Humor by embroidery: Featured seller Susitaika

 An emboidery hand drawn and designed by Laura.

Mom’s old curtains. Sometimes that's all it takes to spark a crafting career. This is how it happened for Laura, the creator of Susitaika. Out of the curtains she made her first skirt. “It was a simple rectangular piece with a zipper and so ugly, but I felt like a great designer sewing with my moms singer at the age of twelve.”

Today Laura makes embroidered stuff - clothing, bags and adornments for her Etsy shop Susitaika. “My style often borderlines gothic and usually has humor to it.” The hands-on crafter gets the best inspiration by making. She feels inspired when her embroidery machine starts doing a new design and the outcome is still a mystery. Excitement is in the questions: “What will it look like in real life? Have I succeeded in choosing the best stitches? Will it embroider out with no problems?”

Embroidery machine at work - this time embroidering onto organza.

The table where Laura makes all the patterns is surrounded by inspiring objects.

Laura has also successfully tried other web stores besides Etsy. At first she came to Etsy as a buyer. Later on Laura decided to open her own shop. She feels the best thing in Etsy is the community. It’s amazing to get in touch with people from numerous countries. “Just the other week I helped a girl with an Etsy shop to find a local embroiderer. Since she was from Australia there wasn't much sense to order from me because of the postage. For a normal customer that wouldn't much matter, but she wanted embroideries on the clothes she sells herself, so her customers would end up paying a larger amount of money for the final product if she bought the embroideries from me.”

 Laura gets inspiration and designs also from Urban Threads.

A purse made of a book and embroidered by using Urban Threads-design

A necktie for Laura's robot designing dad. The embroidery is based on an photo.

A band logo for a friends band. 

Under the mustaches is 3D material which makes figures fluffy.

Susitaika

Etsy shop

Web page

Story by Kaisa / Beanie on Helina

Pics by Laura / Susitaika

Jewelry inspired by history: Featured seller Arx Rosarum

Arx Rosarum is a Latin phrase meaning Castle of Roses. This beautiful name coincides perfectly with the history inspired and highly thoughtful jewelry work of Ruusu, a young jewelry artist and an Etsy seller. She got into handcrafts at the age of 5, insisting her mum to sign her up for a ceramic school. Mum yielded and Ruusu got to learn ceramics for the next 5 years. That’s when she made her first pieces of jewelry; geometrical earrings for her mum.

Today Ruusu designs and makes costume jewelry. In her pieces she uses lots of vintage components like glass jewels, cabochons and cameos. “These products were made for jewelry industry decades ago – now I’m giving them a chance to be finally a part of a wearable piece.” The talented jewelry artist combines old materials with new glass and crystal beads and high quality brass stampings made with vintage dies.

The amazing earrings channel the glowing glamour of Art Deco.

Here you can feel the presence of Art Noveau’s mythic tales.

Inspiration for the necklace wells from dark shades of Victorian splendor.

It’s quite natural that Ruusu, who is writing her master thesis in Art History, finds her inspiration in the elaborate aesthetics of bygone centuries. “Museums, antique shops, historical films and stories – they all feed my imagination. Sometimes I draw sketches, but very often I just start playing around with different components and let the motifs, shapes and colors lead me.”

When Ruusu joined Etsy few years back as a customer, she had no idea that someday she’d be running her own shop. First the jewelry maker sold pieces to her friends and later participated her first fair on the fall of 2011. After trying to sell her products on a Finnish site she turned her eyes to Etsy again and finally opened Arx Rosarum Etsy shop in January 2012. Later this year Ruusu is planning to widen her website to include an online shop of her own.

Despite her plans to branch out, there’s no fear of Ruusu leaving Etsy: “I’m going to keep my Etsy boutique nevertheless. In Etsy, I love the community the most. I’ve got lots of support from my fellow artists. I enjoy the international atmosphere and the possibility to sell my jewelry all over the world. It is so exciting that my creations can travel to places where I have never been and probably never will!”

Arx Rosarum:

Etsy

Website

Story by Kaisa / Beanie on Helina

Pics by Ruusu / Arx Rosarum

Witty knitting: Featured seller Mairea

We all know how it feels to get cold feet. Mind you, we are now talking about the chillier meaning of the phrase. But no need to worry! Hanna Tjukanov from Mairea has a warm solution, as she makes lovely knitted socks to keep any toes warm. Hanna got into knitting at the early age of 7 when the young handcrafter stole her sisters knitting kit and learned how to knit. Since then she has been knitting for herself, for family and friends and now even for the lucky Etsy buyers.

