Sunday Sharing: Hoarders Unite

In January, I began a team on Etsy called Hoarders Unite. It was in response to a thread about whether people "hoard" supplies, and if so, how do crafters and artisans deal with this overabundance of stuff. We decided it would be a good idea to begin a team to lend support to each other in using up the stash before bringing in more items. We keep in touch via our team page on Yahoo Groups.

As a person who is easily thrilled at thrift store and freebie finds, as well as who is interested in upcycling and repurposing, I struggle with this balance all the time. So, Hoarders Unite now has over 25 members, and I wanted to share with you a couple of these shops on Etsy.

Cigarboxbeads is a member of Hoarders Unite, and has beautiful woven beadwork available in the shop. This beautiful bracelet is an example of the marvelous talent of this seller. She hales from Seal Beach, California, and has a second Etsy shop called suchandsort. Suchandsort is a shop in which you will find "a bit of everything- from vintage buttons to found items to collectibles to hand crafted artwork." Visit the shop to find some great repurposed items like these vintage-glass-bottles-turned-bud-vases.

(this photo belongs to such and sort, from her shop)

Take a Sunday drive through Etsy on the Information Superhighway, and see what you find...

Sunday Sharing

(photo source)

I found an interesting site called WhatTheCraft.com that offers free DIY (do it yourself) sewing and craft tutorials. This site is run by Alexis of SmarmyClothes.com. She is a self-taught seamstress and crafter, and is willing to share her knowledge and patterns with us. Her wares are featured in the darker vein of Goth and Punk, but if that is not your bag, you can easily adapt fabrics and patterns to suit your taste. Her background is purple with safety pins all around, and the site is very professional and easy to navigate.

She has a wonderful list of tips and guides for beginners, such as what tools and materials you might need when beginning, as well as how to get straight seams and make seam allowances. She discusses stitch types, needle selection, button holes, sewing on trim, and making your own patterns. The photo at the top of this post is from a zipper tutorial offered on her site.

The Directory section highlights links to many other sites where you can find fabric, notions, crafting supplies, handmade, other tutorials, and crafting and sewing resources. There are even links to messageboards and other blogs. I think I could spend the better part of a day poking into the corners of this site and still not get through it all. I have marked it for future (daily?) visits, and you should as well.

The site and all information and tutorials are free, but Alexis does offer an easy link for you to make donations or to pay for advertising on her site so she will be able to keep it free for all to use. If you find it useful, as I have, you might wish to support her with a small donation. In this economy, we are all more pinched financially, but every little bit helps with domain hosting and site maintenance.

Don't wait; follow the links here and check her out today!