"Friday Features"

It's Friday so that means "Features Time!"

I am very excited to bring you another talented member of our Etsy community. This week it is a lovely Jewelry maker, Sandy, from; http://www.thatsandygirl.etsy.com/


She has kindly answered some questions for us :)


1). Tell us a little about how you got to where you are creatively.

I never considered myself a creative person at all until recently. I've always been a do-it-yourself type - gardening, canning, sewing the occasional throw pillow, but I've never been able to draw, and my formal art education stopped at 9th grade art class. Then one day early this year I miraculously had no children in tow and decided to go into the local bead store downtown here in Mt. Vernon. I saw the amazing selection and variety of semiprecious beads, and I was hooked. Initially I just made a few earrings - stacks on headpins - but then I bought a book on basic wire-wrapping techniques, and I fell in love with wire. I love the clean brightness of silver and the warm gleam of copper, and the way it just goes where you put it and stays there!

2). Tell us a little about your creative process.

I find a lot of inspiration in the town where I live. Mount Vernon is a very small historic city in central Ohio, with lots of beautiful old homes on brick streets with beautiful formal and informal gardens. The town is surrounded by farmland, and has a wonderful bike trail running more than twenty miles through the countryside alongside the Kokosing river to the next three towns. I love it here, and I think the atmosphere is reflected in a lot of what I make. Some items are directly inspired by what I see around me. Other things are inspired by the beads or wire themselves.


Warm Hearts Bracelet.

3). What do you love about creating?

The wonderful sense of accomplishment I get when I've made something I know is an interesting and high-quality item.

4). What is your favourite item in your Etsy store right now?

I actually have a couple of favorites. I love the green and copper in my Moorish Jade Bracelet. Copper with green stones or crystals is one of my favorite combinations - I adore the contrast. I also love the Northern Lights Crystal Wrap Earrings - they're so much fun, and they'll go with anything.

5). Why Etsy?

It just offers so much! You can create such an amazing, professional-looking shop with such a reasonable amount of effort. And it gets way more traffic than any website I could create setting up as an unknown.


Black Widow Earrings.

6). What do you love about Etsy?

One thing that I've found to be really amazing and wonderful on Etsy is the wealth of information that people (who are competitors!) are willing to share on the forums. Marketing and self-promotion are really foreign-feeling concepts for me, and the advice I've found in the forums has been invaluable.

7). What do you do in your spare time?

I have three kids and a day-job! What spare time? ...I do find time to read occasionally. I was always an avid reader, and I don't have as much time as I used to, but I still try to get something in once in a while. I still really enjoy jewelry - I turn to that when I have a spare moment, as something that I look forward to, not as a 'job'. And I enjoy playing strategy pc games. Civilization is my all-time favorite game series.


Winter Blues Butterfly Necklace.

8). Tell us 4 things about yourself that would let us peek into your world or that you think define you.

1). I work in a locally owned game store. I don't actually play any console games (I'm a pc girl), but I enjoy the customers and LOVE the people I work with and for.

2). My husband and I watch Spongebob sometimes even when the kids aren't around (I have Spongebob on right now, in fact).

3). I love to bike, and before life got too hectic I used to go down and back the Kokosing Gap Trail a couple of times a week.

4). I live in a house that's 170 years old - sometimes it gets ahead of us with the maintenance, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! It has so much character. (But no closets downstairs - WHERE did they keep their stuff in the 1830s?)

9). If you could, what would be your dream life?

I think I'm actually pretty close! More money, as I'm sure everyone would like. But I have a wonderful, supportive husband and three amazing kids - really all I need.

Here are some of the places you can check out Sandy's work :)

Etsy shop: http://www.thatSandygirl.etsy.com

Blog: http://thatsandygirl.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoyed meeting Sandy! I certainly did. Go check out her shop on Etsy :)


Have a Wonderful Weekend! :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.