reduce! recycle! repurpose! - the CRAFTING challenge entries revealed!

we are in LOVE with the entries to the first DDH design challenge!  without further ado, we present to you the amazing creations - and you can vote for your favorite on the sidebar!  please only vote once - but tell everyone you know to vote too!

alison's entry - recycled jacket bag!

beverly's entry - upcycled cuff (made with a vintage enamel pin!)

carol's entry - reclaimed vintage necklace

katie's entry - upcycled crochet string jar

kristie's entry - repurposed pallet/family establishment sign



mary's entry - "clockwork seahorse"/recycled watch and jewelry wire sculpture

melita's entry - upcycled bottle art inspired by the sea

miranda's entry - an upcycled vintage 70's lucite necklace

paige's entry - repurposed goodwill painting

sandy's entry - reclaimed felted sweater mittens

sarah's entry - upcycled suede skirt journal

please vote for your favorite!  the winner will be selected on Thursday, July 12th, 2012 and the winning entry featured on the blog!

Win it Wednesday - 4 July!!!!!

Happy Fourth of July!!!!  

Our Giveaway this week is hosted by VeryPrettyThings. 

Enter to win this gorgeous, one of a kind, glass fused pendant!  Be sure to look around the shop b/c everything is 15% off celebrating Christmas in July!!!

How to enter (open world wide):

1. Subscribe to the Daily Dose of Handmade newsletter (mandatory)

2. Follow Daily Dose of Handmade on Twitter

3. Heart VeryPrettyThing on Etsy

4. Follow VeryPrettyThing on Facebook

5. Tweet about this giveaway (be sure to tag @ddofhandmade) 

6. NEW: RSVP to our first ever Tophatter Auction!!!!!!!!  

Tweet Daily for additional entries!!!

Winner will be announced next Tuesday!!!

BREAKING NEWS.... Daily Dose of Handmade Tophatter Auction Event 

29 June at 8pm PT!!! RSVP HERE

CONGRATULATIONS TO LAST WEEK'S WINNER of the giveaway hosted by the lovely EclecticNesting!

and the winner is...  KARENSCHA!!!!!!

Karen - please email us so we can get your new necklace to you!!!!!

SHOP FEATURE - PillowDesignStudio

today we are featuring the lovely Liz from PillowDesignStudio!  enjoy the Q & A with Liz and shop away with the storewide discount, exclusively for DDH subscribers!

What made you decide to start your shop?
I've been making yo yos since I was in high school. My ultimate goal was to make a crazy quilt for the guest bedroom I hoped to have when I grew up. Now that I'm older, I'm still working on that quilt and realized that yo yos can be more versatile than what I had originally thought. Now my passion is making yo yo flower headbands for kids and adults. It's great creative outlet from my 9-5 job.

What type of products do you sell?
I sell stylish yo yo headbands for girls, babies and women. I've also been making headbands for flower girls, which has unexpectedly accounted for quite a bit of my business lately.

What is your favorite shop accomplishment so far?
It has been very exciting to know my designs are going to be a part of someone's special wedding day. I know when I got married about a year ago I worked with Etsy crafters to make my day unique, from an unconventional cake topper made from flattened spoons to the flower clip I wore in my hair that got rave reviews from my family and friends.

What is your biggest challenge as an online seller?
The biggest challenges for me are finding enough time to create new items for my shop and trying to get more exposure.

What is the top selling item in your shop?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/97274139/flower-girl-headband-sparkly-white-head

Do you have a tip for others selling in the online community?
Build relationships with other Etsy sellers. That has helped me gain a fair amount of exposure for my shop, as well as much needed moral support.

What are you currently working on/newest design or project?
I recently got a whole mess of skinny elastic, so I'm trying out new designs for baby headbands.

Do you have a favorite crafty/handmade blog/shop/resource that you go to often, if so what is it?
I really like this blog, which helps me get a sense of what other crafters are coming up with.

thank you so much, Liz!!!!  (and we love your headbands!!!)  DDH enthusiasts can use the coupon code DDH20 -- for 20% off purchases store wide!   (Expires August 1, 2012)

SHOP FEATURE - july 2nd, 2012 - TheLollipopLabelShop

we are thrilled to be featuring Marci from TheLollipopLabelShop in our spotlight today!  here is a peek into Marci's shop ... and don't forget her discount code, just for the Daily Dose!

What made you decide to start your shop?
We ordered labels from another company that weren't very cute for our son when he was born. When we saw the final product, we knew we could do better. After some research, we found the best materials we could find and made our labels as cute as we could!

What type of products do you sell?
We sell dishwasher safe labels, waterproof removable labels, iron on labels, laundry care tag labels, shoe labels, luggage tags, onesie stickers, and pregnancy bump stickers.

What is your favorite shop accomplishment so far?
Last year we had a huge sale during the back to school rush. We were printing labels almost 18 hours a day, but we managed to get all of our orders out! It felt great to have a huge success so early on.

What is your biggest challenge as an Etsy/online seller?
We send a proof to every single customer so they can see it and make changes if they don't like the options they picked initially. Sometimes our emails go to SPAM folders. We remind our customers to check, but a lot of times they think we haven't sent the email yet. We try to send a follow up through Etsy after a week, which seems to take care of most of it.

What is the top selling item(s) in your shop?
Our 4 top sellers:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/88160474/monthly-onesie-stickers-jungle-animals

https://www.etsy.com/listing/75212562/27-removable-waterproof-daycare-baby

https://www.etsy.com/listing/77733984/105-custom-iron-on-clothing-labels-free

https://www.etsy.com/listing/94343475/40-custom-personalized-name-tags-perfect

Do you have a tip for others selling in the online community?
Have a lot of options and market them well. SEO really kicked it off for us. Learn about Etsy and Google's SEO formulas and apply them to your listings. Find out what your customers are searching for, what they like, and what they don't like. We experimented at first and discovered what our customers are looking for. We try to cater more to their wants.

What are you currently working on/newest project?
We have recently started making our pregnancy bump stickers and our luggage tags. We are working on new designs for our example listings.

Do you have a favorite crafty/handmade blog/shop/resource that you go to often, if so what is it?
My favorite go to blog is Homemadeology.

Thank you so much, Marci - for being today's featured shop and for have such a wonderful shop!  DDH subscribers can enjoy a storewide discount of 15% off using the code ʺDAILYDOSEʺ.  (Expires 7/31/2012)