Photo Party! Rave Reviews!

Esty Dallas has done it again! One photo party down and hopefully more to come.

"It was an awesome event. I have a lot of photos to sort through but I think I got some good ones. Special thanks to Mandi of Scribble Scrabble and Alicia of Alicia Colina-Ashby for loaning me various body parts to photograph with my jewelry and notebooks."
Kara of Memo-Pause

"Thanks Carrie and James for being awesome hosts! I look forward to doing something like this again with Etsy Dallas."
Pam of Pamela Michelle

"We had a great time! Thank you to everyone who came by to support the team and have a good time. It was nice to meet some newbies!"
Stephanie of Tefi Designs

"The "Photarty" (as Kara of Memo-Pause called it) was THE place to be Sunday. The event was great -- there was talking, snacking, giggling, and photographing. It was really fun to model each others handy work while we got to know each other. Hope this become a regular ritual for our group!"
Alicia of Alicia Colina-Ashby

"I've never seen anything like it. The food, music, art and fabulous hosts. Flying home has never been so tragic. I really miss Etsy Dallas."
New York Post

"We had a great time and it was inspiring to see everyone's amazing work. Looking forward to more events like this in the future!"
Carrie of Atom-in

posted by Brenda of B.liscious

Member Spotlight: Designing Diva

Randi-Sue Deckard, AKA The Designing Diva, makes fabulous, organic jewelry in the old-fashioned way; with silver sheet and wire, and then using precious metal clay (PMC), stone and warm-glass cabochons.

Although Randi-Sue will tell you she started her successful gig as an artist-entrepreneur about five years ago, don’t believe it for a minute! This girl’s way too talented (both as an artist and as a self-employed Diva)! Her upbringing, her travels and her non-art interests have ‘percolated’ for years, resulting in fabulously synergistic creations.

About five years ago, she tried bead weaving but it just didn’t have the right fit. She stumbled upon a book on traditional silver smithing and started making Diva history.

Today, Randi combines her love of art glass, using homemade molds, art and dichroic glass and frits (colored glass powders) with hand-wrought silver to create truly beautiful custom pieces.

In describing her processes, Randi says “My designs tend to be organic and inspired by nature: the stone and glass dictate what I will do with the design. I’m inspired by the connection that my hands have with these materials; it’s like they have a mind of their own!”

As an entrepreneur, Randi-Sue runs her business via her online site, having built her customer base through various means, the most important of which is meeting prospective customers face-to-face at shows. She adds “Etsy has helped my art gain exposure and helped me to network with some fabulously talented, artistic entrepreneurs who have inspired me to try new things.”

Designing Diva…fabulously artistic and a model businesswoman for us all!

Check her out!
http://www.dallasdesigningdiva.etsy.com/

By Larry Pile The Kessler Craftman

Show Pony Show

Join Etsy Dallas at the upcoming Show Pony Show on August 17th! We'll be hosting a "progressive craft" project where shoppers will get to make their very own bookmark to take home with them. Look for the Etsy Dallas table to get started on this crafty project.



Not only will Etsy Dallas help you get your craft on, we'll have a raffle giveaway and a fun scavenger hunt. Find all the Etsy Dallas members participating in the event and get a free goodie bag full of promos and coupons!

For the raffle, guess how many beads in the Guessing Jar, jot down your email address so we can contact you, and cross your fingers and toes. That's it! The closest shopper to getting the exact number of beads will win a big ol' pile of free handmade items - all donated by Etsy Dallas members. Wow!

See you on the 17th.

posted by Stephanie of Tefi Designs