One Big Holiday Giveaway

Welcome to our very first giveaway! I got such an overwhelmingly positive response from the Etsy community when I put out the call for sponsors. I am so excited to present the following shops and giveaway items!

This is a one winner takes all giveaway that will run from Dec. 1st to Dec. 15th.  I specifically chose shops that would make good stocking stuffers and gift items. With the holidays coming up, I'm sure everyone could use some extra gifts for family, friends and coworkers. Or you can just keep it all for yourself too....

This giveaway is only open to U.S residents with a U.S shipping address. Please use the rafflecopter at the bottom of this post to enter.

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2 Bee Press

2BeePress is a shop filled with handmade journals, gift tags and cards. Sarah from 2BeePress will be offering the lucky winner a handmade moleskin journal of their choice!

View all of 2BeePress's journals here. (Note: giveaway item not to exceed $8)

Shop     Facebook

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Erin Inspirations

 

 Erin from Erin Inspirations uses gemstones, shells, beads, pearls and silver in her creations. Erin is offering the lucky winner a $12 credit to her shop. $12 goes a long way at Erin Inspirations!

Facebook  Twitter  Pinterest  Shop

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 Joie Joelle Creations

There are so many yummy looking items in this shop! Relax with all natural beeswax spell candles, bath salts, oils and other aromatherapy products. The winner will receive a $10 credit to Joie Joelle Creations.

Facebook  Shop   Blog

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Baby Duck Soap Co

Tanya from Baby Duck Soap Co is offering up a small gift box you get to build yourself! The lucky winner will get to choose one bar of soap and one lip butter,  plus their choice of one whipped shea body butter OR one solid lotion OR one solid sugar scrub. A $15 value! Here is what I would choose:

 Facebook   Shop   Twitter   Pinterest

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Obo Creations

Olya has generously offered a $20 credit to her beautiful shop! Browse through her handmade pendants, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings and hair pins.

Facebook   Shop

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 Clippie Dips 

Amy from Clippie Dips will be offering up an item from each of her shop categories. Thats a total of six items!

Shop  Facebook

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 Aunt Matilda's Jewelry Box

Aunt Matilda's Jewelry Box is filled with cute jewelry with a steampunk feel. The lucky winner will receive a $10 credit to her Etsy shop! 

Shop   Facebook

 

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Lippy Brand

Calling all crafters! Win your choice of one free pdf patten. You can pick- 1. crochet pacifier clip OR 2. sewing pattern for baby hat.

Shop

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Sarah Creates Jewelry 

Sarah from Sarah Creates Jewelry is offering a beautiful pair of  Fluorite earrings that retails for $45!

 Shop   Facebook   Copious

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Art By Siret

Check out these gorgeous original art prints by Siret. Siret will  be offering up an unframed 8x10 print of your choice!

Shop   Site   Facebook  

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Stahley Art Design

Kelly from Stahley Art Design will be offering the lucky winner a $50 credit to her shop! Choose from Premade Blogger Templates, Social Media Icons, Blog Add-ons and more!

Shop   Facebook   Blog   Twitter

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Fiona Graham Photography

Breathtaking nature photography. Fiona will be offering a winner's choice 8x10 print from her shop.

Shop

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Scrubxury

Win your choice of any 8oz scrub in the Scrubxury shop! My favorites are Coffee Cake, Gingerbread and Cinnamon Chai Latte!

Shop   Facebook   Twitter

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Mulberry Junction

Melanie of Mulberry Junction will be giving away this adorable little Tote bag

Shop

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Triple Scented

The lucky winner gets a $20 credit to the shop Triple Scented!  Delicious looking candles!

Shop

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I don't know about you, but I could take care of about half my Christmas shopping by winning this package. Please check out each shop to see all that is available!

In addition to the giveaway, I am offering a 25% off coupon in my shop. I'll be going in a new direction come January and I want to close out the items already in the shop. Just enter the code at checkout:
SUPPORTHANDMADE

To enter please use the Rafflecopter below! This is my first time using Rafflecopter, if there are any issues, please please leave a comment and let me know:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Find us at:
Online Sweepstakes
By Hand Giveaways

Giveaway will go until Dec. 15th. All entries will be verified. Winner will be contacted via email. Eliza K Prints is not responsible for non-delivery of giveaway items.

