Bear Hugs: Tree Of Life Designs

It's early. The house is silent except for the rain on the roof. I'm all cozy with my coffee and I've got a little time on my hands. I feel like passing out some bear hugs this morning.

Today I’m featuring Michelle, aka TreeOfLifeDesigns. Last summer, Michelle bought a sample of my Muddah Buddah belly butter as a surprise for a pregnant friend. It was sent anonymously. It was fun to be involved in the conspiracy. Michelle lives in Denver and makes jewelry. Her pieces are beautiful, and her photography (not to mention her collection of ceramics that she uses as props) is awesome. So, meet Michelle….

I love hearing the stories behind shop names, tell me about yours.

I have always had a strange love for trees and the tree symbol. I had a tree embossed on my wedding invites. In doing research about the “Tree of Life”, I found that it is a symbol that crosses many, many cultures and is found in art all over the world throughout history. The tree, to me, symbolizes the need to reach for the sky while at the same time keeping yourself firmly planted to the ground.

How'd you start doing what you do?

I moved to Denver form the east coast where I grew up, and was lucky enough to land a job and a little mom-and-pop-jewelry store. I have always been somewhat creative, and LOVE jewelry, so it did not surprise me (or any of my friends and family) that I ended up working where I did. Over the 9 years I worked there, the owners taught me almost everything I know about making jewelry.

Your Tara earrings are my current favorite in your shop. I love the asymmetry and the length. What's your favorite item right now, and why?

It is so hard to pick a favorite! But I love the Blythe earrings. I always love the green and blue combination, and the stones in these earrings are really yummy. They also are a great length and dangle really nicely on the ear; I love the way they move when you wear them.

Tell me about your most memorable Etsy moment.

Recently, someone ordered a necklace from me…to wear on her wedding day! What a compliment!

Do you have any secrets of success to share?

The support of my girlfriends throughout my jewelry career has been such a tremendous help to me. Not only did they tell me that I was doing great work, but as they wear my jewelry out and about, they are constantly asked about the pieces and get to tell other people about my work. They give me great feedback about particular designs….when they all respond well to a piece, I know it will be a popular design!

What's your favorite "Tip"? (Doesn't have to be shop-related, it can be life-related, a cleaning tip, etc.)

“Do what you love, the rest will come”(–Walt Whitman, I think?)

Bear Hugs: WireDreamsDesigns

A while back I was talking about starting a Customer Appreciation Feature…well, here’s my first installment. Meet WireDreamsDesign. She bought a bottle of my Bzzz Off! insect repellent back in July and she was the first to respond to my solicitation for participants in this feature. So, she gets to go first.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm originally from Texas but now live in Florida with my husband of 10 years and my son who is 2 1/2. I more than make up for the fact that my husband has no real hobbies because I frequently take over half our dining room table to work and have two shelves of nothing but yarn. I’m slowly working on taking over the garage with my kiln and a workspace set up to do lampwork glass beads.

I read in your profile that you’ve always been a rock/mineral collector. What was your 1st exposure to wire wrapping and did you instantly connect this art form to your hobby?

I was first exposed to wire work while looking for something Celtic for a friend. While searching, I came across a site that did wire wrapped jewelry. I bought two ear cuffs and a beautiful moonstone pendant. I was intrigued after that and started looking for references and supplies on how to do it.

I like how your love of one thing led to the love of something new. Do you make pieces out of favorite rocks/minerals from your personal collection? And if so, does your heart break a little each time you sell one?

My personal collection is comprised mainly of specimen-type pieces that are too large to make jewelry out of. Even if I could make jewelry out of them they are stones I picked because I was drawn to them, I couldn't sell them. I do tend to lean toward my favorite type of stones when picking out pieces for jewelry, like labradorite. It is my absolute favorite to work with. I will admit I have had a few pendants that I was a bit sad to see go because I really loved how they turned out.


I like many of the items in your shop, but right now I’d say “Down by the Sea” is my favorite – probably because it's the end of summer and I’m an East Coast girl living in land-locked Dallas. What is your favorite item in your shop at the moment and why?

Currently [the] larimar pendant [pictured at the beginning of this post] is my favorite. Larimar is another favorite stone of mine just because of the different shades of blue it can have. The bright blue color in this stone is absolutely amazing. {Sorry folks, this one sold before I got this post up, but check this one out. It’s beautiful and available…at the moment.}

You have a pretty successful Etsy shop. What secrets of your success would you like to share?

I have no secrets. Maybe it's just luck or people looking for something different when searching on Etsy. I do no real outside advertising other than a main showcase on Etsy here and there of which I have had sales from or people that have seen something then and came back later to buy.

What’s been your best moment since you started selling your wares?

A best moment is hard there are so many. I guess for me it's when you get a repeat customer. To know someone likes your work so much they want to add another piece to their collection. I haven't had anything really catastrophic happen since I've started.

Share something about yourself that most people (at least in your public life) don’t know or some other interesting tidbit/funny story/etc.

I was totally a geek in high school. Every Friday night was spent playing Dungeon & Dragons or a card game called Magic the Gathering. I also collected comic books (and still do) and I would love to go to Comic Con in San Diego one day.

"Bear Hugs"

That's it! Bear Hugs. The name of my new semi-regular customer appreciation feature. ("Semi" because you know I'm way too lame to commit to anything regular.) I like it. It works with the Teddy-thing, and it's got the word "hug" in it. Hug. The word just makes me smile a little. It gets right to the point. It's short and sweet -- unless of course you're talking to me after a couple of margaritas -- in which case I can easily turn "hug" into a 3-syllable word. (Yep, I'm fluent in Texan after a margy or two.)


"Bear Hugs" was TZel's suggestion. She chose the Love Birds pendant from my FlutterbyGirly shop as her prize. Her daughter loves chickadees, so she's going to give it to her as a gift. A quick email exchanged with TZel revealed many interests and passions: photography, healthy cooking, home schooling, ecology, and travel among them. But high on her list is juvenile diabetes. Her daughter has diabetes and is soon to receive her own Diabetes Alert Dog. Everyone knows dogs are fun and useful, but did you have any idea dogs could help individuals living with diabetes? I sure didn't! You can learn more about these amazing dogs here. Diabetes runs on my husband's side of the family, so I'm always interested in learning more on the subject. So thanks to TZel, I have a feature name and a new insight into managing diabetes.
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I want to say thanks to everybody who responded. AlyGatr gets an honorable mention here for providing me with the "out" of not tying the feature to a specific day of the week. Now I can be my inconsistent best! (BTW, if you haven't checked out AlyGatr's blog, you really should -- it's always lots of fun.)I really appreciate all the suggestions and your willingness to do the brain damage for me. I'm seriously thinking about solving all of my bothersome little problems this way. I'll never have to think for myself again! As a matter of fact, let's start now: what should I make for dinner tomorrow night?