From the category archives:
And the winners are… [Drum roll, please!]
Congrats, ladies! I hope you guys enjoy the coasters!
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Lisa was kind enough to offer not one, but two bear rug coasters for this giveaway. Yes, you read correctly! There are going to be two winners who will each receive one bear rug coaster in the colour of their choice! Look at all the cute colours to choose from:
If you’re anything like me, you’re probably wondering how to get your little hands on one of these cuties!
To enter, please leave a separate comment for each entry.
There is one mandatory entry:
(1) Go to Dandyrions and leave a comment with your favourite item(s) from the shop
Here are some additional entries (leave a separate comment for each):
(2) Tell me what your favourite mug/glass looks like
(3) Where are you going to keep your bear rug coaster? (kitchen table, office, desk, etc)
(4) What other animal would you like to see in coaster form?
(5) Tweet about this giveaway (make sure you include @katriiina in your tweet)!
Feel free to use the following:
“I’m hoping to win one of two bear rug coasters by Dandyrions from @katriiina! You can too: http://bit.ly/vd5l39 #giveaway”
Contest Details:
- Entries will be accepted until Friday, November 18, 2011 at 11:59PM EST
- Winners will be selected using a random number generator
- Winners will be contacted directly (be sure to leave your email address!)
- In the case that the winner(s) do not respond to the congratulatory email within 48 hours, new winner(s) will be drawn
GOOD LUCK!!
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Could you please tell us a little about yourself and how you got started working on Dandyrions?
My name is Lisa Higuchi and I started Dandyrions after a good friend told me about Etsy and how the site allows artists to offer their goods to an international audience and how it gives them a better chance to sustain a small business. I have always been creating things with my hands and imagination since I was young- always drawing, modeling things out of clay, whittling wood, and crafting lop-sided sculptures from paper mache. I couldn’t get enough of any type of art and craft at that time, but now, I’ve really become immersed in design and fashion. For school though, I went a completely opposite direction (staying true to my Pisces nature) and completed a degree in Biological Sciences so I currently work in medical research for a living. I’ve finally realized though that I would be happiest holding a career in fashion/art and so I’m slowly transitioning my focus and Etsy has been a great tool in helping me reach my dream.
What is your favorite part about making these fox shirts?
Knowing that each fox shirt I make is going to someone from a different country, or even a different state makes me unbelievably happy. For someone to like my product enough to want to purchase it, is really such a validating feeling to me and completely encourages me to keep pursuing this dream.
Are there any plans to add different animal rug coasters to the collection?
Thanks to some lovely supporters, they have suggested making pandas and rabbits just to name a few so I’m currently working on some prototypes.
Is there an ideal world or life you hope your bear rug coasters live in once they leave your hands?
I would love my bears to live anywhere where people will use them with a smile. Buyers have sent me pictures of their bear rug coasters on top of their desks (of course with a full cup of coffee resting on top of them), laying amongst some serious work equipment like fancy apple computers, and TI-83 graphing calculators and the bears seems to make the desk a little less Monday and a little more Friday. And I know other people are using them as actual bear rugs for their dollhouses so I feel all the bears I’ve sent out have found excellent homes.
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To the winners: I will be emailing you shortly to find out where to send these little guys off to! The sloth colors will be selected at random (They were all so beautifully and individually packaged by Jackie when she sent them to me so I have no idea what color lies under all the cute wrapping) so you’re in for a treat! I love surprises and I hope you guys do too!! :D
If you didn’t win, that’s ok too! Sparkly Pony offers exclusive discounts to their facebook fans! All you have to do is “Like” the fan page and you can pick out a sloth of your own for a special price! ;)
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During that time I opened up another Etsy shop called “gnomesweeeetgnome.” Within 4 hours of opening my gnome themed shop, I got a request to show my work in a super cute vintage boutique/art gallery in Los Angeles called Enid and Edgar. I was super pumped!!! The show was awesome and it was very inspirational to get an invite so fast. I was working full time and overtime at the art museum so I wasn’t really able to focus much on gnomesweeeetgnome (the extra e’s were added because someone has the normal spelling as a buyer account). During that time I was blogging as “a sparkly pony” and really wanted that to be my business name.
I really wasn’t satisfied with what I was doing at the museum, and had met my boyfriend, Josh, through a friend at work. He ended up also being my first customer at my new Etsy shop. I was getting so frustrated not being able to sell any of my prints or originals. I didn’t understand that I needed to help generate outside views– otherwise who would know I was there?
I left my job at the Crocker, and moved back to the Midwest where Josh and I decided I should try being a full time Sparkly Pony. I should have changed my shop name then!
October and November were very hard months–I worked and worked and worked at trying to get my Etsy store up and going. I was getting sales here and there on my prints, but nothing much to write home about. I know how frustrating it can be to put your heart and soul into something and how crushing it feels when “no one wants it.”
It didn’t take me long to realize that it isn’t the quality of my work that was lacking– it was the amount of views I was getting.
I noticed that you started off selling screenprinted shirts, vintage goodies, and prints. When did you decide to start incorporating your wood work into your shop?
Yes! I have tried my hand in just about everything. I found plans for a screen printing expsosure unit online and built one. I prep, expose, and print all of my own screens! I have always had a soft spot for woodworking. I have taken about 11 years or more of woodworking classes from middle school through college. My grandfather was a professional carpenter and my dad does work like a professional carpenter.
I decided that perhaps the print/art business on Etsy had too much competition. I do very much enjoy practical art (craft?) even though I know that can be taboo sometimes.
I decided I would start making things that I could use around the house.
I had talked with my best friend about ideas for what I could manufacture several months prior– that’w here I got the whale idea. Originally it was hideous and made out of cardboard and masking tape. It didn’t survive the move to Indiana, but the idea did!
We decided to start making more of the whales. During that time, I had an idea for making a “Boyfriend in a Bottle.” I picked it out of a list of 20 or more ideas that we had come up with. I have so many ideas from back in December that I haven’t had a chance to even start!
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