A New Direction For My Etsy Store

I started my Etsy shop after returning from a year long job in South Korea. I was unemployed, bored and had really fast internet. I've essentially picked at it for the past year, not really promoting, rarely adding new items, basically treating it like a Christmas toy I didn't ask for.

I was recently gifted with a stack of decaying, vintage books that were going to be thrown away. (Oh alright, I TOOK them out of their garbage bag). If you hadn't noticed, I really dislike throwing things away. Especially things that can still be used!

I decided to make something of them. Now mind, I am not a fan of taking perfectly good books and carving them up all in the name of DIY. No. I would rather read those books. Or make students read them.  The books I received were old school copies: torn, written in, stained, incomplete. And like most items left in the care of high schoolers for too long, were covered in penises. Get your mind out of the gutter, drawn penises.

I toiled for quite a while, and tried a few different things, but I'm happy to say I'm really pleased with what I came up with

Handmade Vintage Book Cover Notebooks

Handstitched, filled with crisp, new, blank notebook paper. These old books are ready for the next generation of writers. See them in my shop.

I'm currently toying with the idea of creating a DIY tutorial to make them. Would you all be interested in learning how? Let me know in the comments!

You will find me:
Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Stay Inside For Black Friday!

In the past I've gone out for Black Friday, but the last few years I've abstained from the madness and I have been much happier for it. Rather than grabbing anonymous bargains from some bin at the local Wal Mart, I've been trying to support small, local, handmade businesses.

One of my favorite things to do is feature Etsy shops and their items. Being an Etsy seller myself, I know how frustrating it can feel to work hard for little to no return. So giving the spotlight to shops I like is very rewarding. In the next few weeks I'm going to be putting together themed gift ideas for the holidays and sharing them with all of you! I hope you find some shops you love:)

Men's Gift Guide

Blogging 101: How to Create a 150x150 Blog Button

When I first began blogging, I relied on the generosity of other bloggers. Posts about content, tips and practical stuff were a godsend to me. I would type my question into Google and benefit from the how-to posts of all the bloggers before me. Now that I've been blogging for almost a year, I thought I'd start posting tutorials as well. I'm by no means an expert, but I hope you find something useful here!

I decided to create a quick, picture tutorial on an aspect of blogging that everyone can benefit from. Buttons. People are far more likely to click on buttons than on text links. Having an attractive button on your site (and on other people's sites) is a great way to create a cohesive theme on your blog or shop and ultimately drive more traffic to you. Buttons are a small snapshot of what you are offering, so the idea is to attract readers who will enjoy your content. The ideal button will:

• Represent YOU. Whether thats an Etsy shop or blog.

• Will intrigue buyers and/or readers

• Should have readable text, or no text at all

• Should have minimal clutter

How To Make A Button Using Picmonkey

Picmonkey is a free photo editing service. If you are like me, you want to have great photos without having to spend a lot of time editing them. Picmonkey is a great resource for bloggers and Etsy shops. I use it for all my photo editing, and its a great place to make buttons, headers and other visuals for your blog and shop. So, in order to make your button, head on over to Picmonkey to get started!

Congratulations, you're in the right place!

This tutorial is going to focus on creating a 150x150 button from an existing photo. You can also create a button using a blank white canvas, but I find starting with a photo you like works well too. Click on "Edit a photo" to find one you like:

 Choose a simple photo with very few details. You are not going to resize the entire photo into your button. You are going to choose a section that is visually appealing, edit it, mess with the colors and add text. I like to start with a completely unedited photo. 

Don't crop a 150x150 button just yet. It will be way too small to work with. Start with a large section. I like to go with 1000x1000 so I have a lot of room to play with. You'll resize the button at the very end.

Now you've got a square button to work with. Start with easy things first. Lighten it up. Play with the color temperature. Try some of the interesting features like "Orton" or "Yesteryear". Not all of the features are free, but the majority of them are. If you find a monkey has been added to your picture, you've accessed one of the "not free" features. Just click "undo" and the monkey will go away. To get the above effect I simply lightened the photo, turned the color temperature up and "tinted" it pink. Play with the features until you get something you like!

