Thursday, June 25, 2009

Featured Artisan: MonikaRose

I started crocheting about 2 years ago. Went to Lincraft one day and noticed a book about basic crocheting and some of the projects in their were so beautiful, my hubby said why not give it a try, so we grabed the book and went to look for some hooks and yarn. Because he has big ideas and wants to see detail, we bought the larger size crochet hook 10mm and a length of rope. Ever since that day I was hooked.

I loved the color variety of different kinds of yarns, but especially acrylic, they have more choices of mixed colors in one yarn ball and it is not so scratchy like wool and it is tough but fantastic to work with. I also like the mix of acrylic and cotton, soft and very easy to crochet with, but not many colors to choose from.

This is where my crochet mania began. I tried several times to crochet out of a book, but first it was hard to follow, this is where YouTube on the internet came in. I searched for crochet and bingo, found this great lady that has tutorials on basic stitches to fantastic projects to complete. This is truly the time I got hooked. I tried and completed almost all the projects she taught. But most of all I fell in love with making mobile/cell phone pouches. I started on one and to this day I think I have over 20.

Because I love them so much I wanted to share these with the world. This is where Etsy came in. I was surfing the internet and really got interested in blogging. Everyone was blogging. I read so many of them, I came upon one that posted out pod cast of interviews of crafty people. One of them was of how Etsy was born.

Then I had the fantastic idea, hay why not, I can create a blog and share my crochet creations and designs in the process. Because I love to crochet and want to share my work, I went to check out Etsy, even though it is USA based, they have a great online community where people all over the world sell their handmade creations and they are reasonable with thier fees. Did you know that 95% of Etsians are women.

So I signed in and created my storefront and added my phone pouches and bookmarks. This was a start to my new beginning. A small shop front of my own, with my own creations, sharing them with the world, wow. In time, I started adding more, scarfs, pencil cases, clothes.

As time went by I bought a ring from one the Esty sellers and I thought hang on a minute maybe I can try one of my own. I bought few more and in return I received a bundle of tutorial on how to create my own ring, this included a mandrol too. Wow, I have to give this a shot. Spotlight was my goal, they are a huge store and have variety of products, espcially beads. I straight away fell in love with glass beads, they sparkle and shine. I started experimenting with all sorts of colors and combinations, earrings, rings, bracelets. These designs were so easy to put together that I had to add them to my Etsy store. I started out with beaded bookthongs and now have variety of charms, zipper pulls, bookmarks and recently added beaded jewelry, bracelets, rings, earrings and now I am thinking of adding necklaces.

I am so happy with these designs and creations that I will continue adding more to my store. I have a short positive saying, "I am creative". This I have stitched onto my sleeping hat and each morning I wake up I have many ideas going through my mind, I find it hard to keep up with myself. I love colors, yarn and hooks and now beads, I would love to share this with each and every one of you. So please check out my store and blog and look out for those colorful creations.

Crochet Creations (Etsy store) - http://monikarose.etsy.com

MonikaRose Crochets (blog) - http://monikarosecrochets.blogspot.com/

My three items to feature:

A bookthong full of color
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26630588

Mobile/Cell Phone Pouch - THe Blues
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25194165

Red Soft Scarf
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17202637

3 comments:

LuLu Borealis said...

Very cute! I like your resourcefulness.

Audrey said...

Great feature!

Unknown said...

Wow, that pouch can be used to carry or wrap mobile phones when not in use. Do you have tutorials? Thanks.
Etched Glass