that today is Blog Action Day and wanted to participate. The focus of recycling is so VERY important to all of us that I like to make my voice heard even a little bit.

I think I was born into a recycling family - in that they never threw anything away!!! :) Now, sometimes this can become a problem but often great uses were found for the saved objects. Used yogurt cartons became freezer containers for leftovers, jams, jellies and more. Flour sacks were transformed into beautiful clothing. Living on the farm meant that compost piles nourished the garden, manure piles - ditto.

Now I live in the city in an RV so my footprint is small but I still recycle what I can, I shop for clothing as thrift stores and yard sales, I recycle packaging materials when shipping items sold in my Etsy stores Kae1Crafts.etsy.com and Kae1Supplies.etsy.com as well as my Amazon and Ebay accounts. When I ship books, I make my own boxes out of discarded cardboard.

Many of the items in my Etsy stores are recycled, upcycled or used.

Fall Events and Happenings

Lots of great things have been occurring lately on some of the street teams that I'm involved with plus a surprise notice from the cross stitch editor of http://craftgossip.com/ stating that she will be mentioning my Kae1Supplies.etsy.com store in the blog.

Etsy Trashion has been very busy with their Trunk Show (a great success) and now a posting on Etsy's new Storque
http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/events/article/trunk-full-o-trashion/124/

that shows some of the Trunk Show action and participants.

VAST Street Team is getting set to launch our VAST Autumn Event on September 15th so we are all busy creating great items for this. You can use vastautumnevent as a search on Etsy to find the items that are linked to autumn and this event.

On a more personal front, I've been busy creating clothing for my Craft store and adding a lot of new craft books and magazines to my Kae1Supplies store so do check them out and remember that I will combine shipping for items purchased in both shops to save you money.

I've also joined ecoetsy street team but haven't had much time to really get acquainted with it. One of their focuses is to reuse as much packaging materials as we can so that items don't get put in the dump -- well many of my items I use in shipping are 'reclaimed, reconstructed and repurposed' to say the least. Here is a short list of how I reuse packaging materials:

1. I use old plastic bags to make padding for shipping using foam peanuts that I've been given and then seal the bags to that the peanuts aren't floating away while packaging.
2. I use old boxes to make 'new' shipping boxes the correct size for what I'm shipping.
3. Egg cartons make good packaging around lighter weight items and protect them.
4. Cereal cartons make a good protective backing for lighter weight books and magazines.
5. Carefully open any item you receive so you can reuse the envelope, bubble wrap, peanuts, etc.
6. Tell friends and neighbors that you accept all used bubble wrap, peanuts, and any other packaging materials you use so you don't have to buy new.
7. Protective plastic wrap from boxes (the soft kind of plastic wrap) is great for filling small corners when packaging.
8. Soft foam can be sliced with a serrated knife and made to fit whatever packaging shape you need. I found a cheap knife at a thrift store and use it just for that purpose.

These are just some of the things I've done for reusing packaging. I'm sure others have many great tips and I hope you will share them.

Happy autumn, selling, packaging and successful shipping.

Kae