New Neon "Slope Style" Pins

This new pin from YIKES Studio is fun and pretty, racy and bright! The ski slopes are filled with neon touches and that's where the inspiration for this line of pins came from.  

More views here. $28 + S&H.

This pin arrives in a cute chocolate colored gift box and is ready to ship now. Or see more ColorPop styles at YIKES! on Etsy. ❉




Suzanne Anderson is the creator of YIKES! Studio Jewelry. Suzanne has been busy creating for most of her life. After graduating with a BFA from Maine College of Art, she worked as a graphic designer and a painter. Suzanne works to ensure that YIKES! Studio creates work that is fun, beautiful, always interesting, and adorns the wearer with joy. Catch up with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Etsy, or her website at www.yikesstudio.com.

Sparklebright Winter Sale - Get 10% off YIKES! Jewelry and Knits

Sparklebright Winter Sale is here! You can enjoy some sparkle with a YIKES! Studio coupon code-- 10% off at yikes.etsy.com. Enter during checkout to receive your 10% off.

Here are a few of the gorgeous knits and jewelry to choose from at my Etsy store:

Loving Pantone's 2014 Color of the Year-- Radiant Orchid

Introducing Pantone's Color of the Year-- the beautiful Radiant Orchid! I think this is a GORGEOUS color. I'm so excited to start pairing it up with other colors, especially bold colors that can make this delicate shade really POP! This is one versatile and exciting color to work with.

It's also a bold departure from 2013's Color of the Year, Emerald. Emerald is stately, sedate, glamorous, and rich. With Radiant Orchid, we can feel like spring's just around the corner. It's also going to be a great color to use in more delicate, romantic combos-- the other colors in the Spring palette will pair with this one wonderfully.

What does Pantone have to say about their 2014 pick? "Radiant Orchid blooms with confidence and magical warmth that intrigues the eye and sparks the imagination. It is an expressive, creative and embracing purple—one that draws you in with its beguiling charm. A captivating harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid emanates great joy, love and health."

Here are some favorite YIKES Studio picks that echo this vibrant shade!

YIKES Industrial ColorPop earrings in violet, blue and sterling silver | $24	YIKES Industrial ColorPop with Dots earrings in blue and violet and sterling silver | $24
Peacock Blue Polymer Earrings | $20	YIKES Industrial ColorPop with Dots earrings in violet and sterling silver | $24

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Suzanne Anderson is the creator of YIKES! Studio Jewelry. Suzanne has been busy creating for most of her life. After graduating with a BA from Maine College of Art, she worked as a graphic designer and a painter. Suzanne works to ensure that YIKES! Studio creates work that is fun, beautiful, always interesting, and adorns the wearer with joy. Catch up with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Etsy, or her website at www.yikesstudio.com.

YIKES! Holiday Etsy Spotlight

YIKES! Festive Polymer and Swarovski Bangle
Nepalese Lotka Gift Wrapping Paper
Knee Length Cocktail Dress
Antique Garland

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Suzanne Anderson is the creator of YIKES! Studio Jewelry. Suzanne has been busy creating for most of her life. After graduating with a BA from Maine College of Art, she worked as a graphic designer and a painter. Suzanne works to ensure that YIKES! Studio creates work that is fun, beautiful, always interesting, and adorns the wearer with joy. Catch up with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Etsy, or her website at www.yikesstudio.com.

FREE Shipping on YIKES! Jewelry on Etsy for the Holidays

Need a perfect gift for someone in your life for the holidays? YIKES! Etsy shop is stocked up for the holiday season with gorgeous and affordable Maine-made earrings and jewelry in every price range and styles to suit everyone. Earrings start at just $28, and beautiful gift packaging is included.

Even better, through December, enjoy free shipping on any purchase at etsy.yikesstudio.com.