 If you want to add a cute graphic, click on the 5th section from the top. This will open up hearts, stars, arrows and other symbols. The default color is black but you can easily change it to other colors. 

 If you like rounded corners, click on the "frames" section and add them. Make sure to click "transparent corners". I don't typically add rounded corners but thought I'd give it a try this time around.

Now you're ready to add text. Choose something readable, you don't want any confusion when it comes to your shop name or what you sell. If you choose a cursive font, try not to choose one with too much embellishment. Remember this button is only 150x150, if you're text is too small or too embellished it won't be readable.

 Lastly, you want to get it to 150x150. Click on "resize" and make sure to check the box marked "Keep Proportions". You're done!

You're 150x150 button is complete and ready to share!

If you haven't got the time to make a button, check out my Sponsor Page.
I make buttons for a small fee:)

Getting Organized in the Kitchen: More trash to treasure!

 Some DIY tutorials are pages long, contain 35 steps and require a trip to the hardware store. Its been my goal as a person and a blogger to make DIY projects from items I already have in my home. Its not that I don't enjoy stepping things up or trying something out of my comfort zone, I simply prefer to keep DIY on a practical, accessible level. I personally struggle with the amount of waste my household creates, and its important to me to make an effort in a more sustainable direction. My trash to treasure series has been a fun way to share those efforts.

Turning an Oatmeal Container Into A Utensil Holder

This oatmeal container has been staring at me for months now. At first I had it in the kitchen, on top of the counter, in hopes that having to look at it everyday would inspire me to do something with it. After awhile I moved it into the utility room (simply for the counter space, mind) and I only encountered it on my weekly laundry foray.

 I've gotten to the point where I won't throw anything away if I think I can make it into something. It may reach Hoarders level proportions but we'll just have to wait and see. Check back in 6 months to see if a giant stack of boxes has fallen over on me or any loved ones. Then we can call A&E.

Anyway, all of my utensils have been crammed into a drawer in this new house. I don't like putting things in drawers because the drawers get dirty and if its not out in the open I tend to forget it exists. I decided to make this oatmeal container into something presentable and use it to store my most oft used utensils!

What You Will Need

supplies:

card stock (two colors)

scissors

glue

pencil

traceable kitchen utensils

First, cover your container with a cardstock color of you choice.

 It already looks better just with the one layer of card stock. I chose orange to go with a fall theme. I took off the oatmeal label first, but thats actually not necessary. You can glue or tape your cover on. Next comes the hard part.

Trace Your Kitchen Utensils

I'm sure there are a billion sites where you can download free kitchen printables. Since I don't own a printer, I had to get a little creative. The tricky thing about this part is that most of your kitchen utensils will be too big to actually fit on the oatmeal container. I had to actually trace inside the larger trace to get the perfect size. Once you've found a traceable image you really like, cut it out and glue it onto your new Utensil Container.

I'm happy to say I was able to create this using things I already had at home and that I ended up with something I use on a day to day basis.

Interested in checking out more "Trash 2 Treasure" projects? Click the link below!

You will find me at:

-Anti Procrastination Tuesday -  Simple Lives Thursday -

Currently Reading

 

(from left to right, links to the Etsy stores)

*Typewriter* - *Nancy Drew Notecards*  -  *Narnia Map*  - *Embroidered Shakespeare* -  *Jane Eyre* -   *My Greatest Adventures*

I'm currently taking part in a Semi Charmed's Winter Reading Challenge.

I've got a ton of books on my computer and sitting around my house that are finally getting the attention they deserve!

I've decided to tackle the following categories first:

10: Read a book written in the decade that you were born.

 25:  Re-read a book.

(follow the title link to read synopsis and check Amazon price)

For the book written in the decade I was born I chose Bodily Harm by Margaret Atwood (1981). I love Atwood and so far I'm enjoying this novel. 

 

 For my re-read I went with The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I fell in love with this series in high school and its fun to go back and find things you missed the first time around.

What have you been reading lately? 
 

 

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