Laura and Heather…our fairytale godmothers!!!!

Hello my beloved friends!

I am really happy and honored to welcome two very talented ladies I have met online. Two sisters, amazing ladies and employed mothers that love to create unique and uncommon accessories for ladies… from our first day on earth since our wedding and not only…!

I am really in love with their creations and I am sure that you will be also. Please let me introduce you and meet Laura and Heather from FeatherRiverBoutique !

Name: Laura Fox and Heather Baker
Occupation: We both work from home. Heather is a controller for a local energy company and Laura is a database admin for a homeschool magazine.
Hobbies: Heather loves to create new designs, sing, bake, and restore old furniture. Laura enjoys photography, singing, and playing the piano and we both enjoy outdoor activities with our families.

Feather River Boutique is a sister team. As kids, we were always coming up with new dress designs for our dolls. Now, with four girls between the two of us, we like to dress up and design accessories for our daughters, whom we regularly use as models.  We mainly design wedding/bridal accessories, hair accessories, and photography props. Heather is the main designer and Laura handles the product photography and customer service, but we each do a little bit of everything.

In addition to running the shop, we both work other jobs from home while caring for our young children. God has blessed us both greatly with wonderful husbands and three beautiful children each. It isn’t always easy running the shop, working, and taking care of our children and our homes, but it is rewarding. We have been privileged to work with some amazing photographers, moms, and brides-to-be. We are so excited to see what the future holds and to meet more amazing friends.

We've been crafting as long as I can remember. Our mom is very crafty and some of that wore off on us. We started the shop when our girl's had more hair accessories than outfits to match them. :) We wanted to share our designs with others and opening our shop seemed to be the best way to do that.

Inspiration comes from all different places. Often, it's a color palette we saw in a magazine or it's one of our daughter's new dresses. It might be an idea for a photo shoot that we need a prop for. It may be the latest wedding color trends. Our four girls have been a huge part of our inspiration. Each has her own little personality and sometimes our designs are created with them specifically in mind. Sometimes, it's a specific request from a customer that gets the creative juices flowing.

Our Favorite materials…… Lots of bling!  We love to use rhinestones and pearls. We use satin in many of our designs too. We also love feathers and lace.

Our favorite creation… Wow, that's a tough one. Sometimes I think I have a favorite and then we come up with something new. I think right now, one of my favorite design is our newborn pink linen bonnet. I love the textures of the linen with the ruffle and the little knots. I love the rich color. I love the versatility. It's perfect for a special occasion, everyday wear, or for photography sessions. But, I also love our bouquets and kind of wish I could get married all over again just so I could use one. ;)

Our hope is that every item we send out is just the right touch for a wedding, or a child's first portrait session, or the perfect gift for someone special. And one day, we would love to be featured in a mainstream bridal or children's magazine.

Aren’t they just adorable? It was a great honor and I feel truly happy I have met Laura and Heather!

You may contact them here:
Etsy shop:   FeatherRiverBoutique   
Facebook:  Feather River Boutique

Twitter: FeatherRiverBoutique   

Mats Mouts!!!!

Monday MoodBoard - You are my Sunshine!!!!!

1. Feltedcreatures 2. karmologyclinic 3. beYOUtifulhandmade 4. milkandhoney05

The past weekend the weather was just amazing...March left and Summer is just right in the corner. I had a great  Walk on the beach... with my beloved family and batteries are again charged! Yellow like the sun! Smile, Laugh, Breath, Enjoy... Summer is coming!!!!

If you want to check more moodboards, please click on Estella's blog! 

And do not forget to check the post and the giveaway for Akamatra!!

Etsy Greek Street Team: Items of the week - Tuesday's blues

What a lovely surprise... a bracelet of EfZin creations to be included in the oficial blog of  Etsy Greek Street Team! I am honored!!!!

 1.  Wall decoration by Beh1ndHome

2. Bracelet by EfZinCreations

3. Ring by xeiropoihto

 4. Earrings by DivineDecadance

Just click and visit more fantastic and talented Greek artists!

Have a wonderful day!

GIVEAWAY - Eleanna... from Jewelry to Sockmonsters!!!!!!

Hello Amazing people!

Have I told you that I am a proud member of Greek etsy team? And you know what is the best? That in the specific team I have the opportunity to meet new amazing people and great artists not only via web but in real life too! Another thing I also love in Etsy community, that you can meet other’s inspirations and you can admire too many different creations with the same materials!

So today I am honored to represent you a great friend and a talented crafter! How I met Eleanna? From her well-written seminal tutorials and her SockMonsters! And it is weird how these sock dolls can be pretty and cute even for monsters! I visited her shop and I was surprised that she also creates amazing full of colors jewels in different styles! Unique minimal geometry necklaces, hippie earrings from polymer perfect for your Spring and Summer appearance, floral beaded necklaces in bohemian style, beautiful romantic cuff bracelets….! To be honest when you visit her shop it is really difficult to leave it without spending at least half an hour admiring her work... you will be happily "lost" in her shop!!!

But let meet her in a few lines….

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Hello there! I' m Eleanna from Athens, Greece :)

I grew up in Athens but I come from Serifos and Pelion, two lovely places in Greece. I have lived in France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK but I 've never traveled outside Europe. I have studied architecture [AUTH, Greece] and Urbanism [Msc, TUDelft, Netherlands].  

I make many questions, I laugh out loud [really loud] and I love dancing,swimming and biking but mostly eating chocolate :P. I have been making jewelry more than 10 years, but even before that, I 've always been up to something creative: drawing, sewing, crafting in general. I don't know if it is a matter of genes, but certainly a creative environment helps: my dad was a painter, my mum draws and sews greatly and my grandma was a crochet master.

What I love about crafting jewelry and creating sock-creatures is that I can make everything on my own. The creative process in this scale is much faster and I can control all the phases: idea-concept, design and construction. And this is what I think I miss when designing for smaller scales, where the results are more long-term.

While creating, I feel more me. I love the whole process: the moment an idea strucks me and I get completely enthusiastic about it; the procedure of trying to figure out how to realize it; designing the final piece or details; choosing best tools, methods and materials; combining materials and making the synthesis; and my favorite part: having the end product!

I love discovering new materials and trying new techniques. This is why you will notice a big variety in my creations. One material I prefer is wood-clay, that after drying I paint with acrylic color. Another favorite is polymer clay, especially the millefiori technique. I also love fabrics and use them for some projects. Plastic tube is a material I use for the "networks". And of course I am obsessed with socks that I use to create my sock monsters! :)

I am a fan of sharing knowledge and ideas and motivating everyone to get creative. Lately, I write crafting tutorials for  crafttuts+ [http://craft.tutsplus.com/author/eleanna-kotsikou/] , which I really enjoy. I love being a member of the Etsy Greek Street Team, where I met lovely people and made good friends. It is a vibrant fast-growing community that spreads the crafting spirit and I think it is awesome sharing creative enthusiasm with others.

Thank you so much Zina for your sweet hospitality!

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Eleanna was really kind to offer a beautiful minimal geometric necklace from her collection as a gift to one lucky lady!!!!!

So in order to have the chance to win this beautiful necklace, just use the Rafflecopter below and earn more entries. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you Eleanna!!!!! mats mouts!