Featured Etsy Shop: Alloverart

Featured Etsy Shop: Alloverart

1. What is your shop name and what do you sell? My shop name is Allover Art. I create one-of-a-kind hand-painted resin pendant necklaces, original oil paintings, pet portraits, fine art reproductions of my work, note card and envelope sets, and more.

2. What is your shop URL? http://www.alloverart.etsy.com/

3. What is your blog URL? http://www.alloverart-nc.blogspot.com/

4. When did you start selling on Etsy? I signed up to sell on August 26th, 2008, and listed my first item at the beginning of September. I got my first sale (and did a happy dance) after three weeks when a wonderful fellow Etsian included me in a Treasury of shops who hadn't made a sale yet.

5. What is your favorite thing about Etsy? My favorite thing is being able to converse and bounce ideas off other like-minded and talented artists and artisans. I really enjoy the forums, and learning about other people's experiences.

6. What is your favorite thing about what you sell? My absolute favorite thing is the positive feedback. I love the gracious emails and smiles on the faces of my clients. My greatest satisfaction with what I do is when I deliver my oil paint pet portraits. My clients are always so happy and satisfied that it brings me great joy.

7. What is your favorite item in your own shop and why? My favorite item is the Custom 11x14 Pet Portrait Oil Painting. I really enjoy the process from when the client gives me a photo to work from, to the big smile on his or her face when I am finished. (I actually blogged about the process: http://alloverart-nc.blogspot.com/2008/11/step-by-step-journey-through-creation.html)

8. What teams do you belong to? I'm a proud member of the NCTriangle Team. We are a local team in the Triangle area of North Carolina.

9. What is the most fun thing you do to promote your shop? Blogging! I really enjoy posting about anything from my creative processes, to my favorite Etsy sellers, to an interview with our dog Kasey.

10. What are some of your favorite finds by other sellers on Etsy? I'm a big fan of Christy's Critters (http://www.cbarjcrafts.etsy.com/) and her pet ornaments. I commissioned one from her for my husband. I LOVE it! I also love Decorate the Diva's shop (http://www.decoratethediva.etsy.com/). I love her Diva Wooden Earrings. Scrapping Innovations (http://www.scrappinginnovations.etsy.com/) is another of my favorites. She made a fantastic custom magnetic poetry kit for a gift for my sister's birthday. She absolutely loved it.

11. What do you do in your spare time? Spare time? What's that? :) My husband and I enjoy taking our dog Kasey to the dog park and on hikes around the large lake near our house. We were both college athletes and enjoy being active.

12. What blogs do you follow? I follow A LOT of blogs. They are all listed on the sidebar of my blog. A few that I check more often are http://christys-critters.blogspot.com/, http://nctriangle.blogspot.com/, http://sunnydayhappyface.blogspot.com/, and http://evokenc.com/index.php/blog.

13. Do you have anything else you would like to share? I am very grateful that I am able to do what I love full time. I have a very supportive husband who puts up with my work taking over the entire house, and an exceptional rescue dog who has provided me with countless amounts of inspiration. Here's a big thank you to my wonderful family! :)

Featured Etsy Artist: Elizabeth Graf Fine Art

Featured Etsy Artist: Elizabeth Graf Fine Art

1. What is your shop name and what do you sell? Elizabeth Graf Fine Art. I sell original oil paintings on canvas

2. What is your shop URL? http://www.elizabethgraf.etsy.com/ ORhttp://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5629664

3. What is your blog URL? http://www.elizabethgraf.blogspot.com/(Note: this blog is brand new and I still have to learn how to set it up and actually use it)

4. When did you start selling on Etsy? I started setting up my site on Feb. 17, 2008 and it took me several months to figure it all out, including designing the banner and putting my work on the site. This was during the economic downturn when things were a lot slower (especially sales). I also during this time learned all about treasuries and now do lots of them continuously. My actual first SALE occurred on Sept. 11, 2008.

5. What is your favorite thing about Etsy? Besides designing and posting treasuries and networking through them, the wonderful support I have gotten from other artists and the conviction that I want to make my Etsy selling experience work, so I don't have to leave my studio! I love supporting other artists and when you are networking back and forth and making other artists happy (by putting them in treasuries), there is an excitement to being an "Etsian". It is a very special place and I am glad I found it! I also sometimes send a screenshot of the front page to an artist I recognize or who's work I admire -- just because AND I heart a lot of artists' work and shops, sometimes an artist who hasn't sold yet just to boost them up. I believe in mutual support!Also, what I have learned by looking at other artists' work -- it is priceless! (I sometimes take out old paintings and finish them with new vision).

6. What is your favorite thing about what you sell? My love of color, the texture of the paint and the joy I get while painting them. There is always a new painting on my easel -- I have a huge body of work.

7. What is your favorite item in your own shop and why? The painting "Plumeria the Beautiful" -- it pops out, it is complete and it is colorful and has wonderful texture.

8. What teams do you belong to? The Design Style Guide (search for interiordesignteam), VAST (Visual Artists Street Team) and Gallery United

9. What is the most fun thing you do to promote your shop? Treasuries

10. What are some of your favorite finds by other sellers on Etsy? Painted palm fronds by http://www.srallsmith.etsy.com/ (very unique -- her name is Suzanne too), paintings by Debra Linker, Amy Giacomelli, etc., etc. (the list is very long -- I won't list them all here and if you are not mentioned, don't fret, I like your work too), work by ImagineStudio, painted gourds, all mosaics

11. What do you do in your spare time? Besides work in my studio and read the internet, I garden and for 2 1/2 years have been helping my husband renovate our house -- I do a lot of "men's" work other women would not consider doing.

12. What blogs do you follow? I am not a blog person -- I comment on team forum threads and that is about it. This doesn't mean I won't be one in the future, it is just that I would rather work on another painting rather than deal with blogs BUT I spend a considerable amount of time on Etsy almost every day -- convo'ing people, working on treasuries, putting up new work and adding new pictures to my site, renewing items, etc. I have to admit that I don't understand blogs...I need a crash course.

13. Do you have anything else you would like to share? I have been an artist all my life since I could hold a crayon and I am very persistent in creating my work -- I have never stopped painting! I am always so inspired and it just keeps getting more so -- I feel that I walk around with a glow in my face and eyes because of this.I am very grateful to be an artist because I always have something wonderful to do. Being one also inspires me to collect beautiful objects that appeal to me (right now I am painting a TY brand stuffed red cardinal on light blue cloth that I will put on Etsy in the next day or so). I hope very much that I sell MANY paintings through Etsy -- I have quite a collection and I am always ready to make a deal! Thank you for reading this.