Central Florida Etsians

Central Florida Etsians is an official Etsy team where Artists and Crafters in Central Florida can come together to work as a team, to gain more exposure for Central Florida Etsy shops, and support each other on a business and social level.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Companies & Etsy Shops That Donated Items For Our Gift Bags For our February 4, 2012 Meeting

For our February 4th, 2012 meeting of the Central Florida Etsians, our Team Captain Gabriela and I put together gift bags for the attending members.  Included in the gift bags, which were hand made by Gabriela, were wonderful samples of beads, findings, thank you tags, greeting cards, and more! All of these items were provided by the list of stores and Etsy shops below. 

On behalf of all the Central Florida Etsians, I would like to thank everyone who sent a promo item to us for these gift bags and we all look forward to doing business with you in the future.



Here is a list of the great companies and Etsy Shops where you can find out more about the promo items or purchase directly from these fabulous people!

Fire Mountain Gems 
Donated Pocket Beader cards  & Rulers with Metric and Bead sizes on them and metric conversions and jewelry charts of birthstones as well as a postcard to mail in to receive a free catalog featuring over 100,000 Jewelry Making Products which can be purchased directly online!



The Bead Basket – 572 S. Econ Circle, Oviedo, Florida 32765 – 407-977-1003
Larry, the owner of the Bead Basket is a big supporter of the Etsy community.  The Bead Basket has over 20,000 items in stock for jewelry making and I would venture to say they have the largest Sterling Silver and Gold-Filled finding assortment in Central Florida.  Customer Service is stellar at the Bead Basket and I highly encourage each and every one of you to drop by to say hello and take a look around. It will quickly become your home away from home as the service is so wonderful.  The Bead Basket has been in business for over 22 years and it reminds me of the “old school” family owned jewelry stores that we rarely see nowadays with its quaint charm, friendly service, and and upbeat atmosphere.



Blue Raccoon Girl – Owner Kellie
Donated Blank Tags, recycled vintage papers, blank vintage hang tags and 10% off discount cards



Spare Tire Design – Owner Jessica
Sent business cards



Tulip Supplies – Owner Tasha
Donated beautiful Pandora style beads along with cute pink 10% off discount cards



Rachel Philipson Photography – Owner Rachel Philipson
Donated 2012 Photo Calendars featuring her gorgeous photography



Earth Cookie Creations – Owner Jessica
Donated wonderful thank you cards



Retro Memories – Owner Heidi Sanchez
Donated Vintage blank cards with floral painted motifs.




Caity Ash Badashery – Owner Linda Nitahhara
Sent business cards



A Creative Link – Owner Laura
Donated unique & vintage jewelry and crafting supply samples


My Pretty Zombie – Owner Mrs. Evils
Donated handmade eye shadow samples made with high pigment and rival Mac eye shadows in their color and long-lasting wear.


4Jess – Owner Keith Boyce 
Donated a terrific selection of jewelry findings, gold beads, spacers, and ear wire samples. 



Jmaggie – Owner Julie
Donated the most fabulous Retro Kitty Cat Valentine’s Day Cards



The Party Place – Owner Lori
Donated custom scratch off cards personalized for the Central Florida Etsians Team with a scratch off that revealed the discount % off for a purchase in her store. Unbelievably clever and so very cute!



The Lovely Stains – Owner Ann
Donated original & hand-painted on 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper cards featuring bird and flower designs along with a personal letter to our team about her original works.



Janée’s Elite Designs – Owner Janée Luikens
Donated Beautiful gift tags with bird motifs



Everlasting Moment – Owner Mandy
Donated Tiffany Blue thank you tags



September Faire – Owner Tania
Donated vintage inspired bunting thank you cards



DGinvites – Owner Darci Gervaise
Donated original designed Holiday cards which are so unique and creative!


Creating A Paper Memory – Owner Dee Newcomb
Donated Daisy Flower thank you cards and made small custom tags for our team featuring the Central Florida Etsians name and a beautiful and happy looking daisy on each one! Dee runs such a great shop with attention to detail on all of her work.



Bead Street Boutique – Owner Jo Ashby
Donated a sample selection of her vintage beads, sequins, trims, Swarovski crystals, and more!


Carrie’s Berries – Owner Carrie
Donated heart shaped soaps and bath salts in yummy cotton candy, watermelon, and other delicious scents!



Paloma Antigua – Owner Phaedra
Donated filigree patinaed charms with ear wires so as Phaedra said, “All the ladies can make themselves a complete pair of earrings!”  Paloma Antiqua is the place to shop for all your rare vintage charms & pendants, glass, resin, and semi-precious unique beads.  Shipping is fast and service is friendly with this Etsy shop!



Louisiana1966 – Owner Julie Ann Bailey
Sent business cards. This shop is exactly as Julie Ann states it, “Fabric & Fibre Fun!” She is an expert seamstress and sells her beautiful items in her shop and will take custom orders.