For her Etsy shop Hanna makes knitted socks, slippers and mittens out of warm wool blend. In addition, she resourcefully uses excess yarn to make crocheted potholders and toys. Inspiration for her distinctive designs Hanna gets from technically beautiful knitting patterns of 1940’s. The skillful knitter has a Master of Arts degree in Furniture Design. “At the moment I’m looking into expanding the product line to match my formal education. For one, I’m planning some new products made with concrete casting technique.”

The adorable mittens are designed for you to be able to literally hold a heart in your hands.

 Slipped into some paint? The witty slippers are designed to look like toes got dipped in paint.

 In crocheted products Hanna likes to play with colors and proportions.

For Hanna Etsy offers a playground to experiment what it takes to build a brand. Through Etsy she’s come to love all aspects of running your own label. These include product shoots, frequently rearranging the shop and designing various print materials. Best thing in craftsmanship is the hand feeling and touchability. “For my day job I mainly work on computer. For this reason I aspire to do as much as I can with my hands on the free time.”

Mairea on Etsy

More about Hanna

Story by Kaisa / Beanie on Helina

Pics by Hanna / Mairea

Wedding Finds

Plan your wedding with us. Members of Finland Handcrafters Team offer many beautiful and unique items for your wedding reception.

Vintage lace camisole by Andolinaswishes

Glass Milky white Gold-plated sterling silver earwires by SolskenDesign

Bridal Vintage Inspired Ivory Headpiece by DesignDomi

Art Deco Earrings by ArxRosarum

Diamond and White Gold Engagement Ring and Wedding Band Set by CaiSanni

Grey Czech Glass Pendant by FirebirdJewellery

Kineret Custom made Ivory French Lace Wedding Dress by paulastudio

White Gold Wedding Band by TorkkeliJewellery

Wedding guest book by PaperPlaneStationery

Heartgarland by sofiasobeide

Small Crystal Hearts by ValonaDesign 

Flowergirls linen ruffle dress by englaCharlottaShop

The Sun and the Turtle is spreading light and joy

The Sun and the Turtle was formed as a mutual dream of a sensible and tangible lifestyle full of color, harmony and adventure. The Sun and The Turtle makes everything that comes from the soul and heart, inspired by nature and love.

In The Sun and the Turtle (TSATT) Shop you can find beanies, Amigurumis, cozies, art prints, patterns, pendants, jewelry and more. All items are full of color, joy and energy.

"Our creations are made with the purpose of spreading light and joy. We get inspiration and ideas for our creations by travelling and observing nature in her various manifestations around the globe. " Says Jennifer Ramirez, the owner, artist and Hook Ninja of TSATT.

Jennifer Ramirez has born into a culture and family where handicrafts and art were a daily part of life. Today Jennifer is a Colombian student in the University of Arts and Design in Helsinki. "I now see creativity as an important and vital way of self exploration and that it has a therapeutic value. I want to encourage people to be creative and use color. :)", she says. 

Jennifer set up TSATT together with John Franzén. With a professional background as a director and editor in the media-industry John's role in The Sun and the Turtle is to keep the flow and look of things nice and fresh.

You can find The Sun and the Turtle here:

ETSY: thesunandtheturtle.etsy.com

Blog: www.thesunandtheturtle.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesunandtheturtle

Twitter: twitter.com/sunandtheturtle

Pinterest: pinterest.com/sunandturtle/

 

Cross stitching in Finland with Texas spice!

Juulie Kuusilehto just moved to Finland and it is one of the newest members of the Finland Handcrafters Team. She is originally from Texas, United states and she rocks at cross stitching!

Her stitches resemble how the Finnish spirit is now very close to her Texan heart. She describes her with the words"Born in California, lived in Colorado and Texas, now living out her dreams in Finland. While I dearly love Texas, this is my home. Always has been, always will be." 


But Juulie, that just moved to Finland learned already the meaning of SISU which means "Never give up", uniquely Finnish concept is roughly translated as guts or determination. With love and dedication her store is now full  of beautiful cross stitch products with very fun designs.

You can Follow Juulie in her Facebook page
Visit her shop
Follow her blog