bstudio

Meet Brenda, she's the artist behind bstudio on Etsy, and a few other places as you will see. One of her beautiful rings caught my eye, so I decided to see if she' like to share a little bit about herself.

As you will read Brenda loves what she does and she's very good at it. I was quite excited to see that her CD of choice is also one of my favorites. Read the interview and be sure to go by any of her pages and say hello. Let her know you met her on Yarn Obsession

Who are you, where are you from and what makes that place unique?
My name is Brenda and I’m a former interior designer and urban dweller now transplanted to the countryside in Ontario, Canada. I live in the midst of 120 secluded acres complete with four ponds, woods and fields, lots of wildlife and no neighbours or road traffic. In the winter we can skate on our frozen ponds or go cross-country skiing and in the summer we can go for long walks or go swimming. On clear nights we can see a ton of stars and on some nights we can watch meteor showers or the International Space Station orbit past.

What was the first item you ever made for your shop? The first item I made and listed for my shop was my Snowflakes Pillow Cover. It sold 18 days later on my birthday! It was my first sale and a great birthday present!

How long have you been independently selling your items?
I have been selling my items since I opened my Etsy shop in November of 2007. I worked full-time before that and being in interior design satisfied my outlet for creativity. When I retired early, I still needed to be creative and was fascinated by silk ribbon embroidery and that became my passion. I picked up the stitches and techniques from books and magazines but I like to do my own thing when it comes to my designs.

If you were on a desert isle, and you could only have one book or cd with you (besides your creative tools) which book or cd would that be?
Only one book or CD? Wow, that’s a hard choice! The CD would probably be Norah Jones, ‘Come Away With Me’. I love her voice and singing style.

Where is the most interesting place you have traveled, what made it so interesting?
I’ve travelled quite a lot, been to Australia twice, New Zealand, into a lot of the US and some parts of Canada, Cuba and other Caribbean islands, Great Britain, France and Italy. I think Italy was the most interesting place so far there are so many different regions. Venice was fascinating and so different than anything else I’d seen!

If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?

There’s no easy answer for this one, there are so many things I would love to try! I would love to design a complete line of home décor items, furniture, accessories, fabrics, rugs, etc. that way it encompasses all types of design skills and mediums.

You can find Brenda online:
blog
facebook
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guest writer

Brenda is offering readers of this blog 10% off when they use the coupon code 'Yarn10' at her Etsy shop.

Lucia of Larimeloom

If you like these items you should read on. They are all the product of Larimeloom. Because her items are lovely and caught my eye, I decided to make Lucia my "Friendly Friday's" profile. Read and enjoy!

Tell us a little bit about yourself
My name is Maria Lucia Squillari and I am 21 years old. I live in Northern Italy in a small town with my big family (we are nine in all, 7 kids and 2 parents along with goats, chikens, cats and a garden). I am also a classical guitar student so my time is divided between home, were I work on etsy and help keep house to a sane level, and my grandmother's house were I live when I have classes. It's a bit of a double life :)

What inspires you to create?
The craft itself inspires me, it is so much fun to do things for the pure pleasure of doing them, and to have the possibility to earn some money from it is the best thing ever! I have always been into trying out whatever manual thing came my way...it was beadworking for awhile, then it was crosstitching, after that it was making baskets, then knitting big lumpy sweaters and long scarves for friends or family members, then it was crocheting, or weaving or sewing...I have always had the tendency not to stick for long to these "burning passions" and to skip from one to the next leaving lots of unfinished projects strewn along the way. Etsy is what gave me a bit more consistency, although here too it started out with only woven scarves, and now I've added handspuns and sewn garments...and who knows what will come along next! I love working with color, and I love fibers and threads, they inspire me tremendously, especially when combined, so that is where I find my biggest inspiration.

How do you see yourself evolving in the next 5-10 years?
I have absolutely no idea :) I will have to wait and see...

What are some of your favorite things?
My favorite color is always changing, but is hovering around green at the moment. I like to take walks, to work in my grandmothers garden, I don't watch many movies, but I liked "The Truman Show" and "Amelie" very much. I used to be a very avid reader but it seems to have subsided a bit of late. I don't have a favorite book at the moment. I love big bags of colorful wool to sit down and spin.

You can find Lucia at her Etsy Shop