Craft Pick of the Week: Shopping Local on Etsy

Craft Pick of the Week, a weekly column on all things crafty, decided to explore online craft seller Etsy for some local representation this week. Etsy launched about a year ago as an online service that lets you sell your handmade wares, as long as they can take a small 3.5% cut of sales, and they charge a modest listing price. More and more crafters have been turning to Etsy over Ebay, as it's more affordable to sell items there.

I was curious to see if we had any local folks selling their work, so I did a little search...

It looks like the Vancouverites have been busy on Etsy. I discovered a bunch of talented locals:
Blue Jean Baby -is custom, handmade jewelry by Jaime Pickering. Jaime makes cocktail rings and bracelets with gold quartz, pearls jade and other natural stones. Pretty.

Wool spinner and blogger Felicia Lo has an Etsy shop called The Sweet Shop. Her uniquely dyed colourways are spectacular. I particularily like "Slayer"; which is red, grey and black, and reminds me of a favorite, deceased tv show.

Gadget Girl's funky postcards and flaming heart stickers are a little rough around the edges, but I like them. They can be found at her Gadget Girl store. No real name of the actual crafter. She's incognito.

It's your life is a shop by Nicole Tirona, an art student at ECAID. Nicole makes funky handbags out of vintage prints and trims.

There are also handmade textiles by Sarah MacKinnon at her shop. These look like they've taken a lot of time to produce.

My only regret is that I had to find the Vancouverites by chance and luck, as Etsy has yet to let you search by place (google actually gave me better results). If you're a local crafter looking for international exposure, Etsy might be the place to set up shop.