If you're looking for quality soap at awesome prices, look no further than paradisesunrise! Her etsy shop is full of delicious scents and great deals. I met up with her in the FS chat room on etsy, and immediately fell in love with her shop. Her product pictures are gorgeous, and her descriptions made me drool! I eventually gave in, and walked away with a lotion bar, some homemade lip balm and a bar of soap.

I ordered her Toasted Coconut Lotion Bar first. The name itself was enough to draw me in, but'd never bought a lotion bar before though so I really wasn't sure what I was in for. Let me tell you right off the bat, I've got TERRIBLY sensitive skin and I get horrible cracked feet during the summer months. High-priced store-bought lotion hardly does a thing for them! So I put paradisesunrise's lotion bar to the ULTIMATE test, and used it on my feet! Her lotion bars are truly a miracle. After two or three applications, there's no more cracks, no more peeling, and my feet are silky soft.

Her Mango Lime Lip Smoothie was my next impulse buy. I'm pretty picky when it comes to things like lip balm, so naturally, I reserved my judgment until after the first week. But as skeptical as I tried to be, I found NO faults with this stuff! It's got a very consistent texture, goes on smooth, and tastes amazing! With the very first application, it tasted like someone just served me up a fresh cool mango margarita, and the flavor really lasts.

The last to arrive was her Tropical Punch Soap. I'd been eying that creation since the first day I laid eyes on her shop, and I just couldn't resist any longer. I was literally jumping around when it arrived in the mail. After the very first bath with it, i'm convinced that i'm hooked for life! It's got such a rich and fruity scent, and she paired this blend with strawberry seeds for a little gentle exfoliating action. It left my skin feeling so clean and smooth, and I absolutely loved the strawberry seeds. They worked away the dead skin like a dream, but didn't leave me feeling raw or uncomfortable like some exfoliating soaps and scrubs i've used in the past.

And it's not just the quality of her products that make her an A+ seller; She exhibits awesome customer service too. She's always including little freebie samples of other scents, and she's always quick to answer any questions about her fabulous line of body care products. She takes care of her customers with quality and a smile, and that's a hard combo to find nowadays.

Here we are, three weeks later, and i've got another lotion bar, two more bars of soap, and more lipgloss on the way. There's not a day I run into her in chat, that I don't end up walking away with another little something from her shop. I'm an addict through and through, and I don't see that changing any time soon. Below is a little teaser of what i've bought, and other lovely things she has to offer.



So check out her shop. I know you'll find something you can't resist. Besides, I need to meet/create other paradisesunrise addicts so we can start a fan club/support group! :)

Keep on Craftin'!
-Christine

June Twitter Contest Winner!

And the winner for my June twitter contest has been drawn! Congrats to dreamypleasures She wins a $25 gift certificate to my shop on etsy, good towards jewelry, destash supplies, graphics, or even a custom order!

I may repeat this contest in the future, so keep your eyes on the prize, and follow me on twitter if you don't already!

Keep on Craftin'!
-Christine

Featured Seller: HeavenBaked

I haven't actually featured a seller before. It's something i've wanted to do, but just never got around to actually doing it. SO. This is my VERY first one. And beyond that, this one is extra special because it includes BROWNIES. YUM.

So, I ordered some destash beads a while back from fellow Etsian HeavenBakedSweets, who had dabbled in beads but just didn't find her muse. She happened to have included a sample of her baked goods along with my order: four delicious little Pomegranate Cream Brownie Bites.

DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN. I have found a new vice. I'm telling you, these things are worth DYING for. They were so moist and chocolately, with just a hint of pomegranate flavor. And if you know me, you know I LOVE ANYTHING pomegranate. But these went beyond liking them just for that reason. These honestly crossed over into the "I'll do ANYTHING for another one of these" category.

HeavenBakedSweets bakes your sweets to order and heat seals all of her goodies to keep them extra fresh. She even ships in a roomy little box with tissue, to keep them safe on their journey to you!



Go show her some love folks. You definitely won't regret it. :)

Keep on craftin'!
-Christine

The discovery of byhand.me!