The gift bags themselves were handmade by our Team Captain Gabriela form the Etsy shop www.inyourbones.etsy.com















Saturday, February 4, 2012

Central Florida Etsians February 4th 2012 Meeting


Welcome to the Central Florida Etsians Blog Page! Our first meeting of 2012 kicked off at Panera Bread in Heathrow, Florida.  Of the over 300 member we have in the Central Florida area 14 team members were in attendance and we had a fabulous time getting to know one another face-to-face.



Highlights of our meeting included team goals for 2012, an open question and answer forum on how to improve our Etsy shops, sharing our works of art with each other, planning future arts & craft shows, stressing the importance of shopping with local shops and expanding our clientel on Etsy!

Pam from PinkPupsDesigns made the banner for the conference room for us and we sincerely appreciate it!  You can find her shop on Etsy at www.pinkpupsdesigns.etsy.com


Here are some pictures of the meeting in progress.  Gabriela our Team Captain and owner of the Etsy shop Inyourbones www.inyourbones.etsy.com kicked off the meeting by reminding everyone to tag all listings with the "CFEST" tag so our Florida shops can be located easily by customers and the tag can be utilized to find group items to build treasuries.  She also stressed the importance of targeting customers and reminding the team of the importance of shopping local in Central Florida.  


Discussions ranged from arts & craft show venues to where we could hold the next team meeting so that members who could not attend or do not live near this meeting location can come to the next one.  More
details will be published on our Etsy team page soon. 


During our meeting each Etsy shop owner showed a sample of their work and talked about their shop and the inspiration behind their designs.


We talked, ate wonderful Panera Bread goodies, and laughed alot!


Harmony from 3Giraffes 3giraffesinc.etsy.com brought our youngest and most beautiful Etsy team member who is surely going to have a shop as lovely as her Mother's very soon!  After showing us her gorgeous clothing that she designs, Harmony also discussed a charitable auction which she is donating to and that is very near and dear to her heart, the Choose Joy Team Ashley Auction & Benefit taking place February 27th through 29th to help pay for a young mom's cancer treatments. To read about the journey of this incredible mom fighting cancer and find out about how you can donate something to this auction the blog link is www.evystree.com/blog


Mercy Natal from www.creativegadgetcovers.etsy.com makes Laptop sleeves, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro Sleeves, iPad Sleeves, Accessory pouches and more! They are colorful, functional, and well made as well as so much fun!



Katlaya from Kat's Meow www.katlaya.etsy.com shared her passion for creating upcycled copper and other materials for her Pagan jewelry but more interesting Kat makes gorgeous one of a kind Garden Witches and other dolls made of corn husks. This is one of my favorites...





Team member Kristina Serinn from www.kserrin.etsy.com shared her colorful duct tape wallets and crocheted wire jewelry items with the group.


Team member Carolyn Flynn from www.ablazeincolor.etsy.com shared her colorful pen and ink designs with the group.   She explained her passion for creating unique designs and broughtan impressive portfolio of her works.



Susan Burton from www.susiebdesigns.etsy.com shared her silk pillows with us. Susan travels the world to find unique, high quality fabrics and lace for her pillows. The one she is holding is a one of a kind ring bearer pillow. We are also very excited that Susan has stepped up to the plate and volunteered to be our official Central Florida Etsians Event Coordinator and help us stay informed of future arts & craft shows and plan team shows in which we can all try and participate in together as a team.


Our team member Meghan Schuman from www.mescouture.etsy.com shared her unique jewelry creations and we thank her for leaving work early to be with us and brighten our day with her smile!




Unknown to the group, Team Captain Gabriela came over the day before our meeting to put together surprise gift bags for all the members that took the time out of their busy schedules to meet with us. We stuffed the bags with beads, thank you tags, unique findings, soaps and more donated from local Florida shops and wonderful Etsy shops. I will be doing a blog in the next day or so to thank all the people who sent product samples and business information so please check it out once I get it up.


Gabriela handmade each bag for all the goodies.  These bags can be purchased in her Etsy shop www.inyourbones.etsy.com



These photographs are only a sample of the wonderful members who attended our meeting and shared their works of art and ideas for the team.  More photographs from our meeting can be viewed on our Official Facebook team page www.facebook.com/pages/The-Etsy-Central-Florida-Etsians-FB/234169873326435  I apologize for those of you that I did post pictures of...I am a very amateur photographer but the only one who remembered to bring their camera so I did my best. Next time we will have someone else "officially" take the event pictures:)

And if you are wondering who I am...I am Anastacia the Central Florida Etsians Team Blog Writer, happy member, and owner of www.rayvenwoodmanor.etsy.com

To wrap it up...one of the things we talked and joked about was who had a professional or designated work room in their house.  I thought I would share the current official workspace of Rayvenwoodmanor with you with this photo of my assistants. Please note: the cages seen in the back of the photo are not the assistants but the official homes of the Rayvenwoodmanor Pomeranians:)