a good week!

It's been a good week for chirp & bloom! The lovely Sema Gurerk of FloweredSky recently interviewed me for the Etsy shop series she is doing on her blog and the feature appeared today! The series highlights the work of one Etsy seller from each state in the USA in the order of statehood. You know what that means- Delaware is first! It's our other claim to fame after being the home of Vice President Joe Biden, or vice versa. Alaska and Hawaii are going to have to wait a while. I was just thrilled to be included and was inspired to retake many of my product photos in anticipation of some new visitors. Sometimes it's nice to have a deadline.

And even nicer is something I didn't anticipate when joining Etsy: all the new online friends I would make. It turns out Sema went to RISD, my alma mater, for metalsmithing (after a roundabout series of degrees) and now lives in Providence, RI. Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, the jewelry she makes has an exotic flair. You've got to check out her "evil eye" necklaces and bracelets.

If that wasn't enough, chirp & bloom was also featured in two Etsy treasuries compiled by two more new Etsy friends: Oxford Impressions by Tammy of tamallama , a seller of vintage clothing, accessories, and glass; and Let them spark! by Anat of SchickiMickis, a maker of exquisite floral headbands and statement necklaces. Treasuries are collections of Etsy member-curated shopping galleries of 12-16 items based on any kind of theme. Searching through them is like going on a treasure hunt - I highly recommend it. Sometimes a member treasury will be chosen to be on the first page of Etsy for a day if it fits with what the Etsy merchandisers are thinking of at that moment. For now there are two groupings of treasuries: Treasury East and Treasury West, with no geographical significance, they just work slightly differently. Eventually the best features of both will be combined into a new super-duper deluxe version. Similar to the treasuries is "Etsy Finds" which you can subscribe to here for a daily dose of well-curated items.

To cap off the week, I'm heading up to New York City tomorrow for some garment district supply shopping and some indie craft show overload. Saturday and Sunday, June 5&6, Brooklyn's McCarren park is hosting the Renegade Craft Fair which I've been giddily awaiting for months. If I can't find cool stuff to buy for Father's Day there, I'll be in shock. There will be 300 vendors, all of them cool. As always, I will bring my camera and do a round-up of what I found interesting here on the blog.