So, the other night, I was cruising around etsy minding my own business. And all of a sudden, the little red "1" pops up by the conversations heading. I clicked it eagerly, not even imagining what I'd find. I wasn't expecting a convo from anyone, and I hadn't hand any recent sales that needed further communication, so I figured it was just some random praise or questions.

Boy was I ever wrong.

I blinked as I glossed over the convo a few times. My eyes were seeing the words, but my brain wasn't making heads or tails of it.

"Check it out - you've been featured! Have a great weekend :)"
- Ruthie

WhawhawhawhawhawhaWHAT? I nearly messed myself. Seriously! This was the first mention of being featured for ANYTHING, either on etsy or off, and I was completely stunned. Now granted, it was only for a destash listing, so I can't take TOO much credit for it. But still. That's freaking awesome!

Moreover, having this fellow etsian feature me like this on her blog also introduced me to something wonderful: the widget she uses to post her own treasuries. It's from another nifty crafty community website (http://www.byhand.me), and with it, you can use it to create your own collections of items both etsy and non-etsy! And since I have SUCH terrible luck when attempting to snag a bonafide etsy treasury, this concept highly appeals to me.

Therefore, since i'm extremely excited and anxious to try this out (and in a horribly silly mood), I give you my VERY FIRST byhand.me collection: Ode to Crappy Days (since getting featured really turned my crappy day around).


And I leave you all with that! :) I Hope someone gets a giggle out of it. I certainly did.

Keep on craftin'!
-Christine

It's been a while...

I apologize for my slight absence. Things have been a little crazy here in northern Michigan. The job market is completely dead and I've been relying on my Etsy sales as my only form of income. Even most fast food places aren't hiring. That's gotta say something about the terrible direction our economy is in. But hopefully something will open up soon. Is it this terrible everywhere else? It's hard to see anything beyond what you experience day to day, but I'm really curious if the job market is just as dead other places as it is here.

My Etsy sales aren't too terrible, but they definitely could be better. I've heard from the forums and chat that everyone is having a bit of a slump. I guess it just goes hand in hand. Less money, less purchases. Less purchases, less money.

Anyway, listed a ton of awesome destash (mostly glass beads) and now I'm just waiting for someone to snatch it all up. I've been making a slow transition to antique brass work, so I've been trying to get rid of some old supplies and make room for the new stuff I've ordered. Check my recent listings to snag some good deals!

I also hope to begin listing some peices from my stained glass and ceramics classes in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for stained glass suncatchers and panels, and perhaps some hand-thrown ceramic bowls and mugs. (Stained glass will be easier to part with since the teacher grades it right when you finish it. But for most of my ceramic projects, the teacher saves em up for a semester end critique. So those peices may take a while...)

That's all for today methinks. Take care, fellow Etsyians.

Bad news...

Time are tight. I've lost my job and no one in Northern Michigan is hiring. Posts may be few and far between for a while, so I apologize. However, Etsy will become my sole source of income, so be sure to watch for new listings.

Thank you for all of your support!

Lost in You(tube).

So. I was sitting here on a break from work. As usual, I had nothing important to do and so I found myself on youtube (my normal pasttime when i'm bored and on break). Go fig. Anyway, just like all the other times i've gone to thumb through youtube out of boredom, I ended up discovering another amazing songwriter/singer. This particular song is SO amazing, I just had to share it with you all.

It's called "Larkin Step"and it's written and sung by youtuber, ling86. It's been stuck in my head since I heard the very first haunting strains of the catchy guitar rift and the donny-darko-esque story hidden in the lyrics. It was uploaded 8 months ago and sports 85,688 views. On top of that, it's started to circle around youtube music fame, already covered by atleast one doting fan.

Ling also covers "Between the bars" by Elliot Smith, "Blackstar" by Radiohead, and "Worn Me Down" by Rachel Yamagata. They're all rather lovely covers, with an intesting spin lent by her beautifully unique voice. She doens't offer very much beyond that yet, but I truly hope that we'll be seeing more from her soon.