Focus On... SewZinski {And A Giveaway!}

I'm super excited about this week's Focus On post. It's features the one and only SewZinski. One look through Sarah's shop and I was instantly in love. I mean, look at all that color! {And for those that don't know me, I'm a huge (HUGE) travel mug fan. I'll have to post something on that later. It's really quite obscene} Anyways, her shop is full of fun stuff like the said travel mugs, hand-stitched leather wallets, hair bows, coasters and more!

Sarah has even generously offered up this Geometric Blooms porcelain travel mug to one of our lucky viewers!

Sum up your craft in 5 words or less:

colorful, eco-friendly, modern, folk, pop

{Geometric Blooms Travel Mug}

Tell us a little about yourself:

My name is Sarah. I'm an Iowa girl transplated to Florida, living and working in what I like to refer to as the craft cave in the Pineapple Compound. I designed furniture for a folk art furniture company for over 10 years, then decided to take my part time indie craft company, sewZinski, to full time and work for myself. I am a self taught embroidery artist and I love working with resourced materials. I've recently added hand painted ceramics as a new sewZinski line. I enjoy being able to bounce back and forth to different mediums. It keeps my brain fresh and designs ever changing and evolving.

{Vintage Shamrock Green French Veil}

What made you decide to sell on Etsy?

When I started making hand embroidered wallets locally in Des Moines years ago, I was doing 60% of my business with custom orders. I also had pieces that I created ready to sell but no real way of sharing my work without building my own website, which I didn't have the time, patience, or money to do. I also wanted to reach a larger audience that appreciates handmade over Walmart. Etsy was the perfect solution.

{Mod Deco Floral Leather Wallet}

Tell us a little about your creative process:

I'm a pretty spontaneous person when it comes to design. I rarely draw out the images first on paper. I usually just dive right into drawing directly onto whatever medium I happen to be working with and see what happens from there.

Color is usually my first inspiration. It instantly triggers a memory, mood, or overall theme for the piece I'm doing. The rest just happens from there. I guess it's pretty organic, I'm not really a linear thinker.

{Hand-painted Rockabilly Ceramic Coasters}

Where does your inspiration come from?

I love history and anthropology, so I pull a lot of inspiration from different cultures and their story telling and heritage. Pop culture and nature play a big part in my designs as well.

{Multicolored Felt Hair Clip Bows}

How does your craft stand out from the rest?

I think the fact that I am self taught in the art of drawing and embroidery makes my work have it's own distinctive look. I like to embroidering flowers, or drawing ships, but they are my own made up versions of the real thing. I would never call my work realistic. It's my own crazy mind's version of a flower or ship. A more stylized version. Plus I really like color and I think it shows in my work.

{Hand-embroidered Russian Doll Leather Clutch}

How do you advertise your products?

The one thing I realized within the last couple of years is crafting for craft's sake is great, but if you want to sell your work you have to be active in social media.

Twitter's played a huge role in that for me. It's helped me make a personal connection with like minded people that also enjoy crafting and the arts, and it's also helped me spread the word about what I do for FREE, which is a bonus.

I've started using my Facebook page a little more, but because I'm a twitter addict, I tend to find more time intensive. I also have a blog, but again I need to find more time to post to it.

Etsy Stalker, Papernstitch, Holiday showcases online, Soopsee, Flickr, Cargoh and various other websites have helped me get the word out about what I do. Blog mentions are great too!

{Etsy}

{Blog}

{Twitter}

{Facebook}

{Flickr}

{Website}

{Hand-painted Sugar Skull Porcelain Travel Mug}

What is your favorite music/tv show/movie to craft to?

I love listening to podcasts while I work: Missed in History, This American Life, Doug Loves Movies, RadioLab, Hardcore History, Pod F.Tompkast, the Nerdist. I also enjoy a little pre-war Blues, and whatever station I'm in the mood for on Pandora..

{Hand-embroidered Mexican Folk Art Leather Clutch}

What is your favorite Etsy shop?

I will admit I'm a bit of an Etsy junkie, so my favorite Etsy shop's change on a weekly basis. There's just so many amazing artists and crafters on there. Right now I'm really into Pyxus dress's, Nervous Sysytem's jewelry, and I will always be in love with Ashley G.

*******************************************************************

We've got lots of ways to win this weeks giveaway!

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

- Please leave separate comments for each entry. -

First entry (mandatory):

- Visit SewZinski, select your favorite item and leave a comment telling me about it.

Extra entries (optional):

- Add SewZinski to your favorites on Etsy

- Add

SewZinski

to your circle on Etsy

-'Like'

SewZinski

on Facebook

-Follow

SewZinski

on Blogger

-Follow

SewZinski on Twitter

- Follow me on Twitter, tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link.

- Purchase an item from

SewZinski

- Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link.

- Follow our blog via Google Connect

Fine print: Giveaway begins when it is posted and ends at 11:59pm pacific standard time March 28, 2011. A winner will be selected by a random number generator on March 29, 2011 and will be emailed promptly.