Member of the Month for March

Cloisonne Butterfly Set

Once again another month is whizzing by.
This month Karen's name was pulled from the bowl and we have been featuring many of her fabulous items in treasuries and on our Pinterest boards from her two Etsy shops:
Made With Love By Karen and Everything Florida


Karen is very versatile and offers so many different items from hand knits and handmade jewelry to tie dye shirts.


Originally from the UK, Karen moved to Florida 7 years ago.  She is a mummy to a 16 month old little girl and has 3 rescue animals.
Sounds like a busy lady!!

Still she finds time to make these lovely items for her two Etsy shops.



She has such a wide selection it is hard to decide which to feature.

Fabric Ruffle Scarf

However, her newest items are these lovely fabric ruffle scarves like this black and red one above and this black, white, grey and pink one:

This gorgeous Kanzashi flower headband is toddler sized but Karen also makes larger sizes.  Check out her shop and request a custom order if you don't see the size or colour you are looking for.

Don't forget to look into her Everything Florida shop too, where you can find her tie dye tee shirts

and other tropical delights.  

          Kid's tee shirt.  

It has been fun checking out Karen's shops this month.  Thanks Karen ... hope you enjoyed it as much as we all did!   

Hope you all stop by and see her and don't forget to check in to see who is our next lucky Member of the Month for April.  

Posted by Linda of JustOneLook for Etsy Expats.

February Team Challenge: Best Foot Forward

Our February Challenge was to pick the item that gave the best first impression of our members' shops.

As expected, we had several wonderful entries and here is our lovely treasury.

Several different items were voted on.  The one with by far the most was this lovely stained glass panel from Shirl.

If it looks familiar, it is.  It was also featured in our blogspot on our member of the month for February!

We really love Shirl's items!





Once again, thanks to all who entered and commented and voted.  Couldn't do it without you!

Stop by next month to see our March treasury:  "Glitz and Glamor"

We should get some gorgeous entries for this one!  One voter per seller.... anyone can vote.
See you all there.






Posted by Linda of JustOneLook for EtsyExpats

Member of the Month for February.

After a bit of a break for the Holidays we are back with our team member of the month.

Once again the names were all put into one of Monique's lovely glass bowls and her helper shuffled them well before picking out a name.

Yea! It's Shirl of artophile.


We are all happy to get a chance to poke through her shop and view all her lovelies.   Like this
beautiful stained glass flower panel.



 Shirl is so talented.  She paints, carves and engraves, makes stained glass and that's just what we see in her shop.
Originally from Scotland, true to her roots, one of her favourite themes is her celtic knot in many different forms.

Celtic Knot Ostrich Egg.

The intricacy of her carved ostrich eggs is amazing.  She says this one took hours.  Isn't it incredible!

Painted Celtic knot

This is just a small sampling of Shirl's talent.  Please check out her shop and be sure to look through all sections. 






This stained glass tree panel is beautiful.  Look at the detail. 

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 Unfortunately February is a short month and 28 days went by fast.  

I asked Shirl if there was something she wanted to add like a recipe or something about her shop or creating process.  

She has a few words for us:

"Being picked for Member of the Month has been a huge thrill and I'd like to thank all the team members who made treasuries, favorited my stuff and generously showered my shop with attention. Sometimes it was quite overwhelming!

Living in the mountains of West Virginia can be a bit isolating, especially in winter, so all the love really warmed me up!

I tried to come up with a recipe to share but when I was thinking of my favorite foods, all I could think about was McVitie's Chocolate Digestive Biscuits, so here's my "recipe" for them.

Get in the car and drive through the mountains for one and a half hours until you reach Blacksburg, the town where Virginia Tech is.
Go to the Kroger store and find the International section. Calmly stride up to the shelves of British food and swipe as many packets of choccie biccies as you can fit into the buggy without causing a riot, pay for them and then drive back up the mountain road to home.
Make a cuppa strong English Breakfast tea, carefully open a packet of biccies and enjoy! 

Thanks again my lovelies, this month has been a blast!"

That sounds like a very involved recipe ...definitely time consuming and delicious:)  

Thank you too Shirl.. you keep us laughing. 

Posted by Linda of JustOneLook for Etsy Expats.

Fourth Featured Seller is from Malaysia: Honey's Hive.

Our featured seller from Malaysia is Honey.
 