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Suzanne Anderson is the creator of YIKES! Studio Jewelry. Suzanne has been busy creating for most of her life. After graduating with a BA from Maine College of Art, she worked as a graphic designer and a painter. Suzanne works to ensure that YIKES! Studio creates work that is fun, beautiful, always interesting, and adorns the wearer with joy. Catch up with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Etsy, or her website at www.yikesstudio.com.

YIKES! Etsy Spotlight For Fall 2013

 

 

 

10 Cute Handmade Autumn Finds

Is it too early to declare that Fall is here? I don't see any leaves turning color yet.

I'm not sure that any small animals are storing up foods in their burrows. I haven't seen any fat, fluffy, winter-ready squirrels bumbling across the yard.

In fact, the tomatos haven't all ripened yet. The cucumbers are in the peak of their harvest. The grass is green as ever.

But I refuse to believe that it's too early to look at cute fall stuff! After all, in Maine, fall comes on quickly. (And if you like shopping online for perfect handmade items, now would be the perfect time to make your choices and put in an order.)

Here are 10 adorable, cozy, and autumnal finds!



 1. Foxy Bike Handwarmers

These Bike Fox Hand Warmers will make a perfect autumn/fall/winter accessory. They are soft and cozy and they are one of those items that you just don't want to ride a bike without.

The Etsy artisan, WarmYourself from Poland, makes them in kids' sizes too.











2. Beeswax candle collection shaped like antique jars and bottles.

This brilliant wax burns longer, brighter, and cleaner than any other wax on the planet, actually ionizing the atmosphere and pulling dust and allergens from your sweet home air as it burns.

Each collection is hand-poured to order.

These lovely candle sets come in various shapes and sizes, all based upon antique canning jars and bottles. Lovely.





3. Lemongrass Green Hand Knit Hat with Wood Button

This thick and chunky knit hat is the perfect little number for comfort, style, and warmth - jazz up your autumn/spring/winter wardrobe!

The yarn is a wool and acrylic blend, with zero itchiness! The button is genuine wood.

I love the big, big button! It's a great accent for a chunky knit. The color is awesome, too.

By UpNorthKnits.









4. Pumpkin Cheesecake Lip Balm

"Sweet scented Pumpkin Cheesecake Lip Balm! Such a fun flavor for adults and kids alike."

That sounds too good to pass up!










5. Fall Yarn and Felt Striped Wreath

Celebrate Fall and it's beautiful colors with this gorgeous wreath! Featuring striped yarn with coordinating handmade felt flowers in orange, warm yellow, tan and chocolate brown finished with cream pearls!

This wreath is unique and beautiful! Have the best wreath on the block!

One of a kind by Anita Rex Designs. Check it out!





6. Autumn Glass Acorn Decorations

Gorgeous faceted glass with real acorn bead caps. These beautiful little autumn gems come in a pack of six.

They would be perfect for accenting a fall centerpiece or keeping in a small, beautiful bowl. By WhysperFairy.











7. Artisan Collection Felted Soap

These lovely felted soaps are perfect for a hand soap in the bathroom or a personal soap and scrubbie in one.

The gorgeous green and gold variegated wool soap (middle) is a great fall color and is scented Pomegranate Pear. Made by TurtleWorksShop.

For silly autumn felted soaps, try Sapling Naturals' mini monsters, Halloween Owl in a Tree or the adorable Wise Owl by Englefelt.



 8. Crochet Knit Leg Warmers

These look so cozy! Perfect for early fall. By Designer Scarves World.

These soft leg warmers are a thin delicate light weight design, fitting just perfectly under boots. They show themselves off with hand detailed off white knit lace and off white faux buttons.

The Pointelle Openwork knit is on the height of fashion trends looking absolutely fabulous over skinny jeans, leggings or tights. Give your 'any-day look' the perfect bit of lacey flair!

And get ready for people to stop and ask you where you got them!




9. Mustard Yellow and Seafoam Green Leather Journal with Antique Skeleton Key

Wow! These journals by Binding Bee are very special. The journal is created from repurposed leather and handmade paper.

The leather is thick and heavy with a gorgeous oil-rubbed finish and a feel so soft that you will never want to put it down.

