Wednesday Wellspring: Turtlefly

Congratulations to Marija (#2) for winning Buenahelena's giveaway!

Bubbling up from the well this week, Turtlefly offers up some colorful whimsy to brighten your day! Today, one lucky winner will receive "The Molly Purse". This is an adorable little purse made of 100% cotton fabrics and western snap closure. Fully lined in purple on white polka dot fabric and has a small yellow and multi color polka dot 1/2” ruffle.

Perfect size for a little change purse, tissues, special little toys or small notebook and pen or crayons to have on the go.

Excellent party favor option and can be custom made to suit your party theme (discount given for a party orders). You can see more of the artist's lovely creations at her website.

And now for the rules (This giveaway is open to everyone):

MANDATORY ENTRY #1: Go to Turtlefly, heart the shop, and then leave a comment here telling me your favorite item.

MANDATORY ENTRY #2: Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment letting me know- or if you are already, leave a comment saying you're a loyal follower.

BONUS ENTRIES (leave a separate comment for each):
1. "Like" RNEST on Facebook.
2. "Like" Turtlefly on Facebook. 3. Tweet and blog about this giveaway and leave a coment here with the link.

The winner will be chosen using the random number generator on Tuesday, September 7th and will be announced in the next Wednesday Wellspring.

July Team Challenge: Christmas in July Promotions

Welcome to a very special edition of the RNEST Team challenge: Christmas in July!! For this challenge, RNESTers have chosen the best of the best from their shops for you to vote on. And, since this is Christmas in July, each seller has a special deal running for your shopping pleasure!

Cast your vote for your favorite on the poll in the upper, right corner of the blog, and check out each shop's fabulous Christmas in July promotion!

Upcycled Decopauged Jewelry Box by JIBabu

Christmas in July promotion: July 14th - 25th: Free shipping on any item & a free gift for all orders over $20!
Use coupon code RNESTCIJ

5 x 7 Photo Print - Rose in Granada by Sarah G. Ortiz Photography

Christmas in July promotion: July 14th - 25th Free shipping on any item in shop! AND a surprise in each order! Use coupon code RNESTCIJ

Turquoise and Hematite Necklace by Designs by Missrie

Christmas in July promotion: July 15 - July 31 25% off storewide!
Use coupon code RNESTCIJ

Matchstick Flower Painting by Buenahelena

Christmas in July promotion: July 14th- 25th, 25% off any item in store + some free vintage silliness.
Use coupon code RNESTCIJ

Custom Artwork by Merv and Dolores

Christmas in July promotion: July 14th-25th: FREE small card of your choice when you spend $20 or more.

Ingrid the Sweater Monster by Kira Arts

Christmas in July promotion: July 14th-25th, Free Nubbin for every $20 you spend!

Green and Magenta Magatama Beadwoven Bracelet by Beauty in the Eye

Christmas in July promotion: July 14 -25: 20% off any item in the shop!
Use coupon code RNESTCIJ


Cast your vote for your favorite on the upper right of the sidebar and don't forget to check out each promotion! 

Make-it Mondays: Goodies For Your Blog

As Esty sellers we are aesthetically sensitive people. We've made a visual, online space to market our goods, and many of us have also created blogs, Flickr and Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages to reflect our style and story. Here are some fun things you can add to your blog that will let readers know a little more about you, your interests and enhance the visual space of your blog.

WidgetBox: a site that offers great pre-made and custom widgets for your blog. Updates often. I added their Music Monday player widget to my personal blog, since I blog specifically on Mondays. (BTW, great music choices as well)

LinkWithin: With this application you can add a list of posts readers may also enjoy if they liked the post they are currently reading. The list will go at the end of a post with thumbnails. It's a good way to keep people reading, when they don't want to search hard.

RNEST buttons: Members did you know we have a variety of colorful buttons/badges for your sites, designed by our very own Kira of KiraArts? Grab them on our Ning Team page and spread our street team love.

The Cutest Blog On The Block: Don't know much about designing your own blog layout? This site has TONS of free ones perfect for an Etsy seller. Other great blog template sites are: shabbyblogs and hotbliggetyblog.

Make- it Mondays: Learn Something New This Year

From: Buenahelena!

Happy first Monday of 2010! Ok, ok, so "Make-it Mondays" haven't involved many tutorials lately, but it was the holidays. We're all slaggin' a bit. One thing that has kept me busy is finalizing courses I am offering for the Weaving and Fiber Arts Center this spring. However, I am still searching for a few more students so they can run. If you're interested in learning a new technique for your personal work or your Etsy shop check out classes being offered by myself and others here.



I put up this display case with my bio, course descriptions, and examples at Village Gate, 302 North Goodman StreetRochester, NY 14607, right across from the entrance to Salena's Mexican Restaurant. Check it out team! Now's the time to learn something new...

Wednesday Wellspring: Black Friday/Cyber Monday Promotions

Bubbling up from the well today is a whole bucket full of RNEST holiday promotions! Oh goody, goody! We’re trying to have a handmade holiday this year, so I’m really excited about these awesome deals!

Starting us off, is Lauren from Lauren’s Lovelies who is offering free shipping to ANYWHERE in the world for the weekend!

Etsy Lauren’s Lovelies

Karen of Duncan Creative, home of the oh so cute crocheted fruits and veggies, is offering 20% off your entire order.

Etsy Duncan Creative

Linda, of Just Ice Jewelry, is offering 10% off your entire purchase AND a free pair of snowball earrings with your purchase of $20 or more.

Etsy Just Ice Jewelry

Carol of Buena Helena is offering FREE, FREE, FREE shipping to all New Yorkers or blog followers. Oh, and hey, don’t forget to enter Buena Helena’s giveaway!

Etsy Buena Helena

Sarah of Happy Olive Designs is offering 15% off any item.

Etsy Happy Olive Designs

Kaitlin of the Inky Star Shop is discounting prices AND giving complimentary wine charms & a few free handmade bookmarks with every order.

Etsy Inky Star Shop

Vickie of In My Head Studios will ship free WORLDWIDE through Monday.

Etsy In My Head Studios

Marianne from Violet Underground is having an awesome HOLIDAY BLOWOUT & INVENTORY REDUCTION SALE!!

Etsy Violet Underground

And, last but not least, yours truly of The Quilted House is having a BOGO sale: buy one item and get a second lesser priced item for HALF OFF!!

Etsy The Quilted House

Really awesome bargains to be had from this wonderful group! Most start on Black Friday and end on Cyber Monday, so don't dawdle! I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving & happy shopping!!

Make-it Mondays: Becoming the Ace of Base

From: Buenahelena!

I recently created a Google Base account to boost my Etsy sales. Essentially Google Base is an online database into which a user can add content, including items on Etsy. With an account you can upload your items from the RSS feed of your Etsy store and schedule them to be refreshed on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. When a buyer uses Google as a shopping search engine they will pull relevent items from this "base" and your items will appear in the results. Stained glass seller, Go to Great Panes has posted an extremely helpful blog for creating a Google Base account here. It is worth the 10 minutes for the many exposures you can create with it.

***On a special note: This is a beta version, so rules for this database and Etsy will change in December 2009. Keep your eyes peeled for updates!