Mamta on Etsy

Mamta is a shop on Etsy carrying an eclectic mix of gift items and jewelry. She is a professed hoarder of supplies, and has an appetite for learning every type of craft possible. She is self taught in many crafts, including crochet, and she offers lovely crocheted earrings and coffee cup cozies in her shop.

When asked what was her favorite item with which to create, her reply helped illuminate her creative drive and allowed us a glimpse at what makes her love to greet each new day.

"I'm a great hoarder just like all of us. I love to hoard almost everything. But my favourites would be yarns, beads, paper & tools. I do a lot of crafts. It's my dream to learn almost every craft of the world one day. Well, probably as many as I can fit in in my life. So when I learn one craft like beading, I collect beads. But as I also crochet, I use the same beads in my crochet projects. I use paper for making paper beads, yarns for making jewelry [which I use] with the paper beads, and the tools for making all these [things]. So everything just comes at one place."

The "everything coming together in one place" part is the reason we are all members of the Hoarders Unite team. We collect. We stash. We stack. We create. We (hopefully) deplete the supplies and help each other with inspiration and organization techniques. The horse above was in Mamta's shop.

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...

Featured Etsian Friday

(photo source)

I bought the above item from Planet Playground in early May. It is so cute! Planet Playground is a member of the Etsy team, EcoEsty. The team is dedicated to eco-friendliness and sharing tips and knowledge to that end.

The quality of the item I received is very good, and the packaging was very eco-frienly. It came wrapped in a sheet of tissue paper inside a re-used Tyvek envelope. Enclosed was a note to remember to reuse or repurpose the packaging instead of throwing it in the trash bin.

This seller has a degree in fashion design, and her mission statement is "to provide unique fashions to our youth without sacrificing the world in which we live." Her description of the items in here shop is as follows: "Planet Playground provides you with Victorian Inspired clothing using upcycled (vintage) and organic fabrics for infants and toddlers."

This seller is extremely friendly and willing to work with certain requests. I highly recommend giving her a try if you are looking for eco-friendly, fun, well made clothing for a child.

Go take a look...