in the cafe spotlight: 10oneworld

Featured Etsian: 10oneworld
Shop link: 10oneworld.etsy.com

Give us the basics:
10oneworld in Sedona, Arizona. We make organically embellished t-shirts and onesies.

What’s your favourite smell?
I love the smell of sunscreen. I grew up in Southern California and that smell takes me 'home'!


One World Girls Medium (7/8) Shirt (by 10oneworld)
How long have you been doing your craft?
Since the beginning of 2008 on Etsy, sewing since I was 8ish!

Who/What inspires you in your craft?
My daughter had health issues and making the organic switch cured her!!!

What do you like most about your craft?
It's fun to come up with a concept in your mind and see it come to life!

What’s a normal day for you?
Taxi driver to my 3 kids (school, soccer, piano, etc.)

What advice would you give Etsy sellers just starting out?
Be patient and love what you do (or don't do it)!

How do you discover new things on Etsy?
The forums! I've made great friends there and bought awesome stuff!!!


One World Organic T-shirt Youth XS-Youth Medium (by 10oneworld)

FREE SHIPPING BONUS just for pandacub cafe readers! Shop at 10oneworld's Etsy shop and get free shipping just by mentioning this blog (pandacub cafe) in your Notes to Seller section with purchasing!!! FREE SHIPPING!!!

monday morning blues

Nothing is worse than having to wake up to go to work on Monday morning, except for maybe having to wake up at 5 am to go to work on Monday morning while still suffering from a slight bout of Vertigo. :(

Oh, to dream of owning my own business...of course, I would work twice as hard, but I would definitely not have to wake up at 5 am for the 1 hour commute to get to work at 7 am!!!

in the cafe spotlight: pixelperfect

Featured Etsian: pixelperfect
Shop link: pixelperfect.etsy.com

Give us the basics:
I'm a digital artist who creates personalized baby art which was inspired by the work of the amazing Anne Geddes.

What’s your favourite smell?
hmmm frangipani flowers and anything vanilla.

How long have you been doing your craft?
About 10 years.

Who/What inspires you in your craft?
The thought of the joy it will bring the people I'm making it for because babies are so precious and just so adorable in teacups and jars.

What do you like least about your craft?
When my computer doesn't co-operate.

What’s a normal day for you?
Spending time with my 11 month old son who is an angel and my world.

What advice would you give Etsy sellers just starting out?
Don't ever give up. There is so much information on the web. Do some research and find out ways to promote your products. Selling is an art form in itself.

How do you discover new things on Etsy?
Usually in the chat rooms.

fighting the dizziness...

Well, I woke up this morning feeling much better than yesterday, but still woozy, so I'm taking it slow. Just spending a restful day at home. (Thanks to all the well wishes, by the way!)

I did manage to get a few photos snapped of my new items - I actually took a lot more, but only a few came out decent. I'll probably take better photos later on but I wanted to be able to start posting new items as soon as possible.

I'm hosting a Saturday Night Special this evening, so if there's something you've had your eye on in my shop, come by and check pandacub out this evening as I'm running a pretty good deal.

Here's some of the new things in my shop!

left to right: two little birds...sitting in a tree; picnic; itsy bitsy spider (all by pandacub)

life sucks right now...

Ugh, I haven't created any new fabric buttons or accessories in several days now because I've been sick. :(

I suffer from Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) which means that sometimes I wake up and the room will just spin (well, seem to spin) and it makes me nauseous. And whenever I move my head, the room spins again and I just get dizzier and dizzier. Needless to say it basically incapacitates me and I'm stuck in bed, barely able to move. And the nausea makes me lose my appetite as well.

Lucky I have a laptop, so I can sit EXTREMELY still and surf the internet, but I can't even do that for long periods of time because my eye movement triggers more dizzy spells (BPPV sounds fun, doesn't it?) *sigh*

And like many craft people, sitting still and doing nothing drives me CRAZY!

