Meet Ravenshold! EAST Member interview #1

This is the first in a series of posts introducing our Street Team members. We are a varied group of unique artists! Today I am sharing interview responses from Rebecca of Ravenshold!

1] What is your name? Rebecca

2] What is your shop name and please share a link:

Ravenshold Creations http://ravenshold.etsy.com/

3] What was the inspiration for your shop name?

Well. . .it just sort of happened. I wanted a user name on Etsy that had raven in it somewhere and everything I picked was already taken so out of desperation I used ravenshold which was the name of the country I was running on the game NationStates and it was available. Out of that grew Ravenshold Creations.

4] Where are you located and any does this have an impact on your work?

I'm in Wyoming, and I'm not sure if there has been any impact on my work beyond the fact that working with leather is still pretty common in this area which means that people are pretty accepting.

5] What is your preferred medium(s)?

Most kinds of leather, although I also play around a bit with jewelry

6] Would you please share a brief personal history?

I was born in Wyoming and have lived here most of my life beyond a short stint in Texas and a semester in Hungary when I was at University. I've got a BA and MA in International Studies (focusing on the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc) which I haven't ended up using but it was worth it. I also ended up becoming heathen around the same time but I don't think there's any connection between the two. I'm a huge history and science geek and can bore people to sleep on a number of topics, I'm also staff to a large number of cats. I'm not sure what else to say really, I lead a pretty quiet life.

7] What brought you to crafting and etsy?

I came to crafting because of my Mom and Grandma, they were always working on something and always had projects for us to do to. I got started doing leatherwork when I worked at a Tandy Leather store some time ago and then didn't do a lot with it when I moved on to other jobs. I got started on Etsy after someone recommended it to me and here I am.

8] Where do you glean your inspiration, family, friends, Spiritual Path?

There are two sides to inspiration for me. Everything I make is functional, so the first part is the idea to make a specific thing for a specific purpose. That is usually inspired by trying to meet a specific need which can come from family and friends. The other side is the way I decorate the piece and that comes from a number of different places. Some does come from being heathen, there's a lot of wonderful designs that can be found in Norse archaeological finds, but I also draw inspiration from medieval manuscripts, medieval archaeological finds, Victorian design books, textile patterns and nature.

9] What's in the wings, mediums to try, subjects to explore?

In the wings right now are belts, purses and messenger-style bags. Belts will show up first, I still need to do trial runs on the purses and bags.

Rebecca, thank you for sharing a bit about yourself with everyone! I look forward to keeping up with the new and wonderful work in your shop!

Please visit Ravenshold to view her amazing leather work items!
http://www.ravenshold.etsy.com/

Free Shipping - thru May 31

I thought I had posted here before about this sale, but it seems I somehow skipped this blog. SO here goes:

From now through the end of May, you can get EVERYTHING in my Etsy store with FREE SHIPPING! I'm trying to clear out some of my stock to make room for new projects. If you've been eying something, now is the time to get it!

FREE SHIPPING @ Breath of the Dragon! Unique and customized wood burnings.

~ Sunfire

MAJOR SALE IN AVALON ADORNMENTS ON ETSY!!!!

I know it's been forever since I posted here, and I apologize!
I took the Winter off from my businesses, and never quite got back to blogging, either.

Allot has happened, and I'll catch you up on that a bit later. I'm planning on moving later this Summer, and the house needs to be painted before it goes on the market. I've had to pack the studio up, so we can get to the walls.
However, today I need to tell you about a huge sale I'm having on the items left in my jewelry and art shop, Avalon Adornments, on Etsy. I don't want to have to pack up all the jewelry and things I have listed in my shop. I've reduced prices, and some items are slashed more than 50%.
check it and get some beautiful jewelry at great prices! Even Tim's hand-forged knives are on sale! he knocked $25.00 off the price of each one!
Thanks for shopping!

Button Blowout Sale in my Etsy Shop!

**BUTTON BLOWOUT SALE!**
I'm listing every button I have left in my inventory and taking 50% off of the price in order to clear them out! On May 21st they'll all be gone for good! We've got Star Wars, Princess Bride, Pirates of the Caribbean, Firefly, and more! Get them while you can!

Pagan/Zodiac Buttons for Sale!

I made these 1.25 inch buttons for a store in North Carolina and then picked them up before we moved so I could try to move the rest of them along. (They weren't doing well there, despite that I think they came out cute!) So I decided finally to get pictures of them and offer them up. What you see is all of what I have left, I don't have any more of these and I can't make more. They're $1.50 each and $2 for shipping (up to 6 of them for that shipping cost). You can e-mail me at liz@oap-studios.com, put "button order" in the subject and tell me which buttons you're interested in. I'll send you a Paypal Invoice and then ship your order once paid!

Here's some closer pictures of the buttons.

Pagan Prompts

Looking for suggestions on what to blog about? Well, I've created a new site that will be updated weekly with new pagan-related blog prompts.

http://paganprompts.blogspot.com

Not much there yet, but I hope to have a new topic posted each Thursday. Have some suggestions already? Feel free to comment and share, and I will add them to my list.

~ Sunfire

1000 hearts giveaway

I've been hearted over 970 times! And I just have to celebrate my 1000th when it comes. So here's the deal:

Favorite items in my shop that interest you. After the 1000th heart, I will pick out at least 5 items and randomly pick one of the people who hearted it to receive it, absolutely free. If they are anonymous or refuse it, I will offer it to another person who hearted it.
Of course, the sooner I reach 1000, the sooner the giveaway happens.

http://krummenacker.etsy.com