Originally from Wisconsin in the US she now resides in Kuala Lumpur where she runs her lovely quilling shop Honey's Hive.



From cute to sophisticated and all very elaborate here are a few of her offerings.


These pretty paisley earrings in gold, silver and white are amazing.  Such patience!




and these gorgeous rose chandelier earrings
 
 really quite exquisite.  



When thinking about Honey's shop, I always think of her cute animals and love the bright colours she uses when creating them.  

Love this beautiful butterfly pendant 

 lovely bright seahorse  and  pair of dolphins.




You can also find tutorials and supplies and many, many more lovely items.

Find out more about Honey by going to her profile page on Etsy. and visiting her shop.






Posted by Linda of JustOneLook for EtsyExpats

Third Featured Seller is from Japan : AKandKO and Japonpon

Our featured Expat living in Japan is Andrea.
A painter with a strong interest in textile collage and design is how she describes herself.
Find out more about Andrea and her artwork on her Etsy About pages for both of her shops here and this one here.

She has two very interesting Etsy shops:
AKandKO where she sells her paintings and drawings like this pen and ink one:

Footprints in the snow

and more recently her knitting like this cheery beanie:

Flame red mohair beanie

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Pink block printed linen pillow

In her other shop, Japonpon, Andrea offers handmade pillows and embroidery as well as original, uniquely designed fabrics.


      

Fish print pillow and leaf print pillow are two such examples.

Visit Andrea's shops and see what else she has to offer.

Find out more about our Expat team by following us on  Facebook.
Join our Etsy team and be a part of our community.






Posted by Linda of Just One Look for EtsyExpats.

Team Challenge: Bold, Bright and Beautiful Beginning

We started the new year with a new challenge featuring bold, bright and beautiful beginnings in this fun treasury.

We had many entries of bold and bright colors some also indicating a beginning such as YarnBirdy's first craft sale item, AKandKO's first knitted beanie on her new knitting machine, wedding and baby items.

All were beautiful!

The most appreciated and nominated as the best item was Jackie's gorgeous hand beaded and embroidered fibre art card.

Poppy Field Card

You can find more beautiful art cards at Jackie's shop, StitchMikki where she sells fabric art cards, fabric landscapes, ACEOs and digital collage sheets along with Emily's anime cards.  

Visit her Etsy about page.  

Thanks Team and everyone who commented, promoted, voted and supported our challenge.  

Stop in again next month to see what fantastic entries we have and who wins our next challenge... 

'Best Foot Forward'

Posted by Linda of Just One Look

Second Featured Shop is from Japan: Crafty Tokyo Mama

Tote Bag

Janine, who is originally from Oregon, is presently residing and operating her shop,
Crafty Tokyo Mama in Kyoto, Japan after moving from Tokyo.
You can read about her on her profile page.

Janine makes tote bags and pouches from fabulous fabrics like this Japanese patterned one shown to the right here.


Her notebooks are a new addition to her shop and are also made with pieces left over from her totes, as she shows us on her blog.

Book Cover

My personal favourites are her chopstick cozies.  This one in particular I think is fabulous.
These are just a small sampling of Janine's crafts.

To see more, browse through her Etsy shop.

To learn more about life in Kyoto, Japan, follow this Crafty Tokyo Mama on her blog 



If you too are an expat, operating your Etsy shop from a far away shore, come join us.
We love to chat, share stories and offer support.
You can find us on our Etsy Team Page.





Posted by Linda of Just One Look

First featured shop is from China: Handmade by Ralissa

Silver necklace with ruby

Originally from Toronto, Canada,
Handmade by Ralissa is presently located in Beijing, China.

Blue Agate and silver chain pendant

Here you can find delicate and feminine jewelry like this lovely piece.

l
unique silver wire necklace.

and this stunning amber necklace and earring set


Ralissa loves working with silver and gemstones and would love to make you a custom piece.

I asked her for some information about Chinese New Year and she was so willing and helpful and communicative.  I can tell she loves to help people and would make every effort to make your custom order just the way you want.

Click on the links to go to her shop items.  To learn more about her and her shop, click on this link.

Chinese New Year

Happy New Year!

January 31st 2014 is the first day of the Chinese New Year.
This year is the year of the horse.

As expats, we have members on our team from all over the world living in various parts of the globe, Asia included.

