Would you like to be a featured artist?

I believe in handmade items and cottage industry. I would rather buy an item from a fellow artisan or crafts person than to buy it from a mega-store at half the price!

In order to do my part in promoting the handmade industry, I am going to feature a different artist or crafts person each week – the offer is open to any artist or crafts person who creates handmade items and sells them.

These posts will appear one day each week (not sure which day, yet – I will let you know when we get ready to roll!). If you would like to be featured, simply email me at hollylu16@gmail.com and include the following information in interview form:

1. What is your first name and where are you from? (State or country only)

2. What type of art or craft do you create and how did you get started with it?

3. Where do you market your products? How long have you been selling your work?

4. What is your dream for your products or artwork? Is it a mainly a hobby, or a main source of income (or would you like for it to become a main source of income)?

5. How are your items different from the next guy’s? What is unique about your work?

6. What is your favorite subject matter/medium/material (whichever applies to your art form)?

7. What is your favorite part of creating and selling your products or artwork? The part you like the least?

8. Tell us a little bit about your family and how they feel about your business or your artwork.

Please also provide:
• A link to your shop, website or blog

• A photograph of one of your items or a link to the photograph with permission to use it in this post

• A photo of yourself or your work space if you wish (optional)

Once you’ve sent your information, we’ll schedule a date for you to “go live” on this blog. I will send you a reminder email the day before your feature goes live so you can tell all your friends to watch for it!

All I ask in return for this is a link back to my blog (to your feature) and that you spread the word among any other artists or crafts people you feel may be interested in a bit of free advertising and promotion.

Thank you to Cher at cecilbobby.com for the idea to do this. I am kinda copying her! I don’t think she will mind – it is all for the good of the handcrafted community!

I have decided to formally promote the handmade and artisan items of my friends and fans of Holly&Sage! This decision was influenced partly by Heather of Studio FM and partly by the weekly FEATURED FELLOW ETSIAN feature on Cecil Bobby's blog.

Heather's generosity to all of her friends that sell handmade products inspired me to do more sharing of my own resources with my friends. It can only help all of us if we spread the word about each others work! I am all for buying everything I can from a cottage industry rather than a mega corporation!

Cecil Bobby's blog gave me an example to follow. She features a fellow Etsy seller each week and in order to be included you only have to have an Etsy shop and answer a few simple "interview" questions. She only asks that each participant links back to her site and that they "spread the word among any Etsians [they] feel may be interested in a bit of free advertising and promotion." (If you have an Etsy shop you can find the information for being featured on her blog at )

I am going to do a similar feature here on my blog. This blog started out as just a place for me to ramble on occasionally about things that were on my mind (like whether buying sweat pants at Walmart was a good deal... ( )

Anyway, I am working on improving it and using it to promote my handmade products as well as those of my friends (including my Facebook friends and fans of Holly&Sage). I reserve the right to publish the occasional rant about Walmart, but I will try to keep it professional! ;- D

This is the plan: I will make a list of questions and anyone wishing to participate can send the answered questions to me and I will schedule a date for their 'interview' on my blog. I will, of course, link to your site or Etsy shop (I don't require that you have an Etsy shop, only that you make a handcrafted product that you sell). In return I ask that you link back to the blog - from Facebook, Twitter, your site, I don't care where! The idea is to get incoming links. That will make the whole endeavor work. The more people that see the blog, the more it will help YOU, ME, and EVERYONE else! I think it is a win-win situation!

I will come up with the questions and post them in a day or two. I welcome any advice or suggestions, and please spread the word!!

Thank you!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

holly&sagewelcomepage
Originally uploaded by Steve & Holly2008

I am spending the day updating Holly&Sage fan page on Facebook! (I was expecting to spend an hour or two on it, not all day! But alas... I guess I am more tech-impaired than I realized!)

This is my Welcome page to new fans, what do you think?

Frugal and Green Avocado Facial Mask

Clair Boone from Mummy Deals talks about making a simple and inexpensive face mask out of avocado. Mmmm - feels so nice!



Visit Frugal Living Now for more homemade beauty products that you can make easily with things you already have around the house.

Frugal Weddings Part 1 - Save on Your Wedding Flowers

If you are planning a wedding and trying to stick to a budget, flowers are going to be one of your main considerations. The prices that couples pay for their wedding flowers is highly variable. For example, if you choose to use expensive out-of-season orchids flown in from Hawaii, you are going to spend a LOT of money!

On the other end of the spectrum, my mom and I gathered wild flowers from the side of the road for my wedding and arranged them ourselves in vases that she already had! You may not want to go that far, but you can save a substantial amount on flowers if you know what you are doing.

• Try to stick with local and in-season flowers. You will spend a lot less this way whether you hire a florist or do it yourself. If you are not getting married in the spring or summer, you may have to think outside the box. For example, if you are getting married in December, holly and evergreen boughs make lovely arrangements.

• If you choose to use a florist, be honest with them about your budget. They can help to steer you to choices that you can afford.

• If you are planning a church wedding, consider scheduling it right after Easter or another occasion when the church will already be decorated.

• More and more brides are arranging their own wedding flowers. For a step-by-step guide to creating your own wedding flowers Click Here!