So no new items for me and even if I could create a few buttons there's no way I could photograph them, but I have been trying to keep up promoting pandacub in the meantime.

in the cafe spotlight: designsbydnt

Featured Etsian: designsbydnt
Shop link: designsbydnt.etsy.com

Give us the basics:
I am in America’s heartland, the good old state of Missouri. I love to sew, paint and create! My shop is new and I am finding I am getting an assortment of things! Whatever strikes my fancy!

Cherish (by designsbydnt)
What’s your favourite smell?
I have several favorite smells, the warm inviting smell of a fresh baked spiced apple pie as you walk into your home on a cold wintery evening, the fresh soft smell of my grandson as he wraps his arms around my neck to give me a big hug, or the sweet smell of honeysuckle as it floats by on a warm summer breeze!

How long have you been doing your craft?
I have been sewing for years! I learned in high school in the late 70’s. I started creating my bunnies about 16 years ago.

Planter Boxes (by designsbydnt)
What’s a normal day for you?
On a normal "work" day for me, I can’t wait to get home and check my ETSY shop! I work 12 hour days and have a stressful job. I love to come home, check out my shop (always hoping for a sale of course!), then I visit Alchemy, the Forums and finally I head for the Chats! I really enjoy visiting fellow Etsian shops!

On a normal day off from work, I work on my ETSY shop. I just re-did my pictures, using the advice of fellow Etsian TheBumbleBeeStudio. She is simply awesome! She critiqued my shop and gave me some wonderful tips!

What advice would you give Etsy sellers just starting out?
I am new to ETSY but if I were to give any advice to new Etsians, it would be to utilize the Forums! There is an abundance of information on them and you can always find so many people who are willing to pass on their knowledge and advice!

Flower Angel Bunny (by designsbydnt)

in the cafe spotlight: KreatedbyKarina

Featured Etsian: KreatedbyKarina
Shop link: KreatedbyKarina.etsy.com

Berries 'n Cream Lip Balm (by KreatedbyKarina)
Give us the basics:
Handmade 100% Vegetarian Soap Bars and Natural Lip Balms using fine essential oils and quality fragrances. All of my items are made in small batches from Queens, New York. You can find me at http://www.soapthatmakesscents.com/, or on Etsy at http://kreatedbykarina.etsy.com/

What’s your favourite smell?
It changes everytime I discover something new---right now I am absolutely in love with my Red Currant & Thyme Tea soap--the scent is so subtle, with a bright tea aroma and juicy berry scent.

How long have you been doing your craft?
Soap That Makes Scents introduces handcrafted soaps to customers worldwide...no more commercial soaps with chemical fillers and preservatives---I help women and men discover that natural ingredients are better for your skin, just as long-lasting, and wonderfully addictive. Plus I keep people squeaky clean :) I've been in business since 2001.

Who/What inspires you in your craft?
Playing with bubbly stuff, (is that even a word?!) being able to network with awesomely talented individuals and learning and sharing in the creative process, introducing people to the benefits of handmade soap (if you haven't tried handmade soap, really, you won't go back to commercially-made soap ever again)...trying to strike out on my own...building my own future the way that's best for me instead of someone in a suit and tie telling me how to mold myself to make THEM a profit..I could go on and on...Really it comes down to being able to LOVE what I do. And never wanting to stop.

Rubber Duckie Bath Toy Soap - Lavender Scented (by KreatedbyKarina)
What do you like least about your craft?
Having all of the drive, the dreams, and the ability to make it big with my business, but lacking the financial backing. Seriously. There's nothing worse than realizing that the ONLY thing holding one back from reaching their potential is the almighty dollar.

What’s a normal day for you?
Spend some time on Etsy listing new items and chatting in the forums, getting orders together and handwriting my thankyou cards and invoices out, packaging and labelling--and then it's off to the Post Office. When I get back I might settle down to work on some promotional/sample items, or roll up my sleeves and get to work on batches of lip balms or bars. Normally my day will start at 6am and end somewhere around 9pm, unless I'm working late on a special project.

What advice would you give Etsy sellers just starting out?
Don't hold back! Really that's the GREATEST advice anyone is going to give you...follow your dreams, don't listen to the negative people, jump in with both feet and don't look back. Sounds easier said than done, and believe me, I've been there. Just really keep the passion in what you do, and everything else will fall into place. Do whatever it takes to get you to where you want to go, as long as you don't step on other people along the way.

