DaWanda finds on Stylehive!

Title: Dress Echo - Fashion Design - DaWanda - green - dawanda - evening Stylehive BM 356515 Tags: Description: more

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Blogged By: DaWandaShopDirectoryEditor

Send me your articles and get featured!

So, I'm looking for some new ideas for articles... Can you write about...

How to guides - everything from listing an item, to leaving feedback and buying items.
Craft business ideas
Promotion ideas
A day in the life of a DaWanda Seller
DaWanda Sellers at Craft Fairs
My First DaWanda Sale
Your favourite finds on DaWanda
Your DaWanda Pinboard
Sales or special offers in your DaWanda store
The new collection in your DaWanda store
Your first purchase on DaWanda
Your favourite Seller on DaWanda

If so then check out this link... http://dawandashopdirectory.blogspot.com/2007/10/want-to-be-guest-writer.html

Each article gets a shop link as a byline.

Introducing... Misty Aurora!

1. DaWanda Shop Name: ~*~ Misty Aurora ~*~ Dingalin's Handmade Goodies
2. DaWanda Shop URL: http://en.dawanda.com/shop/Dingalin
3. When did you open your shop? February of 2008
4. Are you in the DaWanda Shop Directory here? Yes
5. What Category are you under? Jewelry
6. What do you sell? I sell handmade jewelry and accessories
7. Describe 2 of your current products.
I had a polymer cake craze this weekend so i made a bunch of fruit cakes and pies into earrings that you can find in my shop :)



8. Tell me a bit about you... I currently live in Sweden enjoying the amazing scenery and the clean air (!).

My handmade adventure started about 10 years ago when i was still in school, making and exchanging polymer clay pendants with my best friend.

I love making jewelry and accessories with a variety of materials.

Mostly I work with polymer clay, beads and felt but im always up for the custom order challenge.

Every day I try to discover a new way of making stuff so be on the look out for new special and unique goodies in my shop.

9. Do you have a website, or blog? My blog is at : http://dingalin.blogspot.com/ and you can also find me at Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/dingalin and Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1386586490

What is DaWanda?

To help explain what DaWanda is to those of you who have stumbled across this blog site...

DaWanda is a site based in Berlin, Germany and they state 'Dawanda is the online marketplace where those who love uniqueness meet people with a passion to create.' What does this mean? Well it means that each seller has spent time hand crafting and hand making each item and has put passion and love into each item.

This site is perfect for buying gifts for friends and family, or even that little 'pay-day' purchase! The site offers secure on-line purchase and supports payment by Paypal (more information coming soon).

I have found the DaWanda site to be very easy to use and there are several ways in which you can search for your gift ideas.

1. By category.
2. By colour on the Coloranda, which is great if you have something in mind already.
3. By Seller.
4. Keywords.
5. Technique - for example photo.
6. By new product.
7. By new shop.
8. By featured item.
9. Pinboards - surf other DaWanda sellers favourites.
10. Trends - shop by DaWanda's trend information, from popular items, to popular sellers.
11. Style Lab - your way to buy your own commissioned pieces.

If you would like to know more about DaWanda and find useful hints and tips for buying and selling, then please press the following link DaWanda - Your complete guide to buying and selling on DaWanda This is also a permanent link on the right hand panel.

If you wish to go straight to the on-line shopping site then please choose one of the following links;

DaWanda - English site

DaWanda - French site

DaWanda - German site

Introducing... Studio Bee!

1. DaWanda Shop Name: Studio Bee
2. DaWanda Shop URL: http://en.dawanda.com/shop/StudioBee
3. When did you open your shop? I registered Aug 2007, but only opened my shop January 2008.
4. Are you in the DaWanda Shop Directory here? I have requested an entry in the Directory.
5. What Category are you under? Art
6. What do you sell? Original paintings. Still lifes and portraits from your own photos.
7. Describe 2 of your current products.

The eyes are the most important feature of my portraits. Whether it is the soft melting brown eyes of the two Border Terrier brothers, or the little girl with beautiful blonde hair and smiley blue eyes.

8. Tell me a bit about you... I am a British painter currently living on the island of Cyprus, with my husband, four foundling dogs and two cats. I suppose I am a bit obsessive ... I have to paint, and no day feels quite right unless I do :) I love to find that certain expression in a face that makes it unique. Then I work away until I've expressed it on my canvas the very best way I can.

9. Do you have a website, or blog? Work in progress and snippets of my life on the island of Cyprus can be seen at http://indigoblah.blogspot.com/ and completed paintings at http://studiobeegallery.blogspot.com/

I'll take the Checks!