The journal closure uses a leather strap and antique skeleton key in a wonderful sea foam green color. The book is hand-bound using a 600 year old binding technique that is incredibly sturdy and long lasting and allows all of the pages to lay flat when the book is open.

Record some drawings and thoughts under falling leaves this fall. 





10. Autumn Tutu Dress

"This tutu dress features the warm colors of fall; scarlet, brown, gold, orange and yellow. Yards and yards of tulle is hand looped and tied around a brown crocheted bodice. Scarlet flowers and gold ribbon give the finishing touches."

Made by My Sugar Muffin. Aw! ❉

New Items on Etsy from YIKES! Studio

These blue and lavender dangles will really bring out blue eyes! Their delicate, colorful design will brighten up any complexion and eye color, though, since they just seem to dance with color. The earrings are made with artisan polymer clay and sanded and buffed to a smooth finish, with no paints or glazes used and nothing to wear off.

They are lightweight and fun to wear!   The ear wires are hand-formed sterling silver and the dangles are accented with genuine Swarovski crystal. Click here to see more views.

These are one of the earrings I've added recently to my Etsy shop. Remember that you can Like my Facebook page to unlock a 10% off coupon code for my Etsy!

Here's some more new earrings from YIKES!

Why Done is Better than Perfect: How to Get Started Selling on Etsy

This article by Alexandra Ferguson comes from The Etsy Blog. Alexandra presents Etsy as a try-it-and-see marketplace for sellers: a way to test products, experiment with presentation, and perfect your selling game.  

And she should know: she built her tiny Etsy store (started with $1.60 in capital) into a business projected to bring in $1 million in revenue in the next year!

Why Done is Better than Perfect

Do any of these internal monologues resonate with you?

• “What if no one buys anything? I will feel so rejected.”
  
• “What if someone wants to buy 400 of one of my items? I can’t launch my shop until I’m ready to take on volume. There’s still so much to figure out.”
• “I’ve been working on a business plan for several months now. When everything is perfect, then I’ll launch my shop.”

Whatever the reason may be, do you feel stuck in the thinking and planning stage?

It’s okay. It’s really normal. I like to call this feeling “paralysis by analysis” and, fortunately, you’re in the friendliest place on the web to work through it and start selling.

I launched my shop on January 16, 2009, during my then-day-job lunch break. Over the holidays, I’d made dozens of felt appliqué pillows as gifts and had a few left over when someone suggested I sell them on Etsy. I photographed what remained with my point-and-shoot camera in my living room. In 30 minutes, while I ate my sandwich at my desk, I spent $1.60 in startup capital (eight product listings at 20 cents each), and my shop was live.

Read more at The Etsy Blog >>

Ethical Fashion: Shopping with Conscience After Bangladesh Disasters

Image courtesy of african_fi/sxc.hu

What is fashion? In one sense, it's how we express ourselves: how we translate our aesthetic desires into a deeply personal form of self-expression. Fashion also connects us: It identifies us as part of a culture, a subculture, even a global trend.

If art is about how we see the world, fashion concerns how we wish to be seen in the world. We hope to communicate something about who we are through what we wear-- and have fun doing it!

Yet, none of these things happen in a vacuum. Although we might think of fashion as something personal, these days it's positively global.

Most the clothes we buy are made in factories far away, factories that we'll never see or hear about in the news. What goes on there is hidden from view, but more and more, people are starting to take notice. Many of our clothes are made in unsafe or deadly conditions, by workers without adequate pay or the right to stand up for their needs.

The recent deadly collapse of a factory in Bangladesh, has made people all over the world realize: the way clothes are made has got to change.

One way to make a difference is to ask retailers to sign on to agreements that they will monitor their supply chain and raise standards in working conditions and wages. The National Consumers League has started a petition asking Americans to sign on saying that they'll pay $0.10 more for clothing made by better paid workers in safe conditions.