How do you discover new things on Etsy?
I try to visit the forum threads started by new sellers--I've found a lot of cool stuff that way!

Chocolate Espresso - Handmade Soap Bar (by KreatedbyKarina)

in the cafe spotlight...

I completely believe in karma, so I'm going to start featuring other Etsy sellers here on pandacub cafe. :)

I put the call out in the Etsy forums and got over 80 responses! EIGHTY! Which means that I have um, "just a few" posts to write! Ha ha!

Anyhow, I had originally planned on making this a weekly feature, but with over 80 sellers to feature, that could take almost 2 years, so I've decided to feature fellow Etsians whenever the mood strikes me.

I'm having a great time discovering all these great sellers and I hope you will to!

fabric obsessions and lack of space

Before I started making these adorable fabric buttons, I could never understand the fascination for fabric that I kept hearing about on Etsy. And then I started making buttons...

I'm completely obsessed with fabric now. And here's the problem - I'm not set up to deal with a fabric obsession!

My first Etsy shop, bluepebble, sells jewellery, so my "office space" is well set up to make necklaces and earrings - lots of little tool shelves with tiny drawers holding many, many wire findings and room for my tools.

So now that I have a whole new set of supplies and tools, I have no where to set up shop! Ack! And when you have fallen in love with fabric so suddenly and unexpectedly, it's scary.

Less than 48 hours after my shopping foray to Fabricland, I succumbed to my fabric lust and bought 5 fabrics from a great Etsy shop, sweetflavor. Adorable rabbits, deer, and hedghogs (I love hedgehogs!). Of course, it helped that I just sold another necklace on bluepebble and had a little extra cash in my Paypal account (what goes in, must come out!)

Yay - more fabric button happiness to come!

my current pandacub special

I know many people start shopping for the holidays early (I also know, I'm not one of those people)!

So, for all those well-prepared early-birds, I have a great offer going on in my Etsy shop at the moment:

*** FREE SHIPPING OFFER ***

From now until Oct 31, spend $20 or more (in one shopping transaction) at pandacub and get FREE SHIPPING! Just shop, pay and I'll refund the shipping cost back to you!

Happy shopping!

tiny little snowbirds - how cute!

I went to Fabricland during lunch today to see if there were any cute fabrics that I could pick up and I picked up half-metres of some really different patterns:

1. a bright orange fabric with tiny black spiders and green frogs
2. a white and baby blue plaid pattern light felt
3. an adorable light beige pattern with the most adorable little birds with some snowmen


I can't wait to make buttons with these!

OMG! my first sale!

Yay! I'm so excited!

I ran a great SNS (Saturday Night Special) tonight and ended up with my first sale! *Doing a happy dance* The SNS was free worldwide shipping, plus if you spent $20 or more, you also got 15% off your order.

I sold these 2 pairs of bobby pins:


left: emeralds (by pandacub); right: swirling blossoms (by pandacub)

Ok, ok, I promise I won't be showing off every single item I sell, but this one's special since it's the first. :) You always remember your first!

thanks, sis!

My sister has been very crafty lately, and has taken many classes in a variety of areas - silver-smithing, sewing, cake decorating...I can't keep up with her!

Her latest venture is in quilting, and that benefits me because I end up with lots of lovely fabric scraps!

Look at this cute ring I was able to make from some of her odd fabric ends...

sunflower (by pandacub)

welcome to pandacub cafe

Well, here's my shiny new blog, pandacub cafe, to go with my shiny new Etsy shop, pandacub! I hope you'll join me often, as I plan on posting as much as my hectic schedule allows.

What can you expect from this little blog? Lots of fun Etsy items, many from my own shop, pandacub, but also tons from other talented Etsians (and there are many, many of those!).

I hope to do interviews, feature items, show some of the creative process, show off my fabric finds and just keep like interesting and entertaining for anyone who stops by.

See you soon!

pink blossom (by pandacub)