Featered ETTEAM Seller ~ AliBaliJewellery

Contibuted by: Heather of NiftyKnits


Ali of AliBaliJewellery is a fellow member of ETTEAM and makes gorgeous jewellery that deserves its place on Etsy's front page! (The necklace above deserves to be in my jewellery box, but that's another story...)

But what of the woman herself?

Cats or dogs?

Dogs, definitely. Cats are sneaky, dogs are loyal!

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Neither.... never really got either of them!

Fruit or chocolate?

OMG, is there a choice!! Chocolate all the way, although I do like strawberries dipped in chocolate, yummy!

Favourite colour?

Red.

Favourite meal?

A good Thai curry.

City break or weekend in the country?

Weekend in the Scottish hills.

Soaps or documentaries?

Documentaries, I am proud to say I don't watch any soaps!

Bath or shower?

Horses for courses. Shower in the morning to wake up, long lingering baths in the evening or at the weekend!



Now we’ve got you warmed up…

What brought you to online selling?

I started making jewellery about 2 years ago for myself. Then, my friends started asking me to make stuff. From there I tried my luck at craft fairs, other crafters told me about Etsy and that was that. I have shops on Etsy, Folksy, Dawanda, plus I've just opened on Artfire and Coriandr.

What’s the favourite item you’ve made so far?

It's normally the last thing I've made!! I have a few favourites, I like my crochet bracelets, especially the new wider and chunkier ones I've made for custom orders recently. I love my hollow dome pendants and funnily enough they were one of my first designs!


What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learnt so far?

Promote, promote, promote!! And .... get great photos!

If you could start again, is there anything you’d do differently?

Work on my photos before loading them onto any sites and I would have started blogging earlier. I've only recently got my head around social marketing and I wish I'd started that last year.

How do you see your store developing?

I think I'm gradually finding my own style and I want to start developing that further, concentrating more on precious metal clay. I have loads of ideas buzzing around my head!

What have you been doing today that I’ve interrupted?

I'm at work! It's okay though, it's 8am and I'm not due to start until 9am!!!

What’s your top marketing tip for today?

Stumbleupon, use it for everything you do, new listings and blogging!!

Thanks Ali! I don't know about you, but I think Ali's photos are fantastic, and I can recognise her style easily. Check out her shop here AliBaliJewellery and her blog here!

And the WINNER IS.....

I just got finished using random.org to generate the winning comment for this giveaway. It has determined that the winner is Barb from strandsoflight.etsy.com. Congratulations Barb. Be sure to email me or convo me thru Etsy, and I will put you in touch with Pamela.

Our thanks to Pamela of Bazketmakr for offering such a lovely handmade basket for this month's ETTEAM giveaway.

And, we would like to thank everyone who entered. Be sure keep checking back in with our blog, because we will have another fabulous giveaway in about 30 days from now!

Another Fabulous ETTEAM Giveaway!!

This month's giveaway - is a most unique item made by a most unique artist! Our featured artist this month is bazketmakr and her name is Pamela Zimmerman. Pamela is a fiber artist who lives in Washington, NC, and she made this beautiful, tiny little basket.

Pamela tells me that this little horsehair basket is actually pretty large, compared to some she makes. She has made some as small as 1/4 inch high and wide. This one is big enough to hold jewelry or other small treasures. It is made using a very ancient basketry technique called coiling; from mixed dark horsehair and waxed nylon. The different colors of the hair make each one strand in the finished basket. Remember, the photos show this piece many times larger than it actually is! This basket is approx. 1 1/2 x 3/4 inches. Retail value: $35.

Pamela has been making her horsehair baskets for about 6 years. As there are no books on the subject, she had to discover for herself the best ways to work with hair to shape it into little baskets. Each hair is handled individually, which means it takes alot of time and patience (as well as good vision!) to make one little basket. Custom horsehair baskets, with hair from your own horse, can be made, just convo Pamela through her Etsy shop, or email her at basketsbypamela@gmail.com for details on collecting and cleaning the hair.

Pamela has also handmade other styles of goods, all woven, from many different kinds of fibers; from waxed linen beach pouches, to pine needle baskets, to sculptural wall hangings and cards of her fiber art pieces. Her award-winning fiber art pieces can be seen on her website at PamelaZimmerman.net, and nationally at juried art shows. For listings of exhibitions, please see her Facebook Fan Page. You can also follow her basket adventures through her blog, Catching The Moon.

So, how do you enter to win stunning little basket? It's easy....

1. For one entry: Visit the Etsy Shop of Bazketmakr and tell us in a comment here what item of hers is your favorite! - This one is mandatory!

Here are some other ways you can have extra entries for this giveaway:

2. For a second entry: Become a follower of Pamela's Blog.

3. For a third entry: Follow our ETTEAM blog - and let us know in a comment here. (If you are already a follower - just let us know - it counts!)

4. For a fourth entry: Follow Pamela on Twitter, and Tweet about this giveaway. Let us know about it in a comment with your Twitter account name and link to the Tweet.

5. For a fifth entry: Grab our Etteam Blog Button or our Etteam Widget and add one of them to your blog. Leave us a comment with the link to your blog where the button or widget is displayed.

6. For a sixth entry: Blog about this giveaway on your blog, and leave us a link to your blog post in the comments section here.

And there you go. 6 chances to win this darling basket. The winner will be chosen by Random.org from the verified entrants who have commented here on this blog.

The Giveaway starts today, and ends at Midnight (PST) Saturday, July 25th.

We'll be back here next Sunday, July 26th to blog about the winner!

Spread the word!!

Etteam BlogMistress

Etsy Voter - Beach Gear!!

Esty has put up their newest VOTER. This voter is for your favorite "Beach Gear" (thing to take to the beach) item. Whoever wins this voter will have their item go into the Etsy Gift Guide, which is a great honor. There are quite a few Etteam members that have been nominated for this voter (8 out of 32 entries), and we would love your support!! Here are the ETTEAM member items that have been nominated:

FickleFaerie

MidnightCoiler

ZaftigDelights

Enuwbe

Studio Cherie

LilipadCreations

Bazketmakr

Glorious Hats

With much appreciation, and thanks to all who vote, whichever item you choose. We're just thrilled to have something in the running!!

Here is the link to vote on your favorite! V*O*T*E*R

Thanks for your support!! :o)

Etteam BlogMistress

Frida Khalo Challenge - Happy Birthday Frida!

In honor of Frida Khalo's birthday, July 6th, the Etsy Treasury Team sponsored a challenge with listings that have self portraits of the sellers posing as Frida - or listings that honor Frida. The following have made the cut and will be featured in an upcoming ETTEAM Treasury!

Thanks to those that participated!! This was very fun, and a double thanks to those that dress up and sported the famous Frida unibrow!!

Here is a link to the actual Frida Treasury on Etsy!