Would you pay $0.10 more per garment to prevent disasters like the factory collapse in Bangladesh? Then sign on at the National Consumer League's Facebook page for the "10 Cent Pledge."

You can also sign on asking Walmart to help stop retaliation against workers in Bangladesh who are standing up for fair working conditions. Click here to add your name.

What else can you do?

Lots! Support local and smaller artisans who create garments closer to home. Etsy is a great place to find some of those handmade items (but be aware-- there are a few "Etsy sellers" who ship obviously factory-made items from overseas.) Etsy is also a great source for vintage finds.

When shopping for new clothes, look for the Fair Trade label. Artisans in the developing world who make Fair Trade goods are paid a higher fraction of the purchase price of the item. Check out this fair trade shopping guide. Or look for a Made in the USA or UNITE label on clothing. American Apparel, the San Francisco based company, offers US-made clothes-- but their sizing (often only going up to size L or XL in women's wear) puts their clothes out of reach for curvier women.

Among the big clothing labels and retailers, there are no "gold star" standouts, but Eddie Bauer,  LL Bean, J Crew, TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Abercrombie and Fitch, Liz Claiborne and Timberland get a passing score on measures of fair labor practices.

If you need a little good news, know this: Many global clothing companies have signed on to the very important Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Code-- a legally enforceable deal that includes independent inspections of Bangladesh factories. Signatories, according to the Clean Clothes Campaign, "commit to underwrite improvements in dangerous factories and properly confront fire safety and structural problems."

IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary Jyrki Raina said, “The companies who signed up are to be applauded. We are talking improving the working conditions and lives of some of the most exploited workers in the world...” Companies that have signed on include H & M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Benneton, Calvin Klein, and Tommy Hilfiger. Sadly, industry leaders Walmart and Gap have not signed on.

As more people become aware of the serious problems in garment manufacturing, we can expect to see a bigger and better marketplace of fairly traded and USA-produced clothing and accessories.  Would we all agree to pay a little more for clothing made in fair, safe conditions? I think so. ❉

Yikes! June Etsy Spotlight: Handmade, Colorful, Retro Fashion

This June's Etsy Spotlight  is made up of handmade and specialty items. The gorgeous, Yellow Submarine-esque Vintage Printed Miniskirt ($55) is sewn from vintage fabric, which the creator describes as a "schizoid patchwork with all kinds of geometric shapes like diamonds, Greek keys, and honeycombs; natural elements like flowers and clouds; and wonderfully bohemian medallions."

The "Carnival" Shoes from Red Nose Shoes ($190) are also handmade. Shlomit Hai of Herzliya, Israel creates the "Carnival" line of shoes from genuine leather. They feature an interesting duotone leather toe. The mixtape watch ($165) is another cool find-- it has the "feel and look of an actual working cassette tape"!

The Yikes! item in the spotlight is the Polymer Pillow Beads and Sterling Silver Squares Bracelet ($132), a very pretty and colorful polymer and silver bracelet in a contemporary squares motif.

 Clockwise from top:
Women's Handmade Carnival Yellow Shoes by Red Nose Shoes
Mixtape Watch by EOS New York
Polymer Pillow Beads and Sterling Silver Squares Bracelet by Yikes! Studio
Vintage Printed Miniskirt by Michelle Rose

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Etsy Spotlight: Fresh Summer Blues

Etsy is a great place to do some shopping to get ready for summer! We found a great selection of greens and blues to remind us of sparkling lakes, green grass and white clouds. Check out this all handmade and vintage outfit pulled together from Etsy sellers, with a stacking bangle bracelet and earrings by YIKES Studio!

Quick links:
YIKES! Studio Stacking Bangle in Blue
Dirty Birdies Vintage 80s Woven Leather Sandals
Minxouri Vintage Mod Minidress
Aimarro Crochet Triangle Bag
YIKES! Studio Robin's Egg Blue Earrings ❉

Holiday Sale on Etsy

Enter code Holiday2012 to receive 10% off on my Etsy site!

Just in time for Christmas!