During the month of February we are going to be featuring some of our sellers from China, Japan & Malaysia, who have helped compile this brief introduction to the Lunar/New Year Festival.

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Chinese New Year is a time for a huge celebration which can last from just three or four days to 15 days, even as much as a month I have been told.
For traditional Chinese families there are many customs and superstitions. (Check out this link).
For everyone it is a time to be with family.  In China most people go to the big cities to work and go home to their small villages for the New Year leaving the cities very quiet at this time.  A lot of people find themselves stuck on overcrowded trains trying to get home for the eve of Chinese New Year.

As with all family reunions, eating is a major part of that.
Traditionally pork, chicken and fish are served... the fish should be served complete with head and tail intact to signify a good start and good luck throughout the entire year.
One member told me, "I guess the most dominant thing is Chinese dumplings. In Chinese they're called jiaozi, they put all kinds of different meat/veggies fillings inside. Wrap them in a soft dough and boil them for 10-15 mins. They strain them and when they eat them they dip them in Chinese vinegar with crushed garlic in them. I think that's one of the main festive dishes they eat. They make lots and lots of them. In northern China they eat them on Chinese New Year's Eve".
They are believed to bring prosperity.

Jiaozi Recipe 

There are many traditions and superstitions attached to the foods that are enjoyed at the festivities.
Here is a list of ten good luck foods.

As with most festivals and celebrations there are many decorations and fireworks
Red and gold and cherry blossoms dominate the decorations. Children are given red packets with money, there are red lanterns, ornaments, posters with good luck words, in fact anything red... red stands for good luck
Ralissa says, "Also apparently if someone is born in the year of the horse they are supposed to wear as much red throughout the year as possible".

Other Asian countries where there are large populations of Chinese celebrate at this time too in much the same way with perhaps slight differences from region to region.

Japan, although they acknowledge the lunar calendar and animal signs associated with it, these days celebrate the new year on January 1st.  Japan also has its own celebrations (setsubun/Spring Festival) which takes precedence over the Chinese New Year.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Please come back and see our team members' shops we are featuring this month.


Thanks to:
Handmade By Ralissa
Crafty Tokyo Mama
Japonpon
Honey's Hive



posted by Linda of Just One Look

Holidays Around the World: Part 5

CHRISTMAS & THREE KINGS DAY

Argentina, South America

Coming from the UK we celebrated Christmas on 25th December with the Traditional Christmas dinner of Turkey and vegetables, pulled crackers and opened presents.  

In Argentina however, Christmas is celebrated on the evening of the 24th. 

Families get together to eat a traditional BBQ of meat or chicken together with side dishes of different salads and grilled vegetables.  

La Parrillada (Traditional BBQ)

Personally, I still cook a turkey and we eat it cold with salad, usually outside unless it is too hot, which it often is.  We do not eat the traditional Christmas pudding and Christmas cake and mince pies but enjoy the Panettone, which is a sweet, yeasted bread full of nuts and dried fruit.  The Panettone know here as pan dulce (sweet bread) was brought to Argentina by the Italian immigrants and has become a big part of the Christmas tradition here.

pan dulce

I usually go to the British Embassy Christmas fair just before Christmas where I can buy crackers, Christmas cake, mince pies, etc.  and listen to carol singers.

As it is a Catholic country, many people go to midnight mass after dinner then come home to open presents and continue the celebrations.  A big part of Christmas here is on the 24th and 31st.  People let off fireworks until early hours of the morning.  It is also common to see globos  (paper balloons).  the globos are lit inside and float up high into the sky.

globos (paper balloons)

The Christmas celebrations go on until January 6th which is the Three Kings Day and celebrate the Magi taking gifts to baby Jesus.  

In Argentina the children leave their shoes outside the door of under the Christmas tree the night before so that they can be filled with presents.  So children receive presents on the 24th December and on January 6th.

Christmas decorations in Argentina are Christmas wreaths on the front doors, Christmas trees and some Christmas ornaments.  Christmas card giving is not common here and it is not common to see the towns lit up with lights and decorations either.  

Submitted by Karen of Karen's Loom & Felt Natural
Follow Karen on her blog

Photo credits:

BBQ and Paper Balloon photos courtesy of Hispanic Culture online

Pan Dulce courtesy of argentina4u