Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a Happy Hanukkah from Team ESST!



Looking through our team members shops, I found this Menorah stamp and some Hanukkah vintage gift tags too! We hope you have some time to get some crafting done during these next 8 fun nights!

Snowflake Ornaments -- How To

I adore snowflakes. Whether they're stylized or realistic, elegant shades of white or bright and garish colors, I love them all! Now you can make your own~

Materials needed --

Snowflake forms

Large round beads

Large white faceted oval beads

Large metal beadcaps

8mm silver beads

Metallic Silver ribbon - Available at supplycandy

Round nose pliers

Take one wire form. Working on one branch at a time, thread one spacer bead (I used vintage white lucite), a silver round bead, a beadcap, a large round bead, another beadcap, another silver bead, a large faceted oval, and a last silver round.

Using your roundnose pliers, make a loop on the end of the branch.

Repeat this pattern on each of the following 5 branches.

Your snowflake is finished, but you still need a way to display it. Decide how long you'd like the snowflake to hang, and cut a length of ribbon twice that long, plus a couple inches. Thread the ribbon through one of the loops you made and even up the ends. Tie an overhand knot, leaving a bit of a tail.

Now, you can display your ornament however you see fit. I like to make several in varying lengths and sizes to display in my front windows.

Sewing Supplies: Patterns - Gremly Girl

Gremly Girl is a great shop with vintage sewing patterns and other goodies. It is really easy to find exactly what you want in this shop, as the patterns are organized by decade. You can also search the shop by measurement, such as bust size. Gremly Girl has a return policy, so you can be confident with every purchase at this shop.

What Gremly Girl loves about vintage patterns is that each one is a little treasure, offering a glimpse into the past. She loves finding new designs, studying the changes in fashion, and running across notes and ephemera a prior seamstress might have added to a pattern. For more on her obsession, visit her blog at http://patternjunkie.typepad.com/.

Altered Ribbon - How To

Materials Needed --

• Cotton Ribbon
• Small Alphabet Stamps - Available from ESST or SupplyCandyDye Ink Pad - Your choice of 2 or more colors
• scrap paper
• paper towel

Decide what length of ribbon you need for your project. Cut it off, plus a couple inches.

Place some scrap paper over your work space. I like to use copy paper. Put the ribbon on that and run the inkpad over it until you reach your desired color intensity. I chose the weathered look for the sample.

Run your paper towel over the newly inked ribbon to remove the excess ink.

Using your small alphabet stamps, choose a message to stamp out. I like to spell out the message and space it out before committing. This also helps to avoid spelling errors.

Once done, set it aside to dry completely. I like to leave mine at least overnight.

You now have customized ribbon, with a handmade touch. I wouldn't recommend laundering this ribbon, but it's great for most projects.

Holiday Gift Tags

With Christmas around the corner, it's time to think about what those gifts of joy should be tagged with. A search on Etsy with the terms "Esst tag" will give lots of possibilities for tags galore. This gift tag is from Circle in the Sand's shop.


Here's another gift tag that I found doing this same search. These homemade, handcrafted tags are simply delightful details. The recipient will know that a lot of care and love went into your selection of their gift.

Begin your search for Holiday Tags here.

Posted by Natalie -- NKP Designs

Team ESST Christmas Supplies

For anyone looking for some crafting supplies that are specifically Christmas related, we've got a way for you to search for them on Etsy. Just do a search for "ESST Christmas" and you'll find over 375 items to choose from. There are Christmas Tree cupcake toppers from Layer Cake Shop, Victorian Christmas Tags that you download and print yourself, Snowman Stamp, and more. So while you're working on giving handcrafted cards and gifts this holiday season, don't forget to support the Etsy Supply Street Team.

Social Networking

Team ESST is everywhere. You can find us on My Space, We Love Etsy, Indiepublic, Flickr and Facebook to name just a few Social Networks. What are the benefits of having a presence on all these sites though? Why are we everywhere?

Social networking benefits both parties in a shopping relationshiop. It helps us get to know our customers better through their comments on our blogs and networks. We get to see who our customers are, what they respond to, and a bit more about why they've chosen to shop with us. It also allows our customers to get to know us a little bit through the personal information we post about ourselves. When shopping online it can be difficult to establish that wonderful in-person relationship you might find in your neighborhood store, but Social Networking helps to recapture that feeling by providing an easy way to communicate with each other.

Please take the time to get to know us a little bit better though our many outlets, and please continue to give us feedback. We love hearing what you have to say!

Wists: Create your own Wish List

My family always asks what I'd like for gifts for the holidays. Sometimes, there is a crafting supply or some hard-to-explain item I want on Etsy. Unfortunately I find it pretty difficult to show the gift giver exactly what I want.

That is until I discovered Wists. It is a wish list & social shopping website that allows you to collect images and links to all the things you'd like to buy on the web. This is a particularly good idea for shopping on Etsy. I know you can use your favorites on Etsy to do this as well, but with Wists you can write up a little note giving details about each item. For example: If I added a fabric swatch I can say "I'd like 2 yards of this fabric please."

It is pretty easy to use. Just sign up and follow the directions to install their button on your browser's toolbar. Any time you see something you like you can click the button in your browser and it will add the item to your wish list. Whenever someone asks what you'd like as a gift, just send them a link to your list. Hopefully it will help you get everything you want this holiday season.

Here is one I started to try it out to see what it is all about: http://wists.com/beesquarefabrics Take a look and let us know what you think.