I am totally smitten with this awesome top and skirt set from Akasha Couture. Too bad I can't fit into a S/M to save my life. Maybe you can and then you will have your very own one of a kind outfit! So check it out and remember to pin her fantastic shop!

Written by Andreanna of http://en.dawanda.com/shop/glamasaurus

Looking For A Handmade Product That You Create?

Then look no further! Find all of your fully customisable products using DaWanda's Style Lab.

The Style Lab is easily accessible with lots of products especially designed for you to add your own personal touch. Here's a taste of their current offer...

English site - Style Lab
French site - Style Lab
German site - Style Lab

It's simple and easy to use...

• Choose the product you like... introductions include the price and shipping costs
• Press 'Create my Style'
• Read the description (there are easy instructions to follow on the right hand side of the screen, if you forget the following)
• (An aside - If you wish to find out who you are buying from then press the sellers icon at the top right of the page, or press profile.)
• To continue buying scroll down the page.
• You will now see a list of items, or 'elements' that you can choose from in order to make your own unique version of this product, from main colour to choice of prints, etc...
• Select you choices by clicking the little blue box under the 'element' you wish to have.
• Once selected these will fill the boxes that read 'Please select an element'.
• Scroll down the page.
• Add a message to the seller... for example if the description does not indicate how long the seller will take to make your item, then ask the question.
• Press the button under 'Create the product with your selection?'
• You now need to confirm your purchase in the usual way

I hope you enjoy creating your own products!

Written by Sara of Sara's Texture Crafts

Introducing... HipKid!

1. DaWanda Shop Name: Hip Kid T-shirts
2. DaWanda Shop URL: http://en.dawanda.com/shop/HipKid
3. When did you open your shop? I opened my shop January 18, 2008. So it's pretty new.
4. Are you in the DaWanda Shop Directory here? Not yet, but I plan to be soon.
5. What Category are you under? I sell under Children. But I have some adult T-shirts that I will be adding soon.
6. What do you sell? I sell funky and hip T-shirts for babies and children.
7. Describe 2 of your current products.

In my shop you can currently find silk-screened tattoo T-shirts. You can choose a heart tattoo with either mom or dad in the center. The tees come in pink or chocolate brown. I also am starting a line of organic cotton tees and onesies. Right now I have an organic onesie with a mom tattoo silk-screened on it.

8. Tell me a bit about you...

I am Suzanne. A technical writer during the day and a designer and silk-screener at night. I live in Montreal, Canada with my husband and 6-year old son. My son is my muse. When he was a baby his favorite color was pink, but he wanted a robot on his tee. Try to find a boy's tee in pink with a robot or a cowboy. So I started silk-screening my own T-shirts and found that I loved this creative outlet. I haven't stopped since. I hope to be doing this for a long time, but who knows how it will evolve.

9. Do you have a website, or blog? I have a blog that I updated usually once or twice per week. It's a bit schizophrenic, as I like to cover lots of topics. http://www.hipkidtshirts.blogspot.com/.

Introducing... Lucy's Jewellery!

1. DaWanda Shop Name: Lucy's Jewellery
2. DaWanda Shop URL: http://en.dawanda.com/shop/-Lucy-/
3. When did you open your shop? I opened my shop January 12, 2008
4. Are you in the DaWanda Shop Directory here? Yes, just today.
5. What Category are you under? Jewellery
6. What do you sell? Handmade jewellery made in various techniques, styles and materials.
7. Describe 2 of your current products.

a) These adorable earrings are made of silver and precious rare peruvian opal stone. Earrings are also oxidized and smoothly polished to give them an antique look.

b) Romantic necklace in light rose and white colors with a focal polymerclay bead.
Perfect for any occassion including Valentines Day!

The necklace sits very comfortably and it is lightweight, because of plastic beads. I also used glass seedbeads and antique copperwire.

The lenght of the necklace is 40cm (this type of the necklace sits very close to the neck).




8. Tell me a bit about you... My name is Lucy (Ljudmila) and I'm 19 years old. I'm from Estonia, from the small city Haapsalu. At the moment I'm studying at the university in Tallinn. I study interior design and am totally crazy about it!

My second passion is making handmade jewellery. I have been making them now for 8 years and still am not bored! I get my inspiration for jewellery from the materials, nature, colours and even interior design.

Take a look around in my shop, I hope you will find something especial for you or a gift for a friend!

9. Do you have a website, or blog? Yes, I have a blog- http://www.fun-ljuda.blogspot.com/

The CPSIA and You

We've all been hearing a lot about the CPSIA recently. For those not in the know, that's the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, passed in the US in August and ready to go into effect February 10, 2009.

