Focus On... Rainbow Lollies {And a Giveaway!}

This week's Focus On feature comes all the way from Melbourne, Australia! Cassie over at Rainbow Lollies makes the cutest colorful things. In her shop you can find bookmarks, earrings, hair accessories and more. I'm especially fond of this gang of owls. I want one in every color :)

Cassie is giving away a $20 shop credit to one lucky winner!

Also, head over to her shop for 10% off on all items! Just add coupon code: FRIEND10

{A Gang of Owls - Set of 4}

Tell us a little about yourself:

I love earrings and all kinds of fun jewelery. I started out by making fabric button earrings using all kinds of yummy fabrics from old to new, classic to modern. My purpose is to make it fun, colorful, sweet and affordable to everyone. I want everyone to have something in their jewelery box that they can wear to match their everyday outfits. As time goes by I expanded my love of fabric covered buttons to include rings, pendants, brooches and hair accessories. Everyone can have a choice to pick something from each section to match or mix it up for a bit of uniqueness.

My second love is felt. I love the wonderful range of colors with felt fabrics from 100% wool, mix blend or even craft felt. Every piece of felt is a color masterpiece and begs to be turned into something pretty. With felt, I enjoy making little animals. The smaller, the cuter, the better! You can view my felt creations in my Etsy shop as magnets, bookmarks or even embellishments for your craft projects.

Everything in my shop is open for custom orders and I love to get e-mails/ convos asking me to make something special :)

{Lenny the Lion}

How do you promote your business?

Currently I promote by being active on Etsy forums, teams and Twitter. In future I am planning to set up a blog and of course, the ever popular Facebook Fan page.

{Sweet Tweet Fabric Earrings}

Sum up your craft in 5 words or less:

Fun, sweet, cute, colorful and love

{Valentine Pink Love Heart Button Pendant}

What is your favorite Etsy shop?

I have many favorite Etsy shops and it is hard to tell which is number 1 on my list. Instead I am going to give a special mention to this shop and seller on Etsy who has been a constant support and friend to me since I first started. This special person is Su and her shop is Alice Loves. Su makes the most gorgeous comfortable and easy-care clothes for toddlers and preschoolers using quality designer prints. Her daughter Alice is her model and test drives every piece of clothing. If it survives on Alice, you can be assured that you are getting something that is of good quality! Do check out her shop or send her a convo saying hello.

{Mini Vintage Rose Earrings}

Any advice to other crafters?

I still consider myself as a newbie as there is so much to learn whether on Etsy or elsewhere. I am not an expert in crafts or selling them but I love doing what I do. I wouldn't call this advice but more of sharing my experiences - do not do just for the sake of getting an income. Do it because you love it. Of course everyone wish they could quit their day job and craft full time (me included) but not many of us can afford to do it. It takes off the pressure and less stressful (financially) to you and your loved ones if you do not rely on your Etsy shop as main income UNTIL you are fully established with a steady stream of sales with minimal promotion. This is when you know your work has reached a wide audience and buyers come to you because they love your work and want to have a piece of it in their lives.

{Butterfly & Flowers Pouch}

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- Make sure you leave me a way to contact you if you win. -

- Please leave separate comments for each entry. -

First entry (mandatory):

- Visit Rainbow Lollies, Heart your favorite item and leave a comment telling me about it.

Extra entries (optional):

- Heart Rainbow Lollies on Etsy (leave 1 extra entry)

-Follow Rainbow Lollies

on Twitter (leave 1 extra entry)

- Purchase an item from Rainbow Lollies & leave a message to buyers that you were referred to her shop from this blog post (leave 5 extra entries!)

- Blog, Facebook or Tweet about this giveaway and leave the link (leave 3 extra entries)

- Follow our blog via Google Connect (leave 1 extra entry)

Fine print: Giveaway begins when it is posted and ends at 11:59pm pacific standard time April 11, 2011. A winner will be selected by a random number generator on April 12, 2011 and will be emailed promptly.

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