Etsy Love: Bluebird Lab

Long before I opened my Etsy shop for business, I was (and still am) an Etsy buyer. I love Etsy!

I often turn to Etsy for my felt supplies, vintage items, gifts for my family and friends and yes, those just for me items.I'd love to share some of my favorite shops and purchases with you!

Because I know how much creativity, time and attention to detail goes into each item sold - from the photographs you see in the shop to the packaging - I am delighted when I receive an item that is lovingly made and packaged.

I fell in love with this geometric wooden necklace from BlueBirdLab. It is colorful, light and boho. The natural mix of wood and leather cording appealed to me. I was intrigued by the packaging as well. The triangle stamps not only stand for BlueBird, but echo the geometric motif in Juste's jewelry! The simple packaging (kraft paper bag, with a strip of stamped paper and "thank you" tag) was stylish and unique. I love it!

When I wore it to a recent craft conference, I got several compliments on it. The shape and feel of the wooden beads are very tactile. I found myself playing with beads while I wore them (kinda like worry stones on a string!). And it added some needed pops of color to my outfit.

There are several other color variations on this necklace in her shop. Loving this one and this as well!

via BlueBirdLab

She also has some newer designs using brass elements. Lovely!

via BlueBirdLab

You can read more about BlueBirdLab here. Or visit her blog or Facebook page.

I hope you enjoyed this post!  I love the Etsy community and enjoy supporting my fellow creatives whenever I can. I plan on posting more about my Etsy finds and loves in the future, so please stay tuned!

On the Etsy Blog: Packaging Inspiration

I love packaging.

A few weeks ago, there was a thread in the Etsy seller forum calling for packaging tips and photos for an upcoming blog post. I submitted a few photos to the Flickr pool and crossed my fingers.

Turns out one of my photos was included in the article!

To make these tags, I first designed them in Photoshop using one of my favorite fonts ever. Printed them on kraft cardstock (from the scrapbooking section of the crafts store) and then used a paper punch. The punch has three different sizes of label/ticket shapes. I mostly use the large size and the middle size. As you can see here, I use them as labels on my hoops and wreaths and goodie bags I include with every purchase.

There were so many lovely packaging ideas shared in the article.  You can check it out here. Or go to the Etsy Packaging Flickr Pool.

Happy packaging!

paper love

my new tags and labels for catshy

I definitely have a love of paper.

You could say it was my first crafty love.

Up until now, I've been using my paper-crafting skills for my own packaging and branding, but I'd love to offer more paper goods to the shop.

Little tags for scrapbookers, cardmakers, gift givers, note takers, and maybe even other Etsy sellers.

What kinds of items would you like to see?

putting it all together

One of the unexpected perks (and joys) of having my own Etsy shop is designing the packaging for the items. There's something about adding a hang tag to an item that makes it look professional and just so darn cute! Luckily, I am a reformed scrapbooker (i.e. I am a former obsessed scrapbooker who used to scrapbook Every Day).

One of my (paper) scrapbook pages.

So I have the benefit of having lots of papercrafting supplies on hand. And know my way around a scrapbooking store!

My business card and two free gifties I put in every order: an accordion flower with little tag and a sample felt flower on a kraft backing. (The exact flowers vary for each order. It depends on what I made recently).

I designed and created my business cards, the little labels I put on my paper flowers and the backing/packaging for my vintage buttons and hand-made felt flowers. Kraft cardstock is my favorite material to use for all of these things. And a paper punch is my favorite tool. Add in the (very basic) Photoshop skills I picked up when I became an obsessed digital scrapbooker who used to digi-scrap (i.e. use Photoshop to make digital scrapbook pages) Every Day......and I am golden.

when two worlds collide: digi-scrapping about crafting

One of the latest bit of packaging or branding that I created was the little ticket-shaped hang tag for my heartfelt hoop art. Yes, my embroidery hoops now have an official name. I got the idea for "heartfelt" from this blog post about Catshy Crafts on the Paperstitch Blog. The name just clicked with me and totally described my work. I especially love the double meaning as many of items feature hearts and most are made of felt!

I am also toying with the idea of adding a small label on the back of here hoop as well.

My new ticket-shaped tag will be on all the embroidery hoop art I make from now on.

One of my free gifties all packaged up with a 25% coupon stapled to the top, a chunky fuchsia yarn and larger catshy tag. Every order gets a variation of this with their purchased item.

I am hoping to put more paper goods in the shop very soon. Right now I have two all-paper items: my conversation hearts and my accordion flower garland. I keep meaning to put the accordion flowers up, but I keep giving them away in my free giftie!

conversation hearts printed on kraft cardstock

So, I hoped you enjoyed seeing a bit of behind the scenes at Catshy Crafts! I have some new items about to go in the shop this weekend. It's a new color scheme for me: yellow and grey. So stay tuned! Or you can see a sneak peek of them on my Facebook Fan Page right now ;)