There are a number of provisions to the new law, and many of them are welcome and make a lot of sense. Among other things, the CPSIA requires that a company do a lot more to publicise recalls, getting information about unsafe products into the hands of those who need it more quickly. It also bans lead and phthalates in children's products. Personally, I don't see a lot to object to in either of those goals.

Another thing it does, however, is require testing for lead in 'all consumer products primarily intended for children twelve years of age or younger.' Said testing must be performed by an accredited third-party laboratory. (Information from the official CPSIA site; I suggest taking a look at this for further information.)

Who does it apply to? Perhaps it might be of more use to say who it doesn't apply to. For starters, this is a United States legislation; if you do not live in or sell anything to anyone in the US, you don't need to worry about it. The CPSIA also doesn't apply to you if you don't sell anything intended for the use of children under the age of twelve.

Which doesn't include a lot of things. But in addition to toys it does include products like:

• Children's clothing
• Sporting equipment
• School supplies
• Baseball cards
• Bedding

Note that the above said nothing about the size of the manufacturer. It does not apply only to large toy manufacturers (many of whom could probably use more stringent testing requirements anyway). It applies to anyone who's making products intended for children 12 and under.

That's a whole lot of us, folks.

Without going into detail I'm simply going to say that the testing is out of your price range. It's certainly out of mine (and believe me, I'm glad I decided to go into bath and body instead of, say, carved wooden toys).

So what's to be done? Alas, most of what follows will only work for US residents, but some of it will still apply to people everywhere.

The goal is to convince the US government that while regulating testing for large companies is fine (and honestly a really good idea), there should be exceptions for small, home-based companies. There are a lot of ways to do this.

Here are some petitions to sign:

• http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/handmadetoys/
• http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html
• http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/Home/our-proposal-to-modify-the-cpsia

Petitions are great and all, but there are plenty of other things to do, too:

• You can always write your congress person and senators; there's a sample letter here. This will be even more effective if they serve on the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection or the House Committee on Small Business. Better yet, call them. Be brief, concise, and above all polite.
• Contact local news outlets -- this is a local story as well as a national one! Find some local sellers (This link will do that on Etsy; I'm not sure how to do it on DaWanda or Artfire), especially those who sell children's things. If there's a local toy store that sells natural children's toys, they'd be great too. Ask for a business reporter and tell them that you have a number of local businesses about to be driven out by this legislation -- chances are if you do the spadework you'll soon see a story.
• Change.org is a great place for making lots of issues heard -- check
• here to vote for the CPSIA. The top 3 issues in each category will be presented to President-elect Obama.
• Send an email directly to the CPSC or contact chairperson Nancy Nord at 301-504-7923. While you're at it, call the CPSC ombudsman's office. The number is 888-531-9070. Again, be brief, concise, and above all polite.
• Get the word out! Blog about it, Twitter (with hashtag #cpsia), find others blogging about the same issue and comment. There's a Facebook group, a Ning group and a thread on Etsy.
• Here's a badge you can put on your blog or website to help spread the word.

This tale is still playing out -- let's all do what we can to keep the US friendly for small businesses.

Written by Kate of http://en.dawanda.com/shop/omshantihandcrafts

My Valentine Finds on DaWanda - post your entries!

Have you got something to sell the world for Valentine's Day? Or have you found the perfect item for your 'special someone'?

I'm looking to feature a selection of artists here as a special DaWanda Valentine's feature... if you are interested please visit the forums and post your items here 'Show me your Valentine's'.

I will also be selecting my favourites to pin on my pinboard at To My Valentine!

Sara x

DaWanda teams... Sellers working together!

Have you seen the DaWanda shopping Community lately? Well groups of Sellers have started to put together several specialized teams at http://dawandashopping.ning.com/groups in order to help promote their shops, their crafts and spread the work about DaWanda.

Here are the few there are so far...
DaWanda Promo Bags
German Sellers
United Kingdom Sellers
French Sellers
Australian Sellers
Jewellery Makers
Glass Anarchists
Fibre and Felt
Everything about Paper

They are all free to join and could prove a great help to newbie shop owners, Buyers who love to buy a particular product and want to find the shops on DaWanda and as fun places to hang out and chat about your favourite crafts.

Meet our new Favourite Finds Editor!

Today I would like to introduce you to the very lovely Andreanna of Glamasaurus who has kindly agreed to share her favourite finds on DaWanda, here on the DaWanda Directory Blog.

You may have already spotted Andreanna's sweet jewellery making waves over on DaWanda and seen her cute little avatar around the forums and the DaWanda Shopping Community ... well now we will have the her very welcomed help here too! To catch up with Andreanna and find a few tips on what to put in your DaWanda shopping basket do check out Andreanna's articles (usually posted on a Thursday) at Index - Favourite Finds on DaWanda.

Thank you Andreanna!

Written by Sara of http://en.dawanda.com/shop/sarastexturecrafts

DaWanda Shopping Community - New Rules

Recently we have had a run of negative things happening on the Shopping Community and so to avoid further disruption and emails from upset members I would like to set some ground rules.

So here are my rules for site interaction and SPAM...

1. MEMBER PAGES - Please feel free to list where you sell and your on-line networks within your own members page only. Please also tell us about you and your work... you can also add an RSS feed from your personal blog here too.
2. MEMBER PAGES COMMENTS - Please leave a comment for other members and help to grow your own network of on-line friends. Remember to keep those comments friendly!
3. MEMBER PAGES BLOGS - Please only relate your entries to your DaWanda shop, your personal work, tutorials or related blog. This is not a space for you to mention other shopping sites, or networks and these entries will be removed. Repeat offenders will be banned from the network.
4. COMMENTING ON MEMBER BLOGS - Leave a comment related to the post in question, or a general 'this is a great place, thanks for sharing' comment... we all like to hear that! Do feel free to leave discussion based comments... it's always good to hear feedback or work with new ideas. Do feel free to ask a question... we are here to help. Please do not leave negative comments... it's unfair to the sellers who work hard to promote themselves and DaWanda here and also to the buyers, who wish to share their DaWanda experience.
5. CONTACTING MEMBERS - Please do contact members if you are interested in what they do, would like to invite them to a group here on the DaWanda Shopping Community (only do it once!), or have a question about their shop, or products. Please do not SPAM other members (or all of your added friends and group members) and ask them to visit your shop, your sale, your external sites. Repeat offenders will be banned from the network, I cannot allow members to be upset within the community.
6. EVENTS - Please add shop sales, events and competitions to the Events page... you are also welcome to add an entry for any craft fairs, markets and shows you may be selling at... who knows we may just come and visit! Please do not create events for other shopping forums, or unrelated topics. These will be removed and repeat offenders banned from the network.
7. FORUM - Please add topics related to each category... you will note that there is a special place to promote your shops and sales here. Please feel free to join in and comment on any of the forum threads you find there. Please do keep topics and discussions friendly and positive in tone... this site is a representation of DaWanda buyers and sellers and a promotional tool for all of us, so let's keep it 'up beat'. No... naming and shaming! This site is not part of the Dawanda company and these topics should be discussed with the DaWanda company through their feedback system only. Repeat offenders will be banned from the network.
8. GROUPS - Please do add groups related to DaWanda and keep them open to all members... this is a community and members should not feel excluded in anyway.
9. NOTES - Please do not add notes... this is for site reference only.
10. PHOTOS - Please add photos of your work, turtorials, events and business. Please make sure that they are safe for all viewers, including children.
11. VIDEOS - Please add videos of your work, turtorials, events and business. Please make sure that they are safe for all viewers, including children.

If you have any concerns, queries or things to report please contact me via the 'Report an Issue' tab at the bottom of the page.

Thank you,
Sara.

Introducing... Lola Van Loo!

1 DaWanda Shop Name: Just my name: Lola van Loo ;)
2 DaWanda Shop URL: http://de.dawanda.com/shop/lolavanloo
3 When did you open your shop? in July 2008
4 Are you in the DaWanda Shop Directory here? Yes.
5 What Category are you under? Jewelry
6 What do you sell? Jewelry made from Swarovski crystals and pearls as well as from glass and plastic beads. At the moment there are bracelets, necklaces and earrings in my shop. From autumn I will also make rings and hair accessories.
7 Describe 2 of your current products.
- MAUDE Earrings - for wedding or other romantic moments - vintage inspired earrings with ivory colored Swarovski pearls and metal cameos.
- COCO Long Necklace - for the colorful and coltish sites of life - bonbon-colored long necklace with lilac, fuchsia, crystal and ivory-colored Swarovski crystals, plastic beads and plastic heart pendants.




8 Tell me a bit about you... I am a crazy and coltish girl who spends her days (and sometimes the nights) interviewing celebrities, writing scripts and hosting radio shows. If I am not at work or spend my time with my favorite occupations such as free climbing, reading, and dancing... I create jewelry pieces all the time! I knew from a very young age that I wanted to live a creative life. So every free minute I sit at my desk and create jewelry. The little girl in me is attracted to anything that sparkles, the young lady in me in all things modern, vintage and romantic. It is a great feeling to see the smile people get when they see something that I have made.
9 Do you have a website, or blog? www.myspace.com/lolavanloo and http://www.lolavanloo